Article 30 May 30, 2019 Life Is Spiritual
Yes, life is spiritual and since we live in a physical world it can be tough to relate to spiritual things because we are born of the five senses. Spirit is spirit and it can’t be seen or heard or felt within the physical realm. Therefore man, with just his senses, can’t make any reason out of spiritual matters. That’s ok, because he’s not supposed to. John 4:24 tells us, “God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” To begin with, the “a” between “is” and “spirit” was added, so it should read, “God is spirit…” Not just one spirit amongst the other spirits. Genesis 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” To create the heaven and the earth, you would have to be bigger than that which you have created, which puts God in the category of spirit. The spiritual realm is greater than the physical realm. Man, as he is without spirit, cannot understand this, because spiritual matters are just too big for his mind to deal with.
For those of us who have a love for God and an interest in spiritual things, God has put His Word together so that we can know Him and be able to understand the things of the spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:11 tells us, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” Before Pentecost, God put His spirit upon certain people who He knew would speak for Him. Since Pentecost, we can have spirit in us, which will help us to know the things of God. A man of the senses finds it very difficult to believe that God can actually talk to and inspire someone to speak and write for Him. Why? Because it’s spiritual! 2 Peter 1:3 tells us, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” It is impossible to find out the things that pertain unto godliness except by the spirit. That means you have to be born again of God’s spirit.
Even with spirit, the things of God are so huge for our understanding, God’s Word helps us out by capturing so much of His greatness in figures of speech. These make it much easier for us to picture God’s goodness and His love. Psalm 1:1-3 show God’s power and love in a very wonderful, figurative way: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf shall not whither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” This is a wonderful promise for health and prosperity. All you have to do is look to God.
Unfortunately, the goodness of God in its fullness is not taught as it should be today. To make matters worse, it is a common habit in our culture, even amongst Christians, to blame negatives of any nature, on the one true God. This has been a very successful trick of the Devil from day one, because people don’t want to believe in a devil, that there could be such a thing as a devil, that the Devil is a bad angel and that the Devil is spirit. But it’s true! Sickness and death, destructive accidents and war are the results of the Devil and devilish influences. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
So you see, he is our adversary. You do have a spiritual adversary. In Luke 22:31, we read: “And the Lord said unto Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” This means to do whatever he wants: like a rag doll being tossed around without any freedom of will. That is not God’s will for our lives. Nobody in their right mind wants to be messed up like that. If you read the first line of Vs 32, it says: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…” Prayer is one of the great ways to deal with life in the spiritual realm. We’ve talked about that in previous articles, but it merits re-mentioning because this is one of the greatest lessons in life. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, 38 ”Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” This is the greatest lesson in life, and it needs to mean something to you or you might as well forget it. Jesus Christ was THE spiritual man of ALL spiritual men, and he did everything that was necessary for our redemption and salvation. There is nothing we can do in the senses realm to make ourselves good before God, and that’s great. It takes all the burden off of us because Jesus Christ put it on himself. He showed that life is spiritual: he declared the Father and he made it available for us to live a very abundant life. All we have to do is want to do it. Sounds like fun, huh?
Funglimpses and all. Thanks for reading. Respectfully submitted. Will Grove