19 Living In The Spirit

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Living in the Spirit For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:13-14). In the beginning God created all things very good. The Lord created all things holy unto Himself, in Him, one with Him. The heavenly and earthly realms were one realm in God because in Him there is no division. God and Adam belonged to the same realm of existence because Adam was created in the image and likeness of God. By just being Adam, he spontaneously lived with God in the realm of Spirit, the realm of God’s eternal dwelling place. He lived and moved and had his being in God. He walked with God in the cool of the day, in the garden where heaven and earth were one. Adam was created the son of God (Luke 3:38), in God, one with God. God knew Adam and Adam knew God. Adam knew God as Father and God related to Him as His son. God found fulfillment in Adam and Adam found fulfillment in God. God created Adam’s entire being (spirit, soul and body) alive to Him. Because he was a living soul he predominantly related to God with his soul. It was no problem because his soul was perfect and his perfect body of dust was the servant of his perfect soul. Of cause he had a spirit but as he was created a living soul he predominantly lived by the dictates of his perfect soul. When Adam fell from perfection in God his perfect heart and soul that were filled with grace and truth became incurably deceived, incapable of knowing the truth. Truth is spiritual and belongs to the realm

of the Spirit. Flesh and blood does not have the capacity to know the Truth, who is Jesus our Lord that lives in heaven. Adam was no longer a living soul but a dead soul because he was dead to God. As sin entered Adam it delivered his entire being (spirit, soul and body) over to death. Thus, he became an enemy of God unable to please Him. Adam could no longer relate to God through his soul in holiness because sin marred it. Adam brought man’s soul in enmity with God. Since that tragic day the carnal mind could not subject itself to the law of God, nor indeed can it be because sin entered the heart of man. The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Hebrew: incurable); who can know it (Jeremiah 17:9). Sin placed Adam outside of God’s inside. Adam’s separation from God resulted in his and our death, as he was a branch severed from the Vine. Sin separated man from the presence of God. Adam, through sin, tore the universe of God, which was one realm, into two realms. Two symbolizes separation. Man was casted into the natural or lower realm of creation which is covered with a cloud of doubt and fear because it is void of the Spirit of God. It is broken because man had no excess to God who lives in the Spirit (heaven). Man, as a dead soul, found himself isolated from God, dwelling in the natural realm while the living God remained in His abode in the Spirit. God never changed but when sin entered into man he was casted out from life into death; fell from light into darkness and was transformed from truth into deception. Man changed from a living soul to a dead soul. Since Adam’s body was dead to God he could not observe Him with his natural senses. He could not see God with his natural eyes, hear him with his natural ears or touch him with the hands of his body. Adam who belongs to the natural realm, was not supposed to observe God or the things of the Spirit with his natural senses. He could not

relate to God with his sinful body of flesh. Neither could he relate to God with his soul because it was filled with deception and it stands in enmity with God. His sinful nature had no excess to God who lives in the Spirit (heaven). Since the day of the transgression it is deceptive and illusory to relate to God or the earth with the feelings, desires and emotions of a crooked heart and with carnal reasoning and understanding that do not perceive or understand eternal life in the Spirit. All life in creation lost its power when Adam ceased to abide in his Creator. Since the transgression man began to call on the name of the Lord in prayer because he yearned for that which he has lost in Adam; a life with God in the Spirit. Enoch (without the law) and Elijah (under the law) are examples of men that pressed on to know God and to walk with Him like Adam did in the garden. They desired to live with God in the Spirit. They achieved it through faith (Hebrews 11). By faith, man had to break through the cloud of doubt and fear that he may please God who lives in the Spirit in an atmosphere of eternal life, light and truth. The Lord is from heaven and man is from the earth. God is Spirit and His kingdom is in the realm of His Spirit. It is the will of God that His household from below should also dwell in the realm of His Spirit so that where He is they may be also. The good news is that Jesus, our Lord, made provision, two thousand years ago, for everyone that is in Him to live his or her live in His presence. It is not through your own efforts but through faith in Him that you receive His marvelous grace to live with Him in the Spirit. When He lives His divine life through you, you are more than an overcomer. When you came to Christ your spirit was made alive to God as you placed your faith in God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. God’s Spirit has birthed you

as a life-giving spirit in Christ. The moment that you were born-again, joined to the Lord, you became one Spirit with Him, a life-giving spirit. You were born-again into the image and likeness of the second Adam who is a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). Since you are a life-giving spirit, in Christ, you have the ability to express Jesus’ faith, hope and love because you are one with Him. Being born through the Holy Spirit you are perfectly fashioned a living spirit in Christ. However, you are still dead to Him in your body because of sin and your soul is still enmity with God because of the transgression (Romans 8:10, 7). You are alive to God in your spirit but dead to Him in your flesh (soul and body). That causes a war inside of you. It is a war between life and death; light and darkness and truth and deception. Your spirit is filled with life, light and truth while your canal flesh houses death, darkness and deception. For the flesh (carnal soul and body of death) lusts against the Spirit (which is one Spirit with your spirit), and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law (or any other form of legalism) (Galatians 5:17-18). All of us are still walking a great deal according to the flesh. To live according to the dictates of the flesh is to live your life independently from God, which is death. This is to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sin includes both evil and good and it is deadly because it is void of the life that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Evil is lawlessness and good is legalism that endeavors to justify oneself because of self-righteousness, which reigns in the members of sinful flesh. Legalism is void of life because it is void of faith in Christ which is one of the three doorways into the realm of Spirit or heaven where God dwells; hope and love is the other two. Man can only relate to God that is Spirit and who lives in the realm of Spirit

(heaven) through His Word in faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). God never gave man a choice between good and evil but between life and death. To walk according to the dictates of the fallen soul (lawlessness and religious flesh) is death but to walk according to your life-giving spirit which is one with the Spirit of Christ (Tree of life) in you, are righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. The members of your flesh manifest itself in accordance to the desires of your heart, emotions and feelings based on messages received from your five bodily senses that were interpreted by a deceptive heart and a carnal mind. How can truth ever flow from your feelings or from impressions received from your carnal mind? How can you use this as a basis of faith as if it is a word from God? Most often we are moved by our fallen souls instead of the Word and Spirit of God. When you are feeling good you have “faith”, you can manifest “love” and you have “hope” for the future. When you are down you are depressed, irritated and swallowed up in hopelessness. How can the feelings, emotions or wisdom of a broken soul ever be a reliable barometer of the truth? Your life-giving spirit responds toward the Word (revelation) and witness of the Holy Spirit in you, which is one with you. The Word and the Holy Spirit is one and will never contradict each other. To walk according to the Spirit is to operate with the faith, hope and love of Christ in you because He is one Spirit with you. He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him. Thus, if you relate with your lifegiving spirit to God, with one another and the earth you live no longer but Christ lives in you and He manifests Himself to the world. This is the way of the cross of Christ. To persevere in seeking the mind of the Lord in all things is wisdom that keeps you on the path of life. A lack of patience and perseverance often leads to much folly, which is death.

Your consciousness and awareness about heavenly things is in the realm of the Spirit of God. Your selfconsciousness and awareness about earthly things exist in the imperfect natural realm where uncertainty, doubt and fear of death suffocate you. The kingdom of this world and the lusts thereof will pass away but the kingdom of our God is an eternal kingdom, which cannot be shaken. How shall you as a Christian live your life in your mortal body of flesh? Present your natural (soulish) body of death to God as if it is a spiritual (resurrected) body that is alive to Him. Through faith you present that which is dead to God as if it is alive to Him and pleasing to Him – that which is not as if it is. You need to present your soul, which is enmity with God, as if it is alive to God, perfect and one with Him, in hope for the redemption of the whole man. Therefore you take every thought in captivity to the obedience of Christ and you present the members of your body as slaves unto righteousness (Romans 12:1-2). Not that you have attained bodily to the resurrection from the dead or made perfect in your soul yet or see all things subjected to Christ. But you present yourself in hope that the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead may quicken your mortal body so that you may bodily attain to the resurrection from the dead and be made perfect in your soul while living in this mortal flesh. This was the hope that Enoch and Elijah had. Hope does not disappoint. To live forever you need to inhale the air of heaven, which is His presence. To do so, you need to see your natural (soulish) body as a spiritual body in an atmosphere where heaven and earth has come together. You live this earthy life as if you are in heaven. It is easy. If you share Jesus’ live with Him the pressure to function in your own power is removed. It is easy if you share Jesus’ life because He has already

attained to resurrection life and was perfected trough His sufferings. He died for you that you may replace all areas of your life with His, which is divine perfection. You just flow with Him all the time, sharing his faith, hope and love. Use your imagination and visualize it. The more that you focus on Jesus, meditate on sharing His life with Him and you practice it, the easier it becomes. It is too lonely to struggle with an imperfect prayer life of your own. Share His exciting prayer life with Him. This is true fellowship with Him. You should abandon your imperfect relationships and share all His perfect relationships with Him. Can you see how easy it becomes now? Just remember that a faithlife is exciting to your spirit but not comfortable to the flesh. If you are faithful in practicing this lifestyle you will discover what I mean. Faith changes the status quo in the books of God. Though you may not have attained to the resurrection from the dead and not being made perfect in your soul, faith is the substance of your hopes and dreams, the evidence of unseen realities. When God looks at man He sees man as he thinks in his heart he is, for so He sees him (Proverbs 23:7). Moreover, what you think in your heart, good or evil, you have already committed (Matthew 5:28). Through faith, and faith alone, you procure substance in the Spirit for your own good or own destruction. This is the righteousness of God through faith. Enoch (without the law) and Elijah (under the law) are living proof that since the transgression man could attain to resurrection life and perfection of the entire man if he or she believes God for it. If you see yourself alive to God, your faith brings to life your entire being. Your spirit is already created alive to God through new birth. Through faith you brought to life your body of death and fallen soul as if you have attained bodily to the resurrection from the dead and as if your soul has been made

perfect. Through faith Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, “Take, eat this is My body.” He took the cup with wine, gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28). What did the disciples see? They saw bread and wine. What was it in reality? It was the body and blood of the Lamb of God, because Jesus believed it. Likewise, if you present yourself a living sacrifice unto God though, you do not see your perfection yet or you do not see all things being subjected to Christ, your perfection is what God sees. It happens according to your faith. Your faith is an expression of your hope to bodily attain to the resurrection from the dead and to be made perfect in your soul because you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. You believe that you have died with Him and were raised with Him. You cannot serve God in a Biblical manner without involving your entire being, your spirit, soul and body. Do you know how simple faith is? Faith is expressed all the time in your thoughts, attitudes, words, works and daily walk. Your whole existence consists of expressions of faith. Some expressions of faith are vanity (unbelief), which is sin but living faith leads to eternal life. It is all a matter with which part of your being, you relate toward God, men and the rest of creation. If you relate and live according to the dictates of your dead soul (flesh) you will surely die but to relate and live as a life-giving spirit is the path of life. To believe to attain bodily to the resurrection from the dead and to be made perfect in your soul in this life, without a dedication to live as a life-giving spirit, is wishful religious thinking. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13, emphasis added).

If we sincerely set our hearts to walk with the Lord and fall, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2). Take one minute to repent by restoring your focus on Jesus. You fell because you looked at yourself. It is not your ability, but Christ’s ability in you. He is the only hope of glory that the Father has given you. It is all about His power and ability. Everything is about the Fathers business; His family. His army, His city, His family and His bride is the same. To love God and His interests, is what we are living for, not ourselves. When we love one another He anoints us with the oil of gladness and the bond of peace in Him prevails. Every manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ, in us, brings forth His eternal kingdom. Now that you are flowing in His faith you create with Him substance in the realm of spirit according to the vision He has placed in your spirit, which is according to the anointing that is working in you. You share Jesus’ life with Him as you live no longer but He lives in you. Not that you have already attained, or already being made perfect but in hope that you may attain to the resurrection from the dead in the same manner as Enoch and Elijah did. Paul lived a life filled with faith in God and Jesus Christ. He said that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, which is in the realm of Spirit. To illustrate: we know that Peter, James and John witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain. They observe the transfiguration in a vision with the eyes of their spirits because flesh cannot see in the realm of Spirit but natural senses are limited to observance in the natural realm. Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead” (Matthew 17:9, emphasis added). How then did Paul testify about him being caught up into the third heavens not

knowing if he was in heaven with his spirit or with his body? If he knew flesh and blood cannot enter into heaven or see heavenly things why did he deem it not strange for his body to be caught up into heaven. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a one was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2, emphasis added). Paul saw himself bodily attained to the resurrected from the dead and he saw his soul made perfect in Christ. He saw heaven and earth as one realm where all things are subjected to Christ. That is how he lives his life. Paul presented his body continuously a living sacrifice to God as if he has attained to resurrection life and be perfected in his soul in hope that the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will quicken his mortal body. He brought every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ that he may be renewed in the spirit of his mind in hope that when his obedience is fulfilled all disobedience in him will be punished. He was determined that his carnal mind and emotions will not govern his body but his spirit, which rule it from the spirit of his mind. That is the part of him where the light of the glory of the Word of God is seated, which is the seed of God that cannot sin. Paul knew that God saw him the way he believed in his heart he is, hence the bold confession of his believes. Your redeemed spirit which is one with the Spirit of Christ is all the time in the realm of Spirit as its substance is spirit and it is alive to God. That is the part of your being that is open to God and His kingdom; it is that part of you that cannot sin. Your fleshly nature (fallen soul and mortal body of sin) belongs to the natural realm. It is that part of you that is aware of self (own feelings, emotions, desires, personal views and subjective reasoning) and the things that can be observed with the five natural bodily senses. Your fleshly nature cannot observe the things of the Spirit. These two natures

in you, the spirit and the carnal flesh, is constantly in war with each other for the control of the members of your body. If you are in the flesh you can only observe that which is in the natural realm where death, darkness and deception reign. To observe and experience that which is in the Spirit, where God dwells, you need to enter the realm of Spirit through faith in God. You live two lives in two different places at the same time; with your spirit you live in heaven and with your flesh in the natural. No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven (John 3:13, emphasis added). Jesus told Nicodemus that He lived in heaven and earth at the same time. If you are predominantly aware of the things of the Lord – how you may please God, you live your life in the Spirit. But, if you are predominantly aware of the things of the world – how you may please yourself, you live your life in the flesh. To live in the Spirit your spirit constantly needs to be open to God. It means that you primarily relate to God and to the earth with your life-giving spirit. It comes by practicing your spirit to be aware of the things of the Spirit (kingdom of God). To exercise and discipline your spirit is very real experiences. Nothing come by itself, you need to exercise your spirit in the ways of Godliness. To be aware of God and the things of the Spirit is very real. It is through knowing the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24). It is wisdom to constantly focus on the Lord and to have a deep and tender relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is the heart of a walk with God. Pray much and give yourself to meditation in the word. This is to put all your hope and faith in the Lord. In a nutshell, living in the Spirit means that the faith, hope and love of Christ

continuously flow through you. In all things it is about the will of the Father to the glory of His name. The character and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is His glory, should continually be the centre of your focus, attention and meditation. A focus on Him magnifies His glory in your heart resulted in you seeing Him more clearly with the eyes of your spirit. Where your treasure is there the focus of your heart shall be also. It is all a matter of focus. When you see Jesus with the eyes of your heart your spirit opens up to the Holy Spirit so that you may know the Lord in the power of His love. Pure spiritual activity takes place in the realm of the Spirit. It involves faith, hope and love which is the doorways into the realm of Spirit where God dwells. When you are predominantly aware of God (spirit is open to God) you find yourself in the realm of His Spirit. Prayer and meditation on the word is of the most important spiritual activities. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). Prayer comes first than the word. We should not reverse the order which the apostles have established through the wisdom of the Lord. Prayer and worship invites the presence of God that set the platform for our hearts to be receptive for His word. Pray without ceasing. Paul prayed more than anybody else in tongues. I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all (1 Corinthians 14:18). First pray then give yourself to the word (reading but specially meditation on the word). I do not, at all, imply to neglect the word but to follow the way of those who paved the way. In our generation most saints are devoted to the word but neglect prayer. The saints love to read the word but also neglect meditation on the word. Meditation of the Scriptures is the way to absorb the word into your system. According to the Acts 6:4 first pray then give yourself to the word. In all that you do, do

not become self-conscious and self-absorbed. It causes you to turn from the truth in the Lord to the deception that is in your fallen nature. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:3). Everything you do is for the glory of God; it is to give yourself for the homeless, widow, orphan and the needy; for every one that calls on the name of the Lord. Faith in God and compassion toward others is the path of life. If you depart from the truth, you are in deception. It is all about the kingdom of God and not yourself. Another key is to use your imagination to the glory of God. Christ said if you look at a woman to lust after her you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. If you hate somebody you have killed him. This is two of many examples in Scripture on which I base the principal of using your imagination. If there is a negative there must be a positive also. As a man believes in his heart so is he. Faith came by a revelation from God. We should pray according to the will of God. So I do use my imagination in meditation to search the mind of the Lord, in prayer, in all areas of my life. It is wisdom to know the Lord in all your ways and not to lean on your own understanding. How do I do it? I focus on the Lord and the issue of concern simultaneously while praying or meditating on the Lord. Answers seldom come instantly. Patience and perseverance is the way of the Spirit. Never tense up for it is a sign of doubt; just relax all the time, the Lord is always on time. Naturally, you are going to make mistakes, how else will you learn. Just relax your body and mind and enjoy the Lord. I tell you, the Lord is fun! You may say I am at work how can I focus on the Lord? It is wisdom to know the Lord in all of your ways and not to lean on your own understanding. You may be busy to solve a problem or you may work on a project. Relate to Him as your superior. I

promise you, He is much more than an imaginary friend – the Lord of glory is very real! Believe me, He is full of humor, joy and laughter but at certain times He can also be frightening awesome. It is wisdom not to attempt to bring Christ into your world but to ascend into His. Live your life where He is. He went to prepare you a place so that where He is you may be also. What a miserable existence if you wait for heaven to live in the Spirit. By faith, you can live heaven now!