Hi Everyone
This Bible Study is a continuation of last week’s, so it will be very useful if you go through last week’s (“Through the Looking Glass”) before following on to this one.
Do listen to the audio as you follow the notes below.
Pray this blesses you!
Chris
God is Spirit
God’s realm is the realm of the Spirit:
John 4:24a God is Spirit…(NKJV)
We were in the same realm in the spirit in the Garden.
God Restored Our Spirits
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)
We are redeemed, restored. Like a home destroyed by fire, we were rebuilt from the ground up, completely new again.
We Still Live in the Flesh…
Galatians 2:20 (fragment) …the life which I now live in the flesh…(NKJV)
In our analogy of the blind man, the other “4 senses” continue to operate, even when we start to see. There are things that a blind person continues to use his hearing for, even if his sight has been restored, like listening to people speaking or listening to music. However, his sense of sight dominates, so that he can tell is he is hearing a man talking or a recording of a man talking to him being. If like fashion, our 5 senses are OK as long as they are driven by our awareness of what is in the spirit, the realm of walking by faith, not sight.
…but now have FULL Access to the Spirit
Things of the spirit are more important than things on the earth, just like what we see is more important than what we hear. However, while we have full access, it takes us believing in God’s Word bit by bit to start to see clearer and clearer, like a blind man having his vision restored for the first time, a little at a time.
That’s why Paul says
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (NKJV)
This is our task. It won’t happen without our wills.
Jesus said
Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. (NKJV)
The laying up part is ours to do. This is done by seeking the things of the Kingdom and God’s righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
The Word is the Access
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (NKJV)
The Word is the entry point into the things of the spirit. Things that do not add toward eternal purposes have no value. We need to be constantly conscious of this.
John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (NKJV)
This word was for the believing Jews. If we live in His Word, we are His disciples. If we don’t actively seek Him in His Word, we cannot be considered to be His disciples. We might be Christians by name, but disciples need to know His Word.
Every area of truth that we know intimately, the things that become our nature, sets us free in that area. If we have learnt that it is better to give than to receive, for example, and because we take that into us so much that it becomes our nature to be generous because of this promise of our Lord, we become free from the bondage of covetousness. We start to operate in the blessing of the promise!
Who Do You See in the Mirror?
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)
Each time we encounter God in the Word, we are seeing ourselves as we really are in the Spirit. We start to realize that what our other senses have been telling us isn’t always true. It’s like a blind prince who was convinced by those around him that he was a poor beggar from birth. Once he starts to see that he is really a prince, his outlook in life, the way he thinks and operates, will start to change. The only difference is that the huge gap from being a mere human being to being a son of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, is an infinitely greater jump, something that will take us all of eternity to fathom!
In the Looking Glass – The New You
1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. (NKJV)
It is mind blowing, but we are like Christ in this world. That’s why Jesus had the right to send us as the Father sent Him!
John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (NKJV)
It would otherwise be very unfair! Know this, that there is great power in us because of the Holy Spirit in us that we need to tap into:
Ephesians 1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (NKJV)
Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, (NKJV)
But is works according to our belief. If we aren't fully convinced that we are God’s sons or daughters, if we still see ourselves as unworthy, incapable, we won’t enjoy this. It is not us, but Him working in us.
Spiritual Maturity
1 Corinthians 2:6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
God in us gives us tremendous wisdom, not the wisdom of the world, but His wisdom. God ordained the wisdom for us, for our glory! Such is the goodness of God!
Many will read verse 9 and conclude that these great things are not for us to know, but when we read verse 10, it says:
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, yes even the deep things of God!
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
God has shared freely with us His Spirit and the knowledge of the deep thoughts that He has. We are truly one with Him, and according to our belief, can start to understand His thoughts richly!
Each person is the master of his very own deepest thoughts. Imagine if someone could tap into your brain and see your deepest thoughts, your motivations, your fears. Would that make you feel vulnerable?
In the same way, no one knows the very deepest thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God, yet He has shared these with us! God is so pure and holy that He has NO fear in sharing these with us!
All His thoughts are good, holy and pure Jeremiah 29:11 and His will for us is good, acceptable (well-pleasing) and complete, consummate and perfect Romans 12:2 .
Philippians 3: 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. (NKJV)
Which is why Paul was always pressing on. We never arrive, but we must be on our way.
We will never have this whole relationship with God figured out but we must never stop!
Philemon 1:4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)
Paul praises Philemon, saying that it is in the acknowledging of every good thing in him because of the finished work of Christ that makes his sharing of faith effective.
Ask yourself, apart the promise of salvation, what other good thing came into your life because of Jesus’ finished work on the Cross? As we start to know more and more, the sharing of our faith becomes increasingly effective.
Spiritual maturity is marked by knowing who you are in Him, what He has made you to be!
1 Corinthians 2:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (NKJV)
These are spiritually discerned, from the Word of God. We can actually, through the Word of God, “instruct” God in His promises. Truly, we have the mind of God and this manifests more and more as we are renewed in our thinking by His Word (Rom 12:2).
Spiritual Immaturity
1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (NKJV)
If our lives on earth as Jesus’ disciples do not differ from those around us, then we are carnal. If there is envy, strife and division, if our lives are just as defeated, depressed and we as discouraged as the next guy outside, it means we really need to get into God’s Word more, live by the Spirit and start to realize more who we are in Him.
Get Into the Spirit: Get Into the Word
The Parable of the Sower and Soils is often viewed from the perspective of salvation; who hears and gets saved. However, I believe it is richer than that. Each area of the Word sets us free in that area according to the same principles of this parable.
Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. (NKJV)
Areas we hear but don't understand are areas the devil steals. All in not lost – we can continue to sow and sow again. When we put ourselves in a position to be sowed on, by reading the Word, coming for Bible studies (esp. on Friday Nights ), listening to good sermon messages, we will be sowed on again and again and it gives the devil less chance to steal!
Matthew 13:20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. (NKJV)
When we hear, we must listen. We must take the Word into our hearts by thinking and meditating on these, letting them play in our mind. This is the process of growing roots. The part we have to be grounded in is in the love of Christ (Eph 3:17). Once the roots grow, we won’t wither away.
Matthew 13:22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. (NKJV)
This is laying up treasure. We must be determined not to let the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke.
These cares and deceit are the pot-banging the devil does next to the blind in the spirit to scare them. If we keep our eyes focused on what we see in the Spirit, we won't be frightened and we won’t be this type of soil.
Note that the devil does not seek to choke our church attendance, our serving in ministry, not even good works we do in our own strength. He goes for the jugular for he knows what matters – he seeks to choke the Word!
Matthew 13:23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (NKJV)
When we stay in the Word and refuse to let go, when we walk by what we see in the Word, when the Word takes root in our lives, changes the way we think and eventually the way we act, we start to bear fruit! It is a process, not a one-time event. That’s why Paul says to “press on”!
The Take Away
- The realm of the spirit is the real realm. Flesh profits nothing.
- Understanding the things of the Spirit is growing into maturity. We NEED to understand this process to grow in the Lord. This is laying up
- Accessing things of the spirit is getting a hold of what God has already done in us in the spirit through the finished work of Christ and living by faith in these. If He said it is done, we believe it is done and we walk by these.
- Spiritual truths cannot be accessed by the carnal mind, no more than colour can be expressed to a man blind from birth.
- The more we lay hold of that which Christ laid hold of us (in the spirit realm), the more we are growing into maturity.
- We need to understand more and more the things that are ours because of the Cross.
No comments:
Post a Comment