C-12

How to Live in the Spirit

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 said, in above Scripture, that He was abiding

in heaven while He was living bodily on earth. How
can that be? He lived a life that was dictated by His
Spirit. Though He is God, He emptied Himself of His
divine glory and He took on the form of a
bondservant and came in the likeness of man.
Though He was perfect in His Spirit, soul and body
He was not moved by the observation of His bodily
senses or His heart’s feelings or anticipation of a
gut-feel or according to a conclusion of His intellect.
…I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught
Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is
with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I
always do those things that please Him (John
8:28b-29, emphasis added). He demonstrated to
us, the family of God, the Father-son relationship;
that is one’s total dependency on God and
complete obedience to His Majesty on high.

Jesus came to the earth to restore fallen man and

the broken universe by reconciling all things to God
in Himself. He came to reveal God as Father and
demonstrated to us how we should relate to Him as
sons as He intended it to be from the beginning. All
things God made must be viewed in the light of His
eternal purpose to bring forth many sons to glory.
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things
and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
to glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. For both He who
sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are
all one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call
them brethren (Hebrews 2:10-11, emphasis added).
When you came to believe in God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, God placed you into the body of His
Son. Because you are joined to Him you have
become one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17).
Just like when a man marries a woman and they
become one flesh likewise when you are joined to
Christ you become one spirit with Him signifying
you are married to the King. For your Maker is
your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name
(Isaiah 54:5a, emphasis added). You are not your
own but God purchased you with the blood of His
Son.

In Christ you became a citizen of heaven because

you are joined to Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). You
belong to heaven, which is situated in the spiritual
realm where God dwells, because you are born into
God’s family the ruler of the country called Heaven.
As a citizen of heaven you need to know God in all
your ways and not lean on your own
understanding. God who is Spirit can only relate to
you through your redeemed spirit. God, through His
Holy Spirit, reveals Himself and His ways to you in
your spirit.

Why must you walk in the Spirit? You are a king in

the kingdom of God and he set man over the works
of His hands. You need to live in the Spirit because
heaven is the place of God’s throne, the place of
His authority. Only from this realm you can truly
exercise authority and be obedient to Him. Then
His kingdom come because His will is being done
on earth as it is in heaven.

He, the King of glory came down from heaven, to

become like you and me that we can become like
Him, kings and sons; to rule and to reign with Him
and to relate to God as sons; concerned about the
Fathers family business – His kingdom. To rule with
Christ is not a promise to come into fulfillment one
day when you go to heaven but it can be yours now
if you can catch on to this vision of hope and
believe it and start walking in it now by faith. Faith
is not a future vision but hope points to the future.
Faith is always in the present, believing the vision
of hope for tomorrow enough to walk in it today. By
faith the promises of God, His visions of hope that
he placed in your heart, come to pass. The past is
just memories of good and bad times. There is
nothing you can do about the past, it is gone
forever. The focus of our faith is always in the
present.

Though Christ restored all things and reconciled all

things to God in Himself, you are still experiencing
lack because of God’s unfulfilled promises. You do
not experience your whole person and all creation
alive to God. Death, lack and incompletion are still
daily realities. You still labor in the sweat of your
brow to mainly satisfy the needs and desires of
your body of death. The whole creation still groans
and labors with birth pangs until now to be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God and we still
within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption,
the redemption of our body.

If Christ has brought all things into fulfillment when

He died and was raised from the dead you would
have been perfected and God would have placed
the perfection of His Son in you. You would have
been clothed with immortality in your body and
perfection in your spirit and soul.

At the moment Christ is not demanding perfection

from you but faith. The manifestation of His
kingdom can only come about as the body of Christ
reaches into it through faith. When the Son of Man
comes shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 8:18).
Faith is only to be found in the realm of spirit but
the Law applies in the natural realm where the
flesh reigns. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are
not under the law (Galatians 5:18, emphasis
added). This scripture implies that if you are not led
by the Spirit that you are under the law; the law is
not of faith but of works (Galatians 3:12). You can
only relate to God and others in the spirit, through
faith, hope and love; against such there is no law.
The fruit that you bear will be a witness of your
dwelling place because a tree is known by its fruit.

Though we presently live in a sphere of lack and

incompletion, it is the will of God for His family
(born-again believers) to live with their spirit in
heaven while being imprisoned in a body of death
on earth and tormented with a soul that is enmity
against God.

Your born-again spirit is the only part of your

being that is presently alive to God, which is able to
observe Him and His kingdom (Romans 8:10).
Through faith you can have a life in the Spirit
(heaven) while being on earth. How do you do it?
By constantly setting your mind on heavenly and
not earthly matters and in so doing be renewed in
the spirit of your mind that you may learn to
discern what the good and acceptable and perfect
will of God is. It is imperative to evaluate all things
through the eyes of the Holy Spirit; that is the way
to abide in the spiritual realm. But we have the
mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16b).

The soul of man lives in the psychic or soulish

realm and the physical body lives in the physical
realm. Thus, the lower sphere where the natural or
carnal man dwells consists of the soulish (psychic)
and physical realms. This is the realm of the flesh
and the world. If you are ruled by these lower
realms you will certainly die because you are
making a covenant with death and the grave. For
those who live according to the flesh set their
minds on the things of the flesh….. For to be
carnally minded is death (Romans 8:5a, 6a,
emphasis added). You are in the world (soul and
physical realms) but not of it, meaning that you are
not suppose to be ruled by the desires and
direction of your carnal soul as it is desperately
wicked because it is filled with the darkness of this
world (realm of the wicked one). This is to exist in a
doubtful frame of mind pursuing vain things. If you
are reconciled to God, raised with Christ from the
dead then be reconciled to His mind.

If the carnal mind, which is part of your soul, is

enmity against God your entire soul is enmity
against Him. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God; for it is not subjected to the law of
God, nor indeed can be (Romans 8:7). The soul
primarily consists of a mind (intellect), emotions
(feelings) and will. The heart [emotions and
independent intellect] is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked; who can know it (Jeremiah
17:9). To be led by how you feel (emotions) and
independent reasoning (carnal intellect) you are
fulfilling the desires of your flesh and of your carnal
mind (Ephesians 2:3).

Paul desperately desired to be freed from the

bondage of his sinful soul. His will, which is part of
his soul, failed him often. For what I am doing, I do
not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not
practice; but what I hate, that I do (Romans 7:15).
He erred by doing things or not doing things based
on how he felt or on the outcome of thoughts and
conclusions which he put or not put into action. This
is dangerous because an independent life from God
is death. Independence from God caused Adam to
die. Independence from God is the forbidden fruit
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanding the man, saying,
“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Our first
parents choose to sought knowledge and wisdom
independently from God; they died. For this reason
we must know God in all our ways and not lean on
our own understanding of things and matters.

Your bodily senses cannot observe God because

your body is dead to God because of sin. Your body
cannot respond to anything outside of the physical
realm. It cannot respond to the spiritual realm
where God dwells because it is dead to anything
outside of the physical realm; it is dead to the
spiritual and psychic realms. Because you
cannot feel God with your hands, or smell Him with
your nose, or hear Him with your physical ears, or
see Him with your eyes of flesh, or taste Him with
your tongue does not mean He is not there. Your
physical body is a prisoner of the natural realm
while God dwells in the realm of spirit. Your body
and God exist in two different worlds that is why
you are unable to observe, with your bodily senses
God who lives in heaven. You can only relate to God
through faith, hope and love, which is the three
doorways into the Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Flesh and blood cannot inherit or enter the kingdom

of God because it is in the realm of spirit where God
dwells. Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain that
Peter, James and John witnessed is a good
illustration of this truth. They observed the
transfiguration in a vision with the eyes of their
spirit because man’s bodily senses are limited to
observance in the physical realm and are unable to
observe in the spirit and psychic realms. 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).

If Paul knew flesh and blood could not 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). Through faith, Paul
lived a life where he saw himself bodily alive to
God. He knew that faith is the substance of his
hope to be bodily alive to God. If he is bodily alive
to God, his body can enter into heaven (spiritual
realm), hence his bold statement. He knew in God’s
books faith is reality and has nothing to do with the
time of its fulfillment (Enoch [without the Law] and
Elijah [under the Law] by faith put on immortality
before the time of the last trumpet).

A decision independent from God’s will (command)

caused Eve to be deceived and Adam to blatantly
rebel against God in disobedience. When the
branches were severed from the Vine they died.
Independence from Christ guarantees death,
darkness and deception. Christ is not death but the
Fountain of all life, not darkness but the Source of
all light, not deception or the lie but the beginning
and end and embodiment of all Truth.

Those who live according to the Spirit set their

minds on the things of the Spirit. This is to bring
into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ by meditating on things that are true, noble,
just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtues and
praiseworthy that they may be renewed in the spirit
of their mind.

How do you put this into practice? It is to know the

Lord in all your ways and not to lean on your own
understanding but to have the mind of the Lord on
all areas of your life and on all things of concern.

The first step is to formulate your problem or

issue or to read the Scriptures. My son, give
attention to my words; incline your ear to my
sayings. Do not let them depart from your
eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for
they are life to those who find them, and health to
all their flesh (Proverbs 4:20-22, emphasis added).
The word of the Lord is Spirit and life (life to those
who find the word; the word is health to all
their flesh). If you live in the Spirit (heaven) there
is no death but only life; you will live like Enoch and
Elijah and not die. The Lord has set life (lifestyle
according to the Spirit) and death (lifestyle
according to the carnal mind) before us. Let us
choose life and live.

Pay carefully attention to the information you need

to meditate on. If it is an answer or solution (e.g. an
invention) you seek, carefully look at the question
or problem. If you are searching for light in the
Scriptures, read the chosen passage a couple of
times and absorb as much as possible. You need to
have a good overview of the object of your
meditation. You need to have a good visual display
of the story in your heart. You must remember that
the Lord is always the main character in your story,
regardless of its content.

If you want to do Scripture reading it is wise to stay

in the flow of the word that is coming in your
church. It is a healthy habit to make notes of the
sermons. Choose a passage of Scripture that came
during the last sermon. Alternatively choose a
passage of Scripture that is relevant to what the
Lord is speaking to your own heart.

Some people may be on a course reading through

the Bible. Never take too big a passage of Scripture
to read. Just take a big enough passage that you
can handle otherwise you may grow weary and
loose interest. It is like eating too much food. If you
eat too much, a great deal of the nutritional stuff
does not get absorbed into your system.

After you have chosen the passage of scripture

read one time through the whole chapter to give
you clear background of the passage of Scripture
that you want to meditate on. Then read the
passage of Scripture prayerfully, visualizing the
story in your imagination. Do it for a second time
seeing yourself as part of the mental picture.

The second step is to meditate on the issue.

Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways
be established (Proverbs 4:26, emphasis added). To
be spiritually minded is life and peace.

It is important to look to Jesus when you meditate

or visualize. It is like discussing the matter with Him
but without using words, seeing a vision in mute
mode. When your meditation is filled with the word
and the Spirit then it is Spirit and life. If it is void of
the Holy Spirit it is as dead as a corpse. The letter
kills but the Spirit makes alive. Your focus on the
Lord and the word shows faith in God.

The third step is to pray over it. Ask the Lord to

unveil the answer to the mystery, the riddle in
Scripture or the problem you are facing. It is the
glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of
kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2).

You need to fear the Lord because the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Lord
resists the arrogance of the proud and the
irreverence of the impatient. To fear the Lord and
revere His person is a choice you make by faith. To
exercise patience is a choice you make. The Lord
gives grace to the humble and reward the patience
of the righteous. The Lord takes delight in those
that put their trust in Him. If you want to be led by
the Spirit of God, through His knowledge and His
wisdom, the first lesson to learn is to fear the Lord
and revere His holy name. Blessed are the pure in
heart for they shall see [revelation] God (Matthew
5:8).

The Lord sometimes but seldom answers you

immediately. When you meditate on the word or
waiting on the Lord for guidance you normally treat
it like interpreting a dream. God’s word is God’s
dreams for your life. Usually it takes time to find
the answer to achieve the breakthrough. So Daniel
went in and asked the king to give him time, that
he might tell the king the interpretation (Daniel
2:16, emphasis added). It is the Lord’s way of
drawing you into a relationship with Him, to teach
you to trust Him and to love Him regardless of
delays.

In Scripture the Holy Spirit normally gives you an

unfolding revelation of the will of God. So in
recording your revelation you can discover after a
week or longer what the Lord’s will is for your life or
you may discover what the Lord is working out in
your life. For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little (Isaiah 28:10).

Sometimes as you meditate on the word, out of the

blue, you will receive a witness from the Holy Spirit
concerning personal matters. This happens because
your spirit is open to God. Sometimes you need to
meditate and re-meditate over and over on your
object of meditation to get a clearer picture of what
the Lord is telling you. If you have a journal in
which you record your meditations on computer it
is easy to alter the content as it with time
becoming clearer to you. Personal matters can
sometimes not be verified in Scripture and mostly
you do not receive conformation of it. Time alone
can prove if it was a word from God or not.

The answer from the Lord is the vision of hope that

He placed in your heart. Without hope you will
perish. Hope is the foundation of faith. Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1,
emphasis added).

The final step is to exercise faith. When God looks

at you, He is not looking for perfection but for faith.
…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find
faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8b). The religious man
(man of flesh) always tries to impress God with
some level of perfection while the spiritual man
believes God. Faith is obedience that says, “God
I trust You, let us go for it!” When you believe God,
God sees the perfection of His Son in you. If you
persevere in faith you become faithful.

Enoch and Elijah walk with so much faith that they

started to experience the life and joy Adam has
experienced in the garden before his transgression.
They were not moved by their bodily senses but by
the word of the Lord. They were so full of life that if
God has not taken them they would have still
walked the earth.

Do not say it was Enoch and Elijah. Remember they

were men like us. Their faith brought substance to
a reality were they were alive to God in spirit, soul
and body, all things were subdued to Christ in the
one and only kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
As far as they were concerned the New Jerusalem
has come down and heaven and earth has become
one. In their world the will of God has being done
on earth as it is in heaven. They had so much life in
them that God had to take them.

Enoch and Elijah are shadows of things to come and

it will come to pass in these last days. Their vision
is our vision. Our vision of hope is for manifested
sonship: “Our hope is to be alive to God in
spirit, soul and body and to see all things
subdued to Christ as all kingdoms have
become the one and only kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ, in a realm where heaven
and earth is one.” Dare to believe God, He is
faithful and He will honor your faith. If you live the
way Enoch and Elijah lived and manifest their faith
you will reap their reward. It is not a big thing! God
is the fulfiller of the New Covenant in the blood of
His Son. You only need to walk (converse) with Him
and believe Him. He will honor your faith! Amen!