Is the spiritual realm simply symbol to our physical world? Is it only a mere picture of reality? Or is it as real as the physical world? Which one is more real? This issue has come up a lot in many of the discussions I have had in various threads. What say ye?
The Scripture says that the just shall live by faith. Another says, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but the life I live I live by the faith of the Son of God.
Therefore walking in the Spirit is a walk of faith. Because we walk by faith, believing what the Scriptures tell us, we have a greater awareness of the reality and presence of God with us. The Book of Hebrews tell us that solid food is for the mature, who by use and experience can discern between good and evil.
This is what people call the spiritual realm. It is not some type of altered consciousness or a state of being halfway between the physical world and eternity. The concept of a spiritual world co-existing with our physical world is a pagan Greek concept.
Therefore we must be careful that we don't go into New Age mysticism in our quest to enter a spiritual realm that might only exist within New Age spirituality which concentrates on the person having special spiritual consciousness and powers in the same way that an occult medium can communicate with guiding spirits in "the spiritual realm" and bring back the spirits of the dead from that "realm"; when in actual fact, these mediums are being guided by demons in disguise.
The Scripture says that there is only one God, one faith, and one baptism, and we all drink from the same Holy Spirit. The only realm in which we all equally walk is in the Spirit by faith in the promises of God, what Jesus has told us in the Gospels and what the Apostles have taught us in their letters. No one has special spiritual powers. That is tending toward sorcery. We access the power of God through asking Him. "Be not anxious for anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ" (Phil 4:6-7).
When we ask God to heal someone, and they get healed, it is not through some power like "electricity" going through us to the person. It is the direct application of the power God to the sick person, raising him up and making him well. When a person receives the gift of faith to achieve something mighty or impossible, it is God giving an absolute certainty of faith to the person, and then directly honouring that faith by His own power. It is not the person using faith as some kind of force to bring the result. That is sorcery in the same way Harry Potter uses his wand to achieve the impossible.
God doesn't work like that. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we are weak then He is strong. When Peter and John told the lame man to get up and walk, they said to the people, "Why are you looking ib us as though it was through our own power this man was made whole? He was made whole through the power of the Name of Jesus Christ". Maybe some of these TV healing evangelist who give us the impression that they have some special gift or power to heal people, should take a lesson from Peter and John!
