REALITY OF SPIRITUAL THINGS
(week 15/01)
Olubi Johnson
One reason why so many Christians are weak and ineffective in their faith is because spiritual things are not real to them.
We must understand that God and the spiritual realm are tangible, real things that cannot be perceived by our physical senses
The fact that they cannot be perceived by our physical senses does not make them any less real.
In fact, the Bible reveals that God made the visible things we can perceive with our physical senses with spiritual forces that are invisible to us:
Hebrews 11:3 (NIV): By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
In our article this week, we answer, using Bible references, basic questions concerning the spiritual realm.
What is the spirit realm (world)?
A real place, but which cannot be seen, touched, tasted, heard nor smelt by ordinary physical senses.
Where is the spirit world?
All around us. It occupies the same geometrical space that the physical world (universe) occupies, but it extends far beyond the limits of the physical universe.
Who lives in the spirit world?
God, angels, Satan and his demons, dead Christians, and dead unbelievers all live in the spirit world.
God and dead Christians live in heaven (2 Cor.5: 8; 1 Thes.4: 14), far beyond the furthest star. The angels travel between heaven and earth (Gen.28: 12; Jn.1: 51), the dead unbelievers live in Hell, under the earth (Lk.16: 23; Mat.12: 40), and Satan and his demons occupy space around the earth, on the earth and below the surface of the earth (Eph.2: 2; 6:12).
What is the spirit world like?
Our physical world is just a copy of the spirit world. In parts of the spirit world (e.g. heaven), just like on earth, there are houses (Jn.14:2 ), transportation (2 Kg.2:11), roads (Rev.21:21), animals (Rev.19:11), plants (Rev.22:2), water (Rev.22:1), etc.
If we can’t see, taste, touch, smell, or hear the spirit world, of what use is it to us now?
Our physical world was made from the spirit world (God is a spirit and all things came from Him). The first thing God created in this physical world is light (Gen.1: 3), and light is the boundary between the spiritual and the physical worlds. Scientists have discovered that nothing in this physical world can move faster than the speed of light. Only spiritual things can move faster than the speed of light, which is why they are not visible or tangible to our natural senses. This can be better understood by considering the example of the blades of a fan. When the fan is off, the blades are stationary and can be seen clearly. When the fan is moving, however, the blades become a blur, and semi-transparent (they can no longer be counted). If it were possible to keep increasing the speed of the fan blades indefinitely, once they reach the speed of light then they would disappear completely from sight. This, however, would not do away with their reality.
The spirit world is, therefore, far more powerful than the physical world, and the power of the spirit affects what happens on the earth and in our lives everyday. The spirit world therefore cannot be ignored.
Examples of unseen forces in the physical world that affect visible things in our lives, just like spiritual forces do.
Television waves (invisible light): They are all around us now, yet we cannot interact with them unless we switch on the television.
Magnetic forces: A magnet uses an invisible force to do real work which we can see.
The wind: No man has ever seen the wind, but we can see its effect as it blows in the trees, or as it blows a wind mill which can be used to pump water or grind corn into flour etc.
How to make Spiritual things real to you
John 3:8 (NIV): The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is witheveryone born of the Spirit.”
Likewise, spiritual forces (which are greater than all physical forces) can also be harnessed to control things we can see. (2 Cor 4:18, Heb.11: 3)
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV): So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The unseen spiritual forces create and control the seen physical realities. That is why the physical facts in your life are temporary or subject to change.
For instance, the sickness in your body is a physical fact that can be changed to healing and health by the spiritual healing power of God in Jesus Christ released through faith in His Word that says ” by His stripes we were healed” (2 Peter 2:24).
For spiritual things to be real to us, we must have this understanding as shown from the Bible in the answers above and then more importantly pray in the spirit and then speak, meditate and act on the Word of God as a daily habit to fellowship with God.
As we do this we will be fixing our minds on spiritual things and after a while they will become as real or even more real to us than physical things.
