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Walking in the Supernatural Eagle’s Wings Ministries Walking In The Supernatural: Angels, Miracles and Signs & Wonders "In God's manifest presence all that remains is God's glory, not man's anointed gifts, ministry, opinions or abilities. Then you and I will have to do very little, yet great & mighty things will happen On the other hand, when you and I do "our thing", the results are few and there isn't much of God's glory in it." Tommy Tenney The Reality of the Spiritual Realm We need to understand the spiritual realm in order for even to move in the fundamentals of Christianity (such as prayer and healing). We need to understand that the spiritual realm is far more real and closer to us than we usually think or imagine. In fact the spiritual realm is far more real than the physical realm. Our earthly self, our body, is (due to the fall) not destined to live forever, and so the earthly realm itself is not due to last forever, but is finite in its existence. However, the spiritual realm is eternal, and from the spiritual realm, the physical was created. Let us be more focused on the eternal things of God than on the temporary things that we are too often caught up with. "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea". (Revelation 21: 1) In the modern society of many parts of the world, the spiritual realm is often forgotten, ignored and even denied. It is sad to say that the church usually fits this picture as well, and often those in the world understand the spiritual realm (although from their own perspective) better than the church does. Through the past several hundred years, civilisation has grown away from a belief in God and in the supernatural, which could clearly be seen in society even up to the late nineteenth century. With the dawning of the industrial and later the technological age, mankind began to find out more and more with regards to the world around him. His reliance on God became less, and along with the breakdown of community came a reliance on science and technological advancements. Science was seen as the answer. However, it is interesting to note how modern society is now reverting to a belief in the supernatural - not in pockets, but in the mainstream - as it has been discovered that science does not have the answers that it was thought to have. Walking In The Supernatural – Angels, Miracles and Signs & Wonders 1 Eagle’s Wings Ministries The Bible talks a lot about the (usually) unseen spiritual realm: “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.” (1 Cor. 4:18) “But He, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"” (Acts 7:55-56) What does "spiritual realm" mean? The existence of a "spiritual realm" is revealed in the Bible, which informs us that the spiritual realm is an invisible realm and its spiritual inhabitants are usually invisible to our natural senses. "A spirit does not have flesh and bones." (Luke 24:39) . Neither can we see our own human spiritual aspects, our personal spirits or our personal souls. In our earthly lives we already live in the spiritual realm, even though unfortunately we are often unaware of it, and some day after life on earth we will be wholly spiritual, living in God's spiritual realm. However, do we live in this reality or even in the knowledge of this reality? It is my belief that as we are made in the image of God and have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us, that we need to become aware of the spiritual realities that surround us. This earth and all that is within it will pass away, but heaven and the rest of the spiritual realm, including every spiritual being therein will last beyond all time. Time is a created concept of a passing reality; it does not affect the eternal reality of the spiritual realm. God exists outside as well as inside of the constraints of this physical realm, including time. Understanding of, and experience of the spiritual realm often increases our faith and our expectancy for the things of God, such as miracles, healings, prophecy, and above all, experience of God Himself. Our experience of the spiritual realm can come in many different ways, but surely the main one is by us spending time in intimate communion with God Himself. In these times, He shows us those things that are above and beyond the natural realm. We experience the presence of the One who made all things and dwells in the spiritual realm, we hear the voice of the One who called all things into being and we feel the love of the Creator of all things - both spiritual and natural. One of the tactics of the devil and all demonic spirits is to try and persuade people that there is no such thing as the spiritual realm, and so get them to believe that there is also no such place as heaven or hell. Walking In The Supernatural – Angels, Miracles and Signs & Wonders 2 Eagle’s Wings Ministries Conversely, the devil also wants to get people to believe in the spiritual realm, but not from a Christian perspective, and therefore “anything goes”. Some will follow organised religions such as Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism, whereas others will follow New Age beliefs and the Occult. One of the devil’s tactics against the Church is to get Christians and especially Christian leaders to doubt the reality of the supernatural realm. This can clearly be seen within some Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, where even such fundamentals as the virgin birth, the resurrection and Jesus’ miracles are publicly called into doubt and even denied. This diagram shows the 4 dimensions of space and time (height, width, depth and time) and how the spiritual realm (represented by the colour - exists above and beyond the physical realm, encompassing it and yet also interacting with it. Throughout history, God has at times broken through from the spiritual realm into the physical, such as with Moses and the burning bush or the incarnation of Jesus Himself. The Matrix The basic spiritual parallel of The Matrix is that computers have taken over the world and now keep the minds of mankind in a parallel world, in which they are completely unaware of the reality of the world in which they live. In their parallel world (the "Matrix" ) mankind is carrying on life as normal, whereas in the real world a resistance movement is fighting against the Walking In The Supernatural – Angels, Miracles and Signs & Wonders 3 Eagle’s Wings Ministries computers to free mankind, who in reality are plugged into machines, giving the computers the power they need to run the world. In one of the scenes from the movie, one of the leaders of the resistance, Morpheus offers Neo the choice of taking a "Red Pill" . By doing so, Neo will find out the truth of the world in which he lives, or if Neo chooses to take a "Blue Pill" , he will "wake up and remember nothing" , in other words not become aware of the truth. The spiritual parallel in terms of our Christian life is that too often we just continue in our own earthly life, seemingly unaware of the spiritual reality that lies behind it. As the Matrix has been created by the machines to blind mankind to the reality of the world in which they live, so the devil wants to use this natural world to blind us to the spiritual realm that exists above and beyond the natural. In another scene from The Matrix, Neo realises that he has the ability to control the Matrix ("There is no spoon!") . As with Neo, we need to realise that in God we have the ability to manipulate this natural realm, because in reality our spiritual man is above and beyond the natural. Natural laws bend and can be broken by the laws of the spiritual realm, which is above and beyond the natural. Think of Jesus walking on the water, ascending into the sky, turning water into wine or healing the sick. Think of Moses parting the Red Sea or the fall of the walls of Jericho. Think of the disciples healing the sick. Natural laws bend and can be broken. If we can get a hold of this principle in our own lives, we will begin to move in the creative power of God, we will see people healed and set free, and miracles and signs and wonders will take place in accordance with God's Word. Unlike Neo, our ability to bend and manipulate, or even break the natural laws (such as with Jesus breaking the law of gravity when he walked on water - followed by Peter in Matthew 14: 22-33 ), must come from God. We know that those who understand the spiritual realm and are not Christians can also manipulate the natural laws that exist, such as with Pharaoh's magicians. However we also know that God is far stronger and far more capable than any man or demonic spirit (see the account of Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18 ).
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