This Place Called In The Spirit
Saturday, May 24th, 2008April Exhortation
There is a place in the Spirit where we can live if we want to as God wants to meet us there. All the distractions and demands make this world a difficult place to live in the Spirit. But it s available.
#1 Get Face to Face with God
What He wants is an intense relationship with us. Prayer lists, praying by rote, repeating prayers over and over is offensive to God as He reaches out to embrace us, not for monotony, but for vitality. So He waits on us — to wait on Him.
The biggest battle is the waiting. The flesh wants to be busy but wait means wait. We try to fill the time with busy work. God says wait. We don t have to attract His attention; He sees us there. The Holy Spirit will manifest, then we can let Him lead the way and we won t waste our energy by praying our pathetic little prayers.
Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
The word watchful doesn t mean to use our eyes. Always doesn t mean 24/7. These words indicate an intensity. Reaching out to God with hunger from the depths. Beyond flesh.
#2 Allow Hunger for Him to Erupt in Your Soul
People that beg are in the flesh. Begging is not a Scriptural principle. A life open to the Spirit will be filled. We make our lives available to Him and seek Him with all our heart. He, then, breathes this hunger and thirst into us. A groaning that cannot be uttered is the intense hunger that we cannot produce on our own.
There are all kinds of prayers mentioned in the Bible and yes, there are prayer ABCs to learn, but that takes place in the Spirit. All the teachings about prayer are good, but they must be within the context of praying in the Spirit.
When our prayers fall flat, when they re dry, when nothing happens, quit. Praying in the Spirit is not hardship. Quit trying. Then wait. Persistent flesh prayer insults God. When we enter the Spirit, we have everything we want.
#3 Surrender Completely to the Lord
Praying in the flesh tires us out. Praying in the Spirit revitalizes us. Like Jacob, we are too dependent on the flesh. Jacob wrestled all night in the flesh but God is not looking for wrestlers. The Lord kept telling him to let go, and Jacob wouldn t. Finally the Lord touched his thigh so that he couldn t wrestle anymore. From that point on Jacob had to lean.
God changed his name from Jacob to Israel when he stopped wrestling and started leaning. When he leaned on the Lord he was no longer in the flesh, he was being carried by the Holy Spirit. At this point the Lord effectively said, now you are no longer a deceiver, you are no longer a liar, now you are a prince of God.
Praying in the flesh uses our own strength. The minute we quit praying in the flesh, we lean on God. God is looking for a person who knows how to lean on Him. The Bible does not teach independence. It teaches dependence. Total reliance, surrender to the Lord.
When we come to that place where the Holy Spirit manifests, we surrender. From that point heavenly things become a reality. Heavenly things become tangible, substance, powerful because the Spirit of Life is there. None of it is us. Now we say AMEN. The next morning the whole process begins all over again because the flesh cannot handle staying in the Spirit too long.
Very few men in the Bible lived in the Spirit 24 hours a day, but those few did not know sickness for one second. Why was Moses at the age of 120 as strong as when he was young? John, as an old man, was boiled in hot oil and it didn t burn him. Jesus lived in the Spirit and never experienced sickness. Paul, Elijah, Elisha lived in the Spirit.
That shows us it is possible to live 24/7 in the Spirit. God has that place for us if we want it. We can go to sleep with the Glory of God surrounding us and wake up with the Glory of God still there. We can see angels watching us and talking about us. We can know the will of God without having to ask.
That s what living continuously in the Spirit is like. But we might have to quit living in this carnal world to maintain that life, maybe move to a mountain to be secluded with Him. Most of us have seasons of living like this, but not a continuous life. It s in such seasons that revelations are imparted. We learn new things.
When we live in that spiritual realm, the body does not hunger for natural food. It is absolute heaven on earth. How did the Israelites live for 40 years eating only manna when the flesh craves variety? The Presence of God sustained them because He is the manna.
When the spiritual body is satisfied, the natural body is affected. In fact, some people actually glow. A light emanates from their bodies. Stephen s face shone like an angel. Why? He was living in the Spirit. It affects the appetite. It affects sleeping patterns. It affects the way we look. It affects health in a glorious way.
This is the realm in which God is calling us to live. In the Spirit it is impossible to hear the voice of satan. Jesus said His sheep will hear His voice, not the voice of a stranger. When the Holy Spirit is manifesting there is a spiritual reality that takes hold of the place where we are, not just our bodies. Everything in the room or the house becomes heavenly and victorious. It s like a piece of heaven on earth. Satan cannot penetrate that realm.
When we enter that place of being in the Spirit, it flushes out every worldly thought and every physical discomfort. We go from earth to heaven in a second! Time has no meaning. Five hours can pass and it seems like two minutes. But when we come out of that realm the darkness hits us like a two by four.
That realm of darkness is where we live in the flesh. It s impossible to pray in that darkness. That s why we must wait on the Lord to appear and change our atmosphere from darkness to light and then we can pray in the Spirit and what we pray will be the will of God.
In the Presence of Jesus what we thought we needed, we have. That Scripture: before they call I ll answer becomes real. Suddenly all the things we thought we wanted and needed don t mean a whole lot. He wants us to become vessels to obtain what He wants to give us and what He wants to give is beyond what we can ask or think.
Being in the Spirit is so easy a child can do it. What will erupt in our lives from being there will absolutely amaze us! Our desire should be to live in the Spirit every day of our lives.
We find this place called in the Spirit in the Old Testament. Evidently the Jews knew it, even though they did not have what we call The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues. So what we re talking about is not an exclusive place only achieved by praying in tongues. It s available to every Christian who trusts in and receives Jesus as Lord.
Please read Job 28 in its entirety. This chapter explains this place in the Spirit. Demons have never been there. Satan will not dare to come near. In the Spirit God literally removes obstacles. The rivers of the Holy Spirit wash us as God binds satanic floods. In the Spirit God reveals things to our hearts.
God s wisdom is found in the Spirit. You cannot buy wisdom with gold and silver. Only God knows that place and only God can take us there.
Please read Psalm 91 in its entirety. In the secret place we find the promises of God. What is the secret place? Where do the promises exist? – In the Spirit. It is here that the Word of God takes effect. It is under His wings that his truth becomes our shield.
In the Spirit fear disappears. Did the dangers disappear? No, they re still in the world, but they won t touch us when we live in the Spirit, that atmosphere of heaven. Angels show up when we are in the Spirit.
We crush the enemy in the Spirit. Stamping our feet and telling the devil we re crushing him, does nothing. We do it in the Spirit. In the Spirit we love God. We cannot truly love Him outside that realm. Use the name of Jesus inside that realm. The name of Jesus in the flesh does nothing. Answers to prayer come only in that realm. Long life is promised to those who are in the Spirit.
Saints of God, He invites us with all His heart to live with Him in that place called In The Spirit. Start by praying in the Spirit. Then learn to wait on Him to manifest day by day, then hour by hour, then minute by minute. Yes, we can do this in the grocery store, pumping gas, at work, at home, at play. The realm of the Spirit is always available. He s waiting.