PrefaceSpirit Realm, Believers, and Angels |
I am very thankful that our Pastor Parker’s sermon “Who Is Your Real Enemy?” (8-10-14) brought clarity to our understanding that we are not only functioning and living in this earthly realm, but we are at the same time also functioning and living in the spirit realm. Sometimes we get so caught up in what is going on in this corrupt world that we forget who we are and where we are. Throughout the Bible, God’s word, we are taught that believers in Christ are IN the heavenlies.
What exactly does this mean? Let’s read Ephesians 1:3; 2:4-6; 6:10-13
Ephesians 1:3
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Ephesians 2:4-6
4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 6:10-13
10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
When does this happen for us? It happens the moment that we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Another of God’s scriptures can help us to understand what “ in heavenly places and in the heavenlies” mean. Jesus Christ has promised us that there would be trials and tribulations in this world, but He assures us that we will have peace and joy and overcome all because He has overcome the world. Read John 16:33: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. " What is the condition that we must meet in order to overcome tribulations? “..that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” This is the Lord’s promise to each of us in Him. Upon His death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus’ status changed and so did ours. Ephesians 1:17-23:
17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Jesus goes even further to assure us of being “in” Him and overcoming the world and its tribulation.
In John 17:6-15: Jesus prays for us that we might have His joy fulfilled in us; that the Father keep us from the evil one; that we be sanctified through God’s truth; that we be one with Him as He and the Father are one. How does the Father and Jesus Christ keep their word in protecting us?
John 17:6-15
6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
- By the power of His Name
- By His Holy Spirit
- By His saints
- By His Angels
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