Part 1

Last time we were together we discussed the fact that God is 3 persons in one. If you have not read that yet, I encourage you to go back and read it first. This post builds upon that post. 

Can You Really be in 2 Places at Once

You are simultaneously walking on this earth and in Heaven by your spirit. And the cool part is, you don’t have to fully understand how this works in order for it to be true. That’s why Proverbs instructs us to not lean on our own understanding, but to trust in Him with your whole heart and to acknowledge God in all your ways, knowing that He will guide you and direct you on the right path. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Ephesians 2:4-6 (ESV) explains, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (emphasis added) 

Obviously we are not seated in heavenly places in our physical body, nor is our mind and will there. It is through our spirit that we are currently seated in heavenly places because our spirit is in Christ and Christ is in Heaven. Therefore if our spirit is in Christ and Christ is in Heaven, then so our spirit is also in Heaven.  

If this concept is hard for you to understand and agree with, I encourage you to take a look at what Paul says in Philippians 3:14-15 (ESV), “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” The Holy Spirit will reveal to you the truth regarding this matter. Just seek him and ask him for understanding. 

Scroll Written in Heaven

Did you know God has written books about you in Heaven? We see this in Psalm 139 and 40. 

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139‬:‭16‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬ (emphasis added)

“Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:7-8 (ESV) (emphasis added)

If God has written a book about our lives, how do we know what is written? How can we know we are in his will if the book he wrote about what he wants for our lives is in Heaven and we are here on Earth? How do we know what these scrolls say about us? 

Remember how our human spirit is seated with Christ in heaven? What if our spirit can read those books and then relay those messages back to us? How would that work? We will get there in just a minute. 

How Does Your Soul and Body Communicate?

Your mind and your body communicate with each other all the time. You may not even realize this is going on. Think about when you feel hungry. Your stomach tells your brain that you need to eat. Then your mind thinks about what you should go eat. This is your body communicating with your mind so you can think about what to eat. 

On the flip side there are people who are emotional eaters. Their mind is cluttered with anxious thoughts or are sad about something that happened. As a result their mind tells their body they need to eat to feel better. This is an example of your mind communicating with your body. Sometimes our bodies and minds communicate clearly with each other while other times the communication lines become twisted and confused. When you feel bad and think you need to eat, your soul is not communicating with your body clearly. You don’t need to eat. You need to spend time with the Lord and allow him to help your soul sort out these big emotions. 

How Your Spirit Communicates with Your Soul and Body

We’ve seen how our body and our soul communicates with each other. How does your spirit communicate to your soul and body? In my experience my spirit will most often communicate to my soul. 

The Holy Spirit will communicate with us to do his job as the revealer of truth, helping us to remember what we have been taught in the Bible, and intercede for us. 

How does he do that? Does he come in the flesh and speak to our flesh? Does he go to our soul and talk to our mind, will, and emotions? Well, yes, sometimes he will do those things. However, most of the time he comes to our spirit and tells our spirit what they need to know. It’s our spirit’s job is to relay that intel to our mind, will, emotions, and bodies.          

How does your spirit relay these messages to the other parts of your being? I have come to learn that there are several different ways in which this can occur. 

Visions 

Brett’s spirit delivers messages in this way a lot. While he is in prayer the Lord will show Brett what is going on in the spiritual realm by showing his mind pictures, almost like a movie. His spirit is doing the work and showing his soul via his mind what is going on. His spirit is able to go to places his physical body can’t go…yet. 

We see this in the Bible in the book of Revelation. John’s spirit went to Heaven and saw and experienced all sorts of things. Jesus told John this vision is the revelation of Jesus himself. 

Think about some of the things John saw and experienced that would be crazy to see or experience in the physical world. In chapter 1, John’s spirit saw Jesus in a way he had never seen him before. It says in Revelation 1:14-15 (ESV), “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.”

That description of what Jesus looked like would be insane to see in the physical. In the spiritual it’s “normal.” I mean think for a minute about seeing someone with eyes like fire. That would be terrifying, but in the spirit there is a better framework for seeing things like this. 

John’s 2nd Time Seeing Jesus

 In chapter 5 we see Jesus again. This time he is seen by John’s spirit as a lamb slain with seven horns, and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God that are sent out to the earth. It says in Revelation 5:6 (ESV), “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” 

Then in Revelation chapter 17 we see John’s spirit being carried away and he sees a beast with seven heads and ten horns. “And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭17‬:‭3‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

Can you imagine walking out in a field and seeing a beast that looks like this? In the flesh it’s crazy, but in the spirit it’s not.

John isn’t the only person recorded in the Bible to visit Heaven in the spirit. 

Ezekiel went to Heaven and saw: 

“In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands.

And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. And each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.” ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬, ‭5‬-‭12‬ ‭(ESV)‬

That is some pretty weird things if we saw such creatures in our physical realm! God had a purpose for showing Ezekiel such amazing things in the spirit realm, even if Ezekiel didn’t understand the purpose in his lifetime. 

Isaiah went to Heaven: 

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

Obadiah:

“The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!” Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” Obadiah‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

There are many more examples in the Bible: Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, the prophets Nathan, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Obadiah. In the New Testament, the Lord revealed visions to Jesus, Peter, James, John (Matt. 17:9), the two Mary’s and Joanna (Luke 24:10,23), Ananias, Cornelius, and Paul. I encourage you to search it out yourself. Notice how many times it says someone saw something in a vision. Their spirit was relaying messages to their soul via vision. They could do this in the Old Testament because the Spirit of the Lord was upon them. It was usually for a time, but not a common experience because the Holy Spirit couldn’t yet dwell inside them since Jesus hadn’t died on the cross yet.

Hearing a Message in Your Mind 

Have you ever been in prayer and asked a question, only to instantly know the answer to that very question? This is an example of hearing a message in your mind. In this case your spirit will relay a message from the Holy Spirit to your soul. 

Other times you may be in prayer and suddenly the Lord starts speaking to your mind. He may give you a message regarding the current situation you are in. Sometimes he will give you a clue as to what will be happening in the future. Let’s take a look at two guys from the Bible who received messages in their minds and wrote them down. Let’s take a look at two guys who both received the word of the Lord. 

Jeremiah:

Jeremiah was a prophet in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah‬ ‭36‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭(ESV‬‬) we read, “In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today.” 

John the Baptist:

Again we see John the Baptist getting a word from the Lord. “during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

How did these words come to John and Jeremiah? The Holy Spirit was upon them and relayed the message to their human spirit, which in turn relayed the message to their soul via the mind and their physical body wrote or proclaimed what their mind heard. 

We are going to pause here and pick back up next time with three other ways your human spirit can receive a message from the Holy Spirit and then relay that message to your soul or body. Join us next week for the conclusion of this series.