Ben Shiller Jacob
When we look at the body of Christ, there is no distinction we could find in us from the world. Majority of the Christians live a life out of focus, design, powerless and lead a double life. Characters of the Bible were different class from us. Their lives were full of supernatural experiences and encounters, miracles and wonders. Because these men and women of God chose the unseen over the seen. That’s why apostle Paul said to the Corinthians,
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Apostle Paul understood the reality of unseen realms and had various experiences of ascension, out of body experiences, hearing holy angels’ languages, revelations etc. He got to know Lord Yeshua intimately perhaps even better than many of His disciples would have known Yeshua. After having supernatural encounters, invisible realms became clearer to him than visible realm. That is why, in many of his epistles, he mentioned the unseen realms quite frequently.
Early church Apostles focused on things that are invisible to their naked eyes. They chose not to look at the things that are seen. It is important to understand that there is a difference in looking from seeing. While looking is an active process whereas seeing, passive. When you look at a substance (could be anything such as animate or inanimate), your very being is involved in getting as much information as possible from the thing you are focusing on. In other words, you are gathering information through looking, building up a relationship between you and that substance. This process needs your energy and effort. On the other hand, seeing doesn’t need your energy and effort. You could be seeing a substance or a thing since you are passively attending, there is no development of relationship between the two. That is why, if we are passively involved, after some time, you don’t even remember what we were seeing.
Looking needs your heart whereas seeing doesn’t need your heart.
Paul is talking to the Corinthians that what makes him different from the worldly people is that he chooses to SEE when it comes to the physical things whereas he chooses to LOOK or NOTICE when it comes to the spiritual thing. It means that a spiritual man doesn’t judge or discern a matter using his physical senses rather he uses his spiritual senses in order to do so.
This revelation of activating our spiritual senses over physical senses will take a child of God to be victorious at all times, leaving no room to be offensive in his walk with the Lord. This is completely a choice to make in everyday life. It is up to us. Indeed, a great price to pay on our side.
When we look at the life history of our Lord Jesus Christ, the authority and power of darkness couldn’t outwit Jesus at any point. There were numerous times where He was mistreated, rejected, despised, oppressed, suffered, afflicted by His own family, followers, people. Yet, He was unoffensive, kept His peace, tight-lipped, rightly dividing things, offering justice, grace and loving kindness to all those who came to Him. It always amazes me that how could Jesus manage to be free from bitter, unoffensive and treat them with grace when He was mistreated. There is a secret behind Jesus successful ministry, being out of the grip of darkness in the book of Isaiah, in chapter 11,
3His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
Isaiah 11:3
The above prophetical verse is straightforward that how Jesus managed to judge the issues and matters He encountered during His life in flesh. To answer in simple words, Jesus IGNORED TO USE HIS PHYSICAL SENSES as if He was physically blind, deaf, dumb etc. Then being continuously led by the Holy Spirit to judge every matter by discerning through His spiritual eyes and ears.
Jesus rejected the information He received through His physical senses because they were altered, corrupted, and lies by the works of darkness. Indeed, Jesus knew how He should handle them because He is eternally God!
Shiller’s Takeaway
We, all who are born of the Holy Spirit, are required to be mature not to remain spiritually stunted. Our Father God desires to see us walking over the face of the earth just like Jesus walked victoriously. To achieve Jesus’ kind of life, we must adopt His techniques in our life. For that, we are required to ponder on the Scriptures about Him actively and put them into practice on a daily basis. This is one of many secret keys to reign over the kingdom of darkness: Actively using spiritual senses while being ignorant of physical senses!
Communion with a Contrite Heart
Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for being our ultimate Provider and Source. The Source of every good and perfect gift. We pray together that you open and activate our spiritual senses to see the unseen and walk completely as how Jesus walked in totally victory over darkness in Jesus’ name we pray – AMEN!