I’m an early riser and my favorite part of the day is the time before dawn, when the world is still quiet and it’s just me and the Lord. I got up this morning and it seemed like any other day, except this morning I was distracted. I couldn’t seem to focus on what I was reading in the Bible, and when it came time to just talk to the Lord and listen for what He wanted to tell me, I couldn’t hear a thing. Nothing. Now you might think that I’m not alone in this problem and I’m sure I’m not. But what I would like to share with you is how I overcome these kind of mornings. What exactly do I do, to push through the darkness, the distractions, the worries, and the cares of life?
Let me ask you a question first of all and you’ll understand why in a moment. What would your life be like, if you did not have any physical senses? How about if you were just missing one of those senses, like for example, your ability to see? Or how about your ability to hear? How about taste, or touch or smell? Which one would you be willing to give up? I think that most of us would answer quite readily, none of them. And why would that be? Because our physical senses connect us to the world around us. They allow us to interact with other people, to enjoy creation, to read a good book, listen to music, or enjoy a good meal. The list of things that we do with our senses is endless. Life would literally not be the same if we were missing even one of them. But how about all of them? What would your life be like, if you had no physical senses? None? Think about that for a minute.
With that thought still fresh in your mind, I want to show you a verse in Hebrews that you might have missed, or never really thought about. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14
Did you catch the word senses? Now I know that whoever wrote this book did not mean our physical senses. He’s referring to the spirit realm when he talks about discerning both good and evil. Paul tells us quite plainly in 1 Corinthians 15:44 “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body“. Jesus Himself tells us in several of the gospels “My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, Fear Him!” Luke 12:4-5. So what exactly is cast into hell? The spiritual body. The eternal body that each of us have.
Now let’s go back to Hebrews 5, where we are told that in order for us to become spiritually mature, we must learn to use our spiritual senses. The word used is exercise. It means exactly that. Just like you get better at biking or jogging by doing it over and over, you must exercise your spiritual senses. In other words, you must use them regularly, in order to get better at using them.
I remember when I first learned this, I was a little overwhelmed. Wait, I have a spiritual body? Ok, technically I knew that. After all I knew that this part of me, my spiritual body, would spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. But no one, and I mean no one had taught me that I was to somehow use that body here on earth. I thought, or maybe I didn’t really think, that it was just something for the future. Something that somehow came alive when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, but then sat there dormant. I’m not sure what I thought. Perhaps my spirit man was just hanging out, loitering around in my physical body, doing nothing. Waiting for eternity. I mean, come on, be honest, unless you’ve had any teaching on this, what else would you think?
But what if I was actually supposed to utilize this spirit man? What if I am actually told to protect this spirit man? Yes, I said protect. Why else would Paul tell us in Ephesians 6:11-16 to put on the whole armor of God? Now if you read this passage, it becomes quite clear that He’s not telling us to put on physical armor. No, he tells us quite plainly that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” So which body am I supposed to put this armor on? It has to be my spiritual body! But how can I put armor on a body that I’m not even aware of? And that is the problem, isn’t it? We are not aware of our spirit man, we have not learned to exercise our spiritual senses, and we have left our spirit man unprotected. I will not lie, but confess openly, that this passage in Ephesians has always puzzled me. I could never really figure out how I was to put this armor on.
Remember all those physical senses and how much they help us to communicate with the world around us? Now imagine if you were aware of your spirit man, and your spiritual senses were functioning as they should? Imagine how different your spiritual walk would be?
My mother died 14 years ago this past Spring. I remember the night before she died, as I was driving away from the hospital, I asked the Lord why He hadn’t taken her home yet. She was suffering greatly, and I couldn’t understand why she had to linger on. I will never forget what He said to me during that dark evening. He told me that when He had finished all the work on the cross that needed to be finished, the Father allowed Him to die. See John 19:30. He then proceeded to tell me that when my mother finished all the work that she needed to do, she too could die. Although I was perplexed, I trusted Him. The next day my brother who had been estranged from my mom for years came to her hospital room and they were reconciled. Within one hour of his leaving, she died. Her work was finished. Why am I sharing this? Because it was the ability to hear His voice and feel His comfort that got me through that dark time in my life. I could have been angry at the fact that she lingered, angry at God, but instead I was able to hear His voice so clearly that I felt His comforting presence and saw what He did in her and in my brother’s life.
I’ll give you another story, this time from the Bible that also speaks of our spirit man. In 2 Kings 6:8-23 we read about Elisha the prophet and his conversation with a fearful servant. They are surrounded by the Syrian army, and the servant asks Elisha what they should do. Elisha says to his servant “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha then prayed and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Which eyes did God open in the servant? It certainly was not his physical eyes, because he had already seen the physical Syrian army. God opened his spiritual eyes! And I’m sure that the comfort he felt when he saws those horses and chariots of fire was amazing. Why did Elisha have such confidence in God? Because he could see in the spirit realm.
And that takes me back full circle to those mornings when I am distracted and find it hard to focus on the Lord. What if I am aware of the spirit realm around me? What if I knew, because I have exercised my spiritual senses, that Jesus is right there beside me? Would I still be bored with prayer? What if I knew there were angels all around me, protecting me, would I still be afraid? What if I knew that God has already won the battle, because I saw Him for who He really is, the Almighty! What if, when I walk into church on Sunday morning, because my sense of touch is functioning properly, I could feel His presence? What if my spiritual sense of taste was awake and when I read His word, it becomes alive in my mouth and I taste and see that the Lord is good? Oh my goodness. I think our Christian walk would be so different if we could walk in the spirit, and not in the flesh.
But I want you to think about this for a moment. If you were missing even one of your physical senses, would life not be less enjoyable, even harder? Take that thought and apply it to your spiritual senses. If you can’t hear Him, see Him, feel Him, taste Him, or smell Him, is it any wonder that you are bored with prayer, looking at the time during worship, and thinking about lunch during the sermon?
So what do you do, now that you are aware that you have these senses, but you realize that you aren’t using them? First and foremost, if you have not received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you must repent and ask Him to forgive you for your sins. You do not want to activate your spiritual senses without being a Christian because there are many evil spirits out there who will be more than happy to lead you astray.
Once you are sure that you belong to the Lord, ask Him to activate your senses. Ask Him to open your spiritual eyes so that you can see into the spirit realm. Ask Him to give you ears that hear so that you can begin to hear His voice. Tell Him that you want to feel His presence when He is near; that you want Him to let you smell His sweet fragrance. Let Him know that you want to taste and see that His word is good. Once you have asked, realize that using your spiritual senses is not a logical, or left brain activity. It is a right brain activity. You must have faith that you have these senses and that He wants you to use them, and that He wants to reveal Himself to you through them. Faith is not a logical activity. It makes no sense. Your spiritual senses might not make sense to you either. But in order for you to grow up, to become mature, you must learn to exercise them. (Hebrews 5:12-14)
For me personally, becoming aware that I had them, was huge. I knew I had spiritual ears and that was probably my most developed sense. But it changed my life when I begin to see in the spirit and started using the other senses as well. It was definitely a leap of faith for me. The enemy loves to come in and tell you that this is silly. That it is all just your imagination. But if you are still reading this, then I know you want more of God. Ask Him. He wants to give you more of Himself. But He is spirit and we must worship Him, and experience Him, in spirit and in truth. (See John 4:23-24)
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