The Spiritual And Physical Connection

04/03/24 | Frank Broom

[Frank Broom]

2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So, there are things seen(which are physical) and things not seen(which are spiritual). That can't be referring to anything physical because Luke 21:33 says, Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my word shall not pass away. So, that can't be talking about anything physical, because nothing physical is eternal. And people tend to look at the physical material world as real and the spirit world is just something that's out there, but that is far from the truth. Spiritual things and the spiritual realm has an effect on this realm. First of all Hebrews 11:3 says, 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. So, the physical realm came out of the spiritual realm, God by his word. Not only that, but the spiritual realm God by his word is upholding the physical realm Heb 1:3 says, 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. You see in Jer. 5:22 and Proverbs 8:29 22 Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? Proverbs 8:29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth. Notice, what it's saying, God made a decree from the foundation of the world to the sea not to cross over the sand of the shore and it can not pass over. No matter how much they toss and roar they can't cross that line. Something God decreed in the spiritual realm from the foundation of the world still has an effect in this physical realm to this day.

God is not limited to natural circumstances or conditions. In 1Kings 17 when there was a famine in the land God sent the man of God, Elijah, to a widow women to take care of him. In verses 8 and 9 it reads 8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. Now, back then widows were considered to be some of the poorest people. So, he gets up and goes and it reads- 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 12 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. 13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. 15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Notice, in the natural she was in no condition to sustain him. She was a widow(poor), she had a son, and she was down to her last meal and that's who God sent him to to take care of him. But, notice what God told Elijah, I have commanded her to sustain you which means she has to have something somewhere. And she didn't even know what God had said to him that she was to sustain him, Elijah had to tell her.

But, even though she didn't have it physically at the time she had it spiritually. And because she did as the man of God said she opened the door for what she had spiritually to be received physically and sustain him as God said. That's what 2 Chronicles 20:20 says, 20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. You see in 2 Kings 4:38-44 with Elisha, 38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. 42 And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43 And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men?(he knows what's in his hands is not enough to feed everybody) He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.

Notice, it did not matter what he had in his hands, what mattered is what God said. And a lot of times people get focused on what they have or don't have, but what did God say. If you are just focusing on what you have or don't have then your focus is on the wrong thing. Like us today people are speaking of famine coming, but God said, In the time of famine we would be satisfied. So, even if it's not here physically we have to have something we can tap into spiritually. So, if it's not here physically it can be brought here. Don't bring God down to the level of your natural understanding, you can't figure God out, He's too big. What you should do is simply trust and believe. God has taken all the guess work out of the equation. What did Jesus mother say, Whatever he tells you to do just do it. See, don't try to figure it out or wonder how in the world can he do that, no, just do it. You can't tap into the spiritual with natural reason. Natural reason can't tap into it 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Just because something is in spiritual form doesn't mean it's less real than something in physical form. John 4:24 says, God is a Spirit and yet 1 Timothy 3:16 says, God was manifest in the flesh so is He any less real as spirit, no. Things might not look like what God said that's were trust comes in, You see in 2 Kings 6 When the Prophet Elisha was telling the king of Israel the plans the king of Syria was making so that they could escape his ambushes. After a few times of that happening the king thought it was his own people, so he asked, which one you are a trader and one of his men told him, It's not us it's that prophet in Dothan he's telling the King of Israel the plans you're making, so the king said, Go get him.

That's where I'm going to start reading: 2 Kings 6:14-17- 14 Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. 15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Notice, there was two different realms of existence at the same time, in the same place, and both of them were real. Doesn't Psalm 34:7 say, The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Things that take place in the spiritual causes things to happen in the physical realm and the best example of that is Adam. In Genesis 2:16,17 it reads, 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. He didn't die physically, but he did die spiritually. Spiritual death is separation from God like physical death is separation from your body. Now, notice he did eat from that tree, you might see that as a physical act, but the scriptures says that it was a spiritual act in 1 Corinthians 6:18 it reads, 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Notice, every sin a man doeth is without the body, in other words it's the inner man using his body to do it, that's why it says he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Now, just as your physical body resides in this physical realm you spirit resides in the spirit realm, you are a spirit. And what this man did in the spiritual caused the whole creation to fall in the physical.

Notice, this spiritual act caused things to manifest in the physical. What he did (spiritually) had an effect on everything (physically). Which shows you that everything in this physical realm has a connection with the spiritual. In other words everything physical has spiritual roots. So, things can be dealt with on a spiritual level and not just a natural level. For example the Shunamite woman in 2 Kings 4 when her son died and it reads: And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. 19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. 20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. 21 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. 22 And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. 23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. 24 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. 25 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 26 Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And the man of God went with her and raised him up. Notice, she was not acting just on a natural level, she was seeing something past her natural circumstances. Notice, she was not going by what she saw outside, but what she saw inside.

Isn't that what the scripture says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Which means there is something more than what you can see physically. And when you learn how to operate on that level your natural circumstance will change. Notice, Abraham in Genesis 17:4,5 4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And yet Romans 4:19 says, 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. So, when God told him that He had made him a father of many nations his body was dead and his wife's womb was dead. So, when God told him that their bodies were in a condition physically where they could not produce a child. But, notice what the scripture says, he did not consider his flesh nor his wife's he only considered what God said He did. When you only look at your circumstances on a natural level you miss out on what God has provided for you. 2 Corinthians 2:9,10 says, 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. God can reveal to you what He has prepared for you. Notice, what God reveals to you is not something He is going to do, it says which God hath prepared. Even though they have been prepared they have to be received. God wants man back to where he fell from which is operating from his spirit and not his flesh.

Notice, in Genesis 2:25-3:11 it reads, 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? In Genesis 2:25 they were naked and not ashamed in Genesis 3:7 it says, And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, what happened. The eyes of them both were opened, that word eyes is translated fountain and fountain is defined as the source or beginning of anything. So, what happened is the source of their knowledge changed from God to their flesh(senses).

That's why God asked him, "Who told thee that thou wast naked?" he knew they did not get that from him. There is another realm of existence just beyond the senses where God has things already prepared for you to tap into. And a lot of times people are praying for God to do things that are already done for them in that realm just beyond their senses. You occupy two realms at the same time. A flesh, material realm and a spiritual realm. Where did the material world come from, out of the spiritual. So, the spiritual realm has authority over the material realm. Now, in every situation man has to choose which realm he's going to go with. The realm of the material(physical) where things are fact or the realm of the spiritual where things are truth(John 17:17). The facts are what you pick up with your senses. Fact is basically something that exists, or is present in reality. Hence, these are things that can be seen visually, and these are the things that can actually be verified. It is not just something that you believe, but rather these are more or less the things that can be observed empirically, or by the senses. So, facts can be seen and heard, as well as proven by the other senses. So, facts deals with what can be detected by the senses. But, there's another realm outside of the senses where God has provisions laid up for you, they are not things that God is going to do, they are things that God has done. This is the realm of truth--Truth can be described as the true state of a certain matter. Now, truth is not always detectable to the senses. Truth has to be caught with the spirit. Jesus said, God's word is truth.

Understand God is outside of this physical realm and when He does something it's done in the spirit and has to be received into this material, physical realm. Spirit is the original form of existence. Before there was anything physical there was spiritual. And man is spirit and lives in a physical body in a physical world. But, man still has the capacity to function in the spiritual, by faith. By faith you access a higher realm were God has already laid up provisions for you. How do I know that, because that's what the scripture says. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, if it's not a thing, if it doesn't exist how can you have the substance of it. That's why the other half of Hebrews 11:1 says, faith is the evidence of things not seen. You can only have evidence of something that has already occurred. And what has occurred in the spirit can be manifested here by faith. What God has provided for you is an act of his grace. And Romans 5:2 says, you access the grace by faith. Romans 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans 4:16 CEB That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. So, God has laid up an inheritance for all of Abraham's seed (Galatians 3:29 says, If ye be Christ's then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise). That inheritance comes through faith(whose faith, ours), so that let's me know God is not picking and choosing who gets it and who doesn't. It's not based on God choosing, it's about us accessing or receiving. And too many of Abraham's seed are waiting instead of accessing. Remember there are things seen that you operate in by sight and there are things unseen that you access by faith.

It is not God's will that any should perish. And I wouldn't want to end this article without giving someone the opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It's very easy just pray: Dear God- I know I have sinned and I now turn from them and I invite Jesus to come into my heart (Revelation 3:20). He died for my sins and you have raised him from the dead and I now confess that Jesus is my Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9,10). I thank you for saving me, Amen

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12). 1 Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[Norski]

Thank you to post this.

N.

[sauropod]

bkmk

[Frank Broom]

Thank you Norski for taking the time to read this post.

[Frank Broom]

Thank you sauropod for taking the time to read this post.