Bound to Earth, but Spiritually Free

by Keith Gardner

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [Galatians 2:20 (NIV)]

2 Kings 6:8-23 tells the story of the king of Aram (Syria) sending a detachment of his army to surround the city of Dothan. Their intent was to capture and kill Elisha. Elisha, through the Spirit of God, has been warning the King of Israel of the moves and traps of Aram, and the king of Aram wanted to put an end to this trouble maker. When Elisha’s servant saw their city surrounded he was afraid, at least until Elisha prayed for his eyes to be opened, and he saw the Army of the Lord was also surrounding the city, in defense of Elisha.

There is a natural place where we all live. We call it reality. This reality is described and determined by what we can see, touch, reason and comprehend. It is real to us because this is all that can be determined with our natural senses.

There is, however, another place that is just a real, but not as easily determined, and certainly not recognized by our natural senses. This other place is called the Spirit or the Kingdom of Heaven.

We are taught by Jesus that; “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" John 4:24 (NIV). We comprehend the Kingdom of Heaven only through our spirit and through truth. Like Elisha, when we are walking in the Spirit, we are not afraid of armies, or famines. We are not concerned with doing without; there is not a fear of lack here because in the Kingdom of Heaven there is abundance.

One of our greatest mistakes as believers is our misunderstanding of the interactions between the natural world we most easily recognize, and the Kingdom of Heaven. When we find ourselves in trouble, hurting or doing without we begin to believe the Kingdom of Heaven has failed us. We easily become disappointed or disillusioned.

It is not our lack of trouble that proves the Kingdom of Heaven, but our reaction to our trouble. Acts 16:16-34 recounts the time when Paul and Silas were locked up for delivering a slave girl from demonic oppression. Their natural situation was bleak. They had been beaten and were locked in chains and placed in the center of the prison. This was not your county jail. It was dark and dirty. It probably stank of human waist and filth.

Paul and Silas’ reaction was not to their natural condition, but to their Spiritual freedom. They sang praise songs and worshipped God. There spirits were not in prison, but was instead free to interact with the abundance of the Kingdom of Heaven. Through their praise and worship there was an interaction between the natural and the spiritual. The abundance of the Kingdom of Heaven brought about their physical freedom.

Our reaction to trouble sets in motion our destiny; will our destiny be natural or supernatural? 

Father, it is easy for me to act in anger when someone wrongs me, or in fear when I am faced with a bleak situation. These are natural reactions. I want to react supernaturally. I want to react as if I know you are sovereign; as if I know your love rules and reigns in my life. It is one thing to say the words, and to say that I believe them. It is another thing to react because of their reality; because of your reality. Fill me with your presence. Change my destiny because of my steadfast faith in you.  Amen.