Jesus Christ is Lord: Jesus and the unseen world

Chapter 10 – Jesus and the unseen world

In my blog post from last Friday, I ended with the following statement: “Next week, Lord willing, we will dive a little deeper into understanding the unseen world!” The Holy Spirit seems to be moving me in that direction, and I’m excited about the prospects of where He may take us this week.

Let’s start with a reminder about last week’s example describing the lighting-up of a lightbulb. The analogy went like this: AC power, provided by the electric company, is nothing more than electrons moving through a wire. When we turn on the light switch in our home, those electrons move through the light bulb, causing it to glow… Walla, creating light!

Can we see the AC power? No! Can we see those electrons moving through the wire? No! Can we see the electrons moving through the light bulb? No! However, when we flipped on that light switch, light was the thing we hoped for, and the light bulb glowing and giving off light is the evidence of things not seen!!!

Unseen things we are hoping for but are yet to be seen are all around us. We plant flower seeds in the ground hoping for flowers. We turn the water faucet on hoping for water. We turn the car key or push the start button and hope for the engine to start. And on and on and on!

Why am I making such a big deal about what goes on in the unseen realm? Because as soon as we shift our attention to Spiritual matters, we have a difficult time relating to things unseen! We are talking about faith here! We often become like the Father whose son was controlled by an evil spirit, found in Mark chapter 9. “I believe; help my unbelief!”:

 Mark 9:22–25 (ESV)
²²And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Well… that was Jesus you say, He can do those kinds of things but not me! Here is what Jesus Himself had to say about that:

John 14:8–14 (ESV)
⁸Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. ¹²“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

When we ask for something in the name of Jesus, do we really believe it is truly accomplished? Or, do we begin to lose faith because we do not immediately see it manifest in the physical realm?

Matthew 18:18–20 (ESV)
¹⁸Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

That sounds like a done deal to me! Lord willing, I will have a lot more to say about the unseen Spiritual realm next week. You won’t want to miss it!

Dear Lord, please help us to hope for, believe for, trust in and live by every word that comes from You!!!! Amen