There are some Christians who have only bones but no spiritual life. Jesus taught, “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life” (John 3:6 NLT).
Most of us don’t really understand what it means to be spiritual. We understand our natural life because we were born into that life and do natural things every day. Yet the Bible says much about living a spiritual life, so we should learn more about it.
So long as you’re thinking in the natural, the supernatural will never make sense to you. “We don’t speak about these things using teachings that are based on intellectual arguments like people do. Instead, we use the Spirit’s teachings. We explain spiritual things to those who have the Spirit. A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s Spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them” (1 Corinthians 2:13-14 GW).
We may think that being spiritual is something extraordinary that only happens to rare individuals as chosen by God. But we are wrong in this line of reasoning. Being spiritual is a gift from God to us all if we would only be willing to step into it.
Our spiritual potential remains buried beneath any of our natural selves that we refuse to die to. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5 NKJV).
We may think that being spiritual is only when God might give us a prophetic word or a vision from heaven. But those are things God does for us and not what we are being in our lives. Being spiritual is all about what we are being.
The carnal Christian argues doctrines; the spiritual Christian lives them. “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless” (Titus 3:9 NKJV).
We all have fallen trap to thinking being spiritual is expressed in being soulful as we are moved by music or fall to the ground before God. We mistake the outward appearance of people as revealing the inward state of spirituality, and we are almost always wrong.
Being soulful is an outward expression of how you feel or how you want to be seen. Being spiritual is an inward expression that places you in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Soulful makes you look spiritual in front of men. Spiritual simply places you before the Lord. “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’” (1 Samuel 16:7 NLT).
Being spiritual is not something that only happens when we are alone with God. Being spiritual is not separate from our natural life but reigns over it. Being spiritual is not supposed to be part of your life but all of your life with God.
Don’t try to be better in only one area of your life but in all your life. “…We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit…” (Colossians 1:9-10 NLT).
Being spiritual is having your spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit controls your life, your life will be spiritual. This is not giving up your free will but choosing to let the Holy Spirit control you by your own free choice.
Spirituality surpasses everything in the natural. “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit” (Romans 8:5 NLT).
Being spiritual makes your natural life a divine life in which you’re allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you. It is not a mystical out-of-body experience but a supernatural way of life in which you are walking with God in everything that you do.
It is by the commentary of the Holy Spirit that we can understand the Word of God. “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:13-14 NKJV).
Being spiritual places you in the presence of God wherever you are. The Spirit of God is always with you, and when you are being spiritual, you are being sensitive to the Spirit of God who dwells in you. This is not intellectual but intimacy in your relationship with God.
Be in such a communion with the Holy Spirit that communion is not merely something you do but who you are. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the *communion of the Holy Spirit* be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14 NKJV).
When you sleep, your mind is at rest before man and God. It is still you, but it is you in a different state. Being spiritual is similar; it is still you, but you are in a different state. It is you with your mind given over to the Holy Spirit to guide you in everything.
When you’re Spirit-led, you’ll never go the wrong way. “You will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way. Follow it, whether it turns to the right or to the left.’” (Isaiah 30:21 GW).
The reason you have to be spiritual to understand the spiritual is because it is only by the Holy Spirit that we can understand the things of heaven. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would teach us all things, and there is no substitute teacher.
Some of you need deliverance from your stack of books. It is good to study the things of man, but without the Holy Spirit, you will never understand the things of God. The Lord Jesus taught, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things…” (John 14:26 NKJV).
I cannot adequately teach on being spiritual to someone who is not spiritual because they have no frame of reference with which to understand. But if you would ask God to give you the Holy Spirit, then God will, and then the Holy Spirit will teach you.
You cannot be spiritual without the Spirit. “If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!” (Luke 11:13 AMPC).
Blessings to you always,
Paul Balius
“Being spiritual is having your spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit.” Yes, this single summary statement is splendidly sane. The same is superscendent spirituality, succinctly stated. The crowning consequence of such communion is consecration to Christ and conformity to Christ’s character as the Spirit’s surety and summit of spirituality. To you, brother Paul, love unconditional and ardent appreciation.
Thank you!
There is an expression that I believe originated in the Southern United States the term is Soul Food. The natural mind does not need an interpreter for us to understand and visualize what soul food is in the material world.
I experience these posts as Spiritual soul food in that they feed the Holy Spirit within. The Spirit which Jesus refers to in John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” John 7:38 NASB. Both are soul food, one feeds the appetites and needs of the natural body. The other the spiritual soul food feeds the Spirit, Soul, and yes even to a degree the body through peace, a tranquil heart, and a clear conscience, yet this is not natural food, but rather spiritual food.
Jesus spent hours interpreting parables to His disciples such as stated in Matthew 13:13-14. Therefore what Jesus stated in John 6:53-58, they should have understood. This statement should have not been nonsense to any of them. This text also brings out the fact that Jesus did not go out of His way to be understood and accepted.
When meeting a person for the first time I prefer to arrange to get one on one with them and if that person is a woman, then have my wife present as well. I listen and talk as little as possible and this is intentional. Why do I do this? I want to discern the real person, not their talents, status, opinions, and the like. Luke 6:45 states that out of the treasure of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. This is the real person. Luke 6:45 ESV.
There is so much wisdom in how you wrote about getting to know someone. Let a person talk long enough and you will get to the bottom of who they are and what truths or what lies they are standing on. The wisdom God gives us to discern another can be exactly what that other person needs so that we can better reach them and guide them towards becoming that soul given over to God. Prayers for you in all your ministry to others.
“Being spiritual is having your spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit.” Yes, this single summary statement is splendidly sane. The same is superscendent spirituality, succinctly stated. The crowning consequence of such communion is consecration to Christ and conformity to Christ’s character as the Spirit’s surety and summit of spirituality. To you, brother Paul, love unconditional and ardent appreciation.
Thank you so much, my Brother, you are such a God given blessing to me!
Thank you, Paul.
Your word is solid and goes deep. I am a bit behind on your Blog, but I am doing some catch-up. As an everyman born-again follower of Christ, I know this: When the word is solid, it never expires. It stays as fresh and relevant as the day it was written. Again, thank you and God bless you.
Thank you! I love how Scripture clarifies the expiration date of God’s Word: Psalm 119:89 NASB “Forever, LORD, Your word stands in heaven.” If we are grounded in the word we grounded in good ground! Blessings to you!
Thank you Paul for sharing the truth of the Word of God. This really blessed me as I continue to allow the Holy Spirit to control my life. I am able to live beyond the natural and I was definitely refreshed with these truths from God’s Word today!!
Blessing to you!!
You are most welcome, Veronica! I am so blessed to hear that you are allowing the Holy Spirit to reign in your life. That is the doorway to an incredible life that we are all meant to have! May God continue to bless you and to expand your ministry in everything you do, blessings, Paul