The Prerequisite to Spiritual Living - Part 2

By William R. Cunningham
February 6 & 13, 2000

Introduction

In the previous lesson "An Introduction to the Spiritual Life" we discussed and identified what the spiritual life is. We established that the heart was the key ingredient to living a spiritual life, which transcends the things of this world and the way of this world. In this lesson we are going to examine what is necessary before we can even attempt to truly live a spiritual life. We are going to discuss the prerequisite to living a spiritual life.

Without the prerequisite we could end up in the trap of deception because we will begin to pursue the illusion of the spiritual life instead of the spiritual life itself. We will strive for the counterfeit unless we become conditioned and educated about the spiritual life and what is necessary to obtain it and live it. A former karate instructor, Sifu Walter Jenkins, once told me that all that we see is an illusion. He said that in twenty years or so our dojo (training room) would probably not be here. It is therefore effectively an illusion because it was temporal. The one thing that distinguishes true spiritual living from materialistic living is the fact that spiritual living is not temporal. It is reality and it is true.

So there is the major concept that we will investigate in this lesson, namely reality. What is real to you? If the material world is real to you and the spiritual life is just something you learn in Sunday school then guess which one you will pursue. I also recall watching a movie called "The Matrix." The thing that caught my attention about the Matrix was that everyone, except for a few truth seekers, were living a total illusion that was fabricated by a program. Life was one big illusion. Only a handful of people dared to seek real life and thus were persecuted and marked for extinction. The same can be said about our life, though I don’t believe life is a program. Many of us do not see the reality of life because we don’t ask what the reality of life is or we are deceived into thinking that we are living according to reality already.

So the first thing that is necessary for true spiritual living is the comprehension of reality. The prerequisite for spiritual living is to understand the reality of the spirit and how it relates to everything else that surrounds us, especially the temporal illusion we call life (material life).

Reality

There are two things that I would like to discuss pertaining to the subject of reality. These two things are "What is real to you" and "What you really love." The things that are real to you are the things that you tend to give attention to. The reality of a thing can be itself temporal or it could be a lifelong or permanent "thing." The things that you love are a subset of the things that are real. Heart disease may be real to you but you don’t love it. Prestige may be real to you and you may love it.

The things you love are in themselves real (at least to you) and they are the things that you desire and pursue. The love that you have is the driving force for your life. You consider the things that you love most important and they tend to get a lot of your attention and energy.

Ultimate Love

There are only two paths that a person can ultimately take pertaining to their life. We can take the path that leads to life or we can take the path that leads to death. Consider the following scriptures.

Matthew 7:13 through Matthew 7:14 (KJV) Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

And,

John 12:25 through John 12:26 (NCV) Those who love their lives will lose them, but those who hate their lives in this world will keep true life forever. Whoever serves me must follow me. Then my servant will be with me everywhere I am. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.

We have "our" life and the life of the Father. Our life is a life that satisfies the flesh. Our life is a selfish life in that our life long goal is to gratify ourselves. Solomon instructed us that such is vanity. All that this world has to offer us is vain at its best even though we may enjoy them for a time. Remember "things" are temporal by nature and therefore an illusion and thus are not real.

To love the life that this world has to offer will result in losing true life that comes only from God. To love the life that God has, i.e., everlasting life will result in true spiritual living that is based on God’s WAY and not the world.

So there are two paths before you. Which path is real to you, if not both and which path do you love? What is the ultimate love of your life? Consider the following scripture.

Matthew 6:24 (KJV) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Remember that your heart is where your treasure is. The thing that you hold dear and most important and of great value is the thing that you will pursue. Again, what is the ultimate love of your life? You have already answered this question many years ago because you are already on one of them. You are either striving to do God’s will, that is to live according to God’s WAY, or you are striving to get all that this world has to offer and to be totally satisfied by "things."

If your love is for things then you cannot live the spiritual WAY because God’s kingdom operates on spiritual principles. If your love is for God and HIS Kingdom then you are poised to live the true spiritual life.

Interaction with God

Your best friend is real to you so you most likely confide in him or her. You will tell your best friend almost anything about what is going on in your life. People are real to us because we can easily relate to them in this physical world that we live in. We learn to speak a language and we learn to write. Basically we learn to communicate in the physical world that we live. It becomes "second nature" to interact with other people because we spend all of our life learning and practicing how to do it.

How do you interact with God? Do you interact with God as you do other people (I mean in principle)? Do you really share your heart with God, your heavenly Father? Do you consider him a shoulder to cry on or that person that will just listen to you unload? More than likely you do not. We typically learn to interact with God in a very counterproductive way. We treat God as if he is the great magician in the sky or the great tyrant that may answer the feeble requests of his subjects. Some even promote God as being a King that is moved by certain "formula."

How can we live a spiritual life if we don’t even know how to interact with God? We think practicing what is called "speaking in tongues" is spiritual and somehow has merit with God. We think that following our church or religious code will win favor from God. How silly and ignorant we have become (the average Christian does not read and study the Bible). The main thing is that we have become ignorant in interacting with God. Suffice it for me to say at this point that we have to learn to effectively interact with God, which means that God has to be as real to us as that best friend. If God is not real to you then he will remain the "great guy in the sky" or "the man upstairs." Instead, God should be your closest friend and your heavenly Father. I suggest that you evaluate the lives of godly men and women in the Bible and observe how they interacted with God and how God interacted with them. I will actually do just that in another lesson in this series.

Superficial Interaction

Have you ever looked up at the sky and just said out loud, "God. You sure know how to make a great day!" Have you ever just said to God, respectfully of course, that he is your best friend and that you just love him so much? Is God so real to you that you can just talk to Him and know that he is with you listening? Can you honestly talk informally to God, that is, without the formal procedures taught to you about prayer? I will venture to say that most Christians have a formal and procedural relationship with God. We follow the format of our church in interacting with God. We don’t just "shoot the breeze" with him. Instead, we recite a formatted prayer and sometimes speak in tongues to induce power in our prayers. We have become so superficial in our interaction with God.

What if you could just talk to God, respectfully of course as a child to his parent or a person to their best friend? What if you could just engross yourself in the love of God and not concern yourself with the procedures of your religion and church? To some this may seem like sacrilege but it is very crucial to entering into a spiritual life. How can you enter into the presence of God’s spirit and try to bind yourself and God with procedures? Consider the following scripture.

2 Corinthians 3:17 (KJV) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Get rid of your procedures and learn to simply love God and talk to him. Talk to him as a best friend. Be free and frank with God. Talk to him as the one you trust with your life. Talk to him as the one who loves you, cares for you, and wants an abundant life for you. Talk to God as if he gave his son Jesus Christ to suffer and die on the cross just for you. Stop jamming the frequency between you and God with your silly religious procedures and simply learn to interact with him naturally. You have the anointing and he will help you. The anointing that is already in you will teach you (1 John 2:27). He will lead you into all truth. He will help you pray. Why don’t we simply learn to go to the Holy Spirit? I’ll tell you why. Your church procedures and policy is more real to you then the Holy Spirit, that is, they are more important. To you, the Holy Spirit is something that you read about in the Bible. That’s it. The Holy Spirit isn’t real to you so how in the world do you expect to interact with Him as a person, which he is?

Our interaction with God has become too superficial in this day and age of the "Word of Faith" movement. We have become superficial with God because of the prosperity teaching. God is no longer our Father in heaven. He is the rich guy in the sky who will make us rich if we please him by doing the right thing and saying the right thing. We can never live a spiritual life according to God’s WAY if we continue practicing superficial interaction with God. Interacting with God is key to living a spiritual life (in Christ). Proper interaction with God means an effective prayer life, which we will discuss in detail in future lessons of this series. We are also going to talk about true praise and worship in later lessons of this study. Those are very important in living a spiritual life according to God’s WAY.

So let’s stop being so superficial when it comes to interacting with God. Let’s first learn who God is, develop a sense of reality of God and his Kingdom (we will discuss this shortly), and begin to practice what we learn and live the spiritual life in Christ.

Spiritual and Material Placement

I introduced the two paths to you earlier in this lesson. The prioritized placement of these two "worlds" is crucial to the pursuit of truth, which means it is very important to the pursuit of spiritual living in Christ. Either you desire God and His kingdom or you desire the things of this world. How do you prioritize the two? Yes we do need things in this world such as food, clothes, housing, etc. However, if these become the focus or goal of your life then you are not heading towards a life in Christ, which is true spiritual living.

Now it is easy to categorize material things and spiritual things into nice groups. For example, we may say that greed, pride, desire for riches, the love of money, and an abundance of things are categorized as worldly things. We may place things such as a desire to help others, being active in your church and community, and being an example for Christ on your job as godly things. However, the distinction is not that clear or defined. Things that may appear as good things may sometimes be a camouflage for worldliness. Let me explain.

Deception in Godliness

One would think that the desire to go to church and serve diligently would be considered part of living a spiritual life. This is not the case and is the cause for much confusion within the church community. Going to church in itself has nothing to do with living a spiritual life in Christ. Why are you going to church and why do you desire to serve diligently? The answer of that question is what determines if you are practicing godliness or worldliness. If you desire is founded upon a desire to serve God the best you can then well. If your desire is to do your duty as a Christian or to obtain kudos from others for your religious service, then you are deceived.

What appears good is not always good. If we remain superficial then we will not notice the "wolf in sheep’s clothing." We have to examine the foundation and purpose of a "thing" instead of just examining the surface. Be honest with yourself and assess the reasons why you do what you do. Why do you go to church? Why do you do what you do in church? Why do you do the things you do in general? Keep in mind the teachings of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 6. Living spiritually in Christ means that you have to be honest with yourself and establish that the reason that you do the things that you do is not because of worldly gain, rather heavenly guidance or operation.

Be Real With Yourself

It is very important that you are honest and very real with yourself. How can you find truth if you can’t even be true to yourself? Establish that you really want to know the truth. Establish that the life of this world is not worth the life that God has for you. Resolve within yourself that you want to live according to God’s Kingdom as a citizen of that Kingdom, which you are if you are born again and reconciled to God. Decide that you want to live according to God’s WAY and begin to pursue it. Again, this decision has to be real and not just for effect or show. The decision must be a genuine one else you will not get any closer to living a spiritual life.

God cannot be real to you if you aren’t real to yourself. Again, if you aren’t real to yourself then you will live in an illusion. Nothing can occur pertaining to true spiritual living if God is not real to you. He has to be more than the "great guy in the sky" or the man "upstairs." Consider the following scripture.

Hebrews 11:6 (NCV) Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him.

We see in this scripture the importance of believing that God is real and that he rewards those who truly seek Him with the purpose of finding Him. We also note the mention of faith in pleasing God, which is important in living a spiritual life in Christ. We will discuss faith in a future lesson in this series.

Summary

Reality of God and His Kingdom is the prerequisite to living a spiritual life according to God’s WAY. You cannot live a spiritual life unless God is real to you and the Spirit is real to you. We have to be real with ourselves if we expect to uncover the reality of God. Many people live a life of illusions and never grasp the true life in Christ.

Our interaction with God in many cases is superficial. We cling to pre-programmed prayers, religious traditions, church protocol, and unfounded teaching instead of seeking and clinging to the truths in God’s word. We interact with God by man’s way or religion’s way instead of just communicating with him from the heart in all innocence and honesty. We therefore interact with God on a very superficial level. We don’t uncover the beauty of just being real with God and being open with Him. We are too busy following church protocol then to simply talk to our heavenly Father.

We must grasp the reality of the spirit and the reality of God if we are going to live a truly spiritual life. In the next lesson we are going to discuss the process of acquiring this reality of God and the spirit.