Summer 1992

The Lifting Power of His Spirit
Wade E Taylor

Adam was created from dust. Dust, by itself, is incapable of holding its form. Had he been formed of clay, the image into which he was made could maintain itself. Thus, man was created to be dependent upon his Creator.

The divine intention was that man, by necessity, would continually be sustained by God through a relationship with Him. Therefore, by the creative design of God, mankind when disconnected from his higher calling degenerates into a formless, purposeless, heap.

God breathed into Adam the breath of life. As a result, man became a living soul having personal identity and expression. This word "life" is plural. In God's original intention, man was formed to live on two different levels, "earthly" and "spiritual." The "breath" that God breathed into Adam was the sustaining power to maintain him on each of these levels.

Through disobedience, man lost his higher form of life. Some say that man "fell." Satan fell from the heavens, but man died. Through education and refinement, social religion would attempt to pick man up and reconstruct him, but man died. Life is only restored through a new birth.

"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" Gen 2:17.

"One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" II Peter 3:8. The oldest man who ever lived died within this "one" day, just short of the thousand year day. Though Adam and Eve continued to physically live, an immediate death took place. Death is not annihilation, rather it is a separation. They died spiritually and fell into a lower plane of life.

This lower state of life is a temporal (temporary) life pertaining to the earth realm. As an earthly being, we have faculties that enable us to function in our environment. Through the use of these, we either prosper or suffer in varying degrees.

Along with this, through redemption, man is called to a higher state of life. By means of a "new birth," we are enabled to live on this higher spiritual plane. As a part of our new birth, we also have been provided with faculties (abilities) to relate to our newly re-created spiritual life.

By being "born again" through regeneration, we are birthed into this spiritual dimension of life and potential which God had originally intended. Jesus, paying the full price to make this possible, stands at the doorway, knocking upon the door of entrance, biding us to enter.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear
my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me" Rev 3:20.

This "doorway" speaks of the point of "transition" from the temporal into the spiritual realm. Through a new birth, all that is beyond this doorway becomes accessible to us (if any man hear ... and open). We can be saved and abide short of this door, satisfied with the gift of salvation (5 foolish virgins),or we can choose to go further and enter (5 wise virgins) into the realm of intimate communion and active cooperation with our Lord. This offer is not available to the natural man. He is locked into the temporal realm.

As we pass through this door into the spiritual realm, there is within us, as apart of our redemption, certain gifts and faculties that enable us to function. These spiritual faculties have been dormant (dead) within mankind since Adam transgressed, but in the "new creation" that we have become, they are recreated and activated, with the potential for their development.

"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby" I Peter 2:2.

We are born into this new creation as a spiritual baby. Just as natural babies must develop their senses until they function properly, our spiritual senses(which are comparable to our natural senses) must also be developed. If the totality of our focus upon life is in the temporal area, then only our natural senses will develop. However, if the inner desire and intent of our heart is toward spiritual things, our spiritual senses will develop and function. This will result in our being able to distinguish, and understand spiritual things.

"But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added
unto you" Matt 6:33.

If we choose the "spiritual" and place our emphasis there, the "temporal" will also prosper and find a higher means of ability and function. Whenever we respond to the spiritual, we will be infinitely better off than we would have been if we had expended our time and efforts in only the temporal realm of life.

"There was a man named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night" John 3:1.

Nicodemus came to Jesus after it became dark as he did not want to be recognized. But there is far more within this verse. This night speaks of the spiritual dullness of the religious system from which he came. The reality of God being manifestly present with His people had degenerated into only a form of worship. All spiritual reality had long departed. Nicodemus came seeing that Jesus had something he desired and asked how to receive it.

Jesus said this was not possible "except a man be born again" John 3:3. This speaks of a new birth through a work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Jesus also told him that he could not enter the Kingdom apart from this new birth. The Kingdom transcends and goes beyond redemption. Redemption speaks of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus. The Kingdom speaks of the full expression of spiritual life that extends beyond the initial experience of salvation. This requires a submission to Him as Lord.

Nicodemus attempted to relate this "new birth" to the temporal, as he was incapable of understanding the spiritual. He said, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother womb?" In other words, Nicodemus asked if this birthing into the Kingdom was a natural restructuring. Jesus answered, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit" John 3:6. There is a temporal realm, and there is a spiritual realm. The natural man can only relate to the flesh, or the temporal realm. But the spiritual man, through regeneration by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, can relate to both the natural and spiritual realms.

Nicodemus asked if this process of new birth was like growth within a womb. Words are incapable of describing this realm of spiritual life. Therefore, Jesus told him it was like "the wind," lifting it up into a dimension of Spirit. Concerning this working of the wind, Jesus said,

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and wither it goeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered
and said unto him, How can these things be?" John 3:8-9.

"Thou hearest." Our spiritual senses are the key to our fully entering into this "New Birth" experience that Jesus offered to Nicodemus. However, he could neither understand or enter as his "spiritual senses" had not yet been reborn. Only those who are saved and have developed these spiritual senses can hear and enter.

"But canst not tell." We hear, but do not necessarily understand. This comprehension of spirituals is learned as we move in this realm. "The wind blows where it pleases." We cannot control spirituals, rather, we are to respond in faith. This "blowing of the wind" speaks of the movings of the Holy Spirit.

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall
walk, and not faint" Isa 40:31.

Notice that they who "wait upon the Lord" are to mount up with wings. These "wings" speak of an ability to respond to the Holy Spirit, and to move with Him.

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of
the Spirit" John 3:8.

When we sense the "wind" of the spirit, we are to spread our wings and begin to ascend into the realm of spiritual life. An airplane, as it goes down the runway, becomes air BORNE. The laws that controlled this plane while on the ground no longer apply. An entirely new set of laws come into operation, those of "aerodynamics." It is not necessary to understand this, all we need do is "spread our wings" in response to the "wind" of the Holy Spirit.

The Wright brothers flew only a few hundred feet on their first try. They did not quit, but tried again and again until today we can easily fly around the world. If we begin to move in this realm of the spirit and crash, we should wipe off the dust, get back on the "runway" and try again.

The Lord is waiting for His own to be birthed into that which this world has not hereto for seem. The lifting power of this Divine "wind" is tremendous. It will bring us up into a view and perspective of the last day movings of the Lord that we have not before seen. Too many are trying to understand, rather than enter.

May the "wind of the spirit" lift us up into the realm and dimension in which Jesus moved and walked, and yet moves and walks within those who trust Him.