Fall 1996
Developing our Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit
Wade E Taylor

"So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption; it is raised
in incorruption" I Cor 15:42.

This verse is often read at funerals, but as a present reality, there is something that is much closer to us. The latter part of verse 31 reads, "I die daily." Thus, there is a "funeral" which we are to face each day. That is, we are to put off the Adamic nature by reckoning it to be dead, that we might live under the power of a higher life.

"I die daily." That is, I am to die to the totality of my natural earthly life, and move into the realm of the Spirit, where I come under His headship and control.

"It is sown a natural body; it is raised
a spiritual body. There is a natural body,
and there is a spiritual body" I Cor 15:44.

The latter part of this verse states that just as we have a natural body, so also, we have a spiritual body, which is just as real.

We have sense abilities in our fleshy being which enable us to communicate with our "earthly" environment, and we function in these with varied degrees of success. But there is something more. Within our outward, visible makeup is a spiritual body which also has sense abilities that enable us to communicate with our "heavenly" environment. But these had died six thousand years ago, in the garden of Eden. Our forefathers had chosen their own ways, and their spiritual lives died.

"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying,
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat: 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 2:16-17.

Thus, when Nicodemus came to Jesus seeking this higher life, he was told that this ability could only be given through a new birth. This was fully accomplished for us by Jesus upon the cross, who in resurrection and ascension became the source of this new creation life.

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made
a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit" I Cor 15:45.

This word "quickening" means "life-giving." Through regeneration by the Holy Spirit, we again become a spiritual being with recreated senses, which have the potential to respond to and possess spiritual truth and understanding.

We begin this journey as a spiritual baby and as these spiritual senses develop, we grow into the awareness that there is a spiritual environment in which we learn how to respond and function.

"Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural; and afterward that
which is spiritual" I Cor 15:46.

From the time of our natural birth as a child, we gradually learned how to function in the natural world. Now, as we move into the resurrected, quickening power of His life, we progressively develop our spiritual being and abilities.

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive" I Cor 15:22.

"As is the earthy, such are they also that
are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly" I Cor 15:48.

This spiritual body that we have become has senses, just as our earthly body does. In the spirit, we can see, hear, and discern the presence of God. Experientially, we are beginning to function in our new creation spiritual life.

When Nicodemus asked how he also might do the things that Jesus did, he was told,

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must
be born again" John 3:6-7.

To enter this realm, it is essential that we must first be born into this higher realm, and then develop these spiritual senses before we will be able to do as Jesus did. This is possible, because Jesus said,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth
on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and
greater works than these shall he do; because I
go unto my Father" John 14:12.

Our being birthed into this higher realm can be compared to an airplane becoming air-borne.

An airplane, while on the runway, moves upon its wheels. These wheels are controlled by a system of hydraulics. But once the airplane becomes air- borne, these wheels with their hydraulic mechanism become totally worthless and are stowed away. In this higher, "air-borne" realm, all knowledge about the mechanism that relates to these wheels and their hydraulic system is of no value. A completely new set of laws which control the plane come into operation, and we must now learn about aerodynamics.

This is what the Lord is saying to Nicodemus. He understood the earth realm and was seeking to apply it to the spiritual. But Jesus told him,

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" John 3:6a.

That which controls the airplane on the runway is of the earth realm, but when it becomes air-borne, it comes under the influence and control of a higher power. So also us, when we are born of the Spirit.

"That which is born of the Spirit is spirit ... 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 3:6b-8.

We begin this new-creation life as a spiritual baby. Because we had been limited to our earth-bound senses and functions, we must gradually discover and learn how to move in our spiritual faculties. As we falteringly take our first step in the Spirit, we are beginning to enter and move in this higher realm of spirit life.

"O taste and see that the Lord is good" Psalm 34:8.

We enter into this realm through experience. This means that we must go beyond judicial truth, beyond our doctrinal position of identification with Jesus upon the cross, into the experiential realm, in which "positional truth" becomes within us a personal reality - "Taste and see."

This requires of us the development of our spiritual senses that we might rightly respond to the Holy Spirit in this realm, just as the laws that affected the airplane changed once it became air-borne.

"The young lions do lack and suffer hunger,
but they that seek the Lord shall not want
any good thing" Psalm 34:10.

We are told why these lions are suffering hunger. Notice Psalm 104:21,

"The young lions roar after their prey, and seek
their meat from God."

They were seeking to have their need met, but they were doing it in the wrong way. So also, those who are spiritual "young lions" approach Jesus as Nicodemus had approached. They are not seeking spiritual things in the right way.

"The young lions roar." Emotionalism will never bring us into the realm of the Spirit. There is a quiet attitude of heart in which our spirits come into a state of rest, in which we become sensitive to our inner spiritual senses and begin to receive from Him. It is here that we are able to enter a cooperative relationship with Him.

"Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;
let us lodge in the villages" SS 7:11.

We cannot approach spiritual things with our natural energy and strength. We cannot enter the realm of the Spirit through natural means, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

When we first seek to become quiet, everything within us will "roar" and become active, seeking our attention. We will remember everything we forgot to do within the last ten years and feel we must do it at once. The enemy is willing for us to do all kinds of things, but cannot stand our becoming quiet in the presence of our Lord.

We may be intensely spiritually hungry, but we will never find His presence by "roaring." We must come to the place where our inner spiritual senses become active and begin to function. Here, we can sup with Him, and He with us.

As we bask in His presence, our roaring will forever cease and become a song of worship. And we will have found the satisfaction for which we longed.