SPIRIT LIFE BEYOND – Ron McGatlin
“COME UP and COME ALIVE”
The call of God today is loud and clear, “COME UP to heaven and COME ALIVE in the Spirit!”
The spiritual cold war is over. Lukewarm is not acceptable. There is NO middle ground and NO compromise. The training time is over and this is not a drill!
All that has gone before focused on this “Day of the Lord.”
The valley of the shadow of death became the valley of dry bones. “Can these bones live?” (Psalm 23) (Ezekiel 37:1-14).
The spiritually scattered lukewarm dead have been and are rattling back into connected full living bodies as the army of God under the headship of Christ Jesus our Lord and King.
The past revivals, Spirit outpourings, and even the conflicts and wars have all been a part of bringing us to this place of consummation. The increasing revelation and restoration from God over the past five centuries have increased in speed and radically changed the world.
In short, the radical change for the remnant of true children of God has been from living by human understanding and religion to living in and by the Spirit.
However, the fallen world systems have gone headlong into the intellect and understanding of all things by human reasoning without God. This is the result of living from the Tree of Knowledge and not from the Tree of Life. (Genesis 2).
The tree of life is living by and in the Spirit of God. It is a divine intimate personal love relationship of communing with Spirit God. It is receiving His leadership, wisdom, and power of Spirit God in all matters of life in this world.
The call of God today is to come up from the natural human life of the Tree of Knowledge to the supernatural Spirit life in love with God eating from the Tree of Life. In the Spirit, God will show us things to come and give us direction in our day-to-day life. He will lead us in working with Him through the things at hand and the major changes ahead.
“After these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.” Revelation 4:1-2.
Often in the Bible, men of God speak of being “in the Spirit.” They seem to be lifted higher in the Spirit to see and experience supernatural things or events. They experience a higher spiritual reality than the routines of daily living.
It is by the Spirit that we exist. In addition to just existing in Him, we can also “walk in the Spirit” and experience the supernatural reality of seeing, hearing, and receiving that which we cannot experience in the natural.
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25.
COMING UP TO SPIRIT LIFE BEYOND NATURAL LIFE
Are we willing to be lifted into the supernatural Spirit realm?
For centuries believers have sought to bring God down to us so that we can remain in our lives as they are. God’s loving mercy has responded by sending many great revivals and outpourings to bring the view and experience of heaven to us and in us.
Again and again, man has responded temporarily to these visitations and then slipped back into natural-based life. This blend or mixture will never work. The visitations are to call us to come up to Him in theSpirit. In other words, we must move away from the life we have known and into the supernatural life in the Spirit.
We cannot partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and partake of the tree of life at the same time.
It seems easier for a poor man in a poor country to walk away from this life into the Supernatural Spirit life of God than it is for a person with an easy comfortable life of pleasure and good things in a wealthy nation.
If we are prospering in our mixture of lukewarm living it may be harder to leave this life to go up into the Supernatural Spirit life.
That which we may not understand is that life in the Spirit is many times better. It is higher, greater, and much more powerful than natural life. It is truly a life of love that produces, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit.
WHAT ABOUT EARTHLY RESPONSIBILITIES?
So, does this mean that if we go up into the Spirit to live and walk in the Spirit we will not be of service and blessing to mankind in this life? Certainly not.
As we live and walk in the Spirit, we will be of much more valuable service in establishing the kingdom-of-God life in mankind and the world around us.
We will have the supernatural abilities to see and know how and when to do that which will get the work done and avoid many hindrances with foresight and wisdom. We will not waste time fighting unfruitful battles but move with the wisdom and power of God to serve God by serving mankind according to the plan and will of God.
HOW ON EARTH CAN I “COME UP” TO HEAVEN?
What can I do? Where is the ladder or staircase that I can ascend? I have all these responsibilities. There is my family to care for and there must be money for food, clothes, transportation, education, entertainment, and shelter – and what about college?
Modern culture seems to demand we set our minds on our responsibility to accomplish the many tasks of maintaining a life status for ourselves and our families, tribes, and nations. This harsh taskmaster spirit is from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It seeks to disallow the opportunity to respond to the call to “come up and come alive.”
You may be correct, there is NO WAY for you to ascend to heaven. However, THERE IS ONE WHO MAKES A WAY WHERE THERE IS NO WAY! He makes a highway in the desert of no way in this life now. (Isaiah 40:3-5).
The TRUTH is the WAY to the ascended LIFE is JESUS! He is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6).
Jesus is not just the way to heaven in the afterlife. JESUS IS THE SAVIOR OF YOUR LIFE NOW IN THIS WORLD! If our life now is consumed in providing only for the cares or the needs of this life it is LOST. It does not measure on the scale of life in the Spirit realm. God’s purpose for our lives now in this world may be completely lost even if we get to be a hundred years old.
To really fulfill our purpose in life God and His kingdom must be first and all these things will be added to us. (Matthew 6:33).
What must I do to “come up!”
“Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’” “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”’ John 6:28-29.
To “Come Up and Come Alive” now, we do have a part. It is in believing in Jesus. Our belief places us in a position to receive this work of Jesus. Now is the time to get set to receive lifting to life IN THE SPIRIT!
GET SET AND LOOK UP
Runners about to start a race will first GET SET. They get their body into a position ready to thrust themselves instantly into a run. They set their minds on the start of the race. They are not thinking about anything else. They are totally focused and excitedly anticipating the start signal gun shot or “trumpet blast.” They lift their heads to look straight ahead and not down or to the left or right.
Our part right now is to get set and hear the trumpet that is blasting today. The shot is being fired that is heard in heaven and on earth.
Another call runners will hear before GET SET is ON YOUR MARK. We will be disqualified if we are across the line or out of place.
As a group or team such as an American football team, each player must be in the proper position and totally still until the play starts. When the leader’s signal sounds, they all instantly jump into action to do their assigned job.
SET YOUR MIND ON THINGS ABOVE
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears (manifests), then you also will appear (manifest) with Him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4.
While remaining in earthly bodies here on earth, “coming up” means being elevated into the Spirit life of Christ Jesus on the throne living His life in our minds and hearts in the Holy Spirit. Everything of our past life that was not of God is dissolved. Our minds are set in heaven’s reality and we are free from the bondages and limitations of the flesh.
The love of God and His divine ways of wisdom and power rule in every thought and aspect of life in the kingdom of God that is now in us here on Earth. Our joy and excitement in this life are in the Spirit life of Christ in and with us. All things are possible to us and everything is of His order and design. Peace is always with us in all situations of life.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33.
“But as it is written:
‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32.
Ron McGatlin
openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net