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Growing In God with Gary Hargrave


Mar 13, 2024

Web Description: In a Creation of infinite realms, why are we aware only of the material realm? If our salvation has opened the door to the realms of God’s presence and His Kingdom, why are we not continually drawing the life and blessings of those realms? If we are born again into the realm of spirit where Christ and the Father live, then with the Holy Spirit’s help let us grow and mature and learn to function in that realm.

 

Show Notes: God’s Creation is not just the one realm of the material world. There are many realms in Creation. For example, there is the spirit realm, and Yeshua (Jesus) said we that we must be born again by the Spirit and function in the realm of spirit. Yet we think of being born again as simply our initial salvation experience, and we continue to live our lives as if the physical world is all that exists. We talk about the spirit world, but for the most part we are unaware of that realm or how we are to operate within it.

 

Paul wrote to the Ephesians that we must not be like those who are excluded from the life of God because they are darkened in their understanding. Whenever we are without understanding of a realm then we are excluded from what is available to us within that realm. Our salvation is so much greater than an initial experience. God has made all the realms of His Creation available to us. But we cannot draw the fruit, the blessings, or the life that exists within a realm if we have no awareness or understanding about it.

 

There is so much in the Creation, in everything that God has made both visible and invisible. But if we are to receive all that is available for us in our salvation, then we must become aware of it. We must come to an understanding of it and realize that we have to mature by learning of these realms and not remain in a state of ignorance concerning them. Let us open up and pray, “Lord teach us. Show us and lead us. Let us grow up into mature sons and daughters of God who are able to know your will and know how to move in these beautiful and wonderful realms that you have created for us.”

 

Key Verses:

 

       Ephesians 4:11–16. “We are to grow up in all aspects into Him.”

       Ephesians 4:17–18. “Walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk … excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance.”

       2 Peter 3:18. “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

       Isaiah 66:1–2. “My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being.”

       Isaiah 57:15. “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit.”

       Romans 12:1–2. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

       Ephesians 4:23–24. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

       1 Thessalonians 5:23–24. “May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete.”

       John 3:4–8. “So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

       John 3:9–12. “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

 

Quotes:

 

       “We are to become aware of these places that may be higher than our minds right now can conceive of. But it doesn’t mean that they’re not accessible to us if our hunger will drive us to learn.”

       “We can be ignorant because we never heard, we never learned, and nobody’s teaching us. Or we’re being restrained from the knowledge and the understanding.”

       “You cannot have a Christian walk that is just encased into the material world and the things that you are able to see and touch. There’s a world way beyond that. There’s much beyond that.”

 

Takeaways:

 

1.    Within the Creation of God there are an infinite number of realms. Yet for the most part we are unaware of these realms or how to operate within them.

2.    In the wonderful salvation that God has given us, realms beyond anything that we could ask or think or imagine are available to us. As believers in God and Christ and the Holy Spirit we must wake up to these realms that are involved in our faith and learn to operate within them.

3.    The spirit realm or spirit world is one example of a realm that we talk about but do not really understand or know how to function in. We are generally poorly taught about the spirit realm because of the lack of teachers who have been experientially born of the Spirit—not just the initial salvation experience—and truly understand the spirit realm.

4.    God give us the hunger to understand and learn how to walk in the spirit realm as completely and as competently as we walk in the natural realm.