In this study series we have been exploring what the Bible says about the Invisible Spiritual Realm. I pray that the reader will be challenged to explore in depth, the hundreds of references in the Word of God that I am unable to share in this blog. The invisible spiritual realm is more real than the earthly realm, and the supernatural beings who live in this realm are eternal beings, whereby, the physical human being on the earth lives in a temporary existence.
As the apostles of Jesus Christ watched Jesus ascend into Heaven, two angels were sent with a message from God...Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven?...this same Jesus, who was taken up from you into Heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him into Heaven...Acts 1:11. Two beings, who reside in the invisible spiritual realm, became visible to the apostles so they could give a special message to them from God.
Now the apostles have been sent with the gospel message of Jesus to take it to the utter most parts of the earth - but they began in Jerusalem. One day King Herod had had enough of their harassment, so he killed James, the brother of John, and threw Peter into prison to be killed after the Passover celebration. Peter was bound in chains, between two soldiers, sleeping like a baby...Acts 12:1-6.
An angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, Arise quickly!...and his chains fell off his hands...then the angel said to him, Gird yourself and tie on your sandals...put on your garment and follow me...Acts 12:7-8. The angel led Peter past the first & second guard posts without being seen, even the iron gate that leads to the city opened of its own accord, then the angel disappeared...verses 9-10. His mission accomplished.
God has His plans, and to accomplish His plans, He will provide supernatural assistance -- whether or not we see His messengers. Sometimes He will allow us to physically see His messengers, but most time He will not, nonetheless, He does provide assistance to human beings in order to complete His plans and preparations for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the end of the world.
At conception each human being is endowed by God with His plans...My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth...Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed and in Your book they all were written...the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them...Ps. 139:15-16.
This reference clearly explains that the days of each human being were planned by God before he physically lived on the earth, confirming how critical it is for us to seek God and His plans and purposes for our existence -- then He can provide supernatural assistance.
I have been sharing some of my experiences in the invisible spiritual realm hoping the reader will realize how normal this is for a Christian. When I was in the 6th grade I received a paper back from a teacher with a grade B written in red with a note: You deserved an A, but your writing held your grade back. I had been criticized for my bad handwriting for years, but no one offered to help me change it -- and I didn't know how. My mother was an artist with beautiful penmanship, but could only find fault saying, "Why don't you do something about your atrocious handwriting?" All I could do was cry!
I was the correspondent in the family writing notes to family members, wanting to keep family together. In those days a telephone call, even local, was so costly most of us wrote letters. Every time I wrote a newsy note to my grandmother, I would receive a tongue lashing the next time I saw her about my illegible handwriting. One day in 1968, I got a phone call from her after she had received a 10-page letter from me. She didn't even ask how I was, but launched right into the purpose of her call, because of the cost, "Just received your long letter. I'm sure it was interesting, if I could have read it -- go back to school and learn how to write legibly." No good bye, she just hung up.
I slipped to the floor in a heap of exasperating tears of helplessness. Sobbing uncontrollably once again over unkind accusations, I cried out, "I don't know what to do! Why are people so mean about something I can do nothing about?!" While still sitting and sobbing on the floor, right before my eyes I saw something unusual. I saw myself sitting at a desk in my second grade classroom. I saw my pigtails with ribbons and a blouse my mother had made - she was a gifted seamstress.
Then I saw the teacher, Mrs. Brown, coming toward me with her usual stern look - she was an angry person. We were being taught cursive, and she had just given the order to put our paper straight on the desk, then copy the cursive figures that were permanently printed on all blackboards. Her handwriting was not good, so she had to use the permanent figures for proper instruction.
By the time she got to my desk she saw that I had turned my paper slightly to the left so that I could get the proper right-slanted angle for proper penmanship. The nails on her fingers were bitten so severely, they looked red & puffy this time as she reached for my paper and jerked it straight, as she yelled out to the class, "I said keep you paper straight on your desk!"
While watching this scene I felt all the emotions that I experienced the day this incident occurred. I was so scared I didn't know what to do. In order to comply with her demand, I turned my right hand to a left slant, which I could accomplish easily while keeping my paper straight. I was transfixed as I watched the scene from my past that clearly showed me the cause of my atrocious hand-writing.
I stopped crying, and didn't move a muscle, for I was mesmerized by this supernatural experience. Then the scene changed. I saw my mother sitting in the living room of the home of my teen years. She was writing a letter. My eyes were drawn to the angle of her writing tablet and the book under it for support. No words were spoken to me, but I innately knew that I was being shown in an instant how to correct my handwriting. I jumped up, found my tablet, pen and a book and sat down on my sofa. I turned the tablet and support book to my left, as I saw my mother do, and turned my hand to a right angle and began to make an "M" over and over.
"Oh my," I thought, "this is amazing." My hand began to ache a bit since it was writing in the opposite direction, but I was so excited, I just added a different letter and practiced it for several rows until I accomplished the whole alphabet. Then I began to write out short sentences to find some consistency. I didn't know what had just happened -- I didn't know this was a vision -- God had intervened. Later I would know to give Him all the glory for my experience in the invisible spiritual realm.
My mother told me that when she received my first letter with my new handwriting, she thought something had happened to me, because it was obvious someone else had addressed the envelope. That's how different and very legible my handwriting was from then on. All my grandmother had to say was, "It's about time I could read your letters."
The Apostle Paul said to Timothy...all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution...II Tim. 3:12. So be prepared when others hurl accusations, insult you or humiliate you -- God is using every experience to draw you into intimacy with Him, preparing you for His invisible heavenly kingdom.
God's sheep question the doctrines of men...sheeple follow without question~~~
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