This week I thought I’d share a very special memory with you. This is a short musical clip from Winds of Fire’s last recording, Live From the Garden Gate. Little did we know that 2 members of our band would soon be worshipping with us from the Cloud of Witnesses… where now they really are walking with God as Enoch walked.
Speaking of that, did you know that you were not created to be confined to the limitations of this natural realm, including that of your physical body? Recently, I had an encounter when I left my physical body. Yes, it’s in Scripture… Remember when Paul said this?
Someone I’m acquainted with, who is in union with Christ,
was swept away fourteen years ago in an ecstatic experience.
He was taken into the third heaven,
but I’m not sure if he was in his body or out of his body—only God knows.
-II Corinthians 12:2, TPT
God designed you in a way that body follows soul, which follows spirit. So, at the fall, when your spirit died, your soul, and ultimately your body died, too. The good news is that at salvation your spirit was made alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1). As that salvation is “worked out” into your soul, your body begins to respond. THE DEGREE TO WHICH YOUR SOUL IS TRANSFORMED IS THE DEGREE TO WHICH YOUR BODY IS TRANSFIGURED! So, first, you simply see and hear in the spirit. Then your soul begins to participate, becoming aware of who you are as a spirit being, “seated with Christ in heavenly places.” Then, through the process of faithful stewardship, your body will follow.
The Father used my out-of-body experience to teach me many things about how wonderfully He has created us. I was lying on my worship room floor, enjoying His presence, when Jesus began breathing His breath of life into me, saying, “Talitha Cumi,” (little girl, arise). When I left my body, I immediately saw my spirit body as a being of brilliant white light. I felt so free and heard my spirit say “I was born for this!” I looked down at my natural body with His love and began caressing it, honoring it. I could see that I was surrounded by a bubble of Holy Spirit and felt safe and well-protected. Jesus took “spirit-me” by the hand and we went into the stars, creating pictures, like the “light bright” game I remember from childhood.
Holy Spirit began to show me that the soul needs some sort of “container” in order to leave the physical body. He showed me that the light body I saw leaving my earthly body was my spirit. It functioned as the container for my soul. Holy Spirit then functioned as a container for my light body, keeping it safe. The occult does not have this advantage, so soul travel and astral projection are very dangerous. They do not have Holy Spirit, nor do they have a living human spirit, so their soul travels via the “container” of a demonic spirit.
THEN I BEGAN TO SEE THAT I WAS FUNCTIONING ACCORDING TO MY ORIGINAL DESIGN BEFORE THE FALL. SPIRIT WAS ON THE OUTSIDE, HOUSING SOUL, WHICH HOUSED BODY. THIS IS HOW THE EARTHLY BODY DEFIES THE LIMITS OF FALLEN EARTH. IT IS INSIDE SOUL, WHICH IS INSIDE SPIRIT, WHICH IS INSIDE HOLY SPIRIT. Did you know that’s in the Bible?
…for in Him we live and move and have our being.
-Acts 17:28, NKJV
Did you know that quantum physics reveals that subatomic particles seem to constantly disappear and then reappear faster than the speed of light? In other words, we think our physical bodies are solid, but even science believes we’re flickering in and out! Perhaps, as we become more comfortable in our heavenly home (Philippians 3:20-21), our times of flickering “out” will become longer and longer until, like Enoch, we are “not.”
I just want to encourage you today that these kinds of encounters and experiences are not for a special or super-spiritual few. The occult regularly practices the counterfeit, yet they are only eating the crumbs that fall from the table. Because of the blood of Christ, legal access has been granted to God’s sons to sit with Him at His banquet feast.
Be patient with yourself. Do not strive. Stay true to the spiritual classroom He has assigned for you today, keeping that unconditional “yes” in your heart. He knows how to grow you to maturity and has already invited you to come and explore those “many mansions” in His heart. It really is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom!
And I hope that you enjoy sharing this treasured moment with me…
Winds of Fire, Live at The Garden Gate
Available for download here