A Dimension Called Spirit

There is a dimension called Spirit that must be accepted by Faith.

Unbelief.  The Spirit of Hopelessness.  The Spirit of Fear.  The Spirit of Rebellion.  I Can't.

These are the enemies of the soul. These are enemies that enter the soul through the spiritual dimension, not the physical dimension. These are the enemies that will keep one living in the wilderness of defeat. I use "wilderness" metaphorically here, but for Caleb, it was literal.

Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, was one of the original company who had spied out the Promised Land for Moses. He reported back that an exceedingly good land. He said, "If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey."
If you've learned anything about God, you know that He delights in Faith. He wanted people of Faith to take the land. Yes, there were giants over there, but that was part of the screening process—to trust more in the Word of the Lord heard in the heart than to believe in the giants seen with physical eyes. Anyone who would do that was set up for great reward.

But what did the congregation want to do? They wanted to run back to Egypt. Do you see the parallel here? KatieLyn wanted to run back to a place that, as far as God is concerned, was no longer her home.

But Caleb tore his clothes and said, "Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." Numbers 14:9

Verse 10: Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones.

Those were literal stones. The stones KatieLyn's community used were metaphorical ones: words. God saw this, of course. I imagine his attitude is consistent today with His response then. "How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them?" For the Lord had performed many signs that KatieLyn and Joe were to be married.
Here is something: In verse 22 of Numbers 14 we are told that the Israelites had put God to the test ten times and had not listened to His voice. We know from this that God had spoken; they did not listen. And we learn that they were given TEN chances before God withdrew his offer to that generation. I think KatieLyn has used up only four or five, but each refusal hardens her a little more. If she were spiritually smart, she would stop listening to those who oppose God before her any more chances slip by.

Verse 24: But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

The grumblers and worrywarts had a far different fate. Verse 29: "your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness."

There is a dimension called Spirit that must be accepted by Faith. It was the Faith of Caleb (and Joshua) that allowed them to enter the Promised Land.
Since the Creation of the Church at Pentecost, God has provided a helper for us to navigate the road of Faith. Jesus called the Holy Spirit "the Helper." "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." John 15:26.

Notice that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit a Helper, and not a "Does-It-for-You." I think that is one of the areas that Gwen mixed up, and therefore got KatieLyn mixed up along the way. She wanted, no, demanded to see it worked out by sight first, and then she would have believed. But Faith has never worked that way and it never will. Faith operates in the invisible spiritual dimension where it is largely unseen until after the results are produced. The only hint of Faith working before the result is seen is in the talking. Faith words do not speak of doubt and misgivings. Doubt is unbelief.

Remember the Promised Land? Hebrews 3:19 says, "and we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief."
They were not required to know how, or by what means, or in what manner, or any of the details. All they were to do was to walk in Faith. But to walk by faith, one must be aware of the Spirit.

The Lesson
The Faith dimension is just as real as the Flesh dimension; possibly more so, but I don't want to go off on a metaphysical tangent. We will stick to the way that scripture describes Faith.
○ John 3:31 "He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all."  The Faith dimension is paired with heaven, and contrasted with the earthly.
○ 2 Corinthians 4:18 "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." The Faith dimension is the unseen eternal, in contrast to the temporary body.
○ 2 Corinthians 5:7 "for through faith we walk, not through sight." When this verse is read in context of the entire chapter, it is clear that "sight" refers to physical senses of the body.
○ Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." In the Faith dimension, "things" are a certainty, even though they are not seen in the flesh dimension.
○ Hebrews 11:3 "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible." Again, Faith is an unseen force.

In the next post, we will pick up here and look at man's control vs. God's role.

There is a dimension called Spirit that must be accepted by Faith.