Physical or Spiritual?

I have discovered that there are 2 types of Christian. One embraces the Physical and the other embraces the Spiritual.

The Physical Christian, for whatever reason, has difficulties in dealing with/believing in spiritual matters. They are trapped in the world's view of things, which only includes things they can relate to physically (see, taste, touch, etc).

They tend to put miracles into the box of "those happened back then, but not now" (basically Cessationism). They pray for miracles today, and even say they've seen them, but seem confined to "I prayed to be healed of my cold and look- God healed me after a week!" (my example is simplistic, but you get the picture).

They only believe in spiritual gifts such as Administration, Helps, Preaching, Teaching, Pastor, Evangelist, Missionary, etc, but completely relegate to biblical days the gifts of Healing, Deliverance, Prophecy, Tongues, Discernment, Miracles, Apostle . . . in other words, all the gifts that show God's immediate power.

They tend to believe in "the" Holy Spirit, but see him more as a force than a person. They are afraid of what he might do if they actually let him be in control of anything (their lives, a meeting, decisions, etc). In fact, many speak of him as an "it."

The Spiritual Christian is open to the Spiritual realm in which we live. They tend to see the connection we have with the spiritual realm because God made us that way (Physical, Emotional AND Spiritual- in God's image). They are often more inclined to believe something that is spiritual in nature as opposed to things that are physical in nature.

They believe in God's power and miraculous interaction with humankind as a daily occurrence to be savored. They pray for amazing miracles such as replacement of deteriorated cartilage and casting out of demons and actually SEE these things happen on a fairly regular basis.

They believe in the "power" gifts of the Spirit (note: ALL gifts show God's power in our lives, but I mean the obvious miraculous power we don't usually see around us) and USE them as God has given them. These are the Prophets who hear God's voice- today; the Apostles who lead in new creative ways; those with gifts of Deliverance who cast out real, live demons; the Worship Warriors who bring people into God's manifest presence, those who speak in Tongues, etc.

They believe Holy Spirit is a name, not just a title; he is a person not a force; he walks with us and directs our moment-by-moment steps AS we listen to him. They listen and let him have his way all the time, including in meetings when he shows up BEFORE the altar call and completely trashes the meticulously planned service we spent so much time setting up.

Jesus came to reconcile us to God; to show us the way back to the Father. Humankind had forgotten the spiritual aspect of our nature and Jesus showed us what it should be like if we live constantly in that realm. What he brought was not just for the people of that time. It is for all who believe in him and know that there is MUCH MORE to life than the physical.

I am saddened by all the Physical-embracing Christians I see in the Body of Christ today (I pray for their liberation). If more Christians embraced the truth of the Spiritual realm, the Church would be so much stronger and much more of a serious force to reckon with in this world today. We could accomplish our mission if we used the tools God has built into us.

You, like all Christians, have a choice. You can embrace the Physical and live in that man-made box until Jesus comes back again. OR you can embrace the Spiritual which we were created to live in before we allowed the Physical take over.