Hi Everyone,
Of the twelve spiritual truths that Ray gave us, the first truth is, first comes the natural or physical and then comes the spiritual.
""And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the Last Adam [Jesus Christ] was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is NATURAL; and afterward that which is SPIRITUAL" 1 Cor. 15:45,46.
I have been thinking alot about that in terms of life and death. In other words, what does it take to stay alive in the physical and what does it take to stay alive in the spiritual.
Seems to me that there are three basic things that one must do in order to stay alive physically. Now, if any of you, who are more medically astute than I, please let me know. But these three necessary things are: eating, drinking and breathing. Without any one of the things you will die. Even if you are on life support, you still need all three things to maintain life.
I see no difference in the spiritual. Now its true that you can go without food or water for a long time, but eventually you will die. Without breathing, you will die very quickly.
Eating, drinking and breathing are an everyday occurance with all of us. Scientists can tell us that food, when digested, turns into flesh and blood, but they really do not know how it does that. It just does. It's a miracle. How does a piece of fruit turn into flesh? Don't know. We know that it metabolizes and somehow it does, but that's all we know. We just know that you must eat, drink, and breathe in order to live. And usually it's very enjoyable too.
Now, I believe that in order for all of us to maintain life in the spirit, we must eat, drink and breathe everyday too. If we don't, we will die (spiritually). It's amazing that even in the garden of Eden, God uses the analogy of food to tell us that if we eat of the tree of the knowlege of good and evil we will die. But there was also in the garden the tree of life.
Jesus is the bread of life, and Jesus is that living water, and Jesus says that the words that I speak are spirit (breath). I always wondered how we can eat, drink and breathe Jesus, but since reading Ray's papers, I finally see. It's only through the words of God. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt: 4:4 But how does eating, drinking and breathing the word make us spiritual...don't know that either, but it does. It's called transformation.
The scriptures are full of analogies of food, water and air. The tree of life, river of life, the true bread, the hidden manna and so on. The senses that God gave us physically all are a type of us spiritually. I'm re-looking at everything differentley since coming here. God is burning out all of my old doctrines and teachings that I learned in Christianity and...... "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Rev. 21:5
In Him,
Dwight