ABOVE
There are more than one planes of existence. (Yes, those are clouds!)
BELOW
As I’ve sat an typed this scenario out multiple times over the last several days, it finally came to me in an illustration this morning. Now, I’m not the painter of the Sistine Chapel and that is a good thing. However, I can attempt to paint a picture with words. Maybe it will help convey some of what has been brought forth recently.
In the not so distant past, a friend went home to be with the Lord. He was a favored man. One with great character, great kindness, and beloved. Prayers ascended on his behalf daily for his recovery. Intense intercession provided assurance that our prayers were being heard. Yet still the man of God passed away...
Tears of joy and sadness were met with sobs of sorrow and remembrances of love and laughter. His impact left a gap in those that were left behind. He, beyond all doubt, was met with a heavenly host celebrating the triumph of Christ in his life! He did not enter heaven’s gates alone. He was a champion of the people. Beloved Above and Below, and his inheritance shall be forever (Psalm 37:18 ASV).
To be with Christ is to be where He is! There in the opulence of heaven’s throne, He is seated at the right Hand of the Father (Romans 8:34 ESV). Jesus’ court is filled with unique beings that only the fanciest of minds can even begin to convey. Here is where we find the witnesses. This is where we find Him! The heavenly plane. It is Above.
When you were dunked in the waters of baptism, you put on Christ by sharing in His death and resurrection (Galatians 3:27 ESV). Your spirit was no longer floating along solo in the great divide. You became a child of God. In the picture above, you’ll see the one figure has a big circle around it, that is the symbolism of your spirit putting on Christ.
As in the days of old, the apostles would not only baptise in water, but would also pray the baptism of the Spirit (Acts 11:16 ASV). In this way we would be immersed in Him and He in us. With the picture above you’ll notice the figure on the bottom has a circle around the center, that is the well of the Holy Spirit that gushes forth in us and from us (John 7:38 ESV). We are Below for a time...
In this manner we become His and He becomes our’s. We are joined together, see John 17. This co-existence of being in the Above and Below planes, allows us to become more. We have a Gardener that tends to us (John 15:1 ESV). He wants us to produce good fruit, because it's this fruit that feeds the others. We can sow in the plane below good things or bad things. We can sow in the plane above good things or bad things and we’ll be known for the fruit we have produced (Matthew 12: 33 ESV).
Paul pointed out that you could sow to the flesh and it leads to corruption or you can sow to the spirit and receive a harvest (Romans 7: 4-6 ESV). This flesh is the selfish nature inherent in all who sin. Do you feed it from the good tree or the bad? Likewise we can be a fruitless spiritual tree too. Do you cultivate that which has been entrusted to you?
Pray. Listen. Sing. Worship. Read. Discuss. Share. The man in the beginning of this letter did these things. He sowed into people from the well of God entrusted to him, both Above and Below. Take time and follow the Good Doctor’s path...
Godspeed, The JourneyMan
Ps. Today’s story comes from a simple question of why? Why do our beloved have to die? In the end, we’ll know. But for now let the memory of our cherished one be a comfort. Let us draw from the Lord and seek His face. Until we meet again...
Psalm 37: 18 ASV “Jehovah knoweth the days of the perfect; And their inheritance shall be for ever.”
Matthew 12: 33 ESV “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.”
Matthew 12: 35 ESV “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”
John 7: 38 ASV “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.”
John 15: 1-2 ASV “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.”
Acts 11: 16 ASV “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.”
Galatians 3: 27-29 ESV “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Romans 7: 4 ASV “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.”
Romans 7: 5-6 ESV “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
Romans 8: 34 ESV “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
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