Do you ever wonder why location seems to play a role in spiritual connectivity? Why is it that in some places or settings you feel closer to God or are more aware of His presence? I have noticed for example when I am with my wife I definitely feel more presence or am more aware of His presence. When I am at home I am more in tune with the Spirit. I know this indirectly because when I am away from my wife or away from home on travel I feel more vulnerable to the things of the world. For example when I am home in my routine I find myself just resting in His presence or engaging in “godly activities” like taking a bike ride while listening to a great teaching on a podcast or eating dinner while watching a Joseph Prince message or just reading a divinely inspired book or reading my Bible for edification. Much of the time I find myself engaging in Spirit filled discussions with my wife. We talk about how amazing God is or what He is showing us. I would say that in the right “geography I feel at rest. Maybe for you it begins with the church setting. That is your “happy place” in worship or fellowship. Maybe for you when you leave your “geography” of rest like church you find yourself moving from that “in touch with God place” to something else.
When I go on travel or when my wife is away or when my routine is disrupted something happens. I find myself wasting time watching television or wasting time. I find myself doing things that I wouldn’t normally do. It feels disruptive or divisive, not rest. Hopefully you are following this line of reasoning. Why do you suppose that location has anything to do with spiritual connectivity? Why would the absence of my wife have anything to do with my TV viewing habits? Some would immediately jump to accountability and they would have a point but I think there is more to this issue then just accountability. (I think that accountability plays a part but I also think that my accountability partner is the Holy Spirit who lives in me and is no farther away from me than my own spirit since we are joined as one. I believe accountability, in the wrong sense, can actually be an excuse. When I am accountable to someone for “behavior control” then I have missed the point all together. Accountability should be edification and encouragement to support our new identity in Christ Jesus. That is another post.)
I think geography isn’t the issue but “rest” is. Actually it could be location centric in that when we move from our place of “rest” we are moving into a place of evil. Now I have your attention let me try to explain.
Here is the definition of “evil” from Noah Webster 18298:
Evil is natural or moral. Natural evil is anything which produces pain, distress, loss or calamity, or which in any way disturbs the peace, impairs the happiness, or destroys the perfection of natural beings. Moral evil is any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God, or by legitimate human authority; or it is any violation of the plain principles of justice and rectitude. There are also evils called civil, which affect injuriously the peace or prosperity of a city or state; and political evils, which injure a nation, in its public capacity. All wickedness, all crimes, all violations of law and right are moral evils. Diseases are natural evils, but they often proceed from moral evils.
Check out these verses you know well:
Matt 6:9 Pray, therefore, like this: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven ([e]left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors. 13 And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (AMP)
Here is the Greek word translated as evil in verse 13.
Ponēros: full of labours, annoyances, hardships, pressed and harassed by labours, bringing toils, annoyances, perils; of a time full of peril to Christian faith and steadfastness; causing pain and trouble, bad, of a bad nature or condition, in a physical sense: diseased or blind, in an ethical sense: evil wicked, bad
Now can you see that evil, specifically in this example, is unrest or distress or disturbance, etc? So our prayer is to be delivered from the one that brings unrest? So how about the word rest? The English origin is “to hold back” or “to restrain”. The word rescue has a similar origin. It would mean to “hold back” or “restrain” something that causes you to “tremble or be afraid.” Read Hebrews chapter 4 in entirety when you have a chance. I have pulled out some of the highlights below and added some emphasis.
Heb 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest…6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news (God provides) failed to enter because of disobedience (unbelief)… “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his… 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience (unbelief)…14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession (of belief). 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV, parenthetical and bold added for explanation and emphasis)
Our unrest creates opportunity for the evil one to come into our place of rest and influence our lives. It is like getting a chink in your armor or hole in your hull or weak place in your fortress wall or fissure in your foundation. That is the place the enemy comes in and really starts to mess with you. Your routine, self-made environment, home setting or worship atmosphere (like church) is a way of keeping your natural self at rest. We tend to think that if our natural self is experiencing distress then the rest of our self is likewise in distress. I want to stretch you a little and see things a little differently. We tend to think and believe that the natural leads the spiritual. Actually God is Spirit and all He does and says becomes reality so why wouldn’t we believe that the spiritual leads the natural? Your Kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven…deliver us from (the)evil(one). Isn’t that calling forth the supernatural over the natural? This request is geography agnostic. It works wherever you are. Oh by the way your geography in the spirit does not change. Check out these verses:
Ephesians 2:6 And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us [a]joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). (AMP)
Ephesians 2:1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. (MSG)
We bring our Heavenly places to our present location. In this place is the rest from in influences of evil or unrest. It is His rest, His presence. Awareness of the “rest place” (His presence) is to erect a bubble of protection around you from the enemy. It is your local Heavenly place. It brings one reality to another. When we are living in rest, natural rest, peace, tranquility, absence of disruption, we operate in the Spirit naturally. When our natural condition is contrary to our spiritual condition we have to choose which reality we will live from. The spirit precedes the natural so we should choose, declare, believe in the Heavenly-places-reality and release that reality into our current natural condition. In a practical sense it is going to the “secrete place” and resting in the presence of God. We can actually be engaged in all sorts of natural activity but still project our rest, peace, joy and His presence into our local geography. We make our own tent or tabernacle wherever we go. So with this new revelation or realization we can feel freedom to leave, move, get out of “our comfort zone” and bring our rest with us. The enemy has no claim to our person or our environment if we believe what God has said. We no longer need to fear or worry about the enemy. The place we live (dwelling) may be protected by our habitation much like our churches or prayer houses, but our person can also have a zone of protection as we move from place to place. Imagine a future opportunity when your presence shifts not only the atmosphere directly around you but an entire building or place of business or city block or… I am pretty sure that when Jesus walked into town everything changed in that town.
“I declare that geography will no longer influence my rest and my peace. I claim the rest and peace of Heavenly places to displace, permeate, and shift atmospheres wherever I go.” Let’s stop giving the enemy more credit than he deserves. Last I checked my boot-heel was firmly planted on his head.
Yay Jesus!
Lance
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