Jun 30, 2016
We all know how frustrating it is when we try to enter a locked room and find that we don’t have the key. We may try many different keys on our ring, but the only sure way of getting into the room is by using the right key.
Receiving Christ by believing in Him is just the beginning of a new life. Colossians 2:6 tells us what comes next: “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” To walk in Christ is to have further experiences of Him. But how exactly do we enter into the daily experience of Christ?
After our initial salvation, we may have struggled to find a way, even trying all kinds of different “keys” in our search for how to experience Christ. But just as we need the right key to enter into a locked room, we need a particular key to enter into this “room” called experiencing Christ.
In the universe there are three realms, each with its key for accessing and experiencing that realm. Every human being—having been created by God with a body, a soul, and a spirit—is equipped with the keys to each realm:
- The physical realm is the material world, what we can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. The key to experiencing the physical realm is that we must use the five physical senses of our bodies.
- The psychological realm is the realm of the soul, deeper than the physical realm, where we think, have feelings, and make choices. The key to experiencing the psychological realm is that we must use the faculties of our soul: we use our mind to think, reason, and analyze; our emotions to feel joy, sorrow, and many other feelings; and our will to make decisions.
- The spiritual realm is more mysterious and deeper than both the physical and psychological realms. The key to contacting the spiritual realm is that we must use our human spirit. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” This verse also tells us that “those who worship Him must worship in spirit,” meaning, in their human spirit. The way to contact God the Spirit is with our human spirit, the inward part of our being where we are born again.
In the same way that we can’t hear beautiful music by using our eyes, we can’t know Christ in our experience and walk in Him by using the wrong key. Using our mind merely to think about Him, or our emotions to try to feel Him, or our will to decide to be a good Christian just doesn’t work. We have to use the right key to experience Christ—our human spirit!
Physically, we exercise our feet by walking. Psychologically, we use our mind by studying or considering. How do we exercise, or use, the key of our spirit to contact and experience Christ? The best way to exercise our spirit is by praying. And our prayer doesn’t need to be long and formal. In fact, simply calling on the precious name of our Lord Jesus is a good way to contact Him in prayer.
The more we contact the Lord as the Spirit in our spirit, the more we sense His living presence. When we pray and call on the name of the Lord from deep within, we spontaneously begin to walk in Him and experience more of who He is. We can know this living One and walk in Him by exercising our spirit anytime, anywhere.
Rather than trying to follow and live by a set of outward regulations, as Christians we should focus on experiencing the living person of Christ. He dwells in our spirit, and He wants to be everything to us. During our day, in all matters big or small, we can contact Him by using the key of our human spirit to pray. Then we begin to live by, walk in, and enjoy the living Christ within us.
What a joy to experience Christ by using this wonderful key—our spirit!
“Lord Jesus, thank You for living in me and showing me that my spirit is the key to experiencing You. Thank You that I can exercise my spirit by praying and calling on Your name. Lord, thank You for opening my eyes to see that I can daily walk in You simply by enjoying Your living presence within my spirit.”