DownshoreDrift

Living From a Spiritual Perspective

Matthew 6:10 – “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Perspective: a view or vista/a mental view or outlook/the relationship or aspects of a subject to each other and to a whole.

To learn to pray and live Matt. 6:10, we have to see things from a different perspective.

Spiritual vs. Carnal

A Carnal Perspective tells us:

• Image is everything

• You’ve got to make your own way

• This life is all there is – make the most of it

• Live for pleasure (eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die)

• Only 2 sure things in life: Death and Taxes (fatalism)

• Look out for #1. No one else will.

• The most important thing is that you are happy – this mantra has become almost Biblical in our culture.

• The only thing that is real is what I can experience.

• Pragmatism rules: we live by whatever works, if it works for you, great.

• You have rights and are entitled to the good life.

• We are in control.

A Spiritual Perspective tells us:

• God is in control.

• This life is not all there is – there is a life to come.

• “Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph. 6:12.

• Put others before yourself – love one another.

• I am unworthy an unable to make it on my own – I need grace.

• In Christ all things hold together (Col. 1:17) – the only way to live life is in Christ.

• With God, nothing is impossible – there is always hope (Mark 10:27; Rom. 15:13).

• The least will be the greatest.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, those who long for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted – God is on your side (Matt. 5:1-12).

• You don’t have to grasp for what you want – trust God.

A Couple of Stories:

Elisha – 2 Kings 6:15-17 – the Aramaens came against Elisha. Even though things looked hopeless in the physical realm, in the spiritual realm there were a host of angels fighting for him.

Matthew 14:22-36 – Jesus was able to walk on water. Peter could too, when he looked to Jesus. Also, when the men of Gennesaret recognized Jesus, they were healed.

Ephesians 1:17-19 speaks of the need for the eyes of our heart to be enlightened so that we can know what God has for us. If we do not see life from spiritual eyes, we will constantly be groping in the darkness and missing God’s will and provision for the life that He wants us to have. This is something that we have to ask for and submit to on a daily basis. We do not just naturally live life from a spiritual perspective.

Practical Applications in your daily life and relationships.

• If you live from a spiritual perspective, you will not lose hope (2 Cor. 4:7-10).

• You will be able to bless and not curse (Rom. 12:14).

• It changes your relationships with others because you are able to come out of the fog of self-focus (Rom. 12:3).

• It enables you to know God (John 17:3).

How do you gain this perspective?

Hebrews 12:2 – Let us fix our eyes on Jesus – How do we do this? Worship, Prayer, Trust.

1. You must be born again (John 3:3-21)

2. You must fill yourself with God’s Word (Psalm 119:105; Heb. 4:12,13).

3. Prayer, faith, fellowship with believers (Eph. 3:14-19).

4. Ask, Seek, Knock (Matt. 7:7-8).