We really live in two worlds, the physical world and the spiritual world. This time of year, the spiritual world comes into focus, but only one part of the spiritual world, the evil side. Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic spiritual tradition of Samhain, which was celebrated October 31-Nov. 1 in honor of the harvest and the start of the dark time of the year. Ancient Celts believed that the distance between the earthly world and the spiritual world was much narrower at this time. Therefore, they thought they could interact with the spirits from the otherworld. They would sometimes leave their windows and doors open so their dead family members could enter their homes and join in the celebration. This was also the time of year when fairies and headless horsemen ran amuck. The Irish immigrants brought this tradition to America and we celebrate it as Halloween with ghosts, goblins and of course, trick or treat (History, 2019).
The belief in a spiritual world is common among peoples of the world, the Celts weren’t the only ones to believe in another world. To mention a few, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Wicca are other religions that believe in a spiritual world. All believe in evil spirits, but only Judaism and Christianity believe in a God who shows unconditional love. Only Christianity believes that this unconditional love comes through the Son of God, Jesus, who was sacrificed to redeem us from the evil spiritual world, Hell, and brings us to live eternally in the presence of a loving God. What is important to see here, is interaction with the spiritual world should be limited as much as possible to the Holy Trinity and the angels of God.
Interacting with the Spiritual World
It seems we don’t think too much about the spiritual world, except at Halloween. However, we should interact with it on a daily basis. That is, we should be talking to God and Jesus every day. They are our spiritual advisors. A relationship with them, not only strengthens us spiritually, but also transcends into our physical world as well. Isaiah tells us:
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD,
the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40: 28-31)
Isn’t that fantastic?! When we strengthen our relationship with God, we receive benefits in our physical world such as strength, peace, confidence and wisdom, to mention a few.
Jesus’ Dealings with the Spiritual World
Jesus talked to His Father intimately. The Bible records ten prayers of Jesus. The longest prayer recorded is in John 17. In this conversation with His Father, We see God’s plan from the very beginning, to send His Son out of the spiritual realm into the physical realm so that we may know who God really is, and develop a relationship with Him. We see in verses 22 and 23 how the two worlds are unified as we choose to come into God’s spiritual world.
The glory which You [God] have given Me I have given to them [Believers],
that they may be one, just as We are one;
I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity,
so that the world may know that You sent Me,
and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
In these verses, we see that Jesus has become the actual bridge between the physical world and the spiritual world. Once we understand Jesus is our Savior, and we become Believers, our job is to be the path for others in this physical world that leads to Jesus, the bridge, to the spiritual world.
Jesus didn’t just speak only to His Father, He also dealt with evil spirits. The Bible records seven instances where Jesus cast out demons. What is interesting is that at times, the demons proclaimed who He was. “Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him [Jesus], they would fall down before Him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God (Mark 3:11)!’” We now understand that Jesus is known by evil demons and they have to do what He commands. This is because He is God’s Son and has power over all things, whether they be spiritual or physical.
Satan roams the physical world spreading the lie that he can give us what we want. He also tries to spread the lie that Hell isn’t such a bad place and that the evil spirits are having a big party there. However, we know the real truth. Satan has no power over us. Believers have access to the most powerful Being in the physical and spiritual world, God, His Son and the Holy Spirit. Lean on them when Satan makes life difficult and tries to turn you from the real power of the realms – God.
“Satan cannot create anything new, cannot create anything at all. He must steal what God has created. Thus he twists love and God’s wonderful gift of sex into lust and sadism and myriad perversions. He disfigures the heart’s deep desire to worship God and persuades us to bow before lesser gods of lust or money or power.” –Catherine Marshall
References
Catherine Marshall. (n.d.). AZQuotes.com. Retrieved October 21, 2020, from AZQuotes.com Web site: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1404763
History.com editors. Oct. 31, 2019, original April 6, 2018. Samhain. https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain. © 2020 A&E Television Networks, LLC.
Photo credit: Jesus Tempted by the Devil, by pcstratman [Public Domain]
