The Natural House and the Spiritual House

THE NATURAL HOUSE AND THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE 
by Pam Clark  (pamclark@prophetic.net)

There is a Spiritual house and a natural house (of the human soul).  The soul without the genuine born again experience is dead or unable to truly experience and access the things of the Spirit that make for not only a stronger life, but an eternal life.  A “connection” with God must be made that develops into relationship.

Some can tolerate things for a season, but they can become quite frustrated and even angry when sensing that something is not understood or under their control.  (It’s a survival instinct, for whichever side you are on.)   Many have noted the strong spiritual warfare that takes place between Spirit-filled believers (those who have and use their prayer language gift or enablement of other tongues) and those who have not yet had that experience.

[I must digress for a moment here and say here that our use of the word “gifts” can be misleading.  Enablements, perhaps, is a better word.  They are given by grace, but they have a certain purpose.]

Both believers can be great Christians, but one more in the natural could be more able in a certain area in the natural realm, such as finances, or understanding how the body works for its natural good health.  Conversely, if the Spirit filled person lacks some personal discipline and the not yet Spirit filled Christian is more disciplined, there is a competition for power that can become quite sensitive because of what God requires – discipline in both areas!

It can be quite likened to what the Apostle Paul experienced.  He had a call to reach the nations with the Truth, but after his encounter on the road to Damascus and other Spiritual encounters with revelations of Heaven, when he tried to share the expanded understanding with his fellow believers (the Jews), there was warfare every time.  He found it easier to go to the gentiles (or other nations) and start from scratch rather than trying to persuade those who were already established in the ways of their faith.

The Jews had a lot of truth with the Old Covenant.  The Law did make a positive difference in their lives that they could see, especially as they compared themselves to other nations.  Even today we see many Jewish people excelling all over the world, but they don’t understand the many other believers who claim their ways yet act so differently.  Where they have failed was learning how to go to God for their spiritual needs.  Thus they went to idols from other nations.

Both sides, if honest, have to realize that something good is going on with the other, but the meeting in the middle still seems a ways off.  For those who study end time prophecies, we know that there is a promised day when the nations shall be joined as one with Israel.

But even in the Church, we see this barrier sometimes of a difference, especially among different cultures.  We all want what we think is best!  But God made the differences!  Some have humbled themselves in a way to receive what we call the baptism or infilling of the Spirit.  It can be such a profound experience, that people often seem dramatically changed afterwards.  In that it is amazing how such different people can get along so well.

It can even be more amazing to many to see those who have had that experience backslide!  For them to know the Presence of God in a dramatic way and then go back to the ways of the world can seem confusing and even damaging.

But sometimes that will happen because they were not grounded in their faith in a certain area.   There is a process for grounding.  We build on our foundations, but we must do so properly.  Their experience was more than just a Spiritual “high”, but because the House was not in order, they could not maintain it.  Some want to blame the individual, but it could perhaps also be their circumstances.

We need to realize that just saying “be warmed and filled” can also apply to the Spiritual dimension.  And all that being said, we need to realize that there is a natural House and a Spiritual House.  When the Spiritual House is in order, the gifts have a “haven” in which to operate.  Granted, they have to be processed and ordered correctly (which has a lot of freedom) but Spiritual gifts outside of the Spiritual House can manifest in a warped and even perverse fashion if not in order.

Thus we will see cults and excesses and misappropriated applications of the Spiritual life that can do more harm than good!  We need both the natural and the Spiritual, and we need them in proper balance.

Now some are having an “A ha” moment because what I have just said makes sense to their spirit man when their soul man has been confused.  The soul man will find a balance that begins to work for them and thought processes can continue instead of going round and around in circles, so to speak, one more time around that mountain, they have felt!

Some people have been open towards the Spirit but have seen some things “out of order” and have held back because their soul man has alerted them that things are not right, and in quite a few instances, and sad to say, they have been right!  Many who have been in charismatic or in pentecostal or Spirit filled circles may have been deceived not only by false gifts, but misappropriated or out of line and good order gifts.

And while some may have just “missed it” in whatever was trying to happen, because man at times can miss the mark, that can often happen when the Spiritual House is out of order even with “Spirit” in it.  If you have ever experienced that “sweet spot” in the Lord, it can be a place that you just want to stay forever.  It really literally is “heaven on earth.”  But we are not able to sustain it because other areas in the House are out of order.

Two things can be involved with that, and that is, again, the natural order and the Spiritual order.  If the natural and the Spiritual are in harmony and balance, awesome things can take place, but the Spiritual order is not right if there is not a connection to the rest of the true Body of Christ.  This does put a lot of demand on us, but it is required.  To not understand this will cause things in the Spiritual House to warp and strange doctrines will come in, in an effort to maintain what was experienced.

Many today are very hungry for more from God, but you must realize that the natural House and the Spiritual House must be in order from God’s perspective.  God loves the individual expressions of man, He delights in them, but He also is not static, He is moving, He is going somewhere with all this.  He has laid out a plan in the veil of a mystery in the Bible (some things are easy to understand, some things are not). But as a Spiritual Book, even that requires the balance of the natural and the Spiritual to understand.

So some may excel at one side more than the other, but if they are not open to correction and proper alignment, they can miss out and cause others to miss out as well.

For the Body of Christ who claims they are hungry for more, I certainly believe them for I am as well, but when what is needed is more dreams, visions, revelations and legitimate manifestations, then to receive them well and properly, the Spiritual House must be in order.

The Bible says, “first the natural and then the Spiritual” and this is true.  If we can’t function well or clearly, then what we receive will not be understood.  But if the natural is in order and then the Spiritual is, God can release more glories from Heaven and we will have more wonderful “downloads” or experiences to process and order aright for the proper natural and Spiritual growth.

For either the natural or the Spiritual to lord it over another is not right.  The nature of the true fruit of the Spirit is to nurture and we can do that in different ways, even by being firm, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say.  Did it turn out right?  The nature of God is Love.