One of these days soon, there’s coming a mighty worldwide resurrection. There’s coming a moment when the last trumpet will sound, the mortal bodies of all the believers on earth will be clothed in immortality, and we’ll be caught up to meet Jesus in the air.

That’s going to be an amazing moment!

As thrilling as it’s going to be, however, those of us who are born again don’t have to wait until then to experience resurrection. We can live in it to a great degree right now. Even before this age is over, while we’re still living in a natural body, we can live supernaturally.

We can walk in resurrection life every single day!

I realize that might sound like a wild claim, but the New Testament backs it up. It says that when we believed on Jesus, our old sinful spirit died and “we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4)

In other words, our spirit has already been resurrected! Through the new birth, we’ve received on the inside of us the life and the glory of God Himself. What’s more, if we’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit, we’ve also received the anointing of God’s power that Ephesians 1:14 calls “the earnest” (or the initial deposit) of the full inheritance that will be ours when Jesus returns.

That “earnest,” along with the life and glory of God that’s within us, is enough to defeat anything the devil or this world can bring against us. It’s enough to empower us to live victoriously and to give us the boldness to say in the face of any challenge, “We are more than conquerors through Christ!”

“But Gloria,” you might say, “You have to remember that even as believers we’re still just earthly creatures.”

No, we’re not. We’re new creations!

God has “raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We’ve been seated with Him “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” (Eph. 2:6, 1:21) As Christians, we’re citizens of the kingdom of God. His kingdom isn’t someplace we’re going to go someday when Jesus returns or after we die. It doesn’t just exist in a place called heaven. God’s kingdom is wherever He and His body exercise dominion, and right now, He is exercising His dominion right here on earth through us.

I’m telling you, we ought to be excited about this! As the Church, even on this side of the final resurrection, we have so much going for us that when it comes to fighting our enemy, the devil, it’s not even a fair fight!

Operating in a Whole New Realm

I know what you might be thinking. If it’s not a fair fight, then why do believers seem to be getting beat up so much of the time? Why aren’t we all walking in constant, glorious triumph?

Because we are living far below our privileges. We are just barely walking in the resurrection life and power God has made available to us. To walk more fully in that power, we have to learn to operate in a whole new realm—the realm of the spirit.

Before we were born again, we didn’t know anything about that realm. Because sin had darkened our hearts and deadened us to God, all we could do was operate in the flesh and in the realm of the natural. When we gave our hearts to Jesus, however, that situation changed. Spiritually, we became “dead...unto sin, but alive unto God.” (Rom. 6:11) We experienced the fulfillment of what God said in Ezekiel 11:19-20: “I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God” (NKJV).

Notice those scriptures say that God has given us a new heart and a new spirit. They also tell us He has done that for a reason: so we can walk in His ways! So we can learn how to walk with Him in the realm of the spirit!

That’s what the Holy Spirit is in us to do. He’s here to teach us how to live and serve the Lord according to Romans 7:6: “not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life]."

As those who have God’s Spirit dwelling in us, we’re not in the same position people were under the Old Covenant. All they had was God’s written law. They couldn’t live in close fellowship with Him because He’s a spirit and they were still operating in the realm of the natural. They were still trapped in the flesh.

As New Covenant believers, however, we’re “not in the flesh.” (Rom. 8:9) We’re “born of the Spirit.” We not only have the written Word of God, we have the Author of that Word living inside us. He’s in us 24/7 to reveal to us what His Word means, to show us how to apply it to our lives, and to EMPOWER us to do what it says.

I think sometimes we take that for granted! We read exciting stories in the Old Testament and wish God would deal with us like He did with Abraham or Moses. We wish He’d send an angel when He wants something from us, or talk to us out of a burning bush. But, really, that would be a big step down.

Abraham just got to hear from God every once in a while. He had to wait years for special supernatural appearances. We have the life of God dwelling right here inside us. We’re created in Him of the same spiritual substance and He’s walking with us and talking with us all the time.

What exactly is He saying?

For one thing, He’s talking to us about being holy, about reckoning ourselves dead to sin. He’s speaking to us about living differently than the world does.

There’s nothing more miserable than being born again and continuing to live like the world. When we’re in that condition, we know just enough about God to not really enjoy sin and not enough about Him to stay out of it. That’s no way to be! Yet it’s exactly how a lot of Christians live.

Instead of setting their affections on things above and drawing near to the Lord through the Word and through prayer, they spend all their time on natural things. They live a sloppy, lazy spiritual life, and then when they get themselves into trouble they act like, This is a big shock! Why did this happen to me?

Of course, God is merciful, so if we find ourselves in that situation, we can call out to Him, and He’ll respond and help us. But that’s not the way we, as believers, ought to live.

The Most Exciting Adventure Ever!

We’re not supposed to be conformed to this world. We’re not designed by God to be under its domination. We’re destined to walk as overcomers in the realm of the spirit. As Romans 8:29 says, we’re “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”

That image is already perfect and complete in your inner man. Because Jesus is living in your spirit, you’re already just like Him on the inside. What you’re doing now is learning to walk in a way that allows Him to increasingly come forth on the outside. You’re learning to manifest in your life the reality revealed in Colossians 2:9-10: “In [Jesus] the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature]. And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and reach full spiritual stature].”

Talk about an exciting adventure! As a new creation in Christ, you’re on the most thrilling mission imaginable. You’re in the process of looking more and more like Jesus. Living in the power of His resurrection life, you’re developing your capacity to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

What’s more, you have the mighty Holy Spirit as your own personal trainer. If you’ll listen to and obey Him, you can’t lose.

“But Gloria,” you might say, “I’ve been thinking the Holy Spirit is going to tell me to go to China or Africa as a missionary or something—and I’m eager to do it. But so far He hasn’t said anything.”

Oh, He’s said things, all right. He’s always speaking to us. You’re probably just not hearing Him because you’re focused on things you consider big and important—like moving to a different continent, and He’s talking to you about the basics.

That’s where He starts with all of us. He talks to us, for instance, about how to “mortify the deeds of the body.” (Romans 8:13) He speaks to us about areas in our life where we’ve been disobedient to God and tells us what adjustments to make so that we’re walking according to the Word.

Those kinds of instructions may not sound very glamorous, but you want to pay attention to them. If you don’t, you’ll be hindered in your walk with God. You’ll get drawn off course by your flesh, and God’s power won’t be able to flow freely in your life.

If you haven’t learned to follow the Holy Spirit in the everyday affairs of living, He can’t risk telling you to go to Africa because once you got there, you’d probably go to the wrong city. You’d get yourself in a mess and wouldn’t do anyone any good because you’d be walking in the flesh instead of walking after the Spirit.

Brother Kenneth E. Hagin, who taught Ken and me a lot about these things, used to say, “Don’t miss the supernatural leading of the Holy Spirit because you’re looking for something spectacular.” Be sensitive to even the Spirit’s seemingly smallest promptings. Honor His every instruction as important, and act on what He tells you to do—whether you think it’s significant or not.

Let me show you what I mean. Say you need healing in your body, and you want to receive a miracle. You might go to a meeting thinking God’s power will hit you like a lightning bolt and knock you to the floor. During the meeting, however, you might hear the Holy Spirit say, You need to forgive your sister-in-law.

If you haven’t made a decision to esteem that still small voice, you might just brush off that instruction. You might not pay any attention to it because it’s not what you were looking for. I can forgive my sister-in-law later, you might think. But right now I want to stay focused on receiving my miracle.

It may never dawn on you that the bitterness you’ve had toward your sister-in-law is what’s been keeping you sick. So, by ignoring that inner prompting, you might leave the meeting disappointed, never realizing that you could have received your miracle by simply doing what the Holy Spirit prompted you to do.

That’s what happened to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane. He went there with Jesus and two other disciples to pray and prepare for one of the most trying times of his life. When, instead of praying, Peter fell asleep, Jesus woke him up and tried to help him. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation,” He said, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. 26:41)

At the time, Peter didn’t know his flesh was weak. He thought he was strong. He’d told Jesus a few hours earlier that he would do anything for Him, no matter how big or difficult it might be. (See verses 33-35.) “I’ll go to jail with You, Jesus! I’m even willing to die with You!” he said.

Jesus, however, didn’t want Peter in jail. He didn’t want him dead. He just wanted Peter to obey Him. He just wanted him to watch and pray. If Peter had done so, he could have avoided a great personal failure and enjoyed a great victory. But he didn’t. He disobeyed Jesus’ instructions, gave in to his flesh, and went back to sleep. You and I don’t have to make that mistake! We’re not like Peter was that night. He wasn’t yet a born-again believer with a resurrected spirit. He wasn’t yet baptized and filled to overflowing with the Holy Ghost.

We are!

Even though we’re still living in natural bodies, we’re supernaturally new creatures. We’ve died with Christ, and our spirits have been raised up with Him by the glory of the Father. We not only have the power to hear the Lord’s instructions, we have the indwelling power of His Spirit empowering us to obey Him.

We have within us everything it takes to walk every day in resurrection life!