by David Kum
DAVID KUM
THE PLACE OF SALVATION
(Living beyond the world)
THE PLACE OF SALVATION
(Living beyond the world)
THE PLACE OF SALVATION
(living beyond the world)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 two realms 2
CHAPTER 2 operating from the spirit realm 9
CHAPTER 3 the place of salvation 16
CAHPTER 4 the miraculous 20
CHAPTER 5 weakness and limitations of the flesh 24
CHAPTER 6 the Spirit that is at work in us 29
CHAPTER 7 the spirit that is at work in the world 35
CHAPTER 8 the spiritual perspective 40
CHAPTER 9 the Old and the New covenant 48
CHAPTER 10 the place of refuge 52
CHAPTER 11 spiritual maturity 56
CHAPTER ONE
TWO REALMS
Jesus said “heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away” LUKE 21:33. By these words it is very clear that the Lord has condemned the system of the world. The statement made by the Lord was not one of a “maybe” nature it is one of a blessed assurance. This means that everything ever instituted by man is bound to fail, governments are failing, education is failing, the economy is failing, technology is failing, money amongst many human factors are failing… the world is looking for experts everyday to help solve its problems that is why higher educational qualifications are always required. But even these measures are bound to fail and already are.
Governments everywhere are helpless in tackling the challenges of the world ranging from poverty to sickness, food shortage to global warming, natural and manmade disasters and terrorism amongst countless others thereby fulfilling the word of the Lord.
The bible has given us a clear insight as to the very things that are engulfing the world in these very times. These are not the times to exercise fear but to exercise faith as a matter of fact these are the finest days for the Christian. There was never a hero until the day trouble came. These are the days of the sons of God whom the creature has been waiting for. The scriptures warned that in the last days, the sun will be darkened and so the moon and the stars. This does not mean that the sun will not rise again nor the moon nor the stars, this simply signifies the failure of the human system… for the whole of creature waiteth for the manifestations of the sons of God. This means that it takes only the sons of God to govern Gods creation correctly so the creature is earnestly waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
The Bible tells us that “as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God” so if nature is failing everyone else it shall answer to us. This was made clear when Joshua commanded the sun to stand still for a whole day, it was also revealed when Isaac was told of God to sow in a land of famine. Moses also demonstrated this in the land of Egypt up till the parting away of the red sea.
We are living in days where no human knowledge nor wisdom nor institution can solve the problems of the world mankind has just hit the rocks! God is not depending upon the human system or the system of the world to show Himself strong for His people.
When Moses was sent back into Egypt, He had to go by the word of God before he was successful. Moses had earlier on in his life in Egypt tried to help an Israelite by killing an Egyptian which got him into serious trouble that necessitated his exile from Egypt. But that’s just the system of the world! Left for Moses then, the only way to have rescued Israel from Egypt would have been to raise an army of some sort, start a rebellion or find some other human means to achieve that purpose… but that is not the way of God! God cannot depend on human effort to bring His word to past. Moses went back into Egypt a more powerful man than he left not because he had an army nor all the money to buy Israel’s freedom but he had the word of God in his spirit. That’s about all that any Christian ought to have to be successful in this life.
Having an understanding of who we are, where we are and what we have will help us to understand how to walk above the systems of this world. It is rather unfortunate that most Christians spend their energies trying to get the worlds system to work for them than take advantage of who God has made them in this world… God said to Moses “see I have made thee a god to pharaoh…” EX 7:1. Pharaoh, the most powerful man in his days in command of the most powerful kingdom whose word is law in Egypt had Moses for a “god”. Whenever Moses walked in before Pharaoh, all that power bowed to Moses, he continued to match the power of his magicians and the gods of Egypt against Moses to the 4th plague before his men told him… “this is the finger of God…” EX 8:19 in other words, “this is beyond us”
God Himself is not in the business of putting a stop to the problems of the world, He is not going to stop Satan’s rage and He never has! Throughout Bible history God has never “interfered” with Satan’s playing grounds nor his strategies nor his armory, God would always allow the devil to give his best shot then show him that there is another standard beyond his best. “… when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” ISH 59:19. Christ is already that standard thank God for that. Where we are in Christ is already a standard against where we were in the world, who we are in Christ is a standard against who we were in the world and what we have in Christ is a standard against what we lacked in the world. We must understand then where we operate from, if we don’t have this understanding, we will be swept away with the crisis that is rocking the world at these times.
When everything else fails, all nations shall see that there can be only one place to find answers to their problems and they shall say one to another “…come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob and He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths…” MIC 4:2. This means there is a path that leads to a kind of success that the system of the world can never attain, this is the way that the world has rejected but yet will turn to for guidance.
The world’s system is limited, human effort is limited! They are dependent upon several factors. That’s why man will always do the math before he can make any meaningful move in all his endeavors. But the man of the spirit is never limited. No not by natural nor human circumstances, he operates by the laws of another “country”. Moses was not operating by the laws of nature nor of the land of Egypt that is why the magicians could not limit him, pharaoh himself could not limit him neither could the red sea. Was it that God did not know that there was a sea along the path that He asked Moses to take the children of Israel?... God can never be limited nor be surprised so whether it was the sea, could have been a mountain it still would not have made any difference, for God’s word no matter the opposition can never be stopped.
“for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and returns not thither but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” ISH 55:10-11
Whereas the world operates from the five senses, we operate from another dimension that is not sensed by the natural man, we operate by the word. This is why the sea had to give way and stand upright for the people of God to cross
over, an action that when attempted by the Egyptians, the forces of nature could not allow.
“…it shall accomplish that which I please…” it can only take the word of God to have these mysterious results that no man can have. Many have found themselves in money, education, fame even religion but all is leading to a terrible end of confusion and darkness. For many in the long run cannot be helped by that which has even made them the who and who of the world. They shall eventually turn to those of us who are founded on the word to ask “where do we go from here”.
The man who must be unlimited is not the one who must have all the monies in the world or have all the education in the world or command the strongest armies in the world, surely even the times we are in are showing us clearly that these things are failing us by the day. Unfortunately, people think that it is by grabbing more of these things that will make them maintain a certain level of “power” so we have people who are never satisfied with money or education or power, they always want more and most times will even go diabolic to have these things. The man who is unlimited is the man who is founded in the word of God
Jesus said: “therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock: and the rains descended, and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock” MATT 7:24-25 the rains and the wind signify trouble times, times in which the going is not so smooth anymore, these are times that the systems of our foundations meet with circumstances that they were not designed to run by. Verse 26-27 of the same MATT 7 tells us of the man who does the opposite, his own house falls when the weather is not fair anymore!
Almost all governments in the world are confronted with problems they did not plan for ranging from terrorism to natural disasters, hunger and disease poverty civil unrests, the polity never seems to be satisfied with the leadership… governments are trying to figure out ways of how to handle these problems because these had never been in the plan for them. These are the floods and the winds beating upon the houses they have built. While all these things are happening in the world, there is a place of safety founded in the very word of God, this place is a mystery to the world and anyone functioning from this realm is not limited by the challenges confronting the world even though he is in the world. This is why the master Himself tells us that we are not of the world even though we are living in the world.
Paul had this understanding when he wrote to the Colossian church “wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living in the world are ye subjects to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men” COL 2:20-22. We are dead from the rules that govern this world in Christ Jesus we are no longer bound by these rules we are not subjected to this ordinances anymore. Paul had to point this fact to the Colossian church because they were still living a sub-standard life, a life that is constraint and limited by the “ordinances” of this world.
Because we died in Christ and yet live again, we must understand the life that is Christ’s. It is not a life of flesh and blood anymore but of the spirit of God and that spirit is not subjected to the laws that govern the worlds system. We must then operate from the perspective of the life that Jesus now has not the one we had before salvation- a supernatural life governed by a different set of rules altogether.
The life that flows in the worlds system is a limited life, this makes man to have to live by what his world and effort offers him that’s why Paul mentioned some of the limitations in the ordinances of the world “… touch not, taste not handle not…” so the system defines our limitations! But the man of the spirit has no limitations.
Elijah can tell you that when he held back rain for three and half years and when he out-ran the chariot of Ahab to the gates of Jezreel. Joshua can relate to that when he caused a whole day to be missing in history by stopping the sun from completing its natural course, Moses can tell you that when he caused the waters of the red sea to stand and form walls for the people of God to go across … we have countless examples of the supernatural life in the Bible where men were not limited by the system of the world nor by natural ordinances.
When the life of Christ comes into a “dead” situation caused by the ordinances of this world, such a condition must give way to the higher powers. The problem however is that a lot of Christians still live the sub-standard life of flesh and blood, they don’t understand what they have in Jesus Christ and who they are. They are limited by what they see and hear never aware of the realm that Christ has brought them into, the realm of the supernatural.
Let’s learn something from the story of Elisha and his servant when the king sent soldiers to apprehend them. The Syrian king was troubled because all the plans he made to lay ambush and attack the king of Israel was revealed to the king of Israel which was later revealed to him that such information was told the king of Israel by Elisha the prophet who (take note) was never part of the meeting nor the plot, Talk about the supernatural! As a matter of fact the servant said to him “Elisha… telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed chamber” 2KI 6:12. In other words the king of Syria could not hide anything from Elisha no matter how hard he tried. Elisha was a man of the spirit he could not be limited by doors, secret chambers or security forces.
When the king eventually sent soldiers to fetch Elisha, he did not know that Elisha could not be bound by the laws that govern his world, Elisha operated from a higher realm, hearing things that no one else could hear and seeing what no one else could see commanding forces that are not limited by the natural order.
And so the servant of the man of God woke up to see an army that had come to arrest them and he cried “…alas my master, how shall we do?” v 15 and the man of God showed us something very important by his reply and prayer. “ and he answered: fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them and Elisha prayed and said LORD I pray thee open his eyes that he may see and the LORD opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” 2KI 6:16-17
Let us gain some quick understanding from the reply of Elisha “… for they that be with us are more than they that be with them…” Elisha was not just referring to a number he was referring to the forces behind each party. There was the party of Elisha and the party of the soldiers, Elisha was operating by the ordinances of a higher realm while the soldiers were operating by laws that govern their land. They were under the orders of the king empowered by their weapons! That was their limitation but nothing could define Elisha’s limitations.
Now Elisha prayed the Lord to open the eyes of the young man not because that he was blind naturally. This just goes on to show us that there is another realm beyond where we are and that realm cannot be sensed by our natural senses it can only be felt, seen and heard by the man of the Spirit.
Just like we have the five senses to help us interact with our world we also have spiritual senses to help us interact with this realm so the man of God prayed for the eyes of the young man.
If Elisha had prayed for the ears of the young man, he probably would have heard the sounds of the chariots and the horses but never would have seen them. There are eyes beyond our eyes, ears beyond our ears, there is a realm beyond where we are and the existence of this realm is as real as water is wet. We do not interact with this realm using our natural senses, no! We interact with this realm using the spirit man. Thus it is possible for two people to be at the same location physically but one will be in a different location in the spirit.
