A few months ago I was in the grocery store walking past a lady trying to reach something on the very top shelf. She stopped me as I was about to pass by her and asked me if I would help her reach the item she wanted at the very top. I reached up and grabbed it, and she expressed her thanks and commented about how she had been trying to reach that item on the top shelf for a while. As I walked away, God started dealing with my heart about spiritual diet and our stature or maturity in Him and the things of God.
One of the first scriptures he shared with me along these lines was Revelation 4:1:
“…a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
I was drawn to the phrase, ‘come up hither.’ What God wanted to reveal to John was at a different level, and he needed to come up in the spirit to see and hear. Ephesians Chapter 4 talks about the five-fold ministry gifts and their role in helping the body of Christ grow and develop. Specifically, Ephesians 4:13 (AMPC) says concerning believers, “…that we [might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him."
Our spiritual diet is crucial for the growth and development needed for us to be able to hear and see on a higher level the things that are needful in this season. We have already been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places according to Ephesians 1:3; however, we must take possession of them by faith. There are some specific things concerning our personal lives and things on the horizon that God is desiring to do in our life, family, nation, etc., but they must be spiritually discerned so that we can take hold of them by faith.
“...Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” I Corinthians 2:9-10
I encourage you to increase your spiritual diet. What are you feeding your spirit? In the natural, we eat on a daily basis. To maintain our health, we must look at the foods we are taking in and tweak our diet accordingly. It's the same way concerning our spirit. The entry ways to our spirit is through our ear, eye and mouth gates. What are you allowing to come into your heart through those gates? We can either be dull or sharp in the things of God based on our daily diet.
We must feed on God’s Word and spend time in His presence in prayer every day to come up higher. I Peter 2:2 says, "...desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." Don't stop at the milk, keep going. You'll come to a place that you can handle the meat of His Word according to Hebrews 5:14, "But strong meat belongeth to them that are full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
We never stop growing in Him. There is no such thing as having arrived at a level with no room to grow. Let's keep growing in revelation knowledge of who we are in Him, what belongs to us, and what we can do through Him. Sometimes we’re trying to reach for answers, direction and discern things in the spirit, but our diet is too low. If we play in carnal things and make much time for things of the flesh that inhibit our growth in God, our discernment and reach in the spirit will be short.
I encourage you in 2018 to eat on a higher level. Come up higher in His Word, His Presence and His Plan.