Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 7:1

You see, it is, at least in part, up to us, how we will walk this Christian walk.  Verse after verse, command after command, the writers of the New Testament, in the shadow of the cross, call, exhort, and train us to live godly, after our example and High Priest of the faith, Jesus Christ.

Not one moment may we forget that it is the pure in heart that shall see God.  Nor, let us falter into the way of unbelief and die in the wilderness.  But, in the same way, let us not make this journey of our own effort, or of the devices of the flesh, but by the power of the Spirit, we do put to death the misdeeds of the flesh, and so live unto God!

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

1 Peter 5:1

If one is to be a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, the powers of the age to come, and to live a life that reflects what will go on there, then one must endeavor to be so minded that, for all intents and purposes, one already is there.  Since it is true that we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places today, it only makes sense to think, and hence act and behave as if one is already there.  If one is there, and yet constantly thinks of himself as somewhere else, regardless of how long one remains there, it will always be difficult to do anything but act as though you were a pauper, though the whole of the Kingdom belonged to you.

So, we consider the words of Paul.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

1 Corinthians 15:50

If it is true that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom, which is merely a figure of speech, since of course it is true, then to live like one is there, instead of upon the Earth, means that one think and act as though we are not “flesh and blood”.  Now, of course, in a physical sense, we do have flesh and blood, and our mortal bodies are yet corruptible.  Until the great day, the redemption of our bodies, this will be the case.  Yet, the realm of the God, including the miraculous, does not work on “natural boundaries”, nor is it subject to the elementary principles of this world.

Consider that again.  While we have natural bodies, we live in a supernatural Kingdom where broken things are restored by the power of God, sicknesses are cured, and many have loved ones restored to them from the dead.  If one thinks merely from a physiological and earthly perspective, these things cannot happen!  Of course they can’t, if you think in terms of flesh and blood, but the Eternal Blood, and the Living Flesh speaks of something greater, and takes us Beyond the veil.

This is the meaning of life, that we be partakers of God’s own divine nature, not our own.  We must be part of Him, and His existence, if we want to live.

There is no life in another.

So, when we think of ourselves in terms the Kingdom of Heaven, and we must come to think of ourselves in no other terms, we must see ourselves for what we are in Christ, and not in our flesh.  This is to see by the eyes of faith.

Faith sees the finished work, of what we shall become when we see Him.  Faith, though it is unseen to the natural eye, sees, at least in part, of that coming, blessed thing, even as Peter partook not of the present glory, but of the was yet to be revealed.  This is not because Peter was special, but because Peter had entered into that realm and dimension of Christ’s Kingdom, so that he was transformed by ever increasing glory, until he began to look more and more like the coming glory that was to be revealed in Christ at the coming with the mighty angels from heaven.  Like Enoch, who looked forward to the coming Christ, Peter looked forward to coming age of glory, and so participated in that glory in the days of his flesh, and it is the call to us all to do likewise, for those who would suffer with Him.

It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2:11-13

Why through suffering?  Perhaps in all of our carnal, rational figuring, we may not understand fully, but it has to do with the love of God, His longsuffering towards us, and His desire that none should perish but that all should come to repentance and the knowledge of the truth.

Why through suffering?  Because He, the man of sorrows, was “perfected” through suffering, that He might be the first born among the dead.  That we, entering into that agony, filling up in out bodies what is lacking in Christ’s suffering, might bring forth to the Earth the message of redemption.

That’s why.

Besides, it’s not about us in the first place.  It’s not about our flesh, and not about our earthly gratification.

For,

[Most Happy] are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3

When we begin to grasp that this life is about living by the Spirit, we are overjoyed when we have more of Him than we do of ourselves.  It’s about living in “here”, instead of “there”.  Over “there”, in the flesh, we have our cravings, our desires, and our human perceptions, but it is always being corrupted, tainted, and influenced by our flesh and fallen human nature.  But, over “here”, in the Spirit, it is always clean.  It might be modestly “clean” to our taste over “there” (though it never really is to God), but, over “here”, the river is always fresh, always clear, and always refreshing.

Most happy are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Really.

So, it’s not really a trick, but a realization of a reality.  For the unsaved, they might imagine what this might mean, but a carnal mind cannot understand the things of the Spirit.  For a new believer or someone quite unfamiliar with spiritual things, they might get a sense, or a direction, and that is a good start, but like that seed planted, it must grow and fill the garden.  It must have clear soil and not be crowded about with thorns and rocks.

We are “here”, we really are.  We are not “there”, although many talk as though we might be, but we really aren’t.  We’re “here”.  Look around a bit, take a breath, feel the air.  Yet, if you’re using your natural senses, you’re not getting it, see?  Those are over, well, “there”…  And, it really is a far way away; Eternity really (Luke 16:26?).

So, what is heaven like?  Paul wrote that it was righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.  Jesus, I think described it best, it’s like a pearl that a man found, that when he found it, he sold all and bought it!  What joy!

It is no more a mind exercise as God is a man.  “Here” is so far not comparable to “there”, as any philosophy is to another, for they are not comparable.  The difference is as oil is to water, for it is spirit vs soul.

The dividing of soul and spirit is of utmost importance, for, if we are to live as Peter lived, as one who partook of a glory yet to be revealed, and that Kingdom and its glory are not inherited by flesh and blood, it requires that we live as though we were “here”, and not there”.

Many will live, and tell others to live, that being a Christian is sufficiently summed up as believing in Christ, and so it is.  But, Christ lived in a different world (See John 3:13, including footnote in the NIV).

We must live by the Spirit, and do what pleases the Spirit if we are to be provided what the Spirit has to offer, which is His Glory.

If flesh and blood do not inherit the Kingdom of God, then, to the degree that we walk in the flesh, we cannot be the inheritors of that Kingdom.

This means, practically, that while you MAY live as a babe in Christ, as Paul called those Corinthians, “Are ye not carnal?” (1 Corinthians 3:3-4), we are not called to live that way.

And, through the power, the agency and ability, of the Holy Ghost, we can truly live differently, no matter what the natural laws of this universe tell us.  Physical, spiritual, or carnal, we ARE seated above it, in Christ Jesus.  We are only forced to obey what we subject ourselves to.

Which, if someone wanted to argue over it, about how much is possible, or how much is true, why would you argue and make a case for being over “there”, when Jesus has invited, paid for, and drawn us up into “here”?  Even if you only realize 10% of what “here” really is, and eventually, perhaps, something from over “there” takes your natural life before you have a chance to finish, so what?  Your reality is over “here” anyway, and you’ll finish whenever you do.  You really are.

But the truth of scripture is clear, that you are over “here”, and, so long as you choose to live by the Spirit, you will be.  All sin aside (even Ananias and  Sapphira learned the hard way some of the wrong spirits that are really over “there”), we can live over “here”, with all we are, until this mortal body falls away.  And, what of it?  I wasn’t really living in “it”, anyway.  Like a camping trip, I merely slept in my tent a few nights, until I got to my more permanent dwelling.  My tent is no more “me” than my “house” is, and I am no more identified with “it” than I am my shoes.

This is what death is like, that we merely pack up our tent and leave the campground.

Is it failure to end your camping trip?  Of course not, unless you were all bound up in your tent!  But, because you are a person, alive in Christ, you have a home to go to, and a family worth living for.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Romans 8:12-14