WALKING IN THE SPIRIT
Hi Carolyn
You have my permission to use any part of my books, at any time. I trust you and you are good friend
God bless,
Mike
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT
Sunday, August 3, 2025, the Year of the Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
I delight to preach on the Holy Spirit. If my sermons are ever put into books, I have over forty sermons on the Holy Spirit. Last Sunday at prayer, Erin Barner placed in my hands, The Lion’s Army by Prophet Mike Thompson. After me trying to take over the book, she graciously loaned it to me.
Brother Mike and Sister C.K. have been good friends to me. I have Kathie Walters to thank for introducing us. His ministry in Las Vegas has exploded. The LORD is using him powerfully to be a prophetic voice to the nation and to our government, which contrary to the laws of Christ tried to take over our nation.
He is always invited to Eastgate and hopefully the Lord will send him back to Houston soon (Smile).
I am taking excerpts from his book today which blessed me on the two distinct realms, natural and spiritual. Yes, we know this, but we need to be reminded of our authority in the spiritual realm which gives us our authority in the natural realm. That is what good preachin’ does. It reminds us of all the continued wonders of Father God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
TWO DISTINCT REALMS
(Paraphrased for the purpose of a sermon from The Lion’s Army)
There are two distinct realms of existence and influence. The bible reveals them as the spiritual realm and the physical realm, also known as the supernatural and the natural. We have influence in whichever realm we occupy.
In Genesis, God (who is Spirit Jn. 4:24) created the celestial heavens and the earth. The physical realm was specifically fashioned as a living environment for mankind (Isa. 45:18).
God established physical time, space, and matter --- the dimensions of the physical realm – to form a habitation for the special beings he created in His own image.
(Remember the vision of the night I had on my birthday. I saw God as Spirit. From His Spirit, he created a man in his image and formed him by His hands from the dust of the earth. C. Sissom)
These dimensions did not exist before creation, even though God and the spiritual realm already existed at that time. The dimensions in the spiritual realm exist outside the physical. Thus, spiritual dimensions are governed by separate laws in which time, space, and matter do not exercise control. Past, present, and future are absorbed into eternity…
Even though God created His children to inhabit the realm where physical time, space, and matter exist, He also designed us to coexist with the spiritual realms. Adam and Even lived in that coexistence until the fall created a break. As a result, we must now be reconciled through the second Adam, Jesus, and then learn how to operate in the Spirit without being limited by our natural bodies. Therefore, we embrace our natural lives, but subjugate them to the spiritual laws of God’s kingdom
God’s spiritual kingdom is the parent of the physical realm. Hebrews 11:3: By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible (NIV).
The spiritual has authority over the physical. The things of the Spirit affect the things of the physical realm. Throughout the pages of Scripture, we see spiritual laws overriding natural laws.
On the negative side of the equation, Satan and demons wield an evil influence on the physical realm and the people inhabiting it… The Bible shows us that sin, sickness, and poverty on earth are direct results of Satan’s spiritual perversion. On the positive side, the Holy Spirit uses spiritual truth and power for our redemption, because “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death” (Ro. 8:2).
Spiritual things are both constant and eternal. They have greater power than the ever-changing physical things in our lives. 2 Cor. 4:18: We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal!
The truth that the Spirit realm is more real than the physical one is at the core of everything. The spiritual realm is more real, not because the physical realm is an illusion; the spiritual realm is more real because it has the power to alter the physical realm. To begin with, God who is outside time, space, and matter, created the physical universe. The unseen created the seen; the Spirit formed the natural. Therefore, the natural is subject to the laws of the Spirit.
As believers we must awaken to this realization and understand that our ability to change things in the natural realm is only possible through the spiritual realm. The Spirit parts of us work to change the things that the physical parts of us cannot.
When a doctor diagnoses a disease and pronounces it incurable, he or she is admitting that neither natural man nor scientific knowledge are yet able to alter the physical fact. This restriction does not hold up in the Spirit. Jesus said, “they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:18). According to Jesus, spiritual law supersedes natural law and changes it. Everything around us is subject to the spiritual realm.
Mankind was created by God to simultaneously exist in both worlds. Our physical bodies were formed from the earth, but they are kept alive by our spirits, which are inside us. Our bodies are earth suits that allow our spirits to function in this realm.
We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, rather we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.
Because we are spiritual beings, there is no small discussion in the body of Christ over how God influences us. Some believe that our relationship with Him is only contemplative, meaning that He speaks through the Bible and then occupies our minds, impressing His will upon our thoughts to lead and guide us. This is the basic approach taken by the part of the church that doesn’t practice Spirit baptism with charismatic manifestations.
Those believers (like me) who are Holy Spirit filled and have a Charismatic lifestyle also believe the Bible is the final authority and that God influences the corporeal parts of who we are. We Spirit-filled people believe and experience ecstatic feelings of the Holy Spirit’s presence within and upon us. We call these feelings the glory of God and Spirit anointing.
Brother Mike attests in His book that he is in that camp of people who actually feel the spiritual presence of God, as well as the effects of the Holy Spirit upon us. There are tangible anointings on our bodies. We can be slain in the Spirit. We can experience trances in which the physical senses are suspended for a time so the Spirit can impress a vision upon our spiritual senses.
I (Carolyn) will add, dreams, visions, visitations, hearing the voice of God, seeing in the Spirit, the physical manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, healings, miracles, signs, and wonders, and so much more.
Remember the spiritual realm affects the corporeal realm.
(Corporeal definition – consisting of, or relating to a physical material body contrasted with spiritual… )
Once we are born again and the Spirit within us comes alive, He (the Holy Spirit) operates in the spiritual realm while our body continues to function in the physical one. John 3:6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Our minds can bridge these two realms. Ro. 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Conforming to the world happens naturally because we live in this natural world. However, transformation which is spiritual and supernatural, requires our minds to be renewed. The mind is like a bridge; therefore, we can live in that transformed, supernatural state.
To operate in the supernatural, it is important that we reason with the LORD’s kind of reasoning and not man’s. To understand and operate in spiritual things, we must use spiritual reasoning that comes from having the mind of Christ.
John 14:12: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
There will be times when the Holy Spirit moves on us in ways that seem strange or abnormal to other people. When we are operating in the Spirit in the supernatural, get over what other people might think, or how weird we may look to the world. Pride is a surefire way to block the Spirit’s flow. We will always rub against the grain of the natural realm if we are operating in the spiritual realm.
At the same time, it Is not necessary to develop super strange methodologies and practices in order to release the supernatural. Doing that is what gives Charismatics a bad name. it is not the manifestation that taps into the Spirit; it is the Spirit that produces the manifestation.
All you have to do is let the Spirit flow through you according to your personality and gift mix. The Spirit knows what you need to do to release your faith. Operating in the Spirit is about how we as a vessel filled with God, can release the power of the kingdom onto the scene. When we do, people will be healed.
It is God who heals. Be careful not to adopt a mindset that says, “I am only a vessel of the Spirit. If I am fortunate enough, He may use me. I don’t really matter or have a part in what God is doing.” That is not true humility. It is false humility, and it will rob you of your authority.
Jesus plainly said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give (Mt. 10:8). He didn’t tell them to stop, pray, and check to see whether there was enough power in the Spirit to make it happen. Healing is the power of the Holy Spirit within us and the power of the Spirit upon the person for whom we pray. Jesus gave us the authority to pray for a release of His power. It is a partnership. We are more than just a vessel. Adopt the mindset of carrying the miracle or being the miracle. Be the prophecy. Be the healer. Jesus the healer lives inside of us. Own it.
The apostles didn’t walk up to sick people, hit the pause button before praying, and take them through the rigmarole of learning how to be humble and how to maintain a correct religious posture. They didn’t try to qualify their actions. That’s not what Jesus modeled to them, and it certainly wasn’t what they modeled to other people. The apostles prayed for people. Their prayers were short and hot, as Jesus’ prayers had been. They simply said, “be healed.”
Their prayers resulted not only in sicknesses being healed, but also in calamities being averted. When Jesus rebuked the wind, he said to the sea, “Peace, be still.” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm (Mk. 4: 37-39).
Jesus’ prayer in the boat was another short but effective prayer and another example of the spiritual realm influencing and altering the natural realm. We are really supernatural beings who live in physical bodies. We are equipped by the Holy Spirit to live and walk in the same miraculous power that Jesus does and His apostles did.
Receiving Jesus as our Savior means we are qualified to Walk in the Spirit.
There is nothing more satisfying that the truly Spirit filled life, which is rich with hearing God’s voice and experiencing supernatural manifestations of His Spirit. We are new creations who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit whom God put within us. Yes, we walk in the Spirit. That is what He created us to do.
Paul encouraged those in the church to walk out their identities as new creations indwelled by the Holy Spirit . Let us also walk in the Spirit.
Preached by Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries Church, 10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, TX. www.eastgateministries.com
I entered into the labors of Prophet Mike Thompson, The Lion’s Army, published by Charisma House, an imprint of Charisma Media, 1150 Grenwood Blvd., Lake Mary, Florida 32746. The book reveals his vision of the Lord Jesus, the Lion of Judah and His army, the Lion’s army.