Spiritual Laws

Our lives are constantly being effected by civil laws, natural laws, and spiritual laws. Some laws will take precedence over others. We might establish a civil law that says it’s perfectly legal to drive 55 MPH on a curvy road, but if the road becomes covered with ice, the natural law of centrifugal force will take precedence and your vehicle will slide off the road. The natural law of gravity is very powerful and is always at work; however, the law of aerodynamics supercedes the law of gravity, and that is why an airplane is able to fly.

I want to suggest to you that spiritual laws are laws of the highest order. There have been times that very godly people have had to violate civil laws, because of the supremacy of a spiritual law. There have been times that natural laws were suspended, because God allowed a spiritual law to step in and supercede them, as in the case of Jesus walking on the water.

Proper submission to spiritual laws can change physical circumstances.

First, consider the law of love.

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, the law of love says that nothing else has any real long-term effectiveness, if you are not submitted to the law of love. This is commitment love. People who don’t know anything about the Greek language know the word for this kind of love. It’s agape, and it means a long-suffering, unselfish, sacrificial kind of love. It is the kind of love that God has for us, and it is the kind He puts in our hearts for others. Romans 5:5 says, “...the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.”

The law of love is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. We are told in 1John 4:7-11 that a very real test of whether or not we really know God, is whether or not we really love our brethren.

The law of love will cause you to be a giver and a forgiver, because that is two of the most godly things you can ever do. Have you ever really thought about why giving money to the Lord’s work and to help other people is so important? There’s the surface reasons of meeting apparent needs, but there is a much deeper reason. It is a demonstration of your love.

When God gave Moses the sacrificial system of the old covenant, He established different kinds of offerings for different occasions. There was the sin offering and the thank offering, where an animal was sacrificed, and the people and the priests ate part of the animal. But, then there was “the whole burnt offering,” where the entire animal was burned on the sacrifice, and nobody ate any of it. This was an offering designed to just say, “I love you, Lord.” Look at 1 Kings 3:4-5, where Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings to the Lord! Only one was customary, but Solomon was a wealthy man, and one just really didn’t represent much a sacrifice, and it really didn’t make much of a statement about his love for the Lord, so he offered a thousand. That’s when the Lord said, “You ask Me whatever you want, and I’m going to give it to you.”

I know that many of you are living under the law of love, and you are bringing great blessings down your life, as a result.

Then, there is the law of faith.

The law of faith says that you can’t receive anything from God without it, but with it, all things are possible. Now, think about that statement for just a moment. If that’s true, and it is, faith is of the greatest importance.

Not only is it important for a person to have faith, it is important that faith be properly placed. Adrian Rogers said, “Some people have strong faith in thin ice!” Our faith is really based on our level of understanding. People in remote areas of the world may put their faith in a skull on a pole, and they do it because it corresponds with their level of understanding. Faith that is properly placed comes from hearing the word of God.

Faith is described in Hebrews 11:1 as “...the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” The best way I can describe that verse is that faith is the starting point of something that is very real, eventhough you do not see it yet. Faith calls things that are not, as though they were. Romans 4:17 says that is exactly what God does.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith, it’s impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” When we submit ourselves to the law of faith, we take God at His word, and we believe it against all odds. We believe it more than what we see, feel, or experience. We act like it is already accomplished.