Based on Jesus’ statement in Matthew 12:46-50, true relatedness and relationship is based on the spiritual level, which is related to the predestined implementation of the will of the Heavenly Father.

 

46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.

47 Someone told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.’

48 He replied to him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’

49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.

50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’

 

We know, that the Father is Spirit and does not look at things according to genetic descent (cf. John 4:24a i.c.w. Romans 8:29).

 

24a God is spirit, …

 

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

 

It says in Matthew 12:46 that the mother of Jesus and his brothers were standing outside, which can be an indication for us in the present time that it is necessary not to stand outside the spiritual activity of God, but in its centre. This is what Epaphras also prayed for the saints in Colosse (cf. Colossians 4:12).

 

12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

 

When we as saints are in the spirit realm of the centre of God, we are moving in a different culture, which is the culture of the Kingdom, because God is seated on the throne. For this Jesus came to earth to take us to the dimension of the Heavenly Father (cf. John 14:6-7).

 

6 Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’

 

 

Through a sincere and good or holy relationship, it is possible for us to live as saints according to the will of God in true Kingdom relationships and family.

 

God’s desire is that we, the saints in His Kingdom, are in a true relationship with Him and also with each other, which means a true Kingdom agreement, so that Jesus Christ is revealed through it (cf. Matthew 18:19-20 i.c.w. Matthew 22:36-40).

 

19 ‘Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’

 

36 ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’

37 Jesus replied: ‘ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’

 

Through the true relationship and agreement of the saints in His Kingdom, people on earth realize the presence of God’s love (cf. John 13:34-35).

 

34 ‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

 

 

When we live as saints in the Spirit in the culture of the Kingdom of God, we carry a different kind of communication, much like the disciples were recognized by their dialect.

 

73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, ‘Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.’

 

From this it is clear that our communication is on a different level, whose revelatory content cannot be understood by earthly-minded people.

 

This is what is meant by the statement of Paul, who spoke of speaking to his allied saints (Note: his spiritual family) words taught by the Spirit to interpret spiritual things to spiritual people. People who are earthly-minded cannot move on this spiritual level and reject the revelations of God, considering it foolishness.

 

This can cause a split on an interpersonal level between the spirit-filled and earthly-minded people, because earthly-minded people incorrectly evaluate what is spoken by the spirit. This is what Jesus Christ meant when He said that He did not come to bring peace, but the sword. The sword in this case is the Word of God in the form of revelatory truth (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 i.c.w. Matthew 10:34-39; Ephesians 6:17).

 

9 However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ – the things God has prepared for those who love him – 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.

 

34 ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35 For I have come to turn ‘ “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”

37 ‘Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

 

17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

Thus, it becomes clear that when we as believers in Christ Jesus go forward in the Spirit with like-minded people, unity is recognized from outside.

 

This closeness often feels to saints like they can form a warm relationship of trust with these people that does not necessarily depend on spending a lot of time together. It is described by many as feeling as if you are spiritually connected to that person, even if you cannot see each other much or spend much time together quantitatively. It is also described as a feeling of connectedness, as if you have always known these people or can go through thick and thin with them because you belong to each other.

 

Since not every believer feels this way with all other saints, we can also see in this the connectedness that the Holy Spirit works in recognizing one another, surrendering and submitting to the will of God to serve one another out of love (Philippians 1:8 i.c.w. 1 Thessalonians 2:8).

 

8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

 

8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

 

As a result, even unbelieving family members or persons close to us who are not believers may suddenly be drawn from the outside by the presence of God’s love that we have for one another to enter the centre of the Heavenly Father, which is His love and has its expression in Christ Jesus (cf. John 6:44 i.c.w. John 3:16).

 

44 ‘No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. …’

 

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

As saints, we can only experience these relationships and spiritual bond with saints, already predestined for us from eternity, by giving ourselves to Christ with everything, in order to be led from the dimension of the Father in the Spirit. This is spiritually grounded in our willingness to lay aside our own ideas of life by positioning ourselves completely in the love of God – as it were in the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and being sincerely thankful in it (cf. Colossians 3:14-15).

 

14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

 

We are convinced that the Holy Spirit wants to move even more where He can find and bring forth these relationships and connections, which is connected with the expansion of the Kingdom of God in the hearts of people.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel and Tina Glimm