It is important to understand the three realms of the spirit because:
Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Romans 8:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

The spirit realm is, however, invisible, so our spirit man must be trained to walk in and experience the spirit realms. I say realms because there are three of them.

Another word for spirit realm as used in scripture is heaven. Heave in scripture can mean sky, air and expanse of atmosphere – spiritual atmospheres.

The apostle Paul identified three of these spiritual atmospheres called heaven.

2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago––whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows––such a one was caught up to the third heaven.

It is a given that if Paul was caught up to the third heaven there is also a first and second heaven.

In every other place where heaven is used in scripture, we are not told which heaven is being talked about so you have to figure it out. In each case the word “heaven” will fit into one of the three spiritual atmospheres.
So, hopefully, this study will help us understand how we fit into each one of the heavens.

God Made the Heavens

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:7-8 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

Heavens (plural)!

The word heaven in scripture expresses several different concepts. In the physical sense, heaven is the expanse over the earth in which the stars and planets are seen in space. Most common belief of man.
Genesis 22:17 In blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

But, there are three heavens.
1. The atmosphere (air) where we live here on earth. Our body identifies with this atmosphere, and we experience it with our five earthly (bodily, physical) senses – eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and touch.

This is the heaven that we are most in touch with; experience the most. This is the first heaven.

2. The second heaven is above us and has influence on our soul – mind and emotions.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Satan was expelled from the third heaven and is now on the earth among us (power demons), but he rules from the second heaven.

Ephesians 6:12 or we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Places – two: first and second.

Luke 10:18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

3. The third heaven is where God rules from. It is the highest location of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the heaven that Satan was thrown out of.

The third heaven is where God’s angels reside, and it is the present location of the New Jerusalem.

Revelation 21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The third heaven is where one receives revelation from God.

Revelation 4:1-2 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.

Heaven’s Rule

We know that God is in complete control of and rules over the third heaven, and He also can rule over the first and second as He wills, but He allows others (us and Satan) to have dominion over the first and second heavens.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

The first Adam gave his dominion away to Satan, but the Second Adam gives it back to His people.

1 Corinthians 15:45-47 And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life–giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.

Luke 10:18-19 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

In order for redeemed man to function in this authority, he/she must be able to spiritually access the third heaven (realm) by which this authority is activated.

Man’s authority (dominion) is to function in three realms.
1. Earth – authority over the body (healing and prosperity) in the first heaven where one has world consciousness.
2. In the second heaven one has self-consciousness. Soul – I will – as a result of thoughts and emotions either influenced by Satan or one’s spirit man who is seated in heavenly place.
3. The third heaven is where we have God consciousness.

Man has been given the right of rule (self-control) in the first and second heaven.

The Heavens
Were created as invisible environments (atmospheres) where one must live in spirit to experience them. There are invisible creatures that also live in the heavens – God’s angels and Satan’s fallen angels.

The whole point of the heavens is to establish a right of rule (dominion). Will you establish yours and learn to experience these realms?

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