2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So, there are things seen(which are physical) and things not seen(which are spiritual). That can't be referring to anything physical because Luke 21:33 says, Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my word shall not pass away. So, that can't be talking about anything physical, because nothing physical is eternal. And people tend to look at the physical material world as real and the spirit world is just something that's out there, but that is far from the truth. Spiritual things and the spiritual realm has an effect on this realm. First of all Hebrews 11:3 says, 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. So, the physical realm came out of the spiritual realm, God by his word. Not only that, but the spiritual realm God by his word is upholding the physical realm Heb 1:3 says, 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. You see in Jer. 5:22 and Proverbs 8:29 22 Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? Proverbs 8:29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth. Notice, what it's saying, God made a decree from the foundation of the world to the sea not to cross over the sand of the shore and it can not pass over. No matter how much they toss and roar they can't cross that line. Something God decreed in the spiritual realm from the foundation of the world still has an effect in this physical realm to this day.

God is not limited to natural circumstances or conditions. In 1Kings 17 when there was a famine in the land God sent the man of God, Elijah, to a widow women to take care of him. In verses 8 and 9 it reads 8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. Now, back then widows were considered to be some of the poorest people. So, he gets up and goes and it reads- 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 12 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. 13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. 15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Notice, in the natural she was in no condition to sustain him. She was a widow(poor), she had a son, and she was down to her last meal and that's who God sent him to to take care of him. But, notice what God told Elijah, I have commanded her to sustain you which means she has to have something somewhere. And she didn't even know what God had said to him that she was to sustain him, Elijah had to tell her.

But, even though she didn't have it physically at the time she had it spiritually. And because she did as the man of God said she opened the door for what she had spiritually to be received physically and sustain him as God said. That's what 2 Chronicles 20:20 says, 20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. You see in 2 Kings 4:38-44 with Elisha, 38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. 42 And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43 And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men?(he knows what's in his hands is not enough to feed everybody) He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.

Notice, it did not matter what he had in his hands, what mattered is what God said. And a lot of times people get focused on what they have or don't have, but what did God say. If you are just focusing on what you have or don't have then your focus is on the wrong thing. Like us today people are speaking of famine coming, but God said, In the time of famine we would be satisfied. So, even if it's not here physically we have to have something we can tap into spiritually. So, if it's not here physically it can be brought here. Don't bring God down to the level of your natural understanding, you can't figure God out, He's too big. What you should do is simply trust and believe. God has taken all the guess work out of the equation. What did Jesus mother say, Whatever he tells you to do just do it. See, don't try to figure it out or wonder how in the world can he do that, no, just do it. You can't tap into the spiritual with natural reason. Natural reason can't tap into it 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Just because something is in spiritual form doesn't mean it's less real than something in physical form. John 4:24 says, God is a Spirit and yet 1 Timothy 3:16 says, God was manifest in the flesh so is He any less real as spirit, no. Things might not look like what God said that's were trust comes in, You see in 2 Kings 6 When the Prophet Elisha was telling the king of Israel the plans the king of Syria was making so that they could escape his ambushes. After a few times of that happening the king thought it was his own people, so he asked, which one you are a trader and one of his men told him, It's not us it's that prophet in Dothan he's telling the King of Israel the plans you're making, so the king said, Go get him.

That's where I'm going to start reading: 2 Kings 6:14-17- 14 Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. 15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Notice, there was two different realms of existence at the same time, in the same place, and both of them were real. Doesn't Psalm 34:7 say, The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Things that take place in the spiritual causes things to happen in the physical realm and the best example of that is Adam. In Genesis 2:16,17 it reads, 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. He didn't die physically, but he did die spiritually. Spiritual death is separation from God like physical death is separation from your body. Now, notice he did eat from that tree, you might see that as a physical act, but the scriptures says that it was a spiritual act in 1 Corinthians 6:18 it reads, 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Notice, every sin a man doeth is without the body, in other words it's the inner man using his body to do it, that's why it says he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Now, just as your physical body resides in this physical realm you spirit resides in the spirit realm, you are a spirit. And what this man did in the spiritual caused the whole creation to fall in the physical.

It is not God's will that any should perish. And I wouldn't want to end this article without giving someone the opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It's very easy just pray: Dear God- I know I have sinned and I now turn from them and I invite Jesus to come into my heart (Revelation 3:20). He died for my sins and you have raised him from the dead and I now confess that Jesus is my Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9,10). I thank you for saving me, Amen

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12). 1 Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.