Sheila R.Vitale, Pastor, Teacher & Founder
LIVING EPISTLES MINISTRIES

PO Box 562, Pt Jeff Sta, NY 11776-0562, USA

OUR WEB PAGES - UPLOADED FOR YOU

Home: MAIN PAGE

Books: LIBRARY

Audio Tape Transcripts: BIBLE & SPIRITUAL STUDIES

Illustrations: DRAWINGS OF SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES

On-line Transcripts: CLASSROOM STUDIES

Questions, Answers, Dreams: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Order Page: ORDER BOOKS, TRANSCRIPTS & AUDIO TAPES

E-mail: TALK TO US

JESUS WALKING
ON THE WATER

Jesus' disciples thought He was a ghost when He walked on the water, so Jesus must have looked different than He usually did. There's only one other Scriptural account of Jesus looking different before His resurrection: When He was transfigured (Matt. 17:2) and His raiment became as shining white light.

The Greek word translated transfigured (Strongs #3332) means to lift up and remove from one place to another. It's the same Greek word Paul used in Romans 12:2, where he exhorts us to be transformed by the renewing of (our) mind.

Matt. 17:2 says that Jesus' face shone as the sun. The Greek word translated face (Strongs #4383) can also be translated the surface, or the outward appearance. The glory of Jesus' spiritually mature personality (Eph. 4:13) was removed from the inside to the outside of His person, and became His raiment, or that part of His whole person which was external -- And He appeared to be as white as the light.

The Greek word translated light (Strongs #5457) means light rays. Light rays, such as the rays of the sun, are invisible rays which, when reflected, cause a brightness, or a shining, to appear. Jesus looked like a ghost to His disciples because they could see through His shining and bright outward appearance.

Jesus defied gravity and walked on the water by removing His physical body and personality from the exterior of His person, to a place behind His inward, spiritual part, which is beyond the authority of the physical laws of this world system.

The gift of traveling in the Spirit is not powerful enough to transport the physical body, which is left behind where it can be seen by witnesses. In such a case, the dead, mortal personality is given special dispensation by the Lord, in a particular instance, and for a specific purpose, to leave the body and travel.

But Christ Jesus, our new, spiritual self, the life-sustaining member of the whole spiritual man, is capable of vibrating beyond the physical body and surrounding it like a wall. The mortal personality and physical body are tucked inside of Christ Jesus, and travel with Him as a passenger.

In our present mortal condition, the physical body is the life-sustaining member and the personality within the physical body travels as a passenger. Our natural example is the bird whose feet (body) become inoperable when the wings (Christ Jesus) are used to fly.

The gift of traveling in the Spirit is granted at the specific instruction of the Lord Jesus Christ, one experience at a time, and for His specific purposes, which is usually to help another human being. The person traveling has nothing to do with the decision-making process. He is sent.

The spiritually mature man who is an expression of Christ Jesus, however, travels in the Spirit as He chooses, in accordance with the wisdom of the Father that He is joined to (1 Cor. 6:17). The spiritually mature man is privy to the decision-making process, and may travel in the Spirit at any time he deems it necessary to accomplish the Will of the Father.

Jesus decided to join His disciples, and took the most direct route: Spiritual travel. He may not have had a boat available to Him or, if He had taken a boat, He may not have arrived at the other side on time, or perhaps there was a problem amongst His disciples that needed tending to. Or perhaps Jesus traveled in the Spirit to make the statement: I have authority over the physical laws of this world and over the powers and principalities that rule through her. In any event, rest assured that Jesus walking on the water glorified the Father.