The Lord gave us five senses to explore, learn, and warn us of danger as we live this mortal life. Also, Jesus Christ gave us five senses to enjoy different types of pleasure while in the mortal flesh. What is interesting and not well known is that these senses can help us go deeper into our spiritual life and open up our sixth sense or spiritual sense.
Many times in the Bible God talks about using your senses to know Him more intimately. I would like to explore these with you in a summary list so let us start with the eyes.
The Lord has given us eyes to see the very world He created and all its beauty. Our eyes help us at work and play. We also use our eyes in worship as we look at the cross, altar, icons, and as we read our Bible.
1 Samuel 16:7 New International Version (NIV)
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Matthew 6:22 New International Version (NIV)
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
The ears help us hear music to dance or to praise and worship the Lord, listening to the reading of the Holy Bible, and devotions, homilies, and sermons. We can hear the voices of our loved ones as they tell us they love us. Our ears also help us hear calls for help.
Romans 10:17 New International Version (NIV)
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
John 10:27 New International Version (NIV)
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Our sense of smell excites our desire to eat wonderful food or to avoid spoiled food. We can smell the burning sandalwood incense to remind us that our prayers will rise up to the Lord and that they will be sweet unto Him. Smell the perfume or aftershave of a loved one when they enter a room.
John 12:3 New International Version (NIV)
3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Psalm 141:2 New International Version (NIV)
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
What goes along with smell is the sense of taste for they are connected. Now taste helps us enjoy the flavor of food and the intimate kiss of our lover. Taste helps us as we take the Holy Communion (Eucharist) to remember Christ's body broken for you with unleavened bread and the port wine which is the blood of Christ shed for you.
Ecclesiastes 9:7 New International Version (NIV)
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.
John 6:35 New International Version (NIV)
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
The fifth sense is touch and it gives us the exhilarating sensations we have when engaged in lovemaking. Touch can also be used to comfort a sad or grieving person with a hug or holding their hand. As we hold the Bible in our hands we feel the worn leather that has the precious words of our Savior Jesus in them. Our touch lets us feel the sign of the cross on our body. We feel the water as we are baptized. The anointing of oil upon the sick is felt upon their forehead.
Song of Songs 1:1 New International Version (NIV)
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Matthew 20:34 New International Version (NIV)
34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
As you can see from above our senses that Jesus has given us plays many roles in our daily lives along with our faith. Now if we earnestly follow Jesus by being guided by the Bible teachings and the Holy Spirit we have the opportunity to awaken the sixth sense. This only happens in the regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
5 he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Regeneration is an act of God and produces spiritual life in the believer. Which then can bring you to use the sixth sense of feeling the very presence of Jesus. We do possess the spiritual faculties to sense God's very presence and the spiritual world that is all around us yet invisible to the mortal eye but seen through our spiritual eyes.
Sadly, to most Christians, God is no more real than He is to the world of unbelievers. They are enchanted with the idea of Jesus but cannot get past the belief that they can actually have a personal relationship with Jesus. This lack of understanding makes their faith defective in their ability to mature in the faith. Sin has clouded the Christian's mind and heart of feeling the reality of an unseen reality of the presence of Jesus that they have an opportunity to experience.
The unseen spiritual world should not be thought of as something in the future for it is present right now. I would like to give three simple disciplines to work on to awaken the regeneration process of the Holy Spirit so you may have an opportunity to feel the presence of Jesus in the here and now.
First, find a quiet place to sit down and just be in the moment.
Secondly, read a verse or two from the book of John in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.
Thirdly, lift your hands halfway in the air and pray to God to allow you to feel the presence of Jesus, then be still and wait upon the Lord.
Try this discipline for thirty days to awaken your spirit to the Spirit of Jesus. Start off for no less than ten minutes and try to increase the time you spend reaching out to the Lord. Don't settle for just standing outside the temple grounds of your faith when Jesus is inviting you to come into the Holy of Holies with Him.
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