Spirit guides are present wherever people exist. In my understanding, a spirit guide is a non-physical entity that serves as a loving friend and empowering companion. They might also appear during specific moments to provide encouragement and comfort. While some refer to them as “spiritual guides,” I use the term “spirit guides” to differentiate them from our human friends and teachers who also provide spiritual guidance. The Bible frequently uses the term “angels,” which is a potentially misleading translation of the Greek word angelos, meaning “messenger.”
It’s essential to approach information about spirit guides with discernment, including what I share here. However, I aim to present a plausible perspective for evolving Christians regarding claims about spirit guides. Ultimately, personal experience is crucial in determining their reality or unreality for you. I encourage you to consider this dimension and embark on an exploration with me, if you’re willing.
Encounters with Spiritual Guides: Personal Experiences
My initial experience with a spirit guide involved Jesus, although he wasn’t referred to as such in my Sunday School. He certainly embodies my current definition of “a non-physical being who can be your loving friend and empowering companion.”
From an early age, I was taught that he desired my friendship. Everyone in my Southern Baptist church communicated with him, even though they acknowledged his physical absence. It was the customary way to “pray” and the expected practice. I’m unsure if they received responses or what transpired, but it was assumed that he heard them. I offered “prayers” to Jesus, but no one suggested that Jesus might personally respond to me. Nor did I sense his proximity. I always believed he resided in “heaven,” which I then perceived as distant and “up there.”
Interestingly, this perspective largely persisted throughout seminary. Most seminaries prioritize religious knowledge over spiritual experience. We were taught to be wary of experience, except for a “conversion experience.” If not an actual experience, you needed to have decided to “accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior” at a specific date and time. I was a rebel at a young age and said I have always loved Jesus and therefore did not have a “conversion.” That was true.
During and after seminary, I remained captivated by the phenomenology of the Bible, rather than the theology derived from the spiritual experiences of Jesus and others documented within it. Later, I associated with some of the more balanced leaders in the charismatic movement, hoping their experiences would influence me. However, I was still early in my twenty years of therapy to get at my buried emotions and still unaware of my natural gay sexuality. That was a lot of repression and energy to keep feelings that God supposedly disapproved of out of my experience. Many people have no idea of how traumatic and damaging abusive religion affects LGBTQ+ folks as it is directed at us and our God-given sexual orientation. Consequently, I had limited “spiritual presence” available to perceive God’s presence.
This shifted dramatically at age 60, when a practicing Buddhist named Ken Wilber introduced me to subtle states of consciousness where the Living Jesus now resides. Simultaneously, I came out to myself as gay. This was a transformative experience, and as my sexual feelings awakened, so did my spiritual ones! And there was my friend, Jesus, waiting for me, oh so patiently! And there were some of his friends waiting for me, too.
The Significance of Spiritual Guides: Insights from the Gospels
When I started engaging in real-life conversations with Jesus in the subtle non-physical realm, I began to notice previously overlooked details in the New Testament. Despite being a lifelong follower of Jesus and a student of the New Testament, I had failed to recognize the profound implications of Jesus’ need to communicate with his two spiritual guides, Moses and Elijah. I always questioned why he would converse with them when he could communicate with Abba God, who was so close to him. I was about to discover the reason.
The Transfiguration narrative, central to the first three Gospels, offers a vivid and practical framework for connecting with our spirit guides (Matt. 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). Similar to our WeSpace groups, this involved a small group of Jesus’ friends who shared their lives and collectively experienced God’s presence alongside other spiritual guides. During the Transfiguration, the most intense part of the mountaintop gathering commenced when two revered figures from Jewish tradition, Moses and Elijah, appeared in vibrant, visionary color and sound. In their non-physical yet recognizable energy field forms, they offered Jesus encouragement. “They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).
Jesus sought guidance concerning his impending death, which weighed heavily on him. Who better to provide encouragement than two deceased individuals! Interestingly, Peter, James, and John, having been thrust into the subtle visionary realm of awakened consciousness by the potent spiritual energy surrounding them, also witnessed Moses and Elijah! All the energetic fields were alive with dramatic, life-changing awakening. Then God got personally involved, and there was more conversation going on from God to all four of the remaining spiritual beings who were still in their physical bodies.
Lessons from Jesus’ Encounters with Spirit Guides
Embracing this event as a model for my own life has led to the following practical and transformative implications:
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Jesus conversed with two identifiable, named, non-physical beings. He didn’t consider this unusual. We know that previously in his temptation, his guides were present (Matt 4:11; Mark 1:13), and later in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43), they were present again. Serious followers of Jesus should not need much more to recommend this as a legitimate activity for themselves. Jesus, whom many people, if not most, consider an extraordinary human being, regardless of what one thinks about him metaphysically, talked to dead people. This series is about why we can, too.
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So why didn’t he talk with his Abba about his “departure?” We know from other accounts that Jesus had extensive times of prayer with the personal presence of the God that he called Abba. Jesus needed something more — something that only formerly flesh and blood beings could give him. He needed something from those who had personally experienced life and death. The Apostle Paul beautifully summed up the purpose of hearing from the other side — comfort, strength, and encouragement (1 Cor. 14:3). I have always assumed that if Jesus needed this kind of help, I need it even more.
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This contact with Jesus’ spiritual guides occurred in a non-ordinary state of consciousness. It doesn’t happen while working at your computer, taking care of the kids, or watching TV. It occurs after a walk up the mountain, alone or preferably with a small group of friends, where you intend to connect with someone from the mystical realm.
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This was a back and forth between Jesus and his two friends from the other side about what was going on in his life. This mystical dialogue was an honest conversation about his struggles. He needed help. And he got it from two dead guys.
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There was, in this case, visionary phenomena — his guides were visible in the non-ordinary realm of deepened consciousness. It involved the energy fields of the subtle body presences of non-physical beings. It also involved mystical light, pulling back the veil to reveal Jesus as a being of great dazzling light. He was undoubtedly aware of this experience when he said that both he, along with us, were “the light of the world” (John 8:12, Matt 5:14).
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Jesus had other, less dramatic encounters with his friends from the other side. The stories of Jesus’ birth are filled with spirit guides appearing to his pregnant mom and dad. They announced to Bethlehem’s shepherds that Jesus had been born. This was followed by another spirit guide telling the new parents to take their child and flee to Egypt. Spirit guides helped the grown-up Jesus in two crucial times — in the wilderness temptations (Matt 4:11) and praying in Gethsemane nearing his death, “A spirit guide appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke 22:43). From these multiple, mystical phenomena, we can learn the extent to which spirit guides are available to help us on our journey is much more significant than we sophisticated, modern folks have thought.
Most often, our connecting with our spiritual guides are much less dramatic but no less transforming. I have never visually “seen” Jesus or my other guides. My conversations emerge as words inside my mind, although occasionally, they seem almost audible. I eventually began to have regular experiences of being touched and beautiful light in my visual field. We are all different, and don’t let the seemingly more dramatic experiences of others keep you from your own.
Connecting with My First Spirit Guide After Jesus
For many years, I consulted an energy healer who was familiar with spirit guides. One day, I inquired about how to determine if I had any guides besides Jesus. Knowing my Christian background, she asked if I felt drawn to any figures from the Bible or religious history. I mentioned my fascination with Jesus’ friend John. She suggested, “Ask him if he would be a spirit guide for you.” So right then, I asked him and heard back the words in my head, “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me!” I immediately burst into tears, unusual for the emotionally out of touch, reserved me. I said to him, “I didn’t think you would have time. You must be busy.” His reply was, “Come on, you know that time-space stuff does not apply in my world, only yours.” So began a long, liberating relationship of many years with John. I wrote down what we talked about for several years. Now I enjoy his loving presence and his hand on my right shoulder with occasional brief conversations.
Jesus was also becoming more and more real to me, and I could now sense his presence in front of me. One day I asked him to come closer to me. I immediately felt him in front of me, about an inch from my nose. I said, “That’s too close!” He laughed and moved around to my right side and said, “Is this better?” I felt the touch of his hand on my right arm, which has remained with me, day and night, for many years. I can feel it now as I am writing this. Although I now see other’s spiritual guides relatively quickly, I have never “seen” Jesus, as I said, but I feel his presence somatically and intuitively.
Abusive religion has turned off some to Jesus to such a degree that he is not very accessible to them. If you are one of the mistreated, my message to you is that Jesus understands and happily helps us find other forms to come beside us. These other forms can be the biblically feminine Sophia beside us and other beings of light that we can connect with as companions and guides to encourage us on our journey. For some, this leads to enough healing of the religious trauma to reestablish a healthy relationship with the Living historical Jesus present now in his spiritual body. With others, this may have to wait until the other side.
My encouragement is to, like Jesus did, connect with the guides that are most helpful to you.
Embracing Spiritual Guidance: A Path to Transformation
Connecting with spirit guides, regardless of what you call them, is a deeply personal journey. The key is to remain open, discerning, and trusting of your own experiences. Whether you perceive them as angels, ascended masters, or simply wise and loving presences, spirit guides can offer invaluable support and direction on your path.
