I heard a pastor say, somewhat dismissively? how he dislikes hearing people say, “I am with you in spirit!” He said we know that one’s human spirit cannot be in two places at once since to be “absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,” i.e., as in death. He was referencing the phrase as it is found in 2 Corinthians 5:6. Paul states that he is confident in his eternal destiny and longs for the day when he can be “absent from the body” (NKJV) and be present with the Lord he loves and serves.
That is generally interpreted from a human spirit perspective, one’s own spirit being “absent” from one’s body simply meaning to die because, at death, the spirit is separated from the body and moves to another place in the spiritual realm.
I have a little different take on the phrase, “I’ll be with you (or am with you) in spirit!”
Soon after my husband, Bill, died I had a dream about being asleep (while I was asleep!) and I saw Bill sitting on the grass at Jesus’ feet as Jesus sat on a concrete garden bench. In my dream I heard Jesus say to Bill, “Watch, she is going to wake up in a minute and her first thought will be of Me. Her next thought will be of you.” In my dream I laughed because that would not have been a surprise to Bill. He was aware of my priority of relationship with Christ, just as his own was! But then Jesus continued speaking to Bill and said this, “Cathy is connected to Me in her life there. You are connected to Me through your presence with Me here. Because of Me, you are both still connected to one another.”
It was a great comfort to me to consider that by our respective connections to Christ, Bill by His physical Presence and me by His spiritual Presence, made Bill and me still connected. So, when I am speaking to Sister-Friends like yourselves, or to any other believers anywhere who share fellowship with the Presence of Christ by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, I can confidently say, “I am with you in the Holy Spirit” who is present to us both and mediates between our hearts and minds through His own loving and caring heart and mind.
Therefore, know that as I read and consider prayer requests, I am praying for each of these requests and I am indeed “with each of you in the shared presence and consolation of the Holy Spirit of Christ!”
With you all “In Christ,”
Love, Cathy Byrd