Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
If we are truly going to live our lives from the heavenly places we must recognize that the enemy will challenge us and try to lead us into error. In fact, the Apostle Paul was accused of being insane when he testified of the heavenly vision that set the course for his life (Acts 26:24). Many times if the enemy cannot stop you from pursuing something he will try to convince you to not go too far or, go too far with it; balance seems to be a word that is used. I am not so convinced that balance in the way that is used most times is even biblical. There are those who see heaven only as the sweet bye and bye that has no real impact on our lives now. We know that is not a biblical concept of heaven. There is another group who are so obsessed with angels, visions and supernatural experiences that they disconnect themselves from the Lord Himself.
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Colossians 2:18-19
This is a warning that we must give heed to, however, many believers tend to be overly cautious when it comes to angels, visions and supernatural experiences and basically are rendered ineffective by the enemy. The Apostle Paul also wrote, “Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 12:1. Paul was not reluctant to write about his many encounters with angels and visitations of the Lord Himself. In fact, he stated that he lived his life in obedience to a heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). We have no problems reading about these things in the Bible, they are safe there, but not here. That is a fruit of being influenced by a religious spirit.
Just because there are abuses concerning these things does not mean we should throw up red flags any time the subject comes up. This is not biblical or wise, nor does it address the root issue. The problem is not the angels or visions, Paul indicated the problem is rooted in the lack of true humility (Col. 2:18), which is nothing more than pride. God resist proud people; which means they will not have the grace to keep them from error (James 4:6).
This is the key; all our blessings are in the heavenly places IN CHRIST (Eph. 1:3). The moment Christ is left out is the moment we have fallen from grace. The Lord Jesus Himself is the ultimate reason for us to put our focus on and deliberately pursue the heavenly places. That is where both He and the Father are right at this very moment (Eph 1:20). He is the true desire of our souls (Isaiah 26:8) so if our greatest desire is in heaven, of course we will put our attention and affections there.
Every vision, revelatory experience and supernatural encounter we have is meant to lead us closer to Him. If in any way these things are leading us away from Him then we have already left our first love (Rev. 2:4-5).
I pray that our eyes will be opened afresh to see that it is only by placing our emphasis in the heavenly places that we can hope to realize His divine purposes for our lives, which will lead “to the praise of His glory” Ephesians 1:12
Many Blessings, BW