Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
Jesus prayed a remarkable prayer for us just before He went to the cross. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24 This is Jesus’ heart desire and most precious gift to us. He wants us to know about the Father in heaven, the Father’s house, His holy angels, the beauty of heaven and our place in heaven with Him. I believe the highest calling we have on earth is to live in an open heaven and experience communion with Christ like He experienced with the Father as He walked on this earth.
Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:5-6
The moment we see ourselves seated with Christ in the heavenly places by faith is the moment we can truly begin to experience the heavenly life on earth. Our physical position may be on earth, but our spiritual position is in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We can now enjoy, in this life, a state of purity, exaltation and favor with the Father. We are now citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), a people prepared to experience His glory (Rom. 9:23). Because we are in Christ we have a right to the privileges, blessings, and responsibilities of citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Even now, spiritually we occupy the heavenly city. In this life we should experience a foretaste of heavenly living that centers on fellowship with the Father and Son through the Holy Spirit.
When I experienced the vision of the throne room of the Father twenty-five years ago I had a very strange feeling. It was as if I had been there before. It felt like home to me. Now I understand, it is my home and I will always be welcomed, valued and belong in my Father’s home. Heaven is the most hospitable place in all of creation. King David understood this better than most people of both his era and ours. He longed for such a heavenly life while living on this earth.
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple. Psalm 27:4
We do have to be purposeful about this and make the heavenly kingdom the thing we focus on and seek above all else. Truly our greatest treasure is in heaven and our goal should be for our hearts to be completely given over to this (Matt. 6:19-21). I believe as we become more focused on seeking the heavenly kingdom our lives will be greatly transformed.
Our world is full of evil, suffering and sorrow. This has caused many believers to long for the return of Christ so we can get out of this mess. We should love His appearing for sure, but I believe we are missing the mark. I believe the most important thing to the Father and what has been on His heart from before the creation of the world is that heaven would be on earth (Gen. 1:28). He demonstrated this while Christ was on the earth. He put us here to fix the mess. We need to know what our rights, privileges and blessings are as sons and daughters of the kingdom, but we also have responsibilities.
One of our greatest and most privileged responsibilities is to bring the kingdom of heaven here (Psalms 115:16). As we live from the reality that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places we will see this happen.
Many Blessings, BW