Between Heaven and Earth

"We should live between heaven and earth."

I WILL HAVE a prosperous soul. I will renew my mind to think like God, to view all things in life from His perspective. I will allow the Kingdom of God that is within me to take predominance, and I will become more and more aware of eternal realities.

“Because of this, ever since we heard about you, we have not stopped talking to God about you and asking him to enlighten your minds with truth and with a greater knowledge of his character, methods, principles and will, thus increasing your wisdom and understanding of eternal realities.” (Colossians 1:9, Remedy)

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3 John 1:2)

We are supernatural beings. I said this a few days ago. It comes up within me today in confident assurance. We are meant to have beautiful, abundant, EASY-TO-LIVE lives. I said this recently as well. But our reality of them comes from our heavenly perspective. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, changes our perspective. There is a beautiful quote by Minister Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California, that he spoke at the Southwest Believers Convention, which I’d like you to read:

“But there’s this person, called the Holy Spirit, who rests upon us that alters the atmosphere of every situation we get into, and learning how to live affectionately with Him, He’s such a lover. He’s drawn to the affection of His people. It’s that place of adoration. It’s the heart and soul of abiding in Christ. It’s being in that place, not performing for Him, but just becoming overwhelmed by Him. By just taking moments, it may be in the car, it may be sitting in my house, or in the backyard, wherever, it doesn’t matter where, my hotel room. It’s just taking the moment to turn my heart of affection toward Him because He’s such a lover, and He’s so drawn by those who will just give Him a moment, and that Presence begins to manifest, and the most amazing things happen.”

It is His AFFECTION which saved me. I was OVERWHELMED by how good He is, how loving, how amazingly un-like the fearful church image that He actually speaks and acts. This image is Jesus and Abba as well. Their affection draws our adoration, and in this is our trust for the everyday and, more importantly, the heavenly. We should live now between heaven and earth. There are things They want us to see, beautiful things of heaven as much as what is happening on earth. But can they trust us with it? That is at the heart of all spiritual revelation. For those caught up in physical things, worldly government, ideas of the mind, and physical pleasures, both in and out of the church structure, there will be less. If pride is center to what we do, then we will miss out on what humbleness reveals. We will be shown only what we will use well.

There was this moment in Nazareth when Jesus read the prophecy of Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me … (Luke 4:18-19).” In that moment, those hearing had revelation. It says they “bore witness” at His words. The Presence of God reach out to them of who had just spoken. Then one person asked themself, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” and in that, what they saw faded from view. Heavenly vision was lost to doubt spoken from an earthly perspective. They reasoned the supernatural away.

In contrast, we see Abraham, a one-hundred-year-old man have a child despite all the human facts against it which stared him in the face. Humanly speaking, he couldn’t father a child at that age and his wife, Sarah, couldn’t bear one. Yet, he believed anyway. There comes a point where the supernatural will overwhelm the natural, if you will believe it. Do you want to go back to the place where you were, or do you want to go forward into a glorious future? Back is safe, or it feels like it, but that, too, is our wrong perspective. Can a man called into the ministry, trained at the feet of Jesus, who has tasted of supernatural possibilities, go back to the man he was, age twenty, caught up in college and family? His clinging to it will prevent revelation. His turning away from what God has placed before him in supernatural advancement will keep him from seeing and knowing any of it. And he may preach a good sermon which draws applause, but what else did the Spirit of God need of him that he has set aside?

From my point-of-view, I wanted out of what darkness had thrown at me, so that life could be simple again. I wanted to return to having no vision of the future past reaching a “good old age.” But Jesus wouldn’t let me. Forced to push forward, I came to this place where what I saw ahead was too beautiful to ever go backward. I had an “Abraham moment” and knew, in an nth, how he felt when God spoke and made such a grand promise. We are too willing to give up and sit down. I speak this of spiritual callings but also of physical and mental illnesses. We view the giving up as the loss of any struggle when that really isn’t the truth. It is, instead, allowing in a new struggle. It’s so much better to be with Jesus. So much easier with the affection of the Spirit surrounding me. Do I still have pressures against me? At times. Is there still a struggle? Much less of one. I simply couldn’t see that when lost in giving up.

What I see now, instead, is God’s heart for people. I see why He would die for those who condemned Him. I see an unlimited horizon. We can go as high in spiritual knowledge and heavenly views as we desire to go. Elijah went so high he didn’t see death. So did Enoch. The apostle John was given heaven’s revelation, while trapped in exile. There he was, seeing the throne room and those things of the future which no man knew. We should live from the top down, looking toward earth, and not at the bottom, with God far, far above us. Some call that humility, reverence even, and we are to have both. But God desired Peter and James and John to see Jesus transfigured on the mountain. There they were, viewing the Messiah in splendor along with Moses and the prophet Elias, men of different generations. Notice, Peter wasn’t confused by WHO he saw, simply WHY.

“Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!” (Ephesians 1:3 TPT)

“So, what do I do now, Suzanne? How do I put myself in that position?”

One, you believe it is possible. Two, you make Jesus Lord. This means He directs all your physical, mental, and spiritual footsteps. Three, you set your affection on things above and not on this earth, and where you are unsure or where you simply don’t want to, talk to God, who knows already, and ask Him to change you. Be willing to not be captivated anymore by those things which currently hold your attention. Be willing to see them in a new way, and you will find He can use them.

“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2)

“Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” (Colossians 3:2 TPT)

A woman gave a prophecy which reminded her of her youth, where she’d followed her dad in and out of thoroughbred racetracks. Suddenly, what she never thought she’d need was incredibly useful. My mother frequently finds herself singing some old hymn which no one around her knows, and the words always turn her to what’s happening in the Spirit. These are but two examples. There is no lack in God’s ability to communicate with us. He speaks in Muslim and Communist countries where the Bible is outlawed. He once spoke through a donkey. So set down any worry that you will not hear Him and instead, reach ever before you for the next wonderful thing He will give.

He is an exceeding, abundantly far over and above God in ways we cannot fathom. But we will learn and see them if we will commit ourselves to Him. That is what He asks in this hour. He will pour Himself out on individuals who are dedicated to His affection, who are so in love with Jesus there is no going back. I know I am one of them.

Image by Ralf Designs from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com