(Disclaimer: There is a belief called ‘dualism’ which separates God in the spirit realm from man in the natural realm. The two don’t mix in this belief system. Conversely, when I speak of dual realities I believe they are intertwined and inseparable.)
Heaven is for real! And it’s for now! Yes, we walk on earth, but we’ve been invited to live in and rule from Heaven… and experience both of them simultaneously. God’s original intention was for us to be aware of and live in the supernatural realm more than in the temporal realm. Unfortunately, most voices around us scream to give our full attention to this earthly realm. And even most of the voices which would point us to the Heavenly realm would have us believe that the Heavenly realm is reserved for after we die. Of course this is just not true. Jesus, our Supreme Model gave us plenty of examples to see how a mortal can ascend into Heaven while still living and breathing on earth. John 3:13 is a prime example:
“No one has ascended to Heaven but He who came down from Heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in Heaven.”
Jesus is referring to Himself in each instance in this verse… the one who ascended… the one who came down… and the one who is in Heaven. Just for reference; this verse is pre-cross, pre-resurrection and pre-glorification. Then how could He say this? Because He had discovered how to ascend and descend. He had learned to traverse between the two realms. In fact, He lived in both simultaneously. One realm was not mutually exclusive or cancelling of the other. They had merged into one experience… all under Father’s jurisdiction and care. Jesus, being 100% man, set the example for us. He’s inviting us to live in the Heavenlies with Him, now! No delaying it until our ‘ticker’ stops. A host of Scriptures reference and establish this powerful fact (if we use the right ‘glasses’ to view them). So now, while our feet walk on terra firma, we live in and rule from Heaven where we’re “seated with Christ”!
Unfortunately this world has baptized and marinated us in the pickle juice of shame, insecurity and lack. And we’ve believed this diabolic lie. Even as sons of God, we still operate nearly exclusively out of our ‘pickled’ state… in our self-talk, in our conversations and in our prayer life. Just listen to ourselves talk about ourselves or our conditions next time we talk to anyone, especially when we talk to God. Do you hear any ‘poor little ‘ol me’ overtones… or rehearsing the sad state of affairs… or outright beggar posture just hoping for another morsel to help make it till Friday. The following quote says it quite succinctly:
“One of the most disbelieved scriptures in the entire Bible is found in Col. 2:10: “You are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” This is the root of unbelief that gives rise to all of our struggles. When we do not believe we are complete in Him we spend our every effort trying to become who God says we are. We use our “faith” to get what God says we already have. Our prayer life is consumed with asking God to do what He has already done through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus!”
“Break the power of lack by persuading your heart that you are complete in Him. Memorize, meditate on, sing, say, and worship every scriptural promise that tells you what is yours in Jesus. (And, by the way, every promise God ever made to anyone is yours, in Christ. (2 Cor. 1:20) Lose yourself in Him. Immerse yourself so deeply in your identity in Him that you have no sense of self outside of Christ! No lack can live in a heart that is complete.” – Dr. James B. Richards
Did you catch that? Even our prayers reflect our beggar mentality because we’re still slaves to the Liar and his lies. Believing this lie will prohibit us from being kings and kingly. But we ARE kings… co-heirs with Jesus and seated with Him in the Heavens! This MUST become our greater reality. We must learn to think, see, speak, pray and rule from this reality. The now emerging Kingdom era needs and awaits us. Believing Him who is Truth will launch us into being “filled with all the fullness of God” (see Eph 3:19).
In the beggar posture, we didn’t have to accept responsibility for the rightness or wrongness of our prayers. We just cried out from our real or perceived pain or lack… and we let Almighty God do the sorting out. We didn’t have any power anyway… it was all up to Him. Right? No! That’s not scripturally correct! Jesus said, “I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy…” (see Luke 10:19). And this is NOT reserved for ‘the millennium’… this is NOW! Friends, we’ve got a lot of growing up to do, in our prayer type (ruling vs beg), our prayer focus (from Heaven toward earth) and our prayer topics (governance). We’ll have to determine whether we’ve spent sufficient ‘face-time’ to get to know Father’s heart so that we can pray authoritatively as His spokesperson and emissary.
Suggestion: Try a fast… a unique type of fast. Try fasting for one week from plaintiff prayers… even from asking prayers. Try releasing, prophetic, declaring, decreeing type prayers. This may feel awkward at first, but you’ll find that it’s much more in keeping with who you are and your inheritance in Christ. Try thinking, speaking and praying as a ruling king would… as a king who has heard and knows his King’s heart and mind. Are you ready, kings? Ok, no more pickle juice! Welcome to kingship in His Kingdom!
The simple graphic below may help visualize this powerful dynamic. (Click for larger graphic)
To view an 80 minute video of Mark presenting this subject, click here.
For notes to accompany the video, click here.
Mark Hendrickson
Beyond the Map 