As It Is In Heaven

We have often prayed this part of "The Lord's Prayer". But God has been stirring in my heart to show me something more than I have seen before. Many people do not realise there are two parts of releasing Heaven on the earth.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 ESV

The first part or "step," as it were, is to see what it looks like in heaven. We find ourselves in a situation where we want to see God manifest and heaven released. The first part of this journey is to immerse ourselves in heaven and fill our minds with the Father's will. We need to know how heaven sees and responds to the situation. We renew our minds to know what the Father's will is and what the kingdom of heaven looks like. We need to behold this reality until it becomes a part of who we are. We are transformed to become a taste of heaven in that area.

The second part or "step" is to establish on the earth what we have seen and now understand. We take the precious revelation and wisdom that heaven has given us and we release this life into the situation. Our conversations, actions and responses to the situation are all part of heaven being released through us. We become like Jesus to the situation. We become the answer. We become heaven, on earth.

Many people that I know seem to be brilliant at either one or the other, and potentially both but in different situations. For instance, I know people who are very good at sharing what they see about a situation. They speak out with confidence and see it come into line with their words, actions and desires. The only thing is that they often operate from worldly wisdom or from their own fears.

On the other hand, I know people who have grown to love the secret places of heaven, which are not secret when you are God's friend. They constantly see what heaven sees when they look at a situation. But their difficulty comes when they wish someone else would address the situation. They have the pattern of heaven for the situation, but they do not take the step to become the answer in that situation. This often leads to grumbling and criticism.

I know that I have been guilty of both these errors. They are common challenges for those who are pursuing the prophetic. And while I have always had people in my life who encourage me to keep going, I did not have people to show me the "how to", only Holy Spirit does that. He teaches us all things.

So you don't need anyone to teach you. God's Spirit teaches you about everything. What He says is true. He doesn't lie. 1 John 2:27 NIRV

Jesus walked in both parts of this picture. He told His disciples that they would see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Then He said, "I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth." John 1:15 NLT

What was He talking about? He was speaking of a mystery relating to Jacob's Ladder. Jacob had an encounter with this stairway in the night.

As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. Genesis 28:12 NLT

Even Solomon talked about secret stairs.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance. Song of Songs 2:14 KJV

I had often wondered why there was first the ascending, and second was the descending. I believe this reflects the same principle. First, we ascend to heaven and receive the perspective and the answers of heaven. Then we return to the earth to ground out what we have seen. As it is in heaven, let it be on earth.

God desires for us to have amazing encounters and revelations. We need to be going in to heaven and seeing and learning what the heavenly solutions are. Then we also need to bring that revelation with us into our everyday life. God wants us to become a secret stairway of the heavenly hosts, so that our lives will allow heaven to manifest through us.

You see, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:21 GW

The kingdom of heaven is within us. We carry heaven inside of us. As He is, so are we in this world. We become Jesus.

As He is so also are we in this world. 1 John 4:17 ESV

In this world we are like Jesus. 1 John 4:17 NIV

What good is it for us to have profound encounters if we do not walk them out? There are encounters that happen in a moment, but take years for them to become a part of our everyday reality. I have observed that it is in the grounding of an encounter is the value or weight in the spirit.

It is incomplete to have an encounter without living it out. This is true the other way, if we are changing our situations, but without first having the wisdom of heaven. True maturity is to live suspended, as it were, between heaven and earth. It is all part of this dance between heaven and earth which happens in and around us. We open our hearts and spirits to become a secret stairway between the dimensions.

Persecution and Sufferings

So often we try to run away from the suffering and persecution around us. But if we look in the bible, we find a different response to such trials and difficulties. What was Paul’s revelation and attitude to persecutions and suffering?

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:10-12 ESV

Explaining about his persecutions, Paul came to recognise that his weakness was not hopeless when coupled with God’s strength.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV

Weakness and persecutions are not to be seen as bad; instead Paul explains how they show God’s strength. The persecutions which Paul went through kept him weak of himself, so that Christ could be strong in him.  It is only when we are weak that we learn the most important lesson of all, without Him, we can do nothing.

“Get your life from Me. Then I will live in you and you will give much fruit. You can do nothing without Me.” John 15:5 NLV

And again, he explains more about his experiences with suffering too.

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:5-7 ESV

Paul learnt that when we partake in the sufferings of Christ, we also partake in His comfort. Paul saw suffering and God’s comfort as being there to give us compassion for others when they suffer.

Paul understood what persecution looked like. He had a most interesting scenario unfold in Antioch. He and his friends went into the synagogue and were given invitation to share an exhortation. They were all travelling together. And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue as all devout Jews did. After speaking on the first week, they were asked to come back the following week and share again.

But there were those who were jealous and abused Paul and his friends. The people there began to speak against Paul and abuse him because they were jealous of him and afraid of his influence over the people in their city. The Jewish leaders of the city influenced the leaders and respected community leaders to persecute Paul and his friends. They succeeded in getting them banned from not just the synagogue, but the entire area. Because the word of God was being spread to both the Jew and Gentile, the Jewish leaders wanted to shut it down as quickly as possible. (Acts 13:14,45,50)

Why do we think that we can somehow escape any persecution and suffering? Jesus told us that we would drink of the same cup that He did.

Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. Mark 10:38,39 ESV

What was this cup of suffering that Jesus was inviting the disciples to drink? It was the very cup which he was about to partake of Himself, the cup of suffering and the cup of joy.

"Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." Luke 22:42 NLT

"You haven’t tried this before, but begin now. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and your cup of joy will overflow." John 16:4 TLB

Now He is inviting us to partake of Himself, to drink this cup, the cup of suffering and the cup of joy. He invites us to enter into His sufferings so we may enter into His beautiful joy.

Chamber of Scrolls

On the 29th of June 2015, I had an encounter in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep very well, so I tuned in to the spirit realm. I asked the Lord what He wanted show me. I became aware of an angel standing in the front yard. He carried a large presence around him. He stood almost three stories high. The atmosphere was charged and I was high in anticipation for what I would encounter next.

I was suddenly taken into a chamber that was full of scrolls, from floor to ceiling. There were alcoves around the chamber which were all filled with scrolls. Some scrolls were in pots, while others were sealed and sitting on shelves. I turned to ask Jesus what this room was all about.

He replied, "These are the scrolls of assignment and destiny that have been released to the Sons of God. But they have not been released through the Sons of God into the earth."

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by the enormity of what I saw. These scrolls had been commissioned by heaven and dispatched to the earth, only now they were sitting in this chamber awaiting the Sons of God to arise and deliver them to the earth. I knew that there were scrolls of destiny of individuals, nations, and continents. There were decrees for people's lives and decrees for specific situations. There were many assignments that had been asked for, but never activated.

I immediately knew that because He was telling me this, I had received an invitation to begin engaging and releasing these scrolls into the earth. As I looked around, I knew it was impossible. There were far too many scrolls and not enough Sons who were going in and out of the chamber. Only God could do this. With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

My heart was gripped with urgency at the implications of what I was seeing. How many people have not yet actively engaged their personal scroll of destiny? How many assignments have been unfinished or simply unstarted? Now I could understand why the earth is groaning under the yearning for the Sons of God to arise. Each of these scrolls represent the Father's will and desire for the earth. If they are not released through the Sons, then the earth has not seen it manifested.

As I stood in the chamber of scrolls, I was reminded of this dream I had dream in June. My grandma was showing me postcards which had been written years ago to different members of my family. They had been stamped, but they never got posted. She wanted me to have them. God was showing me that there have been assignments (postcards) which were written out and paid/prayed for (stamped), but never released or received. Because of my family bloodline, I was invited to take up these family assignments in the spirit.

I believe that each of the Sons of God have invitation to take up assignments. These assignments have been released to their family in the spirit, but never landed in someone's life to be released through them. God is inviting us to take on the impossible and release the assignments that our family have missed.

We are in a pivotal time where God is looking for those sons of God to rise up and release the scrolls that have been mandated to the earth. He is looking for those who will appropriate and administrate His plans and purposes in the earth