"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
- John 14:2-3
There is nothing like having God's presence in your life. That is what makes this journey of faith so wonderful. Even though Jesus has gone back to heaven and we are absent of his presence in body, we know his spirit is with us and in us because of the person of the Holy Spirit. One day we will all come to live in his sight. And oh, what a glorious day that will be! But that should never take away the reality of what we have available to us today!
We are a privileged people. We walk around every day as carriers of the presence of God. That should become a vital reality in all of our lives. However, there are some of us who have let that truth escape us. We have carelessly fallen into the trap of missing out on what we have available to us, and have found ourselves becoming distant to an opportunity of being able to enjoy the intimacy of his indwelling presence day by day. Paul even had to remind the Hebrews of this: "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip" (Heb. 2:1).
There are places that we can walk in God where it is just as real to our spirit as if we were suddenly lifted up into heaven. It is where God's presence comes and manifests in us and around us. We know that the Bible teaches us that when we became born again we were not only born of the Spirit, but we began a life in the Spirit. In fact, Galatians chapter five says, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). That is a description of who we are in Christ and the position we now hold spiritually. We live in the Spirit. We still have our physical life, but we are alive spiritually. And it is that position that we are called upon to keep stirred up in us, so that we are constantly aware of our heavenly connection (Col. 3:1-3).
As much as we know God is omnipresent; in other words, he is everywhere in every place at all times. There is a much more intimate place of awareness of his presence that is so tangible that we can feel and know it just like we feel the presence of a friend standing in our midst. Paul called it "heavenly places." It is a place where God's presence becomes so real that it is as if you are physically standing before heaven itself.
As we learn to stir up our spirit to enter into these places, we will begin a process that will literally bridge heaven and earth together so that we can sense God's presence around us just as if we were living in both worlds.
There have been times, throughout my Christian life, where in God's presence my spirit feels as if I am somewhere else. In fact, while in these places, I have become so cognizant of the spiritual realm that it feels more real to me than even my natural surroundings. As we learn to stir up our spirit to enter into these places, we will begin a process that will literally bridge heaven and earth together so that we can sense God's presence around us just as if we were living in both worlds. Actually, from a positionally standpoint we are living in both worlds. We are here, but we are there. We have been made to sit together with Christ in "heavenly places."
What we need to do as believers is become so familiar with our heavenly position that we build into us a consciousness of living in "heavenly places" down here below. I think this is what enabled Jesus to be so successful in life and in ministry. He knew he came from heaven and was to go back to heaven, but while on earth he lived as if he was still in heaven. Heaven influenced everything he did. He even said, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19). In another place, he said: "But the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). He was very much aware of heaven working in him and through him. Just imagine what we can accomplish when we grasp the significance of God's indwelling presence and we begin to seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God?
