One of the things we struggle with as believers is that we try to draw heaven down to earth instead of allowing heaven to draw us up from earth into heaven. One thing I’ve recognized in churches is that we still try, through the religious processes and the ways that we have been taught, to take heaven and pull it down, to put it into us. That is not the way it should be. Heaven should be released from inside you, filling the atmosphere and then you carry that, or that carries you into the realm of the kingdom. It is very important to understand that the God of the universe lives inside of you. What this means is that the very essence of the person of God lives in your spirit. The first place for us to encounter God needs to be in our spirit. It is inside of you, not on the outside of you.
The reason we struggle with things of the spirit is because we have not understood this principle: God lives inside of us and we can touch him on the inside of ourselves. In my Christian experience I want to know God as a friend. One way to get to know someone as a friend is to embrace them and say, I love you. That is what you do as a family. I can remember one day praying, God; I want to get close to you. Lord, I want to be loved by you, and more than that, I want to be known as your friend. I just want to get hold of you somehow.
Song of Solomon 3:4 – when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go.
Well, I wanted to do the hold him, let alone the not let go part! So in the process of trying to understand this, the Lord said to me, give me a hug. I said, I am a physical being, you’re a spirit being, what do you expect me to do?
I have a relationship with God and he talks to me. It is okay that I speak to him like that because he knows my heart’s desire. In comparison to him I’m just this little dung beetle on the backside of the desert somewhere! (The backside of the desert is a good place to be because you are usually by yourself when you are in the presence of God). What God wants is a relationship and so he said to me, give me a hug, and I said, yeah, right! So God began to teach me by asking simple questions like, when you hug your wife what do you do? I said, well, I hug her but actually i do not just hug her with my body, I take who I am, which is a spirit being, that has a soul, that lives in a physical body and my spirit being embraces her. The final result is my physical body doing what my spirit being is doing.
When I hug my wife and do not stand there going, hi honey, nice to see you today. I would not have a relationship with somebody like that and yet many of us do that with God. We see him living in this great big euphoric atmosphere. He dwells there, operates there and all we do is say, nice to see you God! That is not how you relate with somebody. What you are supposed to do is take what you have inside you and put it over your partner and embrace them. This is what my family calls a tank full because it is two-way. You see, what God is looking for is a two-way relationship.
So I am embracing my wife, not just with my body but with my soul and my spirit. So that means my spirit can actually do something. It has the capability of embracing somebody. Understanding that, the Lord said, now give me a hug. Understanding is well that he does not just live out there in the realm of the kingdom, but he lives in me. That means I have the ability to turn my soul and my spirit towards his presence inside of me and embrace him.
I had to do a mental shift to understand that I could hug God. Then I had to do another mental shift; what is going to happen when I hug him? If it is a two-way street, what do I have to give him? Actually, all he wants is our love. Our dad just wants our love. He wants to be embraced. When my son or daughter comes home and comes to hug me, I’ll do them in response. When they come up to give me a hug, they hug me first and I respond by hugging them. If this happens in the natural, then when we reach out towards God to embrace him, how much more is he going to embrace us, because finally somebody has understood the reality; they can hug me!
So, some really simple steps are spending time praying in tongues, whilst working on my mind to believe:
One – that I came embrace God.
Two – that I am a spirit being that has a soul and I can embrace his glory on the inside of me. I can actually lay hold of it on the inside of me and embrace him.
Three – I’m going to choose to do that. You must make a choice to embrace the presence of God that is inside you.
So I began to pray in tongues. I did not know what else to do, so I would put my arms around my body and I would hug them over my body, with my hands wrapped around myself on each side. I was praying the make my body do what my spirit and soul were doing because the Bible says: every city or house divided against itself will not stand – Matthew 12:25.
If my body is just standing there and is not involved, my house is divided. My body and soul need to be actively involved in everything that my spirit is doing. So I would do as much as I could with my body to engage it in the process of what my spirit man was doing. I would walk around praying in tongues saying, Lord, I chase your presence. Father, today I take my spirit and my soul and I begin to entwine them around your presence inside of me. Father, I take them and I begin to embrace your glory and your presence. I lock into it today and I embrace your presence in Jesus name.
Now I’m not looking out there for some great thing. I’ve turned totally to the inside, to the kingdom of heaven that is in me. I’ve turned to that realm inside of me where he lives. And what I have done is embraced him. You can only join to God when you embrace him as a spirit.
First Corinthians 6:17 – the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
You need to embrace the presence of God. So I would practice that day after day. The first time I tried it I felt like a real idiot! I would hate to have seen somebody come when I had my arms crossed, walking up and down, praying in tongues. So walking up and down the room I would pray. It took about three days of persisting with it and as I began to practice, I ended up on the floor in a mess, because I embraced him and then he embraced me! I got the better part of the deal. You see, a dad’s covering comes over his children when they love on him. a dad’s heart is extended towards his family when they love him. Love commands a response, both ways. Because I chose to embrace the presence of God, love commanded a response, as that is a spiritual law. I embraced him in love and guess what happened; I got the better part of the deal!
It brings a security inside you, anywhere and often. After a meeting I will be standing around talking away, but I am drawing myself towards the presence of God. I’ve learned the process and I do not have to wrap my arms around me anymore to do it! I will be rattling away about some irrelevant thing and sometimes I’m not even there. What God wants is to be real to us, because he lives inside us and we can embrace his presence inside us. Here is the most exciting thing when you encounter the kingdom of God that is within you. This kingdom will transition you into the kingdom of heaven that is on the outside of you, without any struggle, because it is this kingdom of God that transfers you into the kingdom of heaven. It is this kingdom inside that seats you in another position. No longer is there wrestling in the realm of the spirit in going to the realm of heaven. No longer is there any struggle. Why? Because this kingdom of God inside me takes me from here and puts me right over into the kingdom of heaven. When I am there I can enjoy it. I can enjoy what God does and I can enjoy the things of heaven that are there. We have the capacity to do that, but it is a learned process.
So you need to practice. What I am going to get you to do is to hold yourself, like a hug. The reason I’m doing this is not to make you feel stupid! It is actually for a purpose, so that your body is engaged in what you are doing. What I’m going to get you to do is cross your arms around you and focus on the kingdom of God that is within you; the realm where your dad dwells, where his presence is inside of you. I’m going to get you to pray in tongues and begin to focus their inside you. I want you to take your spirit and your soul, the same way as you would hug your husband or wife or your children, and begin to embrace him with purpose, by your choice and start praying in tongues.
Activation
Father, today I turn towards your presence that dwells inside me. Father, thank you that you live in me and that you are a spirit. Thank you, Lord, that it is spirit to spirit that I can embrace your presence. It is spirit to spirit that I can embrace your glory. It is spirit to spirit that I can touch your presence. Lord, I take my soul with purpose and I turn my soul to embrace your presence. I turn my soul to encompass your presence and allow feelings of love to rush towards you. Lord, I want to be able to love on your presence today, as I turn towards your glory that dwells in me, you’re omniscience, your omnipresence and your omnipotence.
Father, I turn towards that which is within the veil of my spirit. I turned towards you today, with my body, with my soul and with my spirit. I begin to entwine them into your presence, Lord, folding them around you. I am embracing you with my heart, embracing you with my mind, embracing you with my will, embracing you with Revelation and embracing you, father, with my love. Lord, today I know that all you want from me is my love and today I choose that this emotion should flow towards you. I open the gate of love and allow that to flow towards you. Father, thank you. Thank you that you live in me. Thank you that this process enables me to become one with your spirit.
Lord, I want to be arm in arm with your glory, able to dance with your presence and hold you close, just to feel your embrace. Today, Lord, I turn to your glory. Thank you that you first love me. Thank you, Lord, that you sent your son so that I could do this, spirit to spirit with your presence, hungering and thirsting after you, panting after you. Father, now I ask you to release the river of glory from the throne of your presence inside me. Release your abandoned and expressive love towards me as your child that you would be my shadowing and my covering, my shield and my buckler and that I would be adorned with your presence. Amen.