We are still at base camp on the engaging God on the pathways of responsibility and relationship and this is a journey that were going on together and discovering how to engage God in the spiritual realms discovering those spiritual realms are within us and around us and in the realms of heaven and we going to follow two main pathways pathway of relationship leads to deeper intimacy with God and flows from heaven through us as a gateway to the world around us and the pathway of responsibility which leads to rulership taking responsibility as sons of God and then we get into it from here and step into the realms of heaven to engage that as living sacrifices and we looked at how to build our spirit so we looked at speaking in tongues different ways of speaking in tongues inside outside in our spirit so that that releases us and our spirit can tune into the atmosphere of the kingdom and the spiritual realms around us and last couple weeks we looked at meditating in the word of God and using the word of God as a doorway into experience so that we can discern the thoughts of God and understanding God’s thoughts is like having a conversation with him because he speaks as thoughts in our mind so we’ve been learning to discern those thoughts discern those thoughts as we think about the word of God as we think about Jesus about the father as a person and enter into a conversation with him and today we are going to look about opening the eyes of our heart engaging the visual side or the perception side of things. so rather than just thoughts about the word God we are going to look at how we can enter into it and use it into a doorway to experience it so we are activating our imagination and our imagination is the screen that God uses to show us things and to communicate with us so today we are going to look at visual issues and issues around the whole visual sense and we going to look at picturing the word of God and then doorways of the word of God probably over the next week or so so to recap from last week there are some things in terms of engaging in and meditation in the word and how to discern the word of God and there are a few who don’t do this and a few do, do this is, so don’t have un confessed sin that blocks hearing God and seeing him so do apply the blood of Jesus and be forgiven don’t be condemned guilty always what the enemy will try and make you feel bad God always wants to make you feel good he’s always smiling the enemy is always miserable so who would you rather be like God, so smile a lot have a, don’t have a preconceived attitude another words don’t go into a situation already knowing what you are going to get out of it have a teachable attitude don’t be independent, we’ll I can do this anyway without God that was the start of all the trouble in the beginning I can do this without God we can’t do it without God otherwise we get into a mess so what we go into meditating is God show me reveal yourself to me don’t read quickly if you’re reading and engage in the word don’t just skate over it so you don’t even remember what you read. slowly read and ponder and muse over the things that stick out to you don’t rely on reasoning and analysis only, I am not saying we don’t we throw our minds out the window but we use anointed reasoning which means we reason together with God and he helps us understand what he is trying to tell us rather than us trying to figure out and study it to try and figure it out using our mind don’t read without a specific purpose if you just reading for reading sake you are not going to get a lot out of it. if you focus reading and you actually go into it with a whole attitude of I want to encounter this and get revelation out of it then it will be much more helpful process, so that just sort of recaps from last week. don’t take credit for the insights, glorify God for what he shows you , you know it is not about us it is about Him okay Habakkuk 2:1 is what we looked at last week I will stand on my guard post station myself on the rampart and I will keep watch to see what he will speak to me then the Lord answered me and said record the vision so there is four things there recognizing God’s voice as spontaneous thoughts in our mind quieting ourselves in a place where we can hear from the busyness of life look for vision and write down the flow of thoughts journal what you received then you can go back over the Journal go back into it re-visit it and then engage more out of the journaling and now we didn’t look at last week number three which was look for vision , and that is what we are going to look at today key three fix your eyes of your heart on Jesus look in the spirit for dreams and visions of God. So we going to look to see what God is wanting to speak to us and show us. Habakkuk said I will keep watch to see. so when we see often where thinking about a visual sense word see generally means see with a vision like I’m looking at you and seeing you but also can mean perceive so having a perception or understanding of what it is being communicated is the real key and then record it so Habakkuk was looking for vision as he prayed he open the eyes of his heart and looked into the spirit world to see what God wanted to show him because God is a spirit we’ll you can’t look into the spirit world isn’t that all spooky we’ll God is a spirit where do we think heaven is? it is a spiritual realm, it is like we have to look into the spiritual realm if we are going to see God you know even if he comes into this room, He is not here in a physical form he may manifest himself here at Times when we go to exercises we see him here talking to us, but he is there as a spirit and were looking into the realm of the spirit to see Him. if he did touch, show up physically we might be in trouble because that would be a pretty intense experience but he may well do at times vision so seeing or perceiving opening our eyes to see physically if you want to see physically you have to open your eyes just common sense isn’t it , it is like if you close your eyes you can’t see anything so if we want to see spiritually we need to open the eyes of our heart and our spirit to our spiritual vision, it is basically really simple stuff now that means visions dreams prophetic pictures God communicating to us so we have to activate our imagination to see into the word of God so that we don’t just have a understanding of the word of God as just something written in a book but something that is living and active and alive and a person. because Jesus is the living word we can see into the realm of the spirit within us and around us and in the realms, the dimensions of the heavenly realms now there are obstacles to this one of the big obstacles is the majority of the church does not value experience and that causes blockages and their religious mindsets and religious spirits that love to hinder us engaging God personally and keeping it a very intellectual exercise rather than experiential one. and therefore in-voluntary versus voluntary experiences is a battle line that is being drawn amongst the church worldwide. it is okay if God gives you an experience like a vision or a picture or a prophetic thing it is not okay if you seek for that. We’ll actually I, in my Bible it says to eagerly pursue spiritual gifts so I think it’s okay to seek for vision and dreams and experiences of God so another thing that a lot of the church says is don’t look for experience why not is like why shouldn’t we look for experience is something that God wants us to have experiences subjective and so what isn’t all our experiences subjective in a sense when God speaks to us he speaks to us personally therefore he wants us to know that our experiences are personal to us. now there are objective things that no one can deny, if an angel appeared in this room physically we would have an objective experience, everyone would have seen it but actually an angel there are angels in this room around you and around all the time they here though is that subjective no it is just that you can’t see them necessary unless you tune in and learn how to see them seeing is sometimes symbolic in nature some of the things that you see and you experience have a symbolism to them but you need to interpret, now that is okay we just need to learn how to engage, and if there is something, when you see something you don’t understand don’t get hung up about it write it down and then go back and ask God about it people ask me all the time to interpret their experiences now I can, because I got a gift to do that, but I don’t do it very often because I want to take people back to God and say will go and ask God to reveal what that experience is about, because then you are building a relationship with God where your listening to him and you’re asking, rather than me asking him on your behalf which is a mediatorial priestly function that I am not prepared to do unless God tells me to. Now mystic and mystical are words which cause a whole lot of problems and you know I have been called a new mystic, now I was quite offended by that before I looked up the dictionary definition of mystic now I am not offended at all. basically the word ecstatic and ecstasy are seen as negative things why when they were very biblical experiences think of Peter on the rooftop having a trance and a vision forming and a sheet coming down heaven with animals in it and it totally transformed the whole nature of Christianity in the beginning because all of a sudden it was open to people outside of the Jewish culture. Now how did that come in a vision and a trance and ecstatic experience which shaped everything you have Paul who wrote most of the New Testament who got most of the revelation when he went into heaven and he said I’m not sure whether I was in the body or out of the body sounds like an ecstatic experience to me and that’s Paul who wrote most of the Bible and the people who oppose ecstatic experiences hold paul as the person who is very theoretical and practical we’ll you got all that revelation that came from that ecstatic experience now other words for ecstasy and ecstatic experience are euphoric blissful joyful, elated, we’ll I think they are all good things, I don’t think there is any negative thing there. would you rather be blissful joyous and elated or miserable? I know which one I’d rather be, now trances visions out of body experiences they create suspicion amongst religious people because that’s been sown in as a mindset to stop us encountering God and the enemy so not into the religious systems now I totally accept that we should not try and in duce trances by using techniques because that would be trying to create something of an experience we need to be open to the experiences but actually stepping into our spirit and learning to see in the spirit is a very normal thing. It is like I can choose to look into the realm of the spirit now and see the angelic beings and other things that are in the room I’m not in an ecstasy although I’m very happy that you very much, now we can be open to the experience for the by looking for it and there is no reason why we should not look to encounter God experientially mystic mystical is difficult for people this is the Webster definition the belief that direct knowledge of God spiritual truth or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience as intuition and insight we’ll what is wrong with that do you not want God to speak to us every day and communicate to us directly every day , we’ll that is just what a mystical experience is God speaking to us, communicating to us, showing us vision. Mark Burkler who is a great guy who’s has done many teachings on how to hear the voice of God and how to see things and also there’s a couple of downloads of his books online for free which are really good, I would encourage you to get them he said this and this is what God said to him when he was having an experience with God you can trust my voice in your heart more than you can trust the reason and theology of your mind. now God wants us to know him so we can trust the experiences that we have because we are encountering him evangelicalism over the last 500 years has really brought Christianity to a rep rational theological understanding of God rather than an actual ongoing personal experiential encounter with him. it is all about what you know God because the Bible says so. while I’m not content to know God because the Bible says so I had 20 odd years of that and it wasn’t very pleasant. When i look back and see what I’ve got now it was a theoretical experience of God not a practical one now i want to know God and encounter him in reality I want a living encounter with the living God that beats theology about him. you know it is so much better to meet someone and talk to them rather than reading a book about them. and God wants us to meet him and talk to him and learn and experience him. mystic mystical a person who tries to gain religious or spiritual knowledge through prayer and deep thought, I don’t think there is nothing wrong with that, other than the word religious a person who claims to attain or believes in the possibility of attaining insight into the mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge as by direct communication with God so knowing things about God that you don’t get through the knowledge that you got in your head. Again don’t see anything wrong with that definition so a mystic is someone who has direct experiences of God who wants to be a mystic? We’ll yes I want to know God by direct experience with that I have no problem. many mystics are broad thinking intelligent have a good grasp the concept of infinity and transcendence I include myself in that category many people today see mysticism as a facet of New Age or Eastern religious thought but in reality mysticism is as old as itself and goes back beyond that into the very beginning where Adam walked with God all the way through God’s wanted to walk with people he walked with Noah he walked with Enoch and Enoch walked with God so much that he went. and is in the realms of the spirit now as did Moses and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all those people they walked and and had a relationship with God the first Christian mystics with the apostles including John and Paul as I already described and Peter. the Gospel of John really represents the intimate experience of Jesus different from the Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke very personal because John was the one who laid his head on Jesus’s breast he was his friend and known as a friend of Jesus he got up close and personal and that’s why he was writing from a different perspective Paul did not know if his heavenly encounter was in the body or out of the body so that is pretty much a mystical experience to me so mysticism immediate direct intuitive knowledge of God or of the ultimate reality attained through personal religious experience that is a definition now the authenticity of such experiences does not depend on the form of them but the fruit that comes out of them. when we encounter God it should change us and produce fruit that we become more like him. now if we just had experiences for experiences sake and it produces no change in us then I question the experience whenever I met God it has been a changing experience. and God wants us to meet him and becoming like him from 1° of glory to another now this is happening right throughout church history there are many people we would see as monks because they separated themselves from the world and try to encounter God that have had these experiences and there is a list of them there. Meister Eckhart, St. Bernard of Clairvaux St. Francis of Assisi which we like st. francis he’s the one likes animals, you also know he levitated in front of people and did other miracles amazing thing when you read his actual story, it is not just he was a friend of animals St. John of the Cross they were dominant figures right throughout church history and that’s just a sample there were a number of them who were women ST. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila you know, just because they got St. on it means that the Catholic Church acknowledged that they was someone who’d encounter God and they gave him the title St. we are all saints the Bible says we are all saints because we know God so these people that they encountered God they were Celtic mystics and customer Brent Brendan lots of them again they did amazing miracles when you look at the art of Iona up in some of Linda’s on in places like that they were amazing things that they did they shone with light and did things like that when they went around to villages now we just think all is weird they just did that as normal life it is coming back according to Celtic tradition when John leaned against such Jesus at the Last Supper he heard the heartbeat of God therefore John became a symbol of listening for life of God in ourselves and in creation and around engage in God personally. now on the surface and Christian mystic and a new ager might look the same because they both experienced dreams and visions voices impressions signs from the supernatural realm they also get quiet and still in order to practice meditation they experience spiritual ecstasies altered states of consciousness on the surface level Christian mystics and New Ager’s seem to have the same spiritual experiences practicing the same thing through meditation but there is a big difference now the importance is to know the differences therefore the motivation for those experiences the purpose of those experiences the source of those experiences are a clue when you come to seeing true experience rather than counterfeit the belief systems that go with those experiences are also very important to understand because they are very different when you look into it so the two belief systems of a Christian mystic, New Age thinking there thinking about God, New Ager’s the universe is God including man, we believe as Christians that God is father son and Holy Spirit the Scripture that they use Hindu Buddhist house in a cultic text, we use the Bible. man is God from the perspective of New Ager’s. No from our perspective the biblical perspective is a creature made in God’s image. Sin- not realizing everything is divine. from a Christian perspective human nature breaking God’s laws .salvation- realizing your God in meditation that’s New Age perspective. the evangelical Christian perspective or mystical Christian perspective, faith in Jesus in his blood and receiving forgiveness. the afterlife- reincarnation. we believe in heaven and hell. Power- the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as opposed to spirit guides and demons. Church- New Age movement. we believe it is a place where we can experience God’s presence and come together as a family of God and be the ecclesia gathered together for the purpose of God. teachers- New Age is yogis gurus Buddhist monks and shamans we have people who are teaching mystical experience in practical Christian teaching. Meditation- transcendental meditation is yoga and Zen. Christian meditation – worship, biblical meditation divine contemplation. Revelation- dreams visions voices impressions. dreams visions voices impressions we received things the same way because we are human but the source of what we receive is different.22.13
Religions every religion leads to God syncretism Christian religion Jesus is the only way to God-john 14:6. so there’s quite a difference in the belief systems when you look even though on surface the experiences are similar actually underneath it is totally different.
So summing that up, God an impersonal all pervading energy, that’s what New Age believes. The Holy Spirit an energy that can be used creatively or psychically. Jesus a New Age teacher, an illustration of enlightened individual realized he was God. Man inwardly good and divine that carries within himself all that he needs for time and eternity salvation- development of psychic powers ,higher consciousness this is achieved by looking inside oneself and practising new-age technique to finally achieve awareness of personal divinity= all nonsense in reality. but that is what they believe and we need to understand that because when were asked the question – what difference are you, when people are doing this stuff, called the new age, we need to have an answer, because we will be asked and we will be challenged because that is coming.
Sin- an ignorance of personal divinity. death the moment one’s hopes to experience emerging with God the all pervading energy of the universe, this can only come through personal transformation when enlightenment has been obtained- that is a bit tough isn’t it. we get it free as a gift through Jesus, not by works.
Satam- normal consciousness man existing in his state of unrealised potential. Heaven- good state of consciousness in this life. Hell= bad state of consciousness in this life. Now we believe they are real dimensional places. That satan is a created being, that death leads to going to heaven or hell. that sin is not just ignorance, it is us deliberately choosing to do things that are opposed to God’s will, transgression.
okay true biblical experiences versus new-age occult ones- the counterfeits24:22
you do not counterfeit something that has got no value. people don’t counterfeit pennies they counterfeit hundred dollar bills, large denominations because there worth more. so the enemy counterfeits things that are worth something. trans relocation the thing that happened to Philip when he was taken from one place to another and materialised miles down the road. it happened to me in my car happened to a lot of people today. God is doing this a lot moving people around the world. counterfeit astral projection which is a projection of the soul not the spirit and that’s the difference in all these things. it is the power of the soul versus the spirit. journalling automatic handwriting meditation transcendental meditation biblical meditation filling your mind with the thoughts of God transcendental emptying your mind of anything so it can be filled with demonic. Holy Spirit spirit guides. healing psychic healing healing oils aromatherapy engaging heaven out of body experiences. visions trances verses spirit quests. There some of the different experiences. Gaurden angels-spirit guides. rivers of living water channelling spirits . the father said he was in Jesus to do his work through Jesus. we should be a channel of God to touch the world. but the word channelling has been robed, because it’s got a negative connotation, but we need to get it back that we can be a real channel of God’s love mercy grace power to the world around us. Holy Spirit kundalini spirit, very interesting that they occupy the same space in our body around the spine. Oneness- yoga, that is what yoga means it is an opening to spirit soul gateways chakras. Now we are open to the Holy Spirit to come into us and flow through our gateways. new-age thinking is that it opens up chakras to energy forces and Demons to come into our spirit. eternity reincarnation. worship music- trance music. prophecy fortune-telling in all its forms. so there is always counterfeits to what God has given us for real those counterfeits have put generally the true experiences off-limits to most Christians because were told you can touch that because it’s wrong. No it’s just been counterfeited we need to reclaim back those things so that we can experience them properly and use them for God’s glory in the way he is created us to be as a spirit soul body being of light. Acts 217 just to make it clear- it shall be in the last days God said that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy .so that is something that God wants us to do your young men will see visions God wants us to see visions I’m still young I can see visions your old men shall dream dreams. open the eyes of your heart and look for that that vision. God wants us to look for the vision. God gave us eyes in our hearts to see in the spirit that vision from God, he wants us to do it. God is accessible today, he is not 1 million miles away or in some place that we can’t access. we can draw near to him. the kingdom of God is this close. it’s a dimension we can step into by faith. What I mean by faith is that it doesn’t mean that it is not real and we are just imagining it . it just means we believe we can step in and we do in the spirit. he is a God that is nearby and not far away. he is a God that can be felt, heard and seen by his people through spiritual experiences today. he is not distant and he has been presented as a distant person actually waiting to pounce on us when we get it wrong. he is a close person wanting intimacy with us and to encourage us so that we can see who we are and how we can be fulfilling our destiny to day. So we should look like Habakkuk to see and experience God. One Corinthians 216 for who has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct him but we have the mind of Christ. We have access to God’s consciousness to understand him and to experience him and so that we can begin to think like him and act like him and feel like him and do like he does. because were his sons and daughters created in his image to be creative. Paul said this in Ephesians 118 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened- opened, so that you will know. the eyes of our heart is our imagination. that’s what we need to engage , when we see and look into the realm of the spirit. imagination is more important than knowledge for knowledge is limited to all that we know and understand while imagination embraces the entire world and all that will ever be to know and understand.
now if a good Christian teacher had said that we would go wow. but Einstein said it, who was probably known as the most creative thinker and intellectual brain that there existed and yet he valued the imagination more. This is what he said, the intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. we have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift. we need to engage the gift of our imagination. logic will get you from a to B imagination will take you everywhere. I’d rather explore the universe than get from a to z. Einstein said imagination was greater than knowledge.
imagination is the gateway for possibility, the possibility that we can do and fulfill Everything that were called to do, our eternal destiny .30:33
it’s the beginning of the spiritual substance for physical manifestation. all the blessings of God that are in the heavenly realms are waiting for us. all spiritual blessings are waiting for manifestation into this natural realm and we engage our imagination to produce a substance of faith that brings manifestation. the DNA of creative power, it is the window of the soul to unseen possibilities. God has given us our imagination to communicate with us, let’s use it. I know were taught not to use it and we been told it is just a figment of your imagination you’re just making it up. it is all in your head. The reality is yes it’s all in our head. that’s where God communicates with us in our head in the screen of our imagination. so our imagination is a catalyst for growth because it causes us to expand the potential possibilities of our life to fulfil God’s purpose and not the limits that have been put on us by people who said you can’t do it .and you are no good and not good enough your rubbish, this that and the other. and we believed it and its limited who we are.
we need to listen to the thoughts of God and then start engaging who we truly are in God. it is the defining characteristic of a childlike heart. because children find it so easy to engage in their imagination. but then we take and put them to school and school teachs them not to. And trains it out of them. so we must learn to release the power of being made in the image of God which means we have the power, our conscious thought directed in the power of our words to bring things into manifestation on the earth. So we must learn to activate that creative power of our imagination. again I think this was Einstein- when your memories are greater than your dreams, you are already dying. we need to have a constantly expanding understanding of God because he is infinite and how can we possible know God in a book. that is what we have been taught. you only can know God in a book . even though it is a great book called the Bible, God wants us to go beyond just reading and into experiencing the God the book talks about. so we can experience him and his realm in the spirit and enjoy it and experience it and live it .
God’s language is a flow thoughts pictures words impressions perception- received and interpreted in our brain on screen of our imagination. now that means there’s a whole active world around us which we can’t see with our natural eyes, it is full of angels and Demons the Holy Spirit the omnipresent father omnipresent son Jesus- around us, in us so that we can engage them .the only reason for us not seeing this reality that is around us and in us is unbelief.33:29
I don’t believe I can and lack of knowledge, no one told me how to. They are the only two things that are going to stop you. believing things that are not true and not knowing how to do it. and in part of this course is to teach people how to do it. which is why were practising these things. so in order to see we must look. Daniel 7:2 I was looking in my vision. verse nine I kept looking verse 13 I kept looking in the night visions and behold I saw effectively. so keep looking. Daniel was known as a visionary and an interpreter of dreams and he had lots of visions that were locked up and now been opened in our day so that we can experience these things for ourselves. he saw the vision in his mind. we must look to Jesus and watch as he speaks to us and shows us the things that are on his heart. we look to see. Matthew 77 ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find , knock and it will be open to you. so let’s look for engagement with Jesus, with God. Let’s keep seeking lets keep knocking, lets keep asking .because we will find and it will be opened and we will see. But we have to persist, and keep practicing. Now the way we will see this come is when we look we will see the same way as we looked last week and the week before. we looked at spontaneous thoughts begin to peer (to be partially visible or appear briefly) into our mind. so will visions and experiences will appear in our imagination. now you may well have- go beyond that into ecstatic experiences of trances- where you’re out of recognition of where you are, youre not sure whether in the body or out of the body. those are things that God can give you as you seek and ask him. when I had 40 days of that in fasting and stuff I sought him for it, and he asked me to. He asks us all to seek him. That is what Jesus was saying. Seek and you will find, so let’s begin to seek.35:44
Matthew 1:23 behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call him Immanuel which is translated and means God with us. God is with us, he is in us, he’s around us. We can engage him. his is very name is God with us, think about that. therefore you can see Jesus present with you because he is present with you. Because that is his name. so lets really embrace it, and go for it. so God communicates this through those spontaneous flows of spirit, they are sensations that are received and flow into our soul. when we relax more blood flows to the right hemisphere of our brain and therefore a relaxed person can more readily engage in those type of visionary experiences which is why when we close your eyes and our brain waves slow down to Alpha ways we can tune into the spirits flow more easily. it’s harder when we’re busy and active and our minds are open and trying to figure things out, which is what happens when were walking around normally every day. so when we seek God, God will speak to us and that flow will come to us. so visions are an example of spirit to brain communication. pictures on the imagination screen .a small still voice is another example of frequency heard of thoughts in our mind. intuition is another example from our emotions. seeing is tuning into a spiritual frequency for our brain to decode and interpret so we have understanding. I could break it down even more into scientific theory but is very basic things in how we can engage.
Hebrews 514 practice- this is the key to all these things- practice. practice to train our senses by repetition through meditation so that our brain stores it rather than shredding it so that we have an encounter and then we can walk into it in the future through the doorway that encounter opens, as it stored within our mind. okay so we need to look into the word of God to see it. we enter into the word, we experience the word, we go through the word as a doorway to the reality that the word reveals. and this is the process that were looking to follow. so it’s not just a book and some words on a page it’s a doorway into personal experience. We have to experience and live in the reality of the realms of that spiritual world, because we are spirit. and we have a right of access into the spiritual realm so we can see a manifestation into the natural realm.
so imagination is the gateway and the screen that we can use to do that. so how do you do it? lets get into the practical stuff. Basically as you engage you shut your eyes and you engage .you fix your eyes and think about Jesus, about God about a verse about a picture that the Bible describes. something that enables you to access it . then as you begin to think about it, then you engage your picturing it in your mind. and this is not difficult we can all do it. generally if you close you eyes there is just a blackness. But if you close your eyes and then begin to think and then begin to picture that blackness turns into a screen which you can see things on. whether you see them as a full-blown Technicolor thing- some people do, some people get impressions, that they sort of get these pictures that give them an insight into things. We all operate differently, but we can learn by practice to engage it more easily. and then journal journalling writing out what you see and hear brings greater freedom because you can then go back into it because you have a record of what God has said. so vision may come easily and may come so easily that you may be tempted to rejected it thinking it’s just you. but when you practice that’s what God wants us to do- to engage in that vision. so if you persist in recording and these are things that mark burkler wrote. in these visions-imagination- your doubt will soon be overcome by faith as you recognise that the content of them could be only birthed by God. you cain’t imagine things that you don’t know, unless the insight comes from outside . Jesus demonstrated the ability of living out of constant contact with God and learned how to flow . beholding and becoming and this is the key. it is not just were looking for something for an experience, just in its own right, we are looking to become like that which we observe. so two Corinthians 318 but we all with an unveiled face, another words- there is nothing between us and God to look, the veil is removed between us and the realms of the spirit and the realms of heaven.40:55
beholding- another words looking as if in a mirror at the glory of the Lord so when we look we look into, to see God are being transformed into the same image, into the image of God from glory to glory just as from the law of the spirit. so when we look and behold we become like that which we behold. if you keep looking into negative things and keep watching negative things and keep focusing on negative things you become negative and fearful. if you look into the positive things and think upon these it says in Colossians, think upon those things that are above and good and holy precious things you become like that which you look into .so lets look into God and let’s look into the realm of the spirit, fixing our eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. he is where it all starts and he wants us to learn to grow and become more like him 1° of glory day after day to another. It is a journey, it is a process, it is not an instant event. so we have to practice and keep at it. okay so let’s this look at doing that.
so I encourage you to just close your eyes and begin to think about and activate your imagination. how you do it is you just think about something and begin to picture it. We will actually practice this in a minute. were looking into a natural thing. if you need a natural picture to help you with a spiritual encounter, then think about something you already experienced or a picture that you need to see. then we can journey, to step into those experiences and engage in them.
so let’s just pray in tongues right now for a minute or so. Pray in tongue out loud, praying in toungues on the inside. just get our spirit tuned in to what God is going to reveal to us and how we can encounter him. do that for about a minute.
And as your doing it just begin to still your mind and just focus and relax and just think about Jesus.
Now just begin to think about a door. What color it is , what kind of handle does it have. A door that you have seenm maybe your front door. just begin to think about that door in your mind and then just begin to picture that door in your mind. What does it look like, begin to picture it, activate your imagination to see a door in your mind. Because when we go to step in the realms of heaven we step through a door . so it is useful to see a door. now then just begin to think about a river. is it a fast flowing river? is a gently flowing stream? Is it a wide river like the Amazon? just begin to think about a river then begin to picture the river in your mind. because we will engage in the river of life a lot in exercises to come so it’s really helpful to be able to see a river. then just begin to think about Jesus. Jesus who you have seen before, a picture that maybe you have seen before. Jesus on the cross. which way do you Wanna picture Jesus? just think about him and then begin to picture him in your mind.45:53
Now I want you just to relax and just begin to listen as we just enter into a spiritual picture. I want you to picture a beach if you are not used to beaches then there is a picture on the screen that might help you and I want you just to relax and you are on the edge of the beach, the breeze is warm and gently blowing in your hair, you kick your shoes off, your sandals off and you can feel the sand beneath your feet between your toes as you just walk along the beach towards the sea. the waves are just gently lapping in. just begin to picture yourself walking towards the gently lapping waves. And just step into those waves, let them wash over your feet and your ankles, now just turn to your right and walking towards you there is a person, walking along the edge of the water, walking towards you, coming closer to you. that person is Jesus. who walks right up to you, he smiles and looks you in the eye, just feel a sense of peace and joy and love that is around you in his presence. just feel how much he loves you. just begin to share with him those things again that you may be carrying, weights of expectations maybe, you got some burdens that you are bearing . just share your heart with him. just cast all those burdens onto him , because he cares for you . just talk to each other. Jesus just kneels down and he just begin to write in the wet sand. just look to see what he is writing. something special for you. just hold that picture in your mind. just begin to let that which he has written, that which he speaks to you, just to fill your heart with love and joy and peace. As he just now stands up and just embraces you and hugs you and draws you near so that your head is on his breast just begin to feel his heart for you. Just prepare yourself now just to step back out that vision, out of that picture, bringing with you all that you received, carrying with you all the revelation of his presence has brought to you. You can now walk in that revelation each day. that was the 1st exercise like that, that I ever did at a conference in London and that opened the door for me to experience maythings because I then practiced this in the word of God, and we will do that more over the next week.