On Earth as it is in Heaven

 On EARTH  AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

On Earth as it is in Heaven… Do we know what that looks like?  Do we know what it smells like?  Do we know what it sounds like? Do we know what it feels like?

There have been moments in my life that I caught a glimpse, smelled a waft of it, heard a whisper … and felt the glory.  In each of those moments… All else became as nothing to me. In those moments …It was if that was all that existed… and I wanted to linger there… but inevitably the fleshly senses kicked in and stole those precious moments. 

I long for those moments…. I long for a time when I can walk in that realm… on earth… as in heaven.  I believe the disciples did it… I believe they walked long enough with Jesus that they learned how… and I am convinced that even though I haven’t seemed to learn it yet.. I believe I can.  I believe we all can. If we want it badly enough.

OH… To be able to live in this flesh… and yet be so close to the heart of Jesus… and so full of the Holy Spirit… that nothing we face… no circumstance… no obstacle… can even cause us concern.

John learned… John began as one of the sons of Thunder, his zeal to call down fire and destroy the city in Samaria that did not want to receive the Lord… He was ambitious and wanted to know what his status would be in the Kingdom… He was a force. Always… but his love for the Lord caused his gospel to reflect the love of Jesus for us… his teachings were about love and relationship. Divine relationship.  He was given the favor of God throughout his entire life…  the Lord spared his life to a ripe old age… John was the beloved… because John loved Jesus deeply… He worshipped Him in spirit and in truth and was called a man after God’s own heart.  John always put the relationship first.

Peter learned… even though he was impetuous and sometimes boisterous… and his faith wavered… he was the first one out of the boat to walk on the water… then he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink.. but Jesus lifted him up.  Peter allowed fear to cause him to deny Jesus. .. 3X.. he was the first to jump up to defend Jesus when they came to get him and cut off the soldiers ear. Jesus had to correct him and heal the soldier. But Jesus knew his heart… and knew that he had created him for the purpose that he would fulfill… On This rock will I build my church. .. and once he learned how to walk on earth as in heaven… even his very shadow healed the sick… and guess what .. His writings tell of the Lord’s grace… and mercy and wisdom and love and transformation… and responsibilities to the Lord… and teaches us about humility and to be vigilant to resist the enemy… and that you are chosen…about who you were ..and now are …in the Lord… and …who you can be…

Paul learned. Yet he never walked physically with Jesus while he was on earth.  No matter what people said or did to him… he felt so blessed to be counted worthy to suffer for the cause of Christ… so ready to give such as he had… speaking the word to heal miraculously… sitting in prison praising God for counting him worthy to be jailed… and  in the midst of what would be despair for most… He Praised so deeply and so genuinely and trusted so fully… that it moved the heart of God to break the chains and wreck the prison with a mighty earthquake …just to let Paul know… that his trust and love and praise was exactly as it should be for God to show up… and show out for Paul. Oh and the works that Paul was able to do… the trials and tribulations he was able to overcome…

The Lord trusted his commitment to Him enough to give him the  writings that would become most of our new testament… I want the Lord to be able to trust my commitment to Him to be able to use me for what He created me for… but I know I am certainly not at full capacity in that regard… not just yet.

Those powerful, devoted, loving, disciples… had several things in common. They were a complete mess to start with… Jesus called them by name… and they answered the call. They lived for Him… He was the most important thing in their lives… they devoted their lives to Him. And.. Jesus taught them to walk on earth as in heaven…

They walked in Freedom. Without restrictions… without fear of what people might think or say. They did not walk in the traditions of men… they walked in the newness of life.   They walked by faith not by sight… The walked after the Spirit and not after the flesh… they were fully confident in what they learned from the Lord… they did what they saw Him do. They walked in relationship with the Holy Spirit… They  walked in the Kingdom realm … on earth as in Heaven.

Relationship requires time… communication… intimacy… commitment, and sacrifice. It is no different with God as it is with our marriage… if you only had an hour a week for your spouse.. what kind of relationship would it be.  Not much of one.

You know how you repeat the same things over and over to your children until they learn it.. and then you know that they know it and they just don’t do it.. and it makes you so crazy…

Well so much of my life the Lord has had to repeat the same thing to me. It has been a constant theme it seems.   “The cares of this world take your eyes off me.”  I am ashamed that He has had to tell me so many times… there is absolutely nothing I want more in this life… than to walk as those disciples walked… to allow nothing I face to take my eyes off him. But I am like Peter… I am the first to jump out of the boat… only to see the size of the waves and begin to sink… I am like John… wanting to call fire down on anyone who doesn’t respect the things of the Lord… and yet … I fall asleep in the garden while I should be praying…  I am like Paul… ¹⁹ For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 

The Spirit is willing ... but the flesh is weak. 

I have been blessed in my lifetime to have had the opportunity to be in full time ministry… that is and has always been my heart.  During those times… several different times.. I have been in the position to be able to study… to have alone time with Him and to have times of prayer that were so glorious… During those times.. I experienced the presence of the Lord in a mighty way.  I have dreamed dreams… I have had visions,.. the Lord has given me words of knowledge and prophecy.  He has allowed me to taste and see that He is indeed very good.  He has caused me to hunger for Him and to long for His presence and His works on earth as it is in Heaven.

What I have learned is that “the cares of this world DO take my eyes off Him” And I have to learn the balance… and how to have the realm of heaven influence what I do on earth instead of allowing the things I do on earth to take my eyes off the things of heaven.

We all have duties, responsibilities, jobs, relationships … all those things need our attention and ofcourse the Lord intends for us to be good stewards of all of those things and give ourselves fully to those commitments… but most importantly …and probably the most difficult to maintain consistently and long term … is to represent Him in all of those things.

Not that we don’t try to do exactly that … but as we fleshly humans do… we organize, we strategize, we compartmentalize and then we try to legitimize… We have the best intentions… we begin well … but in trying to do our best to manage our duties, responsibilities, jobs and relationships… we tend to begin to focus more on the task at hand …on earth …than we do on heaven… and in doing so … we take our eyes off Him.

We have our routines… our schedules… our habits… and before we know it … the spontaneity of the Spirit and the freedom of the Spirit is bound by our timeframes… by the expectations of others … by the distractions and by the influence around us… and Lord help us… our apathy.

That word jumped out at me… apathy.  The dictionaries define Apathy as the absence or suppression of passion, emotion or excitement … lack of interest or the attitude of not caring resulting from it. A state of indifference a lack of sense of purpose or worth.

Does that sound like us sometimes.. we are just so tired today… we just don’t have the energy to be excited because we are too tired from the day… or our minds are so busy with what we need to do… that we can’t even keep our mind focused on the things of God… The cares of this world keep your eyes off Him.

I am guilty… so often. I have to take the bull by the horns, I have to steer this ship, I have to land this plane, If you want the job done right you have to do it yourself.. I have to git er done! And all the other clichés you can think of about being in control of the things you are responsible for!

Have you heard the expression… It’s called adulting? Well .. I know that is a good thing in moderation.  But if you feel like you have to be responsible or carry the weight of the world and do everything yourself.. then NOT so much.  Jesus says cast all your cares on me.. for I care for you … His yoke is easy… His burden is light.. so if it is heavy… You are the one carrying it.

I am so guilty… so often of the cares of this world take my eyes off Him.

Matthew 18 1-6 18 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?² And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,³ And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.⁴ Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

 Ever notice the freedom and exuberance a child has…. There is no guile in them … their innocence allows them the freedom to not even realize there are rules and boundaries… or even that anything might harm them…. they just go full out without fear or intimidation of any kind…  and yes of course there are rules and boundaries…. There have to be…  For their protection… for their correction to show them the right way… and we all have to abide by guidelines… but… when does it happen??? the quenching of the wide eyed wonder and sense of anticipation of what is about to happen, The sense of adventure and anticipation… as we succumb to the rules.

As we grow… we learn… we understand more… we get in the routine, the schedule of life on the planet with all the rules and entrapments and all of it becomes nothing out of the ordinary… nothing that we don’t anticipate coming… nothing new … just the daily grind…. And that attitude.. that mindset carries over into our spiritual life.. things become so busy that our time with the Lord ends up not really fitting into the daily routine… everything else just seems to cause us to think… “well I will do it later” or there was just no time… and before you know it … the Spirit is on your schedule… worked into your routine.. in to your allotted time frame ..into a compartment that quenches the Spirit and that freedom and that ferver and excitement and anticipation and adventure and sense of what could happen … and what is He going to do… It turns into okay times up gotta go.

And we do it without realizing we are doing it… because it is routine.. we could do it without thinking about it… without even noticing what we are missing… without realizing we have no expectations of anything new… or.. we think we know what it will look like and we just don’t see it.. and when He moves… we miss it… because we didn’t recognize it…. we have God in a box and in a category as all the other things in our lives…  so nothing happens… nothing can…  

What we need to remember… The only rule in the Spirit… is surrender and yield to Him..

The devil is a thief… and he comes in subtly and sneaks in little by little to steal our relationship with God … appealing to your flesh to focus on something else… work…. Tv… phone… facebook… whatever… until the time you could have spent on your relationship… begins to starve your spirit and feed your flesh.

I know I have told this story before… but it keeps coming back to me as the best example the Lord has shown me… about coming to Him as a little child. 

When I set up my prayer room and my prayer closet… I was not working at an outside job… so I spent quite a bit of time in my prayer room …. With the soaking music in worship and in prayer and just sitting in His presence listening.  There was an atmosphere in that room. There was His presence in that room.  There was a sense of anticipation and excitement when I entered that room… knowing that my Lord would meet me there … when I quieted myself… when I gave him my full attention… when I waited for Him… without a clock.

One day Joy brought the children over for me to watch them while she tended to something.   They wanted a tour of the house… and so we walked through.. When we got to the prayer room, Alera felt it… you could see it on her face.  She asked about the room and I told her… we went back in the living room…. She asked  … am I allowed to go to the prayer room.  I told her sure… she instantly bolted up and ran full speed to the room.. and just as I stood up to “slow her down” she came to an abrupt stop at the threshold and gently and reverently walked slowly in. It was as if she couldn’t get there fast enough and then reverently entered into His presence.  We should all run to Him as a child with breathless anticipation of what He is going to do… Every time we approach Him.

I believe all eyes were on the Lord the day of Pentecost… I believe every heart waited in breathless expectation … they were waiting for the Promise… they could think of nothing else.. no one knew what to expect… I bet not one of them expected to see fire on everyones head… I am sure that no one expected to hear themselves speaking in a language they didn’t even know. But … when the Spirit fell … and those things happened… they recognized it as Him… even though it was something no one have ever experienced before.

He is going to do a new thing. Something no one has ever experienced before…and He could do it here. He will give us a new sound .. He will pour out His Spirit on ALL flesh..  And a little child will lead them… it may not be a youth… that child may be 70… but it will be the one that comes to Him as a little child… with wide eyed wonder and anticipation … so excited to see what is going to happen.. what He is going to do…waiting for the promise… with their focus on Him…and not having any preconceived notion of what it looks like!

When we can discipline ourselves… when we can prioritize … when we can burn up the wood, hay and stubble in our lives… and devote ourselves first to Him… When we can seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness… then all these things will be added to us.…

When we can run to Him with the heart of a little child … Worship like we are the only one in the room with Him … total submission…  just let go of everything else… when we don’t care what anyone thinks… and our mind is wholly on HIM alone…  with breathless anticipation..

His will …will be done on earth as it is in heaven…

Can you see it? Can you smell it?  Can you hear it?  Can you feel it? How badly do you want it?