BOOKS BY BRUCE D. ALLEN

The Prophetic Promise of the Seventh

Day Promise of the Third Day

AVAILABLE FROM DESTINY IMAGE PUBLISHERS

© Copyright 2011—Bruce D. Allen

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. All emphasis within Scripture quotations is the author’s own. Please note that Destiny Image’s publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some publishers’ styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.

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Dedication

I want to dedicate this to all those who hunger to know the Lord in a more intimate way. Not only is this possible, it is your destiny! My hope and prayer for you is that within these pages you will find inspiration that will propel you toward that most noble of endeavors—knowing Him even as you are also known and realizing you are created in Him for marvelous works!

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my son, David, for his hours of transcription work in getting this message into print.

My heartfelt thanks to my parents and wife for their proofreading—tedious work!

Thank you, Stan and Nancy Patterson, for your coaching and editing skills, but especially for your encouragement.

It would be impossible to thank all who have played a vital role in this work through their encouragement and input, however, I will try to name a few: Pastors John and Ruth Filler, Reverend Jerry and Chip Foster, Dave Richards, Reverend Francis Khoo, Reverend Collin and Marie Gordon, Wilson Ng, Vera Lim, Irwan Lee, Pastor Glenn Dunlop and our Irish family, Warren Dunlop, Pastors Barry and Kay Hill and the family at Christian Life Center. I know that I’ve missed many in my thanks, and my intention is to recognize all of you for your love and support, so thank you!

Endorsements

Readers will stand in awe at Gazing into Glory as Bruce Allen describes “the supernatural” which should be “the norm” for every believer. This book is both a teaching and testimonial for those seeking new levels of spiritual intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is every believer’s birthright to see into the realm of the Spirit, and Bruce provides systematic instruction for increasing our ability to activate our spiritual eyesight.

Rev. Dr. Stan and Nancy Patterson

New Beginnings Ministry

Salem, South Carolina

Dr. Bruce Allen’s revelatory insights from the rich storehouse of God’s Word come powerfully alive in you as you walk this spiritual journey with him. Line upon line he expounds the logos until it becomes a rhema in you that will thrust you into a high level of the glory of the risen Christ which you only dreamed about!

Dr. Flo Ellers

Global Glory Ministries, Inc.

Maricopa, Arizona

We heard about the glory and thought we knew about the glory until we read Gazing into Glory. Now, we are ready to experience the glory!

Bob and Toni Lauritsen

Chewelah, Washington

There are few people who have spent more time researching the supernatural than Dr. Bruce Allen. Not only has he made the supernatural a life study, but he has also made it a place of abiding as well. Because there are so many false doctrines on the supernatural today, you will find Gazing into Glory a must-read book for the present as well as a reference book for your own future studies of the subject. Gazing into Glory is extremely timely for this season, and it brings me great joy to endorse it.

John Dean

President, Alliance International Ministries

Hagerstown, Maryland

In the adventure of life there is a continual unfolding story that tells of the battle for faith and the belief in something epically greater. It is that contending which Bruce continually exhorts us to press on and proceed higher into God’s ultimate design for us individually and collectively. As a voice “crying in the wilderness,” his writings and teachings are filled with great revelation of the Word, stories of God’s love and miraculous power, and practical prophetic direction of how to press into the Lord through a resting focus on Him. Gazing into Glory is yet another thrilling part of the painting that will inspire you to go deeper into the Father’s amazing heart toward your journey home.

Bryan Stockdale

Vantage, Washington

There are many Christian books on the market about faith—and here is another one. It’s not your ordinary “faith” book, but a look into the face and heart of God to really believe we can do what Jesus said He is doing right now. I challenge you to read and believe that what Jesus said—every word—is true, and that we can walk in the fullness of who He is and what He is doing in miraculous power, in His glory, and in His faith!

Teresa Shannon

Senior Pastor, Abundant Life Fellowship

Chewelah, Washington

Gazing into Glory is truly an inspiration! It is so refreshing to read something on the supernatural, tying in experience, with Scripture to back it up. This book gives confirmation to what God has been revealing to me that I have been hesitant to embrace. It will challenge you to go deeper, higher, wider, and further than you have ever experienced before and know that this is your destiny. As we are encouraged to encounter the Lord, Bruce Allen quotes from The Prophetic Promises of the Seventh Day, “The more heavenly minded you are, the more earthly good you become!”

Pastors Tim and Cindi White

Tri County Christian Center

Deer Park, Washington

I stand in awe of God after reading Bruce Allen’s latest work, Gazing into Glory. All of Heaven must have awaited “such a time as this” for the release of the anointed revelation shared in the pages of this God-ordained book. The Spirit-filled adventure on which God has taken Dr. Bruce throughout His life will surely stir a great hunger within you, as it did in me, to experience the wondrous fullness of Christ in this hour. Bruce’s many years of passionate pursuit of God resulted in this life-changing revelation of God’s glory of which the Body of Christ will be blessed to partake. And as Dr. Bruce shares, experiencing that glory is God’s desire for every follower of Christ today. It’s my privilege and honor to wholeheartedly support and recommend Gazing into Glory.

Therese Marszalek

Breaking Out Ministries

Spokane, Washington

Bruce Allen has stated that he wants to change and provoke people out of their comfort zone and into a passion for a more intimate walk with Jesus—to seek His face and to experience the supernatural as normal in their lives. In Gazing into Glory he does just that! In his manner of writing, his testimonies and experiences, and the Word of God, he draws you into a desire to appropriate and touch God’s glory—to walk in it as Jesus walked as a normal experience! Not for just a few select people, but for all of us! This is a “must read” that you won’t want to put down!

Reverend Norman T. Westly, retired

Arch-Deaconess Virginia (Ginger) Westly

Catholic Church of the East

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One    Seeing: A Supernaturally Natural Occurrence

Chapter Two    Seeing: A Face-to-Face Reality

Chapter Three  The Sanctified Imagination: Eyes on Him

Chapter Four    The Sanctified Imagination: Activating Adventure

Chapter Five     Walking the Talk

Chapter Six      The Living Body of Christ

Chapter Seven  Translation by Faith: Getting Ready

Chapter Eight   Translation by Faith: Going

Chapter Nine    The Glory Within

Chapter Ten     The Glory Released

Appendix A      Additional Scriptural Proof Texts

Appendix B      Definitions From Scripture

Foreword

As you read this book, Bruce Allen will take you on a journey of discovery. He will guide you into the invisible world of the Spirit where you will have your spiritual eyes activated. The unseen, invisible world has been described by a famous physicist as being compared to a distance of 50 miles. What most believers today appear to comprehend of the spiritual realm is like knowing about 2 inches of that 50 miles.

Brother Allen will give you evidence of this invisible world from Scripture, from truth explained with concepts from quantum physics, from personal experiences from his life, and from the testimonies of others. You will come to comprehend that you can be in two places at the same time! Yes! The Scripture simply declares that you are already seated together with Him in heavenly places (see Eph. 2:6)! Quantum physics has a concept called quantum entanglement, which states that when electrons connect, they stay hooked up and must remain connected in the unseen invisible world. As Brother Allen walks you carefully through this important book, you will have the precious Holy Spirit confirm over and over again that you have access to all the rights of the Kingdom of God! You can see and say what God sees and says! You have had His authority invested in you. You are the Bride of Christ and have all the power of His name!

This journey will change your life. Bruce Allen is about to teach you, from the Word of God, to be careful of what you see and say because that is what you are going to get! You will be empowered and will know your assignment and purpose for your life! Yes, you shall be “gazing into glory.” You shall see what God sees! As you observe what God observes, you will cause His power to transform your reality to become His vision of your potential and take your place in the Kingdom of God. Gazing into Glory is about to become your life’s assignment guide.

Dr. David Van Koevering

President and Founder of Elsewhen Research

www.elsewhen.com

Preface

For decades, the Church has been lulled into a sense of self-satisfaction and pseudo-spiritual stagnation, having embraced traditions and elevated them to take the place of the Word of God.

We have seen the Church of the first century—a vibrant, powerful witness to the love and power of God—changed into an empty doctrine of dos and do nots, having a form of godliness but devoid of the power that is inherent in the very nature of the Word of God and the God of the Word.

All across the world, multitudes are crying out for the reality of a living God, a God who is true to His word, a God who is actively interested in the lives of His creation, a God of power, signs, and wonders. Because the Church has failed to portray and demonstrate the reality of this vibrant God, multitudes have turned to occult practices and satanism, trying to fill the void left by a powerless Church.

What we don’t understand in the Word of God we place on the shelf of mysticism, the devil, a previous dispensation, or even relegate those things to a future age when we will be abiding in Heaven with the Lord. While each of these categories has merit, the wholesale relegation of anything we don’t understand to a place of obscurity, simply because we don’t understand it, is dangerous at worst and gross ignorance at best.

In the midst of this apparent void and lack, and in spite of our attempts to reason away anything that doesn’t fit our “religious comfort zone,” the Lord is moving by His Spirit in powerful ways throughout the world. Unfortunately, much of the Church has no knowledge of what the Lord is doing. Seekers of truth are having encounters with the Truth—Jesus. Unusual manifestations are being reported across the globe—visitations of angels, visitations of Jesus, gold dust, feathers, precious stones, manna from Heaven, unusual healings, many being raised from the dead, miracles of supply, walking on water, translations, third heaven encounters, and much more.

The question arises—is this God? Is any of this scriptural? Or is the devil counterfeiting these manifestations and experiences to draw away multitudes from the reality of the true God?

The answer is as simple as it is complex. Yes, God can and is doing these things today, and yes, the devil is also counterfeiting some of these miracles to draw people away from the truth.

As believers, we have access to realms of possibility in the Lord that we have failed to explore through ignorance, fear, or unbelief. While we must be circumspect in our approach to the supernatural, we must not immediately discard anything of a supernatural nature. We must be students of the Word, and we must exercise godly discernment.

Discernment is not judgment! It is rightly applying the Word of God to any given situation and having our “senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). Much of what we have called discernment is judgment based on our belief system regardless of what Scripture teaches.

There are keys found in the Word of God for preparing ourselves to better interact with that realm called the third heaven or the spirit realm. John 14:12 says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”

What exactly did Jesus mean when He said we would do the same works that He did and even greater? Most people immediately gravitate to the miracles preformed in the life of Jesus and covet or desire for those same manifestations in their own lives. However, if we study the life of Christ we find that there were some “first” works that He walked in that few, if any, care to emulate. For example:

Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:7–8).

He learned “godly fear” and He learned “obedience by the things which He suffered.” Most Christians think little or not at all about the process of attaining Christ-like character. What we want is the icing on the cake—the miracles, signs, and wonders without the foundation of character laid in our lives.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Phillippians 2:5–8).

Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Phil. 2:7). Again, that is a “work” Jesus did that few even conceive of doing, never mind embracing and walking in it. On top of that, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death (see Phil. 2:8). Most Christians are self-centered and proud, with a form of godliness but denying the power thereof by refusing to allow the Holy Spirit to purge us from our dead works and the lust of our carnal nature.

This is just a small example of some of the foundational works Jesus did before He began His public ministry with miracles, signs, and wonders following.

Another key factor of walking in the supernatural is found in Luke:

And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50–51).

While the Church has been in the process of growing up into Him, the Lord has winked at our ignorance and overlooked it at times:

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1–5).

In the beginning when Paul came to Corinth, the only way he could effectively communicate to them and see their needs fulfilled was to reach beyond their ignorance of God and their lack of spiritual development by demonstrating the power of God.

The power of God and the anointing with the nine manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in First Corinthians 12 have always been at the basic entry level of the believers’ spiritual journey. The Lord’s original plan was for these signs to follow every believer, not just a select few who have somehow attained a stratospheric pinnacle of enlightenment.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:17–18 KJV).

The Lord intended spiritual manifestations to be the normal Christian experience—a starting place for us in our journey in the Lord, never a stopping place or a camping place until we have completed and fulfilled our destiny here on earth. As someone once said, the Lord has called us to be pioneers, not settlers! These experiences should become more frequent and more powerful as we grow in faith and Christ-likeness and should bear greater fruit for the Kingdom as we progress.

My prayer and passion in writing this book is that you, the reader, will enter into your birthright to see into the realm of the spirit and that you will be activated to walk in that realm regularly.

Introduction

Over the years, in addition to studying the Scriptures I have enjoyed dabbling in disciplines like quantum physics and other sciences. Most of these disciplines would seem to be contrary to what is often taught from a theological standpoint or a traditional view of Christianity. Because I have been a lover of the Word of God and the God of the Word since I was first saved, I have branched out into studying some of the interesting facts in the sciences. I have been enriched and challenged by the evident design of all things in creation. I love word studies from the original languages, and have been known to be lost in these quests for hours on end, having to be called back to the present by my wife or the natural need for sustenance and rest. In all of these years of study I’ve learned something profound—our God is an awesome God! He has things reserved for us that are beyond our comprehension, but they are not beyond our faith.

Let me make this very clear—in the Western World we have a Greco-Roman mindset. We figure out how God can do something before we actually believe that God can do it. All of our lives we have been taught to reason and quantify our natural world. But in the Hebrew culture they understood that the Lord was a supernatural Being above natural law; nothing was impossible with Him, and, if not comfortable with this knowledge, they had at least come to terms with this fact. They understood that an omnipotent God was not Someone who could be understood with a finite mind. So they lived with an understanding of the supernatural possibility of divine intervention. This, too, was beyond their ability to reason. We have to get back to faith where we say, “God said it and that’s good enough for me; I don’t have to understand it.”

What we will examine in this book is both very simple and at the same time very profound. We will look at a lot of Scripture explaining for us exactly what the Lord intends for us to know, and hopefully we will demystify some things that will allow all of us to enter more fully into our inheritance in Christ. You are going to begin an adventure in God that heretofore has only been a wish or desire, but by means of understanding the Scriptures you will access the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven for yourselves. “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

Any revelation you have is because God desires for you to have insight and understanding. I don’t care if you studied the Bible for a hundred years, the only revelation you’ll get is because God deems it necessary or because His love opens your understanding to be able to comprehend it. There has never been a better time in history than right now because we have entered into an hour of an astounding release of revelation. In my previous books, I shared how this generation is to be the recipient of the release of the greatest revelation the Church has ever walked in since Christ walked on this earth.[1] You and I as a body of believers, as the Church, are going to grow up in Him in the fullness and the stature of the knowledge of God.

And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand”‘ (Luke 8:10).

To those who are following after Jesus it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. But to the rest—those who are not Christians and who are outside the covenant we have through Jesus’ blood—these mysteries are in parables, so that in seeing and hearing they won’t understand. If you are a born-again believer in Jesus, it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom. I don’t know about you, but that thrills my heart! There is so much in God that we don’t yet know or even understand! There is so much in God that we have yet to discover! As a matter of fact, we are going to be “discovering” God for eternity. That’s how vast He is. Why not start now?

For far too long, untold Christians have abided in the wilderness of the natural realm. Multitudes of believers have never been granted access to nor tasted of the goodness of the Kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, God scolded the Pharisees for not entering into the Kingdom of God and for not permitting others to enter it as well (see Matt. 23:13; Luke 11:52). We have allowed the dogmas and doctrines of natural reason to replace some of the basic scriptural truths available to every believer.

We have been a body of believers as a whole that has been born with glaring handicaps when it comes to walking in the realm of the spirit. I say the wilderness of the natural realm because this realm is but a foreshadow of the true, and for most believers this is also a wilderness journey prior to entering the promised land of which Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us (see John 14:2).

Endnote

1. Bruce D. Allen, Promise of the Third Day (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 2007), and Bruce D. Allen, The Prophetic Promise of the Seventh Day (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 2010).

CHAPTER ONE

Seeing: A Supernaturally

Natural Occurrence

Having walked for many years as a believer before my spiritual eyes were activated, I categorically believe that spiritual blindness is more incapacitating than natural blindness.

When a baby is born, in the first few days of a child’s development they don’t see clearly. They see shadows, but eventually over the course of a few days or weeks as their eyes develop they begin to see clearly. The Scripture says, “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:46). In the same way, as children of God, when we were born into the Kingdom of God, His intent and purpose for us was to have all of our spiritual senses developed, including having our spiritual eyes opened.

Why did that not happen? For some inexcusable reason, we seem to think the ability to see in the realm of the spirit belongs to the select few who have reached the pinnacle of faith, or these “mystical” types of experiences aren’t of God. Let me say these types of experiences belong to every child of God, not just a few! This is like saying that one in one hundred of all natural-born children is going to see when they are born and the rest of them are going to walk around in the dark all of their lives. Just as this is not normal with natural children it should not be the norm for spiritual children. It should be rare if not nonexistent for believers in the church to not see into the spiritual realm! I will endeavor to show you plainly from the Word of God—it belongs to you as a born-again believer in Jesus.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in (Matthew 23:13).

In other words; “You religious leaders don’t allow anybody else to go in because you haven’t gone in, so you make everybody believe that because you haven’t entered in we cannot, either.” Now that’s a paraphrase, but it is accurate.

The word go in in Greek literally means, “to enter in or to come into.” Unfortunately, we’ve spiritualized many things in the Scriptures that we don’t understand, or because of unbelief we draw conclusions that are unscriptural.

Developing Sight

Let me give you an example. Once I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior I was born again, and now, according to the Bible, I’m in the Kingdom of God. Based on that Scripture, let me ask you something—can a man or a woman be in two places at one time? The answer, scripturally, is yes. The Bible says you are already seated together with Him in heavenly places (see Eph. 2:6). It didn’t say you would be someday in the sweet by and by. You are right now! Therefore, you are in two places at one time!

When we were born into this natural realm, we began to exercise our five natural senses—taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight. As we begin to grow, we learn through the process of trial and error, through practice, how to engage this natural realm with our natural senses. And yet, once we are born again and become children of God, we fail to grow spiritually in the same way. Why? If we are to be honest, it is because we have never been taught that this is even possible, let alone plausible.

In essence, what we have done is to recreate a supernatural God in our own image based on our own understanding. In so doing, we have limited our birthright as a believer and the ability given us at the new birth to become all that the Word says we are!

Because the natural realm is more real and tangible to humankind than the spirit realm, we settle for what we can see, not for what has been purchased for us at such a high cost—the Blood of Jesus. I want to tell you, the realm of the spirit is more real than this natural realm we have been accustomed to. This world is but a foreshadow and foretaste of the truth that is to be found in Christ. When we step into the fullness of what God has for us—when we begin to see what is really ours—it makes this world pale into insignificance compared to the vastness of what belongs to us as covenant children of God. This life then takes on its proper perspective.

Kingdom Perspective

As we study the words that Jesus spoke in the New Testament, we discover that He preached repeatedly about the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. His message was not exclusively focused on salvation. As a matter of fact, He spoke more about the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven than He did about salvation. Why? Salvation is the entry or the portal— the doorway into the Kingdom of God. Once you have accepted Christ, you now have free access into a realm of existence that you never knew before. Salvation unlocks the door.

The Lord wants everyone to accept Him as Savior because His heart is that none should perish. However, He also desires that we cross the threshold into His Father’s Kingdom. Jesus knew that only as we enter and interact with the Kingdom of Heaven can we progress in gaining our inheritance and ruling as sons.

Where is the Kingdom of God right now? It is within us and it is also around us. Let me say this: Earth is a component that is inside the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom of God encompasses much more than the natural realm. For the sake of explanation, let’s say you are sitting in a football stadium. We will call that stadium and all that is in it the realm of eternity (poor example but you’ll get my point). In this realm called the realm of eternity there is a vastness beyond anything that we can comprehend. This is the “place” where God dwells.

Now in this place where God dwells, He spoke and something was created—what we call the universe or the natural realm. So in that great vastness called eternity, God created something that was measurable, that was tangible, and that was quantifiable. It’s called time and space. Eternity is His Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is vast beyond our comprehension.

What amazes me is the Lord says that everything He created fits in the span of His hand. A span would be measured from the end of your thumb to the end of your little finger as you hold your hand wide open (see Isa. 40:12). The messianic prophecy about Jesus in Psalms says: “You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” (Ps. 8:6).

Jesus then indicated in Matthew 28:18–19 that He had invested in us this authority. Why then does the church as a whole seem to be so powerless when we’ve been given such powerful promises? Again, we must go back to the previous example—we’ve not developed in our spiritual capacity through either ignorance or arrogance (creating God in our image). Do you understand the vastness of what God says He has given us dominion over?

Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead (Acts 10:40–41).

Wait a minute. He only shows himself to those who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. Now, we know Jesus is not going to rise from the dead again; He already did that two thousand years ago. So now when I eat this word, when I drink the cup… I just qualified! In other words, you are positioned for something that you never knew was yours. Let me show you why I say that. (See Appendix A.)

The Law of First Mention

There’s a biblical principle that’s very helpful when you want to study the Word of God; it’s called the “law of first mention.” The law of first mention is this: The first time something is mentioned in the Bible, from that point on you can use this first mention as a base point to interpret all other Scriptures that speak of the same subject. Let me give you an illustration. The Scripture says in Genesis 1:26–31 that man was created on the sixth day, so from that point on we realize that six is the number of man. Anytime you read the word man in Scripture or see the number six, you know He’s talking about flesh or man. That is an example of the law of first mention.

Based on the law of first mention, in the Book of Genesis there is a first mention that could change your life. The very first mention of relationship with God is walking and talking with Him face to face each day (see Gen. 3:8)! That is the correct picture of relationship with God—walking and talking face to face!

Some will argue that Adam sinned and we no longer have that type of relationship with the Lord. However, Jesus, the second Adam, was crucified on the Cross and shed His blood that we may once again enter into relationship with the Father. His intention or view of relationship has never changed! We have now been reinstated to that place of relationship with God, without the need for a veil, without the posturing, without the snare of religious traditions. We now have access to Him face to face; that is the Father heart of God. That is the picture of what relationship is to Him, and that is what we can enjoy now as His children!

In Genesis 28 we see another first mention in Scripture. It is the story of Jacob, who went out from Beersheba toward Haran.

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Genesis 28:10–17)

Jacob came to a point in his journey where he was tired. He decided to rest so he picked up a stone to use as a pillow. As I was considering this portion of the passage, the Lord spoke to my heart about a little-known key to receiving insight from Him during our repose. We know that Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone and this stone was rejected by the Pharisees (see 1 Pet. 2:6). The understanding the Lord wanted me to have was this: When you go to bed at night, set your heart and your mind on Christ. Just direct it there, and you’ll be surprised what He may communicate to you during the night season.

Sanctified Sleep

Everywhere we travel, my wife and I create an atmosphere with our heart attitudes and with our mouths as we apply the Word of God and the blood of Jesus. We learned this based on the Scripture above and experience. As we have traveled from country to country, from state to state, and from city to city, we stay in motels, hotels, and sometimes in homes. During these journeys I found that I would sometimes get the most bizarre dreams, predominantly when staying in motels and hotels, but sometimes in homes also.

The Lord reminded me that I have the authority through the blood of Jesus to create an “atmosphere” wherever I am. I started learning that I needed to apply the blood of Jesus wherever I went, release the atmosphere of Heaven, and clean out what was brought into that place. As we all know, there are some things that go on in hotels and motels that are not conducive to wholesomeness! I found that as we would do this in the rooms and places we stayed, we did not have the problem with “wrestling” in the night with thoughts and dreams as before.

A lesson that helped to reinforce this principle occurred on a particular trip I took some years ago to Fiji. I brought along a young man with me on this particular journey where we were to stay in the missionary’s home. I had been to this home many times before and had a good relationship with this missionary. I stayed in the guest room and the young man stayed on the couch in the living room due to limited space.

During the daytime, he would fold and place his bedding, including his pillow, on the foot of my bed. I had already applied the blood over my room and bedding and especially my pillow, because that is where my head rests. One night I was out ministering, and he was tired that night so he stayed home. While I was gone, he went into my room and took my pillow (I think by mistake) and went to bed on the couch. By the time I came home after ministering it was rather late, and he was already asleep on the couch.

I was tired and just wanted to head to bed myself, so I went into my room and found that he had swapped pillows. How could I tell? He wore hair gel and it was greasy! Because I was tired, I forgot about the lesson I had learned over the years, and in some frustration I placed a new pillowcase on the pillow and lay down to sleep.

All night long I was battling with perverse dreams! I didn’t get any rest that night at all, and in the morning, bleary eyed and exhausted, I came into the living room looking for my morning coffee. The young man was already up, bright eyed and cheery. He excitedly began to tell me about the awesome dreams he’d had of angels and Heaven! I said, “Give my pillow back!” I want to tell you, this is reality!

In defense of this young man, he’d only been saved just over a year. As with all of us, the process of working out his own salvation had just been entered into. I was able to use this experience to share with him some of the principles the Lord had so graciously taught me over the years.

So here is Jacob sleeping, meditating in this night season upon God. During the night it says he had a dream that profoundly changed his life. He saw a ladder going from earth to Heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. This is important and we need to understand this. Man was made from the dust of the earth. This ladder begins on the earth and extends into Heaven. He sees this ladder and the angels of God are ascending and descending upon it, and at the top of this ladder he saw the Lord and he talked with Him face to face.

When Jacob awoke the next morning, he made a statement—a first mention: “…This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gateway of heaven” (Gen. 28:17). How does that apply to us? First Corinthians says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19).

What is the principle gleaned then from this first mention? The house of God is the gateway of Heaven, and you are the temple or house of God! The angels of God are seen ascending and descending upon this “house,” and conversation with the Lord is face to face. That’s what you were created for!

According to the law of first mention, we as the temple of God are to be continually walking under an open Heaven, talking to Him face to face, and seeing angelic activity.

Let me give you a word of caution here: Do not worship, seek, nor focus on the activity of the angels. Focus on Christ. Everything else is secondary to Him! Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

In other words, if you’re born again you can see the kingdom of God! It belongs to you. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice…” (John 10:27). Allow me to give you a different definition as to what the “voice of God” sounds like.

When a believer first accepts Christ, there are a number of stimuli that make up the whole of the communication of the Spirit. There can be a conviction, a sense of God’s love, pictures or visions, a tangible sense of the presence of God, audible words, or various other facets of the “voice” of God that draw us to His side.

Unfortunately, as we progress in our Christian walk we forget the various ways in which the Lord communicated with us leading to our conversion. Why? For some reason, after we have given our hearts to the Lord we seem to adopt the understanding that God only speaks in words! May I submit to you that words are the most ineffective form of communication there is? Even the printed word can be very ineffective, and our understanding based on our own concept of what is truth and what is not. Just look at the many denominations in the Christian community and you will see the truth of this.

Visions Speak

When we get to Heaven, we won’t communicate in words only. We will speak heart to heart, or mind to mind, and verbally when we wish to. Much of the communication in Heaven is pictorial (a picture speaks a thousand words). When the Lord wants to communicate something to you, He shows it to you and you actually experience the communication as you are receiving it. He is not limited to words only.

Let me give you a personal example. Not long ago my wife and I were ministering in Spokane, Washington, and the Lord was tangibly evident. During these meetings I had a vision. Now remember, visions are language. God is communicating a truth through a picture. In this vision, I saw myself standing before the gathered group ministering the Word. In the meeting there was someone that needed healing, and being led of the Spirit, I spoke forth this word of knowledge. When I did I immediately saw Jesus come out of my innermost being (He is the Word), and He went over and touched that individual and he was healed.

Because of this vision—or more adequately, this communication from the Lord—when I saw that person in the audience I spoke forth the word, and Jesus healed that person!

At the beginning of these same series of meetings, as I was listening to the Lord during worship, I had another vision. I saw displayed before me a huge emerald. The Lord handed it to me, and as I looked into this gemstone I saw all the eons of history, all the way back in time, right up to the moment when the Lord spoke the words, “Let there be.…” As those words came out of His mouth, I saw the heavens and the earth being created. He spoke, His Word (Jesus) went forth, and the world became—it was created.

I was overcome with awe as I saw how when He spoke, a creative force was released and everything came into being. This was a profound revelation and spoke to me of the fearful and wonderful way we were created in His likeness and His image. We do not fully realize the power of our words and what is released when we speak as sons and daughters of God!

This experience/communication changed my life. Here is the essence of what He communicated to me through this vision: God the Father in His mind conceived of or imagined something. What He had conceived and imagined became a reality as He spoke forth and expressed the desire of His heart based on what He was “seeing” in His minds’ eye. He spoke, and it was!

Let me say this. If you struggle with negative thoughts, that is not sin. It becomes sin when you grab hold of those negative thoughts and meditate upon them. At that point you are in danger of them dropping into your heart where sin will be conceived. The Bible says, “.Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34).

Here is how this works with Him. God the Father conceived something in His imagination. As He meditated upon those images in His mind’s eye, they dropped into His heart. At that point, Jesus, who is the Word came forth—the Father spoke and Jesus came forth to accomplish what He had spoken, and the creative power of the Holy Spirit was released to accomplish the Word that was released. I saw Jesus come right out of the heart of the Father. That’s exactly what the Bible says: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

John 3:3 says that unless you are born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God. That word see is very interesting in the Greek. It means to see both literally and figuratively.[1] Let us not overspiritualize everything.

God is no respecter of persons (see Acts 10:34 KJV). If He did it for one, He will do it for others.

Then he said, “The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard (Acts 22:14–15).

He is no respecter of persons. I see a biblical pattern here.

That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).

That which we have seen and heard—that which we have touched and tasted—that is what we are going to testify of. As we study the Scriptures, we find that more often than not the patriarchs of the faith had a relationship with God that was profound and beyond anything most of us have experienced in our own walk with the Lord. I’m talking in both the Old Testament and the New Testament where we repeatedly find people who knew Him face to face.

Face to Face

Again, keep in mind that God is no respecter of persons. Matthew says:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many (Matthew 27:50–53).

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

What does it mean to come boldly before the throne of grace?

“Well, it means being bold in your prayers, making declarations, and believing God.”

Yes, that’s part of it. The word come means “to visit or approach as to location.”[2] We’ve missed much of what the Lord was trying to communicate with us. In other words, we can boldly come before His throne of grace and communicate with Him face to face!

Another interesting Scripture is found in John. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12).

Notice John 14:12 didn’t say, “the works that I did.” It said the works that I do. That is in the continual present tense. In other words, what Jesus is doing right now, you can do also. What are some of the things Jesus is doing right now? Have you heard the many testimonies yet of the millions who have been having face-to-face encounters with Jesus and getting saved in this generation? Have you heard the testimony of multitudes who have been raised from the dead in this hour? Have you heard the testimonies of many who have been caught up into the third heaven as Paul was and are coming back with testimonies of the nearness of the return of Christ? (See 2 Corinthians 12.)

What He is doing right now you can do also. Jesus is stepping through the veil from one dimension into another. As stated in my earlier illustration of eternity, in the realm of eternity (as depicted by the stadium), God created a quantifiable construct called space and time. All that we know naturally exists at the sufferance of the Eternal One. Because this natural realm is within that realm (stadium) of the eternal, it is but a step away. Eternity is all around us. So what Jesus is doing is stepping through the veil, appearing, visiting, talking, and then He is stepping back through that veil into the eternal realm. That which He is doing right now you can do also.

My commission from the Lord in this hour is to provoke the Body of Christ to the realization of who they are in Christ. In doing so I want to also provoke you to action. I want to stretch you so far out of your box—your comfort zone—that there will be no box left!

Let me share a little bit of my heart with you. I don’t teach what I teach because I want to be controversial or popular. I teach what I do because the Lord has opened my eyes to certain truths that pertain to this generation and also because I have experienced much of what I am sharing with you. Because of this, the Lord has instructed me to share what I have learned and experienced with this generation. The Lord taught me years ago: “First it must be formed in you before I can release it through you.” In other words, it’s got to become so real to me that when I speak it releases life. I’ve found that most people are tired of book reports. They want the reality of the Word—a tangible expression, not just the rhetoric.

Keys to Glory: Passion

Let me give you the first “key” to Gazing into Glory. The number one key, the main key, the most important key is passion: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).

We live in a society of “we want it yesterday” thinking. Most of the Christians I’ve met express the desire of wanting to know the Lord in a more passionate and intimate way. But seldom do we see the proof of that desire. What is the proof of passion? The proof of passion is pursuit! Don’t say you are passionate about something then sit there and do nothing. In our “instant” society, we have lost the art of passionate pursuit. Go after Him! Go after Him!

Understand—He is the Word! Get in the Word; go after Him! When my wife and I were engaged, she was in Fiji and I was in America. We hadn’t talked over the phone much, and when I did call her I quite often didn’t know whether it was her or someone else in her family; I didn’t know her voice. But over time as intimacy and relationship developed, I learned to discern her voice, even in a room of hundreds! I didn’t stop after the first couple of times of not recognizing her voice. I was passionate! Because I was passionate I pursued our relationship until it began to blossom. Now the fruit of that passion is intimacy!

The truth found in the Scripture is you can have as much of God as you want, but you have to pursue Him with all your heart, not just part of it, not just on Sunday. You have to go after Him with a passion!

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16).

The effective, halfhearted prayer of a righteous man avails much? No, it’s fervency and passion! You have to have passion for the Kingdom of God and for the God of the Kingdom! You have to understand this Word belongs to you. What I am sharing is yours by inheritance—it’s yours! You have to start doing something in your pursuit of God, not just saying, “I’m so hungry for God.” If you are hungry for more of Him, it will be evident in your life!

“Well, I spend hours on my face before Him in prayer.”

Now I’m seeing it.

“I spend days in fasting and hours in the study of the Word.”

Now it’s becoming evident! That is passion exemplified in pursuit!

I want to show you a biblical example of passion found in Luke:

Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature (Luke 19:1–3).

Here is a man named Zacchaeus who is at the top of his game—he’s the chief tax collector! He is the CEO of the IRS, if you will. Obviously, he is a man of passion or he would not be the best at what he did.

Something sparked within this man’s heart when he heard the testimonies of this miracle worker named Jesus. It created a desire within him to see and discover for himself who this Jesus was. The problem was, Zacchaeus was of such short stature he could not see over or through the press of people.

Notice what this man does. Because he cannot see Jesus, he comes up with a strategy that on the surface looks ridiculous! Here is the chief tax collector, the CEO of the industry, and he decides he will run ahead of the masses and climb a sycamore tree! All because he has a passion to see who Jesus is!

Passion! Passion caused him to do something that was outside the realm of the norm and definitely outside of proper cultural decorum! You see, passionate people will do what mediocre people will never do in their zeal to obtain their hearts’ desire! The world would say it this way: Successful people will do what unsuccessful people fail to do in order to reach their goal.

Look at the makeup of this group. You have the masses that follow Jesus because of the miracles he does, and you have the disciples who follow Him because they believe Him to be the Christ. In this mix you have one individual, a man of passion, who has a burning desire to see Jesus for himself. The testimonies of others are not enough—he must see Jesus for himself.

When Jesus came to the sycamore tree, He looked up and saw Zacchaeus sitting there and said, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house” (Luke 19:5).

Zacchaeus’ passion elevated him above the mediocrity of the masses! Not only did he receive what he desired, but Zacchaeus received exceedingly and abundantly above all that he could ask or think! His passion made him stand out among all those who were following Jesus! Passion caused him to do something nobody else was willing to do, and it gained him the attention of Heaven!

Passion opened the door for Jesus to come and reside at Zacchaeus’ house, and from that day forward, according to tradition, Jesus used his home as His ministry headquarters whenever He ministered in Jericho. How would you like your home to be the headquarters for the next great move of the Spirit in your region? The key is passion: “So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully” (Luke 19:6).

He made haste, came down, and received Him joyfully. Of course, when the multitudes saw that, everybody was upset. Why? The mediocre masses get jealous when God takes note of somebody with passion! Persecution is a mainstay of people of passion! It does not quell passion, but rather, causes an individual to pursue the Lord with even greater tenacity.

Jealousy can be a powerful motivator of anger and hatred and can cause an individual to wallow in self-pity rather than propelling them toward destiny.

“I’ve been walking with Him for days, weeks, and months, and He never asked to stay at my house!”

That may be true, but our religious display of commitment and piety doesn’t move the heart of God—passion does.

Keys to Glory: Purity

Let me tell you something about Zacchaeus. His name means “pure, not dishonest or corrupt.”[3]

Here is key number two: The pure in heart shall see God (see Matt. 5:8). The blood of Jesus is the great equalizer. It makes no difference what you did before you came to Christ, because if you have accepted Jesus and been washed in the blood you now have a pure heart before God. The blood of Jesus cleanses us, not from some unrighteousness, but from all unrighteousness.

Let me give you another example found in Mark:

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road (Mark 10:46–52).

This story of Bartimaeus has many facets of revelation that we can glean. I will try to stay in focus and make our point. We find that Bartimaeus has been sitting by the side of the road begging for perhaps years. At some point in his time here in Jericho, a seed of passion was birthed within him. Sitting by the side of this main thoroughfare, he had to have overheard for years the comments and gossip of the multitudes as they had passed by each day. At some point, he heard about a miracle worker named Jesus of Nazareth who had performed amazing miracles of healing, and hope sprung up within his heart.

I can just hear the thoughts he had sitting there day in and day out, pondering all that he had heard: “If this Jesus of Nazareth comes this way, I’ve got to get His attention. He’s healing so many, and if I get His attention perhaps He will heal me!”

And so a passion, even a desperation arose within Bartimaeus. And then one day, his opportunity came! There was a great multitude moving along the road, and after questioning passersby Bartimaeus discovered it was the miracle worker Himself who was coming! With great fervency Bartimaeus cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47).

Now, wait a minute. Where did he get the title Jesus, Son of David? An often overlooked key is this—passion opens the door to revelation!

As he cried out, the multitudes cautioned him to be quiet. To put that more succinctly in a venue we can all understand, “We do things decently and in order here; don’t make an emotional display and don’t be noisy!”

What was Bartimaeus’ response? He cried out even louder, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mark 10:48 KJV). Immediately, Jesus responded to the cry of passion, and He commanded that Bartimaeus be brought to Him.

Isn’t it interesting that the moment Bartimaeus got the attention of Jesus, those who had harshly tried to still him and command him to be quiet immediately changed their tune and became his friend? You will find that the mediocre multitudes, while not wishing to be challenged with something out of the ordinary that makes them uncomfortable, will immediately change their tune when Heaven takes notice of the passion of one.

The first thing Bartimaeus did upon hearing that Jesus was calling for him to come was to throw off his garment, arise, and go to Jesus. This is a profound challenge to all of us, conveying the proper attitude of passion. Bartimaeus, a son of Abraham, in order to sit by the side of the road and beg, was required to go before the Levitical priesthood and be examined to ascertain whether or not he truly was blind. Upon finding this to be the case, he was given a cloak to wear that indicated to all that he had been examined and was in truth blind. The garment was his “license” to sit by the side of the road and beg.

Once he gained the attention of Heaven, he severed all affiliation with his previous life and condition. To Bartimaeus, it was an all or nothing exchange! In his mind, there was no turning back! We learn from this that a person of passion will burn every bridge behind them in their pursuit of that for which their heart desperately seeks.

When he finally stood before Jesus, he was asked what he wanted the Lord to do for him. Bartimaeus said that he wanted to receive his sight, which seems obvious from the condition we find him in this passage of Scripture. However, there is a deeper significance to this request than at first seems obvious.

The word blind in this Scripture is the Greek word typhlos. It comes from the root word typhoomai, which means, “to envelop with smoke; to inflate with self-conceit; high-minded, be lifted up with pride, be proud.”[4]

One of the telling aspects of passion and the desire to “see” the Lord is the willingness to surrender our pride, to crucify it at all costs, and to pay whatever price is necessary to obtain our heart’s desire. Notice that Jesus said to him in response to his request, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” We must passionately pursue the Lord in full assurance that He will always respond to the cry of passion!

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).

We are told to stop looking at the natural but rather, to gaze upon the supernatural. How in the world do you do that? The Word tells us to set our affections on things above rather than the things of this earth (see Col. 3:2 KJV). Set your affections, set your sights, set your heart on things above. Focus your passion on things above! “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).

Now let me make a simple statement: When you were born again, you were in the world but are no longer of the world (see John 17:16). That is exactly what Jesus said about Himself; He said that He is not of the world but He is in the world. His Kingdom is not of this world. Well, if His Kingdom, the Kingdom we are now part of, is not of this world, then how can I see it?

“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me!” We know that at the time this was spoken, Jesus was talking to His disciples—those who had walked with Him during His earthly ministry. However, God is no respecter of persons (see Eph. 6:9)! I believe what the Word says. If we are His disciples today, then Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever will be seen by us (see Heb. 13:8).

Keys to Glory: Obedience

Key number three is found in John:

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him (John 14:21).

The word manifest literally means to “cause to be seen; to openly show.”[5] Jesus will openly show Himself to those who love Him and who keep His commandments. This does not speak of being perfect! It speaks of the one whose heart is set toward the Lord.

“Lord, I want to be obedient to this Word as best I can. Help me in my lack of obedience.” If that is your heart and you love Him, then you can be assured that to those who love Him He will openly show Himself face to face.

Why is it that we’ve missed this? I believe that there are a number of reasons why we have failed to see this truth and embrace it. First, I believe many in the church have embraced a form of godliness but have denied the power thereof. We have seen modeled a powerless Gospel that has become more religious then relational.

The second reason is that we’ve never been taught that we actually could do this. Let me give you a hypothetical example. If a long-lost uncle leaves you an inheritance in his will and there is now a billion dollars in the bank and it is under your name, but you are never informed about this inheritance, how are you going to reap the benefit of this inheritance? You will know when the executor of the will contacts you and explains what now legally belongs to you.

In the same way, our ability to “see” has been left to us—it’s in Jesus’ will, His testament the New Covenant. It’s yours! All we have to do is acknowledge receipt of this inheritance and begin to exercise ourselves in this area.

The third reason I believe is that we are in a kairos moment—a season in God where the fullness of His promise will be revealed and entered into as never before.

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:12–13).

The word name in the Bible is a very interesting study. According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, this word in the Old Testament means “character, honor, and authority” in every instance but one. In the New Testament, it means “character and authority” in every instance but one. What then is the Lord saying?

We could then paraphrase this verse in this way: “Whatever you ask the Father for with Christ-like character, He’ll do it.” That is a paraphrase, but it is also accurate.

In another example, where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in the midst of them (see Matt. 18:20). To many in the Church, this has become a powerless formula as we assume that because we are practicing the correct religious protocol Jesus will automatically inhabit whatever we do. What is really being said in this Scripture is that where the character of Christ is, there He is in the midst of them! May I also add, where the character of Christ is there will also be the authority of Christ to enact the will of God.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he sees the Father do…” (John 5:19).

Jesus said the works that He’s doing we can do (see John 14:12). In this passage of Scripture, it states that Jesus only does what He sees the Father doing!

What He’s Doing

There was a gentleman named Roy in the region where we live in Washington State who would often show up at our meetings. We’d known Roy for about two or three years, and the four or five times we were ministering in his area he would come up for prayer. Each time he came for prayer our question would be, “Roy, what is it you need from the Lord?”

He’d say, “I want to be healed of cancer.” As he was communicating to us what his prayer request was, I would be speaking to the Lord and asking Him what He had to say about this particular situation. I encouraged Roy until his healing manifested to continue to come forward in faith at every meeting he attended and receive prayer.

This went on for a couple years, and every time we would see Roy he would say, “I want this cancer gone.” The last time we saw Roy he was at stage four of his battle with cancer.

When he approached the front for prayer, I asked, “Father, what are You saying?” At that moment, my eyes were opened and I saw an angel come through the back wall of the sanctuary. He was tall, about six feet in height, with dark brown hair and piercing green eyes. He was wearing a white robe with a golden sash around his waist. He exuded a peace and radiated power. In his left hand he was carrying what looked like a silver platter.

The angel came to the front and stood between Roy and myself; then he reached into Roy and I heard a wet tearing sound. As he pulled his hand out of Roy’s torso, he was holding a large dark mass of what looked like liver. (Although I know it was not liver, that is the closest description I can come to.) He set this ugly black mass on the platter he had been holding, walked to the back wall, and threw it out.

Remember, visions are language. I saw what the Father was doing, so I agreed with what He was saying. I told Roy what I saw and said, “Go in peace; you’re healed.” On the following Tuesday he went to the hospital for a complete battery of tests and there was no cancer to be found! Do you know how easy ministry becomes when you learn to do only what you see the Father doing?

What are we seeing the Lord doing all over the world right now? Belfast, Singapore, Malaysia, all over America? I see God healing people. I’ve learned to come into agreement with what I see Him doing wherever I travel, and in doing so we have begun to witness extraordinary miracles.

Allow me to share another experience. On April 18, 2008, I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We were ministering in a church, Highway of Holiness, with Pastor Glenn Dunlop. During the worship that first morning I had an open vision. Pastor Glenn was on the platform along with the worship team. In order to conserve space during the remodeling of this older church, it was necessary to make the platform smaller than normal, so there was not much room for the worship team and the pastor to move at all. It was really tight up there!

I was sitting in the front row, and I noticed something unusual off to Pastor Glenn’s right. All of a sudden, I saw the throne room of God and millions of the redeemed on their faces worshiping God. I sat there in awe watching this scene when from the Throne of God I saw His right arm extend. In His hand was a scepter, and it was pointing directly at Glenn. I immediately remembered the story of Esther as she waited outside the throne room of the king, and when the king saw her he extended his scepter toward her, indicating his favor. When she responded and entered his presence, the king told her whatever she requested would be granted her, even up to half the kingdom (see Esther 5:1–3).

Somehow, I knew immediately that favor was being extended toward the pastor and the church, and whatever he asked of God in that moment would be given him. What happened next was amazing. All of a sudden, Glenn was struck with a supernatural blast from Heaven, and he began to drunkenly dance all over that small platform. I knew Glenn enough to know that what was happening was not an act as he is not given to fleshly displays. Not only that, dancing upon that small platform with his eyes closed would be foolhardy at best if you were functioning in the natural—it stands about four feet off the ground!

This continued for some time with him dancing and worshiping the Lord, moving in and around the worship team with his eyes closed and not touching one of them! On that day, the Lord began to move sovereignly and supernaturally in Highway of Holiness, and we were presented with a choice—agree with what the Lord was doing or reject what He was doing. We chose to agree with Him.

Some of the fruit of that visitation has been ongoing. People were immediately delivered and healed of their afflictions; people started having visions and even dreams (not in the church of course). Lives were touched and transformed. It was phenomenal, and I hardly got to minister that day. I loved it!

In reviewing the day with Pastor Glenn, we realized something profound. When the scepter of God’s favor was extended toward Glenn and the opportunity came to ask for anything, his heart was only for more of the Lord. He could think of nothing at that time that he wanted.

During lunch the next day, Glenn kept saying, “We have to go back to the church and pray; let’s go tonight. The worship team will be there, and we won’t tell many people.”

That night, many showed up without being told we would be there. They were hungry. When you see a church stay until midnight or one in the morning on a work night because they don’t want to leave the presence of God, you know something is happening!

I was in the back of the church praying on Monday, and Glenn was up front praying when the Lord spoke to me and said, “He didn’t ask Me for anything.”

I said, “What do you mean, Lord?”

He said, “I extended the scepter of My favor, and He did not ask for anything for himself.”

Before I could ponder this, Glenn came to the back of the church where I was talking to the Lord and said, “This is really strange, but the Lord asked me for permission to move in our church.”

Immediately, I understood what the Lord was communicating to me. I said, “Do you know why? Because when the Father extended to you the scepter of favor, you never asked Him for anything. Because you didn’t ask anything of the Lord, He is asking you if He can give you what His desire is for you and this church.”

Understanding came, and Glenn went back up to the front where he had been praying and said, “God, whatever you want, we want!” Instantly, Heaven invaded earth in that room again that night.

Endnotes

1. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007), #1492.

2. Ibid., #4334.

3. Roswell D. Hitchcock, Hitchcock’s New and Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible (New York, NY: A.J. Johnson, 1874), Zacchaeus.

4. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, 5178.

5. Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1994), manifest.

CHAPTER TWO

Seeing: A Face-to-Face Reality

Everywhere we travel, I sense the Lord asking permission of His people to begin to move in supernatural ways in our midst. He is God, but in His wisdom and because of His character He doesn’t want to override our will. The question we need to ask ourselves right now is—will you allow Him to reveal Himself as He truly is and to do in your life what He really desires to do?

“I speak what I have seen with My Father” (John 8:38). Jesus said the works He did we can do also. He only did what He saw the Father doing, and He only spoke of what He had seen with the Father (see John 5:19). This alone should be enough to challenge us to move forward into the possibility and promise of seeing and doing.

Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John 1:51).

We are the Body of Christ (see 1 Cor. 12:27)! From that point forward, the moment He spoke those words, Jesus indicated that as His followers we will see the angels of God ascending and descending. This belongs to us!

Coming Again

Let’s look at another Scripture that is startling in its implications:

Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven? The same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).

“Well,” you ask, “what is so startling about this? We know that at the end of the age Jesus will return in the clouds. Isn’t that basic to our belief as Christians?”

That is a facet of the truth we can glean from this Scripture; however, there is much more insight we can take away from this if we choose to dig a little deeper. As I studied the Word and looked into the history of the early church, I found some interesting insights. From resurrection morning until the ascension at Bethel 40 days later, Jesus appeared to 90 percent of the then-known church in resurrected bodily form. For instance, we find that Jesus was seen by the twelve and then by upward of 500 witnesses at one time (see 1 Cor. 15:5–6).

In the same way He left, He’s coming again. What does that say to this generation? As I stated earlier, there are millions of people having face-to-face encounters with the living Jesus in this hour. There are stories of whole villages having the same visitation and encounter in one night, causing salvation to come in regions that have been un-evangelized.[1] In the same way He left, He is coming again.

We are a generation unlike any other generation that has ever walked on the face of the earth. I am thoroughly convinced we are going to see Jesus come again in our lifetime.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1).

When I study the Word and read things like that, I’m mystified. God is a loving God and a good God, so why does this man, King Uzziah, have to die for Isaiah to see the Lord? What is the connection? As I delved into this further, I found a number of reasons.

As we study King Uzziah’s life, we find some interesting insights. Uzziah was crowned king at the age of 16, and it said that what he did was right in the sight of the Lord, and as long as he did so, God made him prosper (see 2 Chron. 26:1,5). There came a time in his life, however, when he became strong as the sin of pride entered into his heart, and he transgressed the commandment of the Lord by entering into the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. This was something only the priests of the Lord who were consecrated to burn incense were permitted to do. It says that Uzziah became furious with the priests, and suddenly he was struck with leprosy and had to live in isolation for the remainder of his life (see 2 Chron. 26:19).

Taking the history of Uzziah into account, we could re-read Isaiah 6:1 in this way: “In the year that pride died, I saw the Lord.” If we have our eyes opened and walk in the fullness of our inheritance in Christ, the major issue we will have to deal with is the issue of pride. Our character is not formed through the tests and trials we go through. Our character is revealed through those tests and trials.

You may ask—what test did Uzziah face? The test of prosperity and abundant blessing from the Lord oftentimes leads to a false sense of pride in our own abilities. We forget that it is the Lord who has blessed us and not we ourselves.

You have got to know your birthright. According to the law of first mention, your birthright is to see and know Him face to face. The key to walking into our inheritance and unlocking this aspect of our birthright is passion. Hindrances can be pride, ignorance, tradition, and doctrines of men rather than the Word of God. A broken and contrite spirit God does not despise. It is humility entered into that brings us into the place of receiving the inheritance that belongs to us.

The Humility to Sow

What does true humility look like? In Luke 15, we have a classic example of true humility. In this chapter, we find the story of the prodigal son.

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and beforeyou, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”‘ And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:11–24).

There are a couple of things I want you to see in this passage. The overriding theme in this immature younger son’s life was selfishness. He wanted what was his by birthright even though the timing was inappropriate. An inheritance was to be received only upon the death of the testator, not while he was still living. But to this prodigal son that was immaterial. He wanted what he wanted, and he wanted it now! So he approached his father and said, “Give me the portion of goods that falls to me.”

In a similar way, much of the Church emulates this same attitude in our immaturity. We are a people who are well acquainted with this same “give me” attitude portrayed by this son. What is astounding is the fact that the father in his love, knowing what would happen in this young man’s life, says, “Here is your inheritance.” This must have grieved and hurt the heart of that father, not only because of the brash attitude of his son, but because he knew what was going to happen to this young man.

“How,” you ask, “can you know that?” Luke 15 shows parables of the Kingdom. As such, we can postulate that the father depicted here is a type of God the Father, and the sons are a picture of both Jewish and Gentile sons of God.

As we follow this story, we see this prodigal son taking his inheritance and wasting it on riotous living in a far country. Soon there came a famine in the land, and all of his inheritance was used up to the point he was destitute and in want.

The principle is true then as it is now: If you don’t learn to sow, you will never reap. We cannot continue to squander the gifts of God exclusively among the church any longer! It has never been more important than it is right now to sow into the harvest field what the Lord has given so freely to us. I often challenge the Body of Christ around the world that if you really want more anointing you must give what you have; if you want more revelation, release the revelation you have. In doing so, you enter into the fullness of what seed time and harvest was intended to be. It has never been exclusively about money!

Look what the famine in the land did to this wayward son. It caused him to join himself to a citizen of that country, and he was tempted to eat the refuse of the world! If we continue to waste our inheritance amongst ourselves, we will come to the place of spiritual famine. When we do, we will be sorely tempted to compromise with the world and eat whatever it is they wish to feed us.

It was at this point—the lowest point of this son’s life—that an extraordinary event took place. Verse 17 says it this way: “But when he came to himself.…” All of a sudden, the realization of the goodness of his father became a reality to him, and he began to understand that in his father’s house there was more than enough, even for those who were not children but were servants.

Verse 19 gives us a glimpse of what the process of maturity looks like to those who truly desire to move forward into the fullness of their inheritance in Christ: “.I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” Astounding! The revelation comes to this son by means of brokenness and humility. His focus was no longer upon himself in selfish desire. Now he realizes the free gift is one thing and he moves from his impetuous “give me” to the true mark of a mature son—”make me.” His humility is reflected in the fact that he did not request the father restore him to his place as a son with all of its benefits, but rather that his father would allow him to become a servant.

This son finally came of age—he took responsibility. He said, “I can’t blame the world; I can’t blame my father for giving me my inheritance; I can’t blame my upbringing. The only one who put me in this pig sty was me.” So in humility and with a repentant heart, he returned to his father.

The Father’s Passion

Now we see a picture of the passion of the Father. His father saw him and ran to meet his son. He ran and grabbed him in a hug and said, “I love you; you’re home!” As he started to talk to his father, his father stopped him before he could finish what he had rehearsed and said, “Bring him the best robe.”

This son who was grossly immature, backslidden in heart, and lost in the world came to his senses. He has a revelation—make me is more important than give me! He then returns to his father with a willingness to accept the responsibility for his own actions—a sign of maturity—and the father does something astounding. He presents to him the best robe! A new mantle was released because this son had come of age; he had reached the place of maturity!

He next states, “Put a ring on his hand.” The ring is significant in Scripture. It speaks of many things—wealth, authority, and honor. But most importantly, it speaks of the power of authority that the family name carries. Anyone carrying such a ring can transact business in the name of the family or person to whom the ring is associated. Only those who are mature enough to enter into such endeavors were given the honor of carrying such a ring.

Not only that, the father said, “Put sandals on his feet.” Not only does he receive the best mantle, but he is also equipped with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace!

The purpose of our life is not exclusively to be focused upon the doing but rather on the becoming. To become like Jesus is to be the major pursuit of our life. True worship of God is to be obedient to His Word.

You are a unique generation and you have a profound destiny. It is your birthright to know Him face to face.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17–19).

The Scripture clearly tells us we are to look at things which are not seen. Logically, that does not make sense. After all, how can I look at something that cannot be seen? The principle here is interesting. In order to perceive and walk in an open Heaven, you must be able to develop a visual capacity. Sinful man is very limited in his ability to gaze into glory. Redeemed man, however, has access through the blood of Jesus not only to see into that realm, but to experience all that it has to offer in this life as well as in the life to come.

Remember the law of first mention in the Bible: The first time something is mentioned in the Bible, from that point on you can use this first mention as a base point to interpret all other Scriptures that speak of the same subject. According to the law of first mention, we understand that as a believer we are considered the house of God and the gateway of Heaven (see Gen. 28; 1 Cor. 6:19). For us to be able to walk in the fullness of that revelation and to realize the full potential of this, we must have a visual capacity in the realm of the spirit.

True Sight

Being spiritually blind is more incapacitating than being physically blind. Why? Because the realm of the spirit is the true reality. The natural realm we are physically in is a foreshadow of the spiritual realm. So we are living in a dark realm—a shadow or foretaste—of what the truth is. Scripture clearly teaches us that you and I are seated together with Him right now in heavenly places (see Eph. 2:6). What we have done is to overexercise our natural senses until we become so dependent on them that we have neglected the development of our spiritual senses to our detriment. And yet the spiritual is exactly where our focus should be. We were born again, not a natural man but a spiritual man. If we fail to grow in our ability to function in and become attenuated to the spiritual, we are in essence born incomplete, being spiritually blind and deaf. We are spiritually handicapped.

For instance, how many of us have been in meetings and felt or sensed the anointing? How did you do that? Your spiritual senses were attuned at that moment, and you were able to discern the presence of the anointing. You felt something in the atmosphere. You connected.

In the same way you can connect visually, by scent, by hearing, by touch, and by taste with the spirit realm. There is yet another way we can connect with this realm, which we will examine in further detail in this chapter. It is essential, even imperative, that we learn to utilize and function with our spiritual senses.

In John 3:3, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” We have a tendency to spiritualize things we don’t understand. After all, it’s easier to push something away into a safe place of mystical obscurity or historical past tense rather than to examine and study the Word to better understand what is being conveyed.

When Jesus said see in John 3:3, he literally meant see with your eyes. If you’re born again, you can see the Kingdom of God. Most of us can attest to the fact that we can see the Kingdom of God operatively. For instance, quite often when someone accepts Jesus their whole countenance changes, which is an outward manifestation of an inward transformation based on their interaction with the realm of the spirit. In these instances, you see the Kingdom of God in action in the natural because a spiritual transaction has taken place—the individual has gone from the kingdom of darkness and was transformed and brought into the Kingdom of Light.

However, that’s not what I’m talking about here. The word see in Greek is eido, which means to see literally or figuratively.[2] As a whole, Christians have leaned toward the figurative side because that is more comfortable and easier to accept. Practically, we cannot overlook the fact it also means see in the literal sense.

In Luke 24 starting at verse 13, we see two disciples traveling early in the morning on the third day to a city called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.

The fact that it is literally seven and one half miles from Jerusalem is intriguing in and of itself. In Scripture, seven is the number of rest, covenant promise fulfilled, and completion.[3] Eight signifies new beginnings. Being halfway between seven and eight speaks of a transition from one day or season into another.

Their destination was Emmaus. This is a prophetic picture and speaks clearly to those of us early in the morning on this third day. Emmaus means “to be hot from sunrise to sunset.”[4] We have a destination on this third day; God is clearly and specifically calling us to Emmaus. We must be consistently passionate in our pursuit of the Lord. As we make the choice to journey or move toward this place of consistent passion, Jesus himself comes alongside us and begins to open the Word to us.

Verse 28 says that when they finally arrived at the place, Emmaus, their destination, Jesus acted as if he intended to keep going. Here was a test of their passion. Would they allow Him to continue on without any attempt to have Him abide with them?

Verse 29 says that when He acted as if He would continue on, “they constrained Him.” The word constrained shows their passion—their need. It means “to force, to compel with a burning fervency.”[5]This wasn’t as if they politely requested that He stay and dine with them. No! They cried out with an impassioned plea for Him to stay. After Jesus agreed and He came in, sat at the table with them, broke the bread, and blessed it, their eyes were opened and they knew Him. The key to their eyes finally being opened was their having reached their destination of Emmaus—consistent passion!

The Seventh Day

It was passion that was the key that unlocked the door to intimacy. This, in turn, opened the word of revelation that caused their eyes to be opened. The end result was an opening of their senses to a face-to-face encounter with Jesus:

And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power” (Mark 9:1).

Again the word eido is used—to see literally as well as figuratively. The next verse continues: “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them” (Mark 9:2).

Sequentially and logically, seven follows six. After six days, or on the seventh day, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain where He was transfigured before them.

I’ve covered this subject in greater detail in my previous book, Prophetic Promise of the Seventh Day, but I will give a short introduction here for the purpose of making my point.

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8).

From the time of Jesus until the turn of the century, we have completed two thousand years or two days. Historically, we can also count backward four thousand years to Adam. So from Adam until the turn of the century, we have completed six thousand years or, according to this Scripture, six days. We are now early in the morning on the seventh day.

After six days (on the seventh day), Jesus revealed the Kingdom of God to Peter, James, and John in a way they had never experienced before. They were present to see an aspect of the Kingdom in a way they had never conceived of. With their eyes wide open, they saw through the veil of time into eternity and witnessed Jesus speaking to Moses and Elijah face to face!

Now remember, it was the seventh day that Jesus took them to this mountain where they had this unusual experience (after six days). We are also prophetically in the seventh day.

In John 14:12, Jesus said the works that He did we will do also. One of the “works” He would consistently do was to separate Himself and go into a mountain or desert to pray and talk with the Father during the night. Is it possible that the normal way in which Jesus communicated with His heavenly Father was similar to this Mount of Transfiguration experience He invited the three disciples to witness? Perhaps this will provoke us to separate ourselves more often to go and pray in a quiet place alone? We have made prayer a religious byword rather than a time of visiting with our heavenly Father face to face.

There is a story told that I can neither verify nor debunk from Hebrew oral tradition regarding Jesus and His prayer time alone, when He would separate Himself from the press of people and go off into a mountain to be with the Lord.

Jesus said in John 5:19 that He only did what he saw the Father doing. According to this story, every night when Jesus would go out to pray, He would sit down and begin to dialogue with His Father by telling Him what He did that day. He would review His day with the Lord.

When He was done, the Father would tell Him and show Him what he would see and do the next day so Jesus would know where he would go, who he would meet, and what exactly was going to happen. That is why He said He only did what He saw the Father doing.

Whether or not this is fact or just another embellishment I cannot say. It does, however, lend itself to the fact that our birthright is to see the Kingdom of God. Jeremiah states, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jer. 33:3). The Bible also states in John 16:13 that the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us into all truth and will show us things to come.

Also, if Jesus is to be our model of what it means to walk as a mature son, and if His word is to be believed (and it is), then we should not be unnecessarily taxed with the idea that the mount of transfiguration experience He had is within the realm of possibility for us also.

Seeing His Face

The first time I heard that story, I asked the Lord, “Lord, could that be the norm for us? Why can I not sit down with my Father and talk to Him face to face?”

Exodus 33:20 immediately came to mind: “But He said, ‘You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”‘ I immediately realized this verse would be a challenge to many, so I began to search the Scripture. Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). As a new creation in Christ, we now have access to the Father.

Which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen (1 Timothy 6:15–16).

The word man in First Timothy 6:16 above is the Greek word anthropos. According to the Complete Word Study Dictionary, that word means “sinful man.” In other words, it is sinful man that has never seen nor can ever see the Lord who dwells in unapproachable light. We the redeemed are already seated there together with Him! (See Ephesians 2:6.)

There are numerous passages of Scripture that expressly state many had a face-to-face relationship with the Lord. For instance:

In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord… (Isaiah 6:1).

So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank (Exodus 24:9–11).

Also, let us remember that Moses knew Him face to face as a friend (see Exod. 33:11). How then can we reconcile Exodus 33:20 with so many other passages of Scripture stating they saw the Lord face to face? Again, something will die, and that something will be our flesh.

Shining Our Light

Getting back to Mark 9:1–7, Jesus took the disciples up on a high mountain, and as he prayed He was transfigured before them. His clothes began to shine beyond any human ability to make them such, and He began to talk to Moses and Elijah face to face. They were speaking to Jesus face to face from beyond the veil of eternity.

Remember, Jesus said some of those who were with Him would not die until they saw the Kingdom of God come in power. He then took three of them high up on a mountain where the veil was torn between this natural realm and the eternal, and they saw Jesus as they had never seen Him before.

On many occasions I have had access and seen into the realm of the spirit. It is both educational as well as awesome in scope. I have witnessed the operation of the Spirit of God, the angelic, the demonic, and also the human spirit. Do you know what you look like in the spirit? You are a being of overwhelming light. That is why Jesus used the illustration of His followers being the “light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). Many times throughout Scripture, He alluded to the fact that we are beings of light, and when your spiritual eyes are activated you begin to comprehend and understand in a more tangible way exactly what He was saying.

The light that is within us, however, can be darkened. It can be toned down by sins not confessed. It can be hidden in obscurity because we want to “blend in” with the world rather than stand out and become a shining example. That is why it is so vitally important to be quick to repent and apply the blood of Jesus.

I have a friend who was on an airplane once when he had a vision. In the vision, he saw millions upon millions of people as far as the eye could see all wearing the same drab, gray garments. As he tells it, they all appeared depressed, walking with their heads down. The Lord told him they were His people, but they had the misunderstanding that once they had accepted Christ and were saved that was the end of the matter.

The Lord went on to tell him that when the new birth came, He clothed His children in white garments, clean and bright, because their sins had been washed away. As they continued along on their life’s journey, however, unconfessed sin and the cares of this life began to impinge upon them, and their once-white garments became dulled by these compromises and sins.

As the vision continued, the Lord said to him that we have neglected our own responsibility to sanctify ourselves and to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We must be quick to repent when sin is found at our door. We must learn to avail ourselves of a fresh application of the blood as we confess our sins. In this way, our garments remain white and we remain spotless from the world.

Unfortunately, most people do not have enough maturity to take responsibility for their own lives and actions. Just as Adam did, they are quick to point the finger in every direction but themselves, when in truth the easiest way to victory is simply saying, “Father, forgive me.”

The Veil Pulled Back

Continuing on with Mark 9 we find another interesting aspect and something which needs to be addressed. Jesus seems to be talking to the dead—Moses and Elijah (see Mark 9:4). We have all been taught that if you speak to the dead it is “necromancy.” We find the admonition of the Lord against such practices in Deuteronomy:

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord… (Deuteronomy 18:10–12).

So how is it possible that Jesus can do something that appears to contradict Scripture and yet remain without sin? The answer lies in our understanding of what it means to be “dead.”

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses (Colossians 2:13).

Without belaboring the point, we find in the New Testament a distinction between those who have accepted Christ and are now alive in Him and those who are without Christ and dead in their trespasses and sins.

You will notice in the Gospels and later throughout the New Testament that whenever a redeemed individual or a child was “dead” according to the understanding of the world, they were said to be asleep by Jesus or the apostles. The redeemed go from life to Life at the moment of transition from this natural realm to the eternal realm!

So was Jesus committing sin by talking to Moses and Elijah? No, He was communicating with those who were part of the family of God already in glory. I am not saying you should try to interact with those who have gone on! What I am implying is we must understand the reality of both realms of existence. There are seasons when you may have visions of Heaven and speak with those who have gone before us into eternity, but you should not seek these types of experiences. Keep your heart and passion focused upon Jesus. Those who choose to pursue talking with the dead will find themselves being deceived. Understand this: Jesus was not seeking an audience with Moses and Elijah. He was being led of the Spirit and doing what the Father had already shown Him!

The account we find in Luke 9 of the transfiguration has an added insight for us:

And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30–31).

They were not dead; they were more alive than they’d ever been, because they were in glory. They were in their natural state rather than our subnormal state caused by the fall of man in Eden.

One of the things that happen when you begin to interact with the realm of the spirit is you begin to see that the communication is clear and concise and will oftentimes include insight into what is to take place, either immediately or in the future, as was the case in this portion of Scripture with Jesus. He was discussing the events that were about to take place and was gaining insight and revelation from a heavenly perspective. I’d love to know what that conversation was.

But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake they saw His glory, and the two men who stood with Him (Luke 9:32 KJV).

Here is another example of physical, natural people having their eyes opened to behold something supernatural that none of them had ever experienced before. Notice, they received revelation and a word of knowledge immediately as they were seeing this supernatural encounter between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Peter said to Jesus:

Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah (Luke 9:33).

How did they know who Jesus was communicating with? Were Moses and Elijah wearing name tags? Were their names written in flames of fire above their heads?

Again, when you are in that place of interaction with the realm of the spirit, instant knowledge comes. There is a pattern I have noticed throughout the Word of God that shows this principle regarding revelation—visitation, revelation, activation.

Insight Into Intimacy

As we know, revelation can come without visitation, however, seldom if ever do we receive revelation without increased intimacy. Every time we see a visitation in the Bible, there is a release of revelation. That, in turn, activates the group or individual into a deeper and more meaningful walk with the Lord. It can be displayed in greater boldness or authority. It may come with a greater unction and anointing. The visitation and revelation will impact a believer in such a way that they are changed from that moment on and they are activated into a new realm of insight and intimacy.

Referring to our earlier testimony while in Ireland, God began to move in a marvelous way. We were not so much asking the Lord for more as wanting to understand what He was speaking to us in that season. What He said was astounding, and yet it gave a clearer insight for moving forward. He said, “These are birth pangs. I’m preparing My people, in this move of God. I’m strengthening them so they can stand under the weight and Glory of God.”

If we can’t even dip our toe into the river of what God is releasing now, if we can’t run with the soldiers, how can we keep up with the horses (see Jer. 12:5)? We have seen multitudes of people going down under the power and anointing of God, which shows us that when a natural man comes into contact with the supernatural power of God, the human body simply short circuits. There must come a time when we are strengthened to the point where we can stand under a greater weight of glory. If the Glory of God is going to cover the earth like the waters cover the seas, and our response to that Glory is to continually be slain in the Spirit, does it mean everyone is just going to be dropping all over the earth?

So the Lord began to speak to us: “I’m beginning to let you touch the Glory so you may be able to stand in the hour of My visitation upon all flesh.” We are going to be strengthened in the Glory to the point where we can stand in the very atmosphere of Heaven. The Glory of God is the atmosphere of Heaven. The touches of His glory, released to us, prepare us for encountering the Person of Heaven—God the Father!

It’s ludicrous and an absolute travesty how the Church walks around in defeat. It walks around with its head down in depression, oppression, sickness, and disease. We do so because we don’t understand who we really are in Christ. This is one of the major reasons, I believe, the Lord is opening our eyes, bringing us to a place of maturity, and revealing to us the fact that the ability to see into the realm of the spirit belongs to us. We are going to know Him face to face, and we are going to become everything He says we are.

What does see mean? It means see. Don’t change it and make it so mystical it becomes beyond the scope of attainability. Don’t give it other definitions; it means exactly what it says—see. Your birthright is to see clearly into the spirit realm and to know Him face to face. Again, being spiritually blind is more incapacitating than being physically blind. Jesus said:

Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John 1:51).

Seeing His Messengers

You are the Body of Christ; angelic encounters should be a normal Christian experience, not the exception. A word of caution regarding angelic encounters: We don’t worship angels, we don’t command angels, and we don’t ask God to show us angels! Do not enter into this error. A natural by-product of passion for Christ and walking in the realm of the spirit is seeing angels. The most life-changing experience is not seeing angels, but knowing Him face to face! He is to be our magnificent obsession, nothing else.

I’ve walked into many churches where I’ve sensed and seen the angel that has been assigned to that particular church, and I can tell you, oftentimes as soon as I walk in the door and see that angel I know immediately what the condition of the church is.

Remember, visions are an aspect of communication, and as such, a facet of spiritual language which the Lord often speaks through. I have come to understand in my “language” with the Lord that if I see an angel standing there looking bored, that particular church is not accomplishing nor fulfilling its destiny.

I have seen some angels who look like they’re worn out; they have their swords drawn, and they look as if they’ve been sweating. The communication in this case is that particular church has been effective in their commission and vision from the Lord, and the fact the angel looks wearied is due to either warding off the attacks of the enemy or being sent forth to accomplish the Father’s will through the intercessions, prayers, and decrees of the group of believers in that house.

The messengers of God—angels—love to be busy about the Father’s business! We have seen this time and time again, because the Lord wants us to learn through visions and interaction with the spiritual realm to know what is really happening. It is not just “spiritual giants” or prophets who can live and walk in this type of clarity. This is available to every born-again believer. It is our birthright and our inheritance!

I have been fascinated over the last few years to personally hear testimonies from a number of nations regarding children who are being brought into this realm of revelation and interaction with the third heaven. These young children don’t have all of the worldly mindsets to unlearn, nor do they have the religious indoctrination to overcome. There comes forth a purity of heart and expression as they relate their experiences and the communication of Heaven to this generation.

From these pure, unassuming vessels, we are hearing of incredible acts of faith. For unknown reasons, when we met a number of these children a couple years ago, all of them had their first experience at eight years of age. As I sought the Lord about this, I heard Him speak to my spirit, “It is a season of a new beginning.” (The number eight in Scripture speaks of resurrection and new beginnings.) These kids are being caught up into the third heaven and are given the Word of God for their families, churches, regions, and even for the entire Body of Christ. On a number of occasions, after their experience they can quote the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. There is a common theme that has been expressed through every one of them when they share their experiences: He’s coming sooner than we think.

He Is Coming!

On Rosh Hashanah, October 18, 2009, while ministering in Perth, Australia, I had a visitation from the Lord myself. One of the things He said to me was, “Tell My people I come shortly now.” I cannot express in words the yearning in those words. Jesus is longing to see the fullness of His inheritance, the Church, be complete.

I used to work for TBN in television back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That season was one of the most informative and educational in my early Christian life. The experiences and the insight gleaned from the many guests of the nightly “Praise the Lord” show had a profound effect upon my life. At the time I was working there, I was also going to Bible college. Each day I would study in the classroom and learn historical, biblical, and doctrinal truths to help shape and frame my Christian character and give me a better understanding of the Bible. I was gaining a lot of head knowledge, which is a good starting point, but it did not necessarily bridge the gap between head knowledge and intimacy with Christ. There never seemed to be a clear and concise progression from studying about to learning how to apply that knowledge practically.

One of the more profound moments for me was when eschatology was the theme of the show, and Paul and Jan invited such teachers as Hal Lindsey, Hilton Sutton, Doug Clarke, and a host of other guests. There was great discussion regarding the return of Christ, whether it would be a pre-, mid-, or postmillennial rapture or catching away of the Church.

As fascinated as I was, I would get very confused during these discussions! Compelling arguments would be put forth for each view, and logically they all sounded reasonable, and depending on your theology they could all be true and accurate. As a 20-year-old just going through Bible college, I didn’t know what to believe. I thought I had a clear understanding based on what I had always been taught, but when presented with differing views I was not prepared to make a stand based on my own understanding of the Word of God. That was still being formed and shaped in me.

Finally, one day after struggling with my lack of understanding and having a genuine desire to know the truth, I said to the Lord, “This is all so confusing; they all seem to be right in their view until I hear an opposing view, and then each in turn seems to be wrong! How do I know which is the truth—pre-, mid-, or postmillennial catching away?”

The Lord responded to me, “Do you really want to know when I’m coming back?”

I said, “Yes Lord, I do.”

He said, “I’m coming back today.”

I was shocked, and I started to get nervous. “Today?”

He then spoke to me a simple truth that to this day has kept everything in perspective for me: “Yes, today is all anyone has. If you live every day with the expectation of My return, you’ll be fine.”

My Vision

With the understanding now that visions are as much language as the spoken word, let me share with you an experience I had while I was teaching at The Meeting Place in Kettle Falls, Washington, on July 22, 2006. That evening during the worship service, I saw a chariot of fire appear in the room. The horse pulling this chariot was white with blue eyes and was bathed in fire. His eyes shone with a depth of intelligence and understanding that was astounding and, from an earthly perspective, almost frightening. I was able at once to communicate with him. My communication was not in words, but with just a thought I could be understood by him, and he, in turn, could communicate with me in the same manner.

As I finished the session with a prayer of activation, I was led of the Spirit to invite everyone present (about 33 people) to come forward and stand in the chariot. As the people gathered toward the front and closed their eyes, they began to have visionary experiences, some even being caught up into the third heaven. Some were sensing the fire of God to such an extent that one person later said their gum literally melted in their mouth.

I personally was caught up in the spirit and carried away into the stars by means of this chariot of fire. The experience was at once electrifying and at the same time terrifying. As we left the atmosphere of this earth, I saw the halter and the harness vanish from the horse, and he communicated to me, “There is no need of that here.” I was immediately given to know that in Heaven with such creatures communication and trust are a mutual bond of unbreakable love, and there is no need for one to control the other.

I was taken around the rings of Saturn in a flash and then, as we came back toward the Earth, we stopped at a distance of about 30,000 miles or so—enough to see the whole circumference of the globe. (I am guessing at the distance. It was far enough away that I was able to see the world about the size of a very large basketball.)

As I was looking at the earth, I saw a mushroom cloud—a nuclear explosion. I immediately asked the Lord, “Is that America or the Middle East?” The impression that came was that I was seeing the Middle East.

As the mushroom cloud rose into the sky, I immediately saw a clock begin a countdown. While I was looking at this clock, suddenly millions of angels dressed in red surrounded the globe and gazed intently at the earth. I had the impression they were “containing” the hoards of hell, as well as giving silent witness to the last moments of this dispensation on planet earth.

My attention was drawn back to the earth as I saw hundreds if not thousands of souls ascending into Heaven. I knew in my spirit that this was not the rapture, but rather these were the souls of those who had died around the earth during this time of distress.

I decided I wanted to follow the course of one of these individuals as he or she, I couldn’t tell, raced past me on my right. I wanted to know what it looked like on that final journey from the natural realm to eternity with the Lord.

As I turned, I was astounded to see Jesus as depicted in the Book of Revelation, sitting on a white horse with the hosts of Heaven, also on horses, in a skirmish line to the right and to the left of Him. All was silent in that moment and I knew within my spirit we were in the last moments before the return of Christ.

Father, I pray that You would begin to stir in the hearts of those reading these pages. We long to know You face to face, Lord. Your Word states that if we ask You for a fish, You won’t give us a rock, and so right now we ask that You activate this revelation within each individual. Open our eyes to see Father, in Jesus’ name.

Endnotes

1. For more of these types of stories, see Christine Darg, Miracles Among Muslims: The Jesus Visions (Pescara, Italy: Destiny Image Europe, 2007).

2. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, #1492.

3. See E.W. Bullinger, Numbers in Scripture (New York, NY: Cosimo Classics, 2006). Also see Kevin J. Conner, Interpreting the Symbols and Types (Portland, OR: Bible Temple Publishers, 1992).

4. For more insight into the third day, see Bruce D. Allen, Promise of the Third Day (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 2007).

5. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, #3849.

CHAPTER THREE

The Sanctified Imagination: Eyes on Him

In the previous chapters, we shared that it is our birthright to see into the realm of the spirit. This belongs to every believer, not just a few select individuals within the Body of Christ. In this chapter, I am going to talk about an aspect of a promise found in the Word of God seldom if ever taught, and yet it has a direct bearing on our ability to activate our spiritual eyesight. It is so strategic and vital to us as believers, it’s amazing we have never harnessed the power of this truth. As we learn to utilize and apply this revelation, it has the potential to radically change and transform our lives.

How then do we learn to see the Kingdom of Heaven or see into the spirit realm? One of the major keys to beginning to walk in this type of revelation is in Matthew. Jesus said, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).

It’s very plain what Jesus is saying. He considered your imagination reality. In a vision one time, the Lord showed me how He formed and created the heavens and the earth. All of creation began with an image in His mind. He saw it in His imagination. As He meditated and mulled over what He was seeing in His imagination, His thoughts—the images and ideas He had—dropped into His heart, and out of the abundance of His heart He spoke. When He spoke, I saw Jesus, who is the Word of God, go forth, and the Holy Spirit anointed and empowered Him to accomplish what the Father had spoken.

Eyes of the Imagination

Because we are created in the image of God, we operate in the same manner, even if we don’t realize or understand how this works. For example, it is not a sin to have thoughts that are unclean or contrary to Scripture. Thoughts are not the problem. Engaging those thoughts and meditating on them will cause them to drop into your heart where they become sinful attitudes that lead to sinful behavior.

Your mind is the major battleground when it comes to engaging the enemy. He will batter you with thoughts all day long. Some of us have had no victories at all because we haven’t understood this. Some of us have had a few victories, but we get weary in well-doing and fighting the good fight of faith. The fight of faith is not always an outward demonstration; it’s an inward understanding and a tenacious standing on the Word. That is why Paul admonishes us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Cor. 10:5).

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (Ephesians 1:17–19).

What are the eyes of your understanding? Paul is not just talking about understanding as in knowledge and thinking. There are “eyes” associated with knowledge and thinking; however, we are not addressing this particular theme.

There are two basic Greek words that deal with the word mind in the New Testament. The first word is dianoya, which means “imagination.”[1] For example:

Jesus said unto him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind (dianoya)” (Matthew 22:37).

We could then paraphrase this Scripture to read, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your imagination.”

Well, how do I love the Lord with my imagination?

It is like when you are in love with someone. It is natural to continually, if not constantly, “see” them in your imagination—what they looked like at that special moment when the light hit them just so, the look of joy or sorrow on their face during that certain moment, et cetera. When we learn to “see” Him in our minds’ eye, we are fulfilling Scripture.

Let’s try a practical exercise. Close your eyes and picture yourself on a sandy beach with a cold iced tea in your hand as you are looking at the crystal clear blue ocean with the warm rays of the sun gently tanning you to a golden brown. Or for those who prefer the beautiful majestic mountains, picture yourself in a beautiful mountain meadow with spring flowers just coming up. There is an eagle soaring on the air currents and a soft gentle breeze on your face. Can you envision that? If so, you are seeing that place in your imagination. Our imaginations are a powerful gift.

The world often thinks such things are created by the enemy, but the devil has never created or invented anything. He’s a liar and a deceiver from the beginning; he takes facts, twists them to fit his purposes, and then presents it as truth. God gave us this mind. Jesus Himself said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your dianoya.”

The New Dictionary of Theology Volume 3 says when the Greek word dianoya is used in relation to the heart, it always means “imagination.”

Vine’s dictionary says dianoya is a faculty renewed by the Holy Spirit, called imagination. Our imagination must be renewed or sanctified by the Holy Spirit, then it will become a weapon in your arsenal that can be used. The world says, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” That is a statement that is based on the Word of God.

Eyes of the Logical Mind

The second word for mind is dialogisimo, and it means, literally, “to reckon thoroughly, to deliberate by reflection.”[2] It speaks of a logical, reasoning mind. Luke speaks about Mary meeting Gabriel: “And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind (her logical, reasoning mind) what manner of salutation this should be” (Luke 1:29 KJV).

Is the logical, reasoning mind something to be considered contrary to God or wrong? Absolutely not—God gave it to you. Is the imagination wrong? Absolutely not—God gave it to you. The problem arises when we don’t sanctify our imaginations or our logical, reasoning minds! The majority of Christians allow their mind to wander anywhere it wants at any time. As followers of Christ, we need to cast down any thought or imagination that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Cor. 10:5). When we do not do so, we hamper and hinder ourselves in our spiritual growth and our ability to walk in realms of revelation and intimacy available to us through the Cross.

Acts 18:4 refers to Paul, saying, “And he reasoned (dialogisimo) in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.” There are times when we must use logic and reason to reach our audience. Paul was continually going before the leadership, persuading and convincing them that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. There is nothing wrong with using what God gave you! However, if we do not yield our ability to reason with logic to the Holy Spirit and Word of God, we are in danger of misconstruing or misunderstanding the truth revealed only through the Spirit of Revelation. Our logical, reasoning mind must be sanctified.

The devil wants you to misunderstand the use and power of your sanctified imagination. He does not want you to gain insight and revelation concerning the eyes of your understanding or imagination. He does not want the eyes of your dianoya (imagination) to be enlightened. If you properly understand and use the potential of this gift, it will release you to a level of awareness that leaves very little room for the enemy and his time-worn schemes to be effective in your life any longer.

There is a connection between the part of your mind that controls images, pictures, and dreams and your heart. It could be said that to doubt with the heart literally means to doubt with your imagination. Let me give an illustration to help you understand this point. I’ll use an example from my own experience in ministry.

Reality Springs From the Heart

At a meeting where we were ministering, an individual came forward during the altar call and wanted prayer for healing. As we were praying, there was a very strong sense of the anointing going forth into her body—in particular, into the region of the body that needed a touch from the Lord. Her comment was that she had never felt such a strong anointing before when asking prayer for this particular malady.

The problem arose when we were done praying and asked this person what the Lord was doing in her. The only answer given was that she could still see her need for continued assistance through other means. This individual saw herself in her own imagination—still sick, taking her medicine, and going to the doctor. Healing in this case was not affected because she doubted with her heart—her imagination.

To doubt with the heart means to doubt with the imagination. In order for an individual to doubt with the heart, visual images are used. When thoughts are used in conjunction with the heart, it always means using the imagination. God’s Word says that you are healed! If you see yourself as sick, you see it in your imagination. If you see yourself healed, it is in your imagination that you “see” this.

We can express this concept in another way: The heart makes contact with the spirit realm, and the mouth releases the power of that realm; or, the imagination makes contact with the realm of the spirit, and out of the abundance of the heart, you speak into agreement or disagreement with what you are “seeing.”

Most of the Western church has been concerned with the logical, reasoning mind rather than the imagination. The eyes of our imagination should be enlightened, but they haven’t been.

The Greek word for enlightened in Ephesians 1:18 is fotitsmo.[3] It is the same word we derive the word photograph from. As the eyes of our understanding—or our imagination—is enlightened, we are made to see. In other words, as the eyes of our understanding or imagination begin to receive “snapshots” of the Kingdom of God, we are made to see.

I begin this process by setting my affections on things above; I sanctify my imagination and frame pictures of the Kingdom of God in my imagination. As we do this, something supernatural begins to occur. There is a biblical principle that states that what you focus on you will connect with, and when connection comes, activation takes place. When we harness the power of a sanctified imagination, properly framing pictures of the Kingdom in our mind, and we continue to practice and focus on this, we connect and activation takes place. What is the activation that takes place? You move from framing your own pictures to actually seeing into the realm of the spirit with your eyes wide open. I will continue to repeat this principle throughout this book, as well as give examples to better illustrate and help in this activation process (or manifestation) in our lives.

I’ll paraphrase what Paul was praying in Ephesians 1:18 according to the understanding we have of the Greek words: “That eyes of your imagination might receive pictures of the Kingdom of Heaven, so that you might know your destiny.”

The bridge between the soul and the spirit is the bridge of a sanctified imagination, because Jesus considered imagination to be reality. Or we could say it this way: The bridge between the soul and the spirit, between the natural and supernatural, is a sanctified imagination.

If we begin to apply this principle of sanctifying our thought life and framing pictures of the Kingdom of God in our imaginations, something begins to happen. We begin to learn a new “language” that becomes uniquely our language with God. Remember, visions are a language; a picture paints a thousand words. The more we apply this principle, the more fluent we become; and the more fluent we become, the quicker the activation.

In Joshua we see another example:

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success (Joshua 1:8 KJV).

The Hebrew word used for meditate is the word haga which means “to murmur; to ponder, imagine, meditate, mutter or roar.”[4]“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall ponder and imagine therein day and night…” or, “you shall properly frame pictures of the Kingdom day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.”

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Timothy 4:12–15 KJV).

“Imagine properly framed pictures of these things; give yourself wholly to them, that your profiting may appear to all.” It is a whole new context now. The word meditate, remember, is dianoya—to imagine or frame pictures in your imagination. Give yourself wholly to this, and then you will prosper.

Audience of One

When I was in Bible college, I was very shy. You couldn’t pay me to stand in front of an audience. I took failing grades in high school and college because I wouldn’t stand up and give an oral report. I was terrified. But this passion for Jesus was burning in my heart, and I knew I had a calling and destiny in God, and I was desperate to be free of the fear of man.

My dad was saved in October of 1973, and in 1978 he went into full-time ministry. He is a missionary/evangelist and has been used powerfully by God in over 40 nations. He used to go behind the Iron Curtain in the former Soviet Union and into the underground churches throughout those nations. He saw profound miracles, signs, and wonders that were awesome to me when I heard them. All the time I would envision myself doing these same things and more, but I was terrified to stand in front of people.

During Bible college, I had a friend who was working his way through school as a security guard. He worked the night shift, and I convinced him to let me into the school chapel every night. I would stand up on the platform, and I would go through a whole service, from announcements through the benediction. I would worship, preach the Gospel, and sometimes even give an alter call, all the while imagining a room full of people. I did this every night for months, because I had this passion and zeal in me and I knew I had a call of God on my life.

Then one night, my eyes were suddenly opened and I saw every chair filled with an angel. I felt no fear, only a sense of awe, and yet I was filled with a confidence and a peace I’d never known. That night I realized for the first time there was only One audience I was ever to please, and that was the Lord. So I preached my heart out in full confidence before the host of Heaven with many resounding amens to encourage me.

This practice of imagining myself ministering before an audience began to shape and change my character. I would share with others what I was doing and would be told that it was wrong to imagine like this and not at all a Christian posture to take.

Because of this resistance from those I shared with, the logical, reasoning part of my brain kicked in and told me it was just my imagination and it wasn’t right. This battle would rage within me and cause me such turmoil until that night, six months later, when I saw the room filled with angels. All the while I didn’t understand this truth I am sharing with you—that it is OK to frame pictures with my imagination.

Finally, when I had a little more courage and began to minister a bit, the night before I would go to minister I would pray and intercede. I would envision miracles happening and people responding to the message. Surprisingly, none of the meetings ever turned out as I had imagined. The messenger of satan would whisper in my ear, saying, “If you’re trying to imagine it, it’s not going to happen.”

It was easy to buy into that lie, because the empirical evidence consistently agreed with what the enemy would speak to me. So I quit imagining what would take place for fear of ruining any chance I had of seeing those things come to pass before the meeting even started.

I allowed the devil to steal from me for quite a few years one of the strategic tools that God has given us. Then the Lord began to teach me the truth about the power of a sanctified imagination, and I got angry that I had let the enemy trick me for so long. The Word is surely accurate when it states, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hos. 4:6).

When we have people come for healing, the first thing I ask them is, “How are you going to know that you are healed?” I want them to frame a picture. Some of them say, “By faith,” which is excellent, but then I ask if they have pain in their body.

When they say “yes,” I then repeat the question until they reply, “The pain will leave.” I want them to frame a picture in their mind of that pain or infirmity gone and them walking free. Once they see their healing in their imagination, then we pray. Seldom do I ever see someone who has learned to see themselves healed leaving in the same condition as before we prayed. I learned this through revelation and by practice.

The Sanctified Imagination

If you can properly frame a picture in your sanctified imagination, if you can see this Word of God as a reality, you’ll walk in it. God gave us an imagination to use for His glory! Every invention ever created in this world was first conceived in the imagination of someone. It is natural to utilize this faculty in our normal, everyday life. What we have to do is begin to use this same gift in our approach to the supernatural, and we will bridge the gap between the natural and the supernatural.

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do (Genesis 11:6 KJV).

This is a powerful Scripture. It means if I can imagine it, there’s nothing impossible to me. Although true for every human being, remember, we’re talking about the redeemed and a sanctified imagination.

Another interesting Scripture is found in John: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56 KJV). Both the word see and saw are the Greek word edio, which means to “be aware, behold, look on.” Is it biblically possible to see the future? Of course! Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come and would show us things to come (see John 16:13). Not only is it possible to see the future, John on the isle of Patmos was caught away in the spirit on the Lord’s Day and was taken into the future and shown what would happen at the end of the age.

How did Moses survive those 40 years in the wilderness? “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27). The word seeing is the Hebrew word horao, which means “to stare at, to discern clearly either physically or mentally.”[5] Moses survived 40 years on the backside of the desert because he developed an ability to see God face to face, both physically and mentally.

It was the relationship that Moses developed with the Lord during this time that empowered him to endure. How did this relationship start and develop to such an extent that he was seeing the Lord face to face? I cannot give you a definite answer. I can share with you how I have come to that place: It begins with an all-consuming passion for Him, and by building a bridge between the natural and the supernatural of a sanctified imagination.

How do you see something that is invisible? You begin with your imagination. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3). That word mind in Hebrew is yetser. It speaks of the thing framed in your imagination. [6] God will keep the one in perfect peace whose imagination is fixed on Him. From that place of focus, trust comes.

In light of this insight, some other Scriptures begin to take on a new significance: “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith…” (Heb. 12:2). “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2 KJV). “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8). How do we do this? There are times when the Lord sovereignly initiates this process. He speaks, convicts, and woos us; we dream dreams, or He removes the veil and we instantly see. Thank God that occasionally He does break into our lives! I wish He would do it more often. More realistically, however, it is a process that you and I have to persevere in with passion that we may connect and walk in our inheritance.

When the children of Israel came to the Promised Land, it wasn’t the end of their journey. It was the beginning of a whole new aspect of their walk with God. There was a battle looming before them in order for them to secure the Promised Land.

This becomes a picture for those of us who have accepted Christ and entered into our promised land. We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (see Phil. 2:12). Sanctification is a process. Securing our promised land is a process. Entering into the fullness of our inheritance means we’ve got to put some effort in and do something. It is not just an instant utopia. Jesus made a way for us to come before the Throne of God by setting our heart and imagination on the Lord. When Peter walked on the water, the first thing he had to do was get out of the boat. Once he was out of the boat, he was committed. The first thing we have to do is step out of the realm of religion that we have operated in for so long and be committed and don’t go back. The adventure of God is right before you.

Endnotes

1. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, #1271.

2. Ibid., #1260.

3. Ibid., #5461.

4. Ibid., #1897.

5. Ibid., #3708.

6. Ibid., #3336.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Sanctified Imagination:

Activating Adventure

I’ve heard for years people say they are on a “journey” in God. I’ve changed that expression to better fit the reality of this life with the Lord. For me, it’s not a plodding, mundane journey anymore—it’s an adventure. Every day I am discovering new things about God that I didn’t know before, so I live in anticipation and a sense of expectancy. Every day has the potential for a revelation that I’ve never seen before. Every day I have the privilege of seeing the Lord face to face!

My passion in writing this book is that you may also awaken to this revelation and enter into the adventure of discovery I’ve come to know and live. I will make this as simple and understandable as I can, but it will be up to you to put these tools to use and walk in this. I can tell you if you begin to practice these principles, it will drastically change your life, as it did mine. Let me reiterate once again: What you focus on, you will make connection with eventually, and an activation will take place.

There was a brother who, in the mid- to late 1960s, began to get a revelation of this very principle. One day in his meditation and prayer time, the Lord said, “Son, would you just spend time with Me as a friend? I don’t have anyone who will just spend time with Me as a friend. Everyone always comes with a petition, with intercession, with various requests, but they never just want to be with Me for who I am.”

This brother was a very busy man, teaching full time in Bible college as well as ministering on Sundays. His days were full. He thought and meditated about what the Lord had said, not wanting to commit to something without fulfilling it.

He said, “Lord, the only time I have is from 2:00 in the morning to 3:30, but I’ll do it.”

He made a commitment, and he kept his word. So every night at ten minutes till two, he would get up out of bed and go into his sitting room to spend that time with the Lord. He began to practice “properly framing a picture” of Jesus sitting across from him. He wasn’t worried about the accuracy, as you will never get accurate if you don’t try. You never become proficient if you don’t start. So every night, he would sit down and talk to Jesus like a good friend. “How’s your day been Jesus? What do you think about this or that?”

Because Jesus had come to him and asked him to spend time together as a friend, this brother would not only ask questions—small talk—but he would listen to what was on the Lord’s heart that evening. He got to the point that he so enjoyed this time alone with the Lord speaking friend to friend that he would look forward with anticipation each evening to these times alone with the Lord.

One day about a year later, he got up again looking forward to his time with the Lord. As he was sitting down in his arm chair, he heard the back door open and close. At 2:00 in the morning, needless to say, it was a surprise. He heard footsteps walking down the hallway, and into his sitting room walked Jesus, and He sat down in the chair across from this brother.

The Lord said, “Because you were willing to spend this time with Me as a friend, and because you practiced this principle (what you focus on you will eventually connect with, and when you connect, activation will come), from this day forward you will see Me clearly everywhere you go for the rest of your life.”

Take Every Thought Captive

The first time I heard this story was in 2004 at a conference in California. I was so challenged and excited about the possibility of this becoming a reality in my own life that I began to put this principle into action. I would sit down each day in a quiet place and focus my heart and thoughts upon the Lord. I would “frame a picture” of Jesus in my imagination and begin to converse with Him.

Now when you begin to practice this, you discover the human mind is very undisciplined. Most of us can focus on one thing for about eight to ten seconds, then our imagination is off somewhere that we never intended for it to go. As you begin to put this into practice, other thoughts will invade your mind and try to distract you.

Cast these thoughts down and get your focus back on Jesus (see 2 Cor. 10:5). You cannot get weary in well-doing, you cannot and should not get discouraged as you begin this discipline; after all, most of us have lived all of our lives without disciplining our thought life. You can’t undo in a day what you’ve done for most of your life. It takes practice.

As you keep practicing this principle, what you focus on you will connect with and activation will take place. The bridge fromthe natural realm to the supernatural realm is the sanctified imagination. This is a powerful principle found in the Word of God dealing with our thought life that we’ve never harnessed or used in the way God intended.

When I was first saved at the age of 14, I would read the Bible and it would put me to sleep within five minutes. I literally got nothing out of it. It was like a foreign language to me. The one thing I did know was my spirit was being fed, but I could not glean anything from my King James Bible that my natural mind could really grasp and understand.

Then one day when I was 17, I read the book Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers. There was a prayer in the back that said if you want the baptism in the Holy Spirit, just pray the prayer they had in the book. So I went into my bedroom, knelt down beside my bed, and prayed the prayer in the book. Immediately, I started speaking in tongues. Just as quickly, reason tried to tell me that it was just me; I’ve heard others doing it and I was copying them. So that’s what I started to think.

The next day I went to a Full Gospel businessmen’s luncheon with my dad. I said I really wanted the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues because it’s in the Word. The men that day gathered around me, laid their hands on me, and told me to start saying whatever began to come forth out of my innermost being. I was shocked because what came out was the same thing I heard myself speaking the night before!

I realized I had been tricked! Every time I would pick up the Bible and begin to read, I would fall asleep. Finally, after about two years of that, the Lord said to me, “Well, who do you think doesn’t want you to read the Bible?”

After thinking about it, I picked up my Bible, started reading, and said, “devil, if you make me tired, I’m going to readanother chapter. If you continue to make me tired, I’m going to read the whole book!” Amazingly, it never happened again. I have never had a problem since then in studying and reading the Bible.

I Want That!

That is an example of how the Lord has introduced me to much of what I have learned in the Word. I’ve had to take my promised land. So I started reading the Word with determination, knowing my spirit was being fed yet not having much comprehension. When I was filled with the Holy Spirit, all of a sudden it was as if a light came on! The Scriptures were filled with life and revelation.

It was during this time as I was reading that the Lord brought me to Jeremiah. He spoke to me through this verse, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5).

I started asking my pastor and others what that meant. Some would say I would be a pastor, some a missionary, others would say I would be an evangelist—nobody had a paradigm for being a prophet in the seventies. So I was confused, because no one knew exactly what it was. I kept meditating upon that Scripture, and something began to stir within me. I began to believe that anything was possible, and if the Bible spoke about it, I wanted it. As I would read through the Bible, I would come across stories that would spark my zeal and imagination. For instance, I read how Enoch walked so closely with God that he was taken to be with God (see Gen. 5:24). I thought, “Lord, You’re no respecter of persons; wherever the next place is in line, sign me up.”

I started reading different stories in the Bible and telling God, “I want that!” until I started believing it. I began envisioning myself walking in the very same supernatural atmosphere as the patriarchs of old. Then one day I came to Second Corinthians:

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (2 Corinthians 12:1–4).

That was Paul speaking, and when I read that passage of Scripture I was immediately challenged in my spirit! I loudly declared that, because God was not a respecter of persons, I wanted to walk in that and I would! My passion had long since become a desire to experience God, not to just hear about God. At an early age, I started framing pictures in my imagination of all these things, and then one day something shifted.

Visitation

In April of 1989, I was at a very low point in my life—a season of brokenness. I was staying at a friend’s home in San Angelo, Texas. He and his wife pastored a church, and each evening I would go to the church to spend time alone with the Lord in prayer and worship. On a Saturday evening at 1:00 in the morning, I had my first vision of and visitation from Jesus.

That first time I didn’t see Him with the greatest of clarity, but I knew it was Him! He came with an alabaster vase filled with an anointing oil, and He poured it over my head. Immediately I was covered from head to foot with what felt like honey in its consistency. There was an overwhelming peace and a balm that soothed my hurting soul, and the love of Jesus literally and tangibly enfolded me as if I were being embraced by God Himself.

That night I started on a new adventure in God! My eyes had been opened, and I had seen the Lord! I would never be satisfied with anything less than that type of face-to-face intimacy again. What I had declared for so many years had now begun—I started seeing. At first it wasn’t consistent, as I didn’t understand these principles then, but I kept pursuing God.

When you have tasted of the good things of the Lord once, you’re hungry forever. I discovered this truth that night—the more I learn, the less I know, and the hungrier I get. The more I saw into the spiritual realm, the more desperate I became to continue in that venue.

In my pursuit of God, I learned the principles I’m sharing with you here. Once I had grasped these, I continued to practice with more fervency, and the reality of what I was seeing and experiencing became more and more real to me. As I spent time focusing on the Lord, I would revisit that first time I saw Him with that alabaster vase. I now had a reference point, and then I would frame that picture and look at it over and over again in my imagination.

It wasn’t long before I had another visitation, and as I continued to practice these insights I’m sharing with you, these encounters became more the norm than the exception in my life. I wasn’t born with what has been termed a “seer” ability like some people; it took me time and a heart of passion. My wife and I have friends in ministry who get 3D, full-color pictures or movies going on when they have a prophetic word for someone. They thought that was the norm for every Christian! Not so; I had to practice to get to that point. Thank God by His grace I stumbled my way through much of this until He gave clarity through the understanding of the Word.

So then I had two instances from which I could frame pictures, and then came three. Pretty soon I had a catalog of visual images to call on. After that, something shifted.

It especially occurred when this truth crystallized in my understanding. I would properly frame the picture of Jesus, and I would make it a purposeful everyday discipline of at least ten minutes minimum per day. I would use the frame of reference I had from my previous experiences to frame a picture of Jesus until something happened about three years ago.

Visions

We were holding a conference in Seattle—my friend André Ashby, my dad Ed Allen, and me. On this particular night, I was ministering and André was sitting with my dad on the front row. After the service, André said he had seen a purple orb behind me on the wall—just a flash of purple. Then he saw this same orb right next to me as I was ministering.

What he had no way of knowing was that while I was teaching, at the same time he was seeing orbs I had an unusual experience on the platform. I saw movement out of the corner of my right eye, and as I turned to see what was there, there stood Jesus! He was about 6 feet 2 inches, wearing a white garment with a purple mantle over it.

This “vision” was so real and with such clarity, I was surprised that everyone wasn’t seeing Him as I was. His appearance was so crystal clear that words fail me in trying to express how tangibly real this was. My eyes were finally opened to an extent which I’d never had them open before. I was absolutely undone!

In our ministry training center, we have a principle that we use especially in our classes dealing with visions, dreams, and visitations: Test every spirit every time! No matter who or what it looks like, even if it appears to be Jesus, you test every spirit every time.

The test is found in First John:

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (1 John 4:2–3).

Before I could even frame the question, Jesus “spoke.” He held out His hands, and I saw the nail scars. Then He turned to me and He smiled. To this day words fail me. It was and still is inexpressible! It was as if the light of a million suns had just focused on me in all their brilliance, and the unfathomable love that was coming from His eyes—the expression, the majesty, the glory, the wisdom—it was every descriptive word you can think of! Need I even say how my life has never been the same since?

His Presence

From that day until this, I have seen Him very clearly and quite frequently. Let me give you just one example. While ministering in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in 2008, we had an unusual evening. This was the first time I saw the Lord enter the meeting since that day in Seattle. Immediately I “tested” the spirit to ascertain if I was seeing the Lord or an impostor.

Once it was affirmed that who I was seeing was truly Jesus, I asked Him, “Lord, what do You want to do?”

He replied, “I don’t want you to pray for the people tonight. I want you to invite them to enter My presence, and I want to minister to them.”

Let me explain. When He said He wanted them to enter His presence, He meant for them to literally come to the front and step into His presence!

I shared this with the gathering and we formed a line, and one by one each individual came forward and stood right where I was seeing Jesus stand. As they would enter into His presence, the most unusual things began to happen. Some were so touched by the power of His presence that they literally had to be carried back to their seats. On a number of occasions, I saw Jesus lay his right hand upon their heads and speak a blessing over them. One individual was delivered right on the spot, and there were a number of healings, all in an attitude of quiet reverence and obedience to what the Lord had instructed.

Last but not least, the pastor, who had been helping with the people as they came forward, stepped up and said, “I’m not going to be left out!”

As I showed her exactly where Jesus was standing, she moved “into” His presence and immediately fell under the power of His presence. After a number of minutes during which the Lord had knelt down and ministered to her, she got up and said to us in astonishment, “Look, I’ve lost four inches off my waist!” This same scenario of Jesus appearing and inviting those present to enter His presence has played out in a number of services in a similar fashion on various occasions.

Tuning Into Heaven

You and I are like radio tuners. We’re tuned in to this natural realm because we set our “frequency” to interact with this realm. As the redeemed, however, we have the ability to tune in to a much higher frequency—that of the spirit realm. Because of my television background, when the Lord gave me this illustration a number of years ago I immediately understood what He was saying. I am the one who chooses which “frequency” I want to be attuned to. I can continue operating in the lower spectrum, the natural realm, or I can learn to fine tune my “receiver” and connect with the frequency of the spirit realm. In Christ, I have the capacity of the full bandwidth of Heaven.

With this understanding, as I have traveled and ministered around the world I have learned to change my frequency and tune in to the realm of the spirit, and all of a sudden I am seeing in two realms: the realm of the Spirit and the natural realm. Depending on what the Lord is saying at that moment, I can see the angelic, I often see Jesus standing next to me desiring to communicate with me, and I also see the condition of people where we are ministering.

Let me share an instance where the understanding of tuning in to a higher frequency affected my life and changed my understanding of how the angels of God function. I was asked to teach in a week-long school of ministry in Tum Tum, Washington, just east of Spokane. During the week, I was to teach on the subject I am sharing in this book—Gazing Into Glory.

Because it was a week-long course and I was teaching, my spiritual senses were on “high alert,” or finely tuned in to what the Lord may want to reveal. On the first evening, immediately after the worship as I stood up to teach, I saw a myriad of angels from every point of the compass arriving at the retreat center we were at.

My first response to such a large gathering was to immediately ask the Lord, “Father, what is going on? What are You saying? There are far too many angels to individually ‘test’ each one!”

The Lord responded, “This is of Me.”

As I stood in front of the group of people, looking out the windows in fascination, suddenly a very powerful and majestic angel arrived. He was noticeably different from all the others, and so I inquired of the Lord, “Lord, who is that?”

The Lord responded to me, “That’s Michael, the archangel.”

I was in awe and immediately thought, “We are going to see some warfare this week!”

I continued to gaze out the window, and in a few moments, amidst the multitudes of angels still arriving, another very majestic angel appeared. His hair was golden in color and shone as if on fire and his eyes were a piercing blue.

Again I asked the Lord, “Who is that?”

The Lord responded, “That is Gabriel, the archangel.”

I was absolutely dumbfounded. I had never heard of both Michael and Gabriel appearing in any one place at the same time outside of the courts of Heaven! Nor had I ever thought or hoped to ever see them for myself!

My immediate thought upon hearing it was Gabriel was, “We are going to have prophetic proclamation this week!”

It was fascinating to watch as these messengers of God would greet one another as old comrades who have not seen each other in some time. There was a shared intimacy and a sense of freedom in their relationships with one another. It was unlike most relationships we know on earth where we erect barriers and false façades to protect ourselves. I was at once impressed and at the same time jealous of such freedom and intimacy. There was great joy among them, and I also sensed an air of anticipation among them as they would occasionally glance into the room where we were.

Eventually I had to do the teaching session, as I was the only one “seeing” at that time. Throughout the evening, I kept wondering what was going on; what did the Lord have in store? As I went to sleep that night, still watching the host of Heaven interacting and greeting one another as long lost friends, my mind kept inquiring as to what the Lord was up to.

The next morning I found out that a friend, Dr. Flo Ellers (author of Activating the Angelic published by Destiny Image), was going to be teaching starting that evening on the angelic! Now my antenna was really up!

Throughout the week, I watched these angels as the Word was taught and in particular during the worship, as they really know how to enter into His presence with worship! On the last evening, Dr. Ellers gave an assignment to the group. She had five prayer points that she would read off one by one. As she read each point off, we would all pray in tongues until there was a release. The reason was because the messengers of God, the angels, hearken to the voice of God, not to man, and so we would pray in our heavenly language as it is the Spirit praying through us, not we ourselves. In doing this, the Lord would send His messengers to accomplish His word.

As she mentioned the first prayer focus, I began to pray in the Spirit. What was unusual was the Lord gave me a new angelic tongue at that moment. Immediately as I prayed, about a dozen angels responded and came over to where I was sitting. Before me was a map, and I began to relate to them, by the Spirit in this new language, a strategy as to how they were to attack and overcome in the skirmish they were being sent into.

Interestingly enough, I understood everything I was saying! When I had finished giving them their instructions I said (in tongues), “Go!” As I said that in my prayer language, Dr. Ellers, not knowing what had just taken place, said, “OK, we’ve prayed through on that one; let’s move on to prayer focus number two.”

During all five of those prayer assignments I received a new angelic language, which at the time I understood, and I went through the same process with a team of angels who were to be instructed on what their target was and how they were to approach each battle. In all five instances, when I had finished giving those instructions and told each cadre to “go,” Dr. Ellers felt the release and we would move on to the next assignment.

That experience changed the way I understand the function of ministering angels. It also made me aware of the fact that we labor together as servants of God to accomplish His will in the earth. What comfort and tremendous confidence to know these ministering spirits are there to minister to us and for us! We should never seek a visitation from an angel, nor should we worship angels. Our focus must remain upon God. As I said before, a natural outflow of our relationship with Him is the ministry of His angels in our lives.

Wicked Imaginations

These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:16–19 KJV).

When we don’t sanctify our thought life and those thoughts are contrary to the Word of God and the heart of God, they’re wicked imaginations. God hates that. Why? Because He gave us a creative ability. He gave us a tool within us called an imagination. If we learn how to sanctify, harness, and use it for the purpose that God intended, we could change the world around us. We could change everything about our life. We could influence and change our cities and our nations.

I will give you an example of the other side of this principle of “what you focus on, you will connect with, and activation takes place.”

A pastor in Australia had a young family that grew up in his church. The son of this family was a normal young boy until he got into high school. Something began to change in him that caused concern. In his history class, he began to study the history of the Second World War, Germany, and the rise of the Third Reich. He became fascinated with Adolf Hitler. He was so fascinated with him that he went out and purchased a poster of him, which he hung in his bedroom.

His admiration verged on idolatry, as he would spend time simply gazing at the image of this man who had captured his imagination. One Sunday morning he went to church, and everyone noticed he was different. His demeanor had changed, his clothes were different, his attitude had changed, and he had shaved off all of his hair. During the message as the pastor was speaking, he stood and walked toward the pastor, speaking and cursing in fluent German. Interestingly, he had never learned German.

The pastor had the presence of mind to say, “I bind that thing in the name of Jesus. Now, speak to me in English; who are you?”

The demon replied, “I am one of the 6,000 demons that was in Adolf Hitler.”

That morning they had a deliverance service and cast that legion of demons from that young man, and he was set free. What exactly happened that opened the door for this young man to become demonized? In his adulation of this historic figure, he became transfixed on him. What he focused on, he connected with, and activation took place; in this case, he became possessed. What we focus on, we will connect with. Get that in your heart. Whatever you focus on, something is going to be imparted, and activation will take place.

Why not focus on Him? Set your affection on the things above.

CHAPTER FIVE

Walking the Talk

I used to be so confused about how to walk this Christian walk, constantly beseeching the Lord to give me understanding so I could become like what the Word of God said I was. If you study the Scriptures, you will find the Lord actually shares with us what we should think about and what we should not think about. He iterates and tells us what to speak and what not to speak. Jesus shares with us how to pray and how not to pray. He touches upon the whole spectrum of human experience and gives us directions for all of it, yet we remain in confusion, continuously pleading with Him about the how tos of our Christian walk. Read the Bible; it tells you. Whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely, of good report, being of virtue, being of praise—think on those things (see Phil. 4:8).

The Word Is Our Source

Too often, we focus our attention on things we shouldn’t, and we neglect those things that should have our focus and attention. What I’m saying is the bridge between the natural and the supernatural is a sanctified imagination. As I properly frame pictures in my imagination of the Kingdom of God, eventually I will connect with the Kingdom, and my eyes will be opened. I went through this process of framing sanctified pictures until activation took place and my eyes were opened. I saw Him as clearly as I can see anyone else. We always have to go back to the standard of the Word. Always. What I’m trying to bring out to you right now is something that is clearly taught in the Word. This is how it operates, how we connect; this is how it works. If we put the Word of God to practice in our lives, something transpires that causes us to come into a new realm of intimacy and revelation with God.

We start with the Word and end with the Word. In between we practice the Word, and God brings us to a place of destiny and our inheritance. It is your birthright to see! That has been given to you because of the sacrifice of Jesus. According to the Word of God, if you’re born again, you have the right, the ability, and the privilege to see into the spirit realm with your physical as well as your spiritual eyes. What I’m sharing are some of the tools and revelation that God has given in this journey of discovery. This took me years to elucidate as revelation was received line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way for everybody. There is an acceleration taking place right now. What once took years is only taking days now as we fast approach the end of the age.

For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:13–14 KJV).

That word exercise literally means “practice.” They practiced using their spiritual senses until they were able to rightly discern both good and evil. What are our senses? Touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing, our sanctified imagination, and our logical, reasoning mind. How do we practice and exercise? We asked before—how many of you have felt the anointing? Your senses were engaged with a supernatural phenomenon. How many of you have walked into a room, and a couple of people have just had an argument, and you don’t hear it but you can feel that they just did. How did that happen? There was an atmosphere created, you sensed a spiritual phenomena with your natural senses. That can and should be the norm for a Christian.

How many of you have been in a meeting where you have smelled the sweet fragrance of a rose when you know there is no natural stimuli for such a scent? It’s beautiful. How is it that you do that? That’s a supernatural phenomenon, but you’re engaging a natural sense.

Touching Angels

I have an acquaintance who I have come to greatly respect. When I had first heard about him, I wondered if he was New Age. Paul was an American Baptist pastor who, in 1989 according to his theology at the time, had believed that there was no such thing as healing, demons, hell, or any of that. One day someone who was demonized came into his church, and he was face to face with something there that wasn’t supposed to be! The Lord began to teach him about the reality of the spirit realm, and he began to go through a process of discovery. He began to press into the Word of God to find out how to deal with individuals who were demonized, and God began to give him revelation.

The way Paul began to operate was not in seeing, smelling, or hearing; it was by touch. He could sense the anointing, the angelic, curses, and the demonic because God so fine-tuned his sense of touch that he literally could interact with the supernatural by extending his hand and touching in that realm.

The first time we met we were ministering together in Minneapolis. I decided that morning to go to his workshop and see what he was all about, as I had heard about the powerful way in which the Lord used him. Wanting to be unobtrusive and just observe, I sat in the back of the room.

He began by asking, “How many of you have ever felt an angel?” No one replied, so he asked for a volunteer. A young lady came forward, and he told her to put her hand out. He told her if she was right-handed to use her left hand, and if she was left-handed use her right, the principle being God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. He told her there was an angel right next to them. I was watching and saw him patting the angel’s back as the angel was looking at me. God was speaking to me, saying that this was just as valid a gift as seeing. As Paul continued and explained what he was feeling, I could see the angelic activity and he never missed. He pointed out and touched angels all around the room, and I could see them as he did it; it was amazing. I was launched into a new realm of revelation. After that, I began to engage my sense of touch and practice with that just as I had with my ability to see.

We went out to dinner that night, and we talked about his understanding and ability to “touch.” Suddenly he said, “Did you feel that?” I looked around, and neither seeing nor sensing anything, I said I hadn’t. He seemed surprised. The Lord told me to look at my watch. We were five miles from the conference, and at the precise moment he felt something in the spirit, the worship had just started at the conference! I was awestruck.

We should be so attuned to the realm of the spirit that this is the norm. Not only seeing, hearing, and tasting, but touching. We have spiritual senses, but we don’t exercise them like we should. The human mind in the hands of God is a very powerful instrument. It is a gatekeeper to the realm of the Spirit.

Nothing Is Impossible

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind (imagination) by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled (Colossians 1:21).

We’ve always read that as “enemies in your mind,” but no—it’s the imagination. You can be the enemy of God in your imagination because you never harness it and use it for its intended purpose. It is a creative tool in the hands of God. If you yield that tool and sanctify it, a whole new arena of possibility opens to you.

Why do you think so many creative ideas are being released to believers in this generation? Because He is opening our understanding to the truth of the Word, and when we sanctify our imagination the Lord can begin to deposit in us revelation from the Throne of God which we can activate in this natural realm. When He does, it is going to change the way we live, the way we think, and the way we see things. This is the possibility of God for each one of us.

It can be both humorous as well as sad when Christians glibly quote the Word of God without understanding. I’ve heard many say, “I have the mind of Christ.” While that is a truth from Scripture, I want to shout out, “Really? Start using it!” We hear others proclaiming, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” Well, get up off your blessed assurance and do something! Sometimes we can be far too disingenuous (insincere) about the quoting of the Word, puffing out our chests as if we’ve done something profound. Again, walking in the Word is more than just quoting the Word as if it is a conjuration formula (invoking spirits) that will magically cause the desired result. Faith without works is dead! We can quote Scripture all day long, but if we don’t put some shoe leather to it the end result will be the same.

Let me make a disclaimer here: I believe in memorizing Scripture and quoting the Word of God. I do it frequently. I am not trying to minimize that. What I want us to understand is that we must do more than just quote Scripture. We must apply the Word by what we speak, what we think, and what we do. At that point, it becomes reality in us and through us.

If I have the mind of Christ, nothing is impossible. When God made you, He had a reason for your mind. (Imagine that!) Sometimes the Lord sovereignly opens the Spirit realm to you, and it’s totally spontaneous. Thank God for those moments because they birth a hunger in us.

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

Imagination. Dianoya. This is the first and great commandment. The first commandment with a promise is to love the Lord your God with all your imagination. How do I do that? I sanctify it and put it to its intended use.

Luke 12:29 says, “Do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind (imagination).” How do you define an anxious imagination? When I am always seeing defeat instead of victory, when I am always seeing lack instead of abundance, when I am always seeing sickness instead of health and healing, I have an anxious imagination.

When we read newspapers and books—both fiction and nonfiction—pictures are framed in our imaginations. In the same way, when we read the Bible it is automatic that we start framing pictures in our imagination about what we are reading. We must learn to frame the right images within our imaginations at all times.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind (imagination), and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Ephesians 2:1–3).

Once we are redeemed, if we continue to allow our imaginations to revisit and dwell on anything that is unclean and contrary to Scripture, we once again fulfill the desires of the imagination and come under the curse of the children who are subject to wrath. Do you understand that when we have an unsanctified imagination and allow it to wander anywhere it wants to go, we are flirting with becoming children of wrath? We need to be wary so we are not in the wrong place, apart from holiness and purity. We must learn to harness this principle of the sanctified imagination in order to move forward into the fullness of the promise of His Word.

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind [imagination], be sober, and rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13).

Gird up the loins of your imagination—sanctify it, put it to use the way God intended—then you can rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. How are you going to get the revelation? Sanctify the imagination. The other way is when we are told to approach God and come before His throne of grace and enter into the presence of grace. If you start to practice approaching the Lord with the eyes of your imagination and your understanding, spontaneity will happen more often.

Exercise

If you have ever heard of or read about Brother Lawrence in Practicing the Presence of God, you would find this is exactly what he practiced. He would set his heart and his mind continually on the Most High all day long. Whatever he was doing, his heart and mind were focused on Jesus. He said as you first begin to put this into practice, don’t get discouraged when your mind wanders; it’s unruly and undisciplined. He said that he didn’t get discouraged or downhearted when in the process of this discipline; he would just bring his mind back to focusing on the Lord. Sometimes during his early years of practicing the presence of God, his mind would wander for 15 or 20 minutes at a time, and each time he caught himself allowing this, he would bring his thoughts back to the Lord and thank Him for His continued grace in disciplining His thought life.

Don’t get discouraged that you’re not proficient; practice makes proficient. Fairly soon, your thought life begins to be transformed. After a time, Brother Lawrence began to walk in profound revelation and intimacy with the Lord and the leaders of his day would come to him for counsel, for insight on the Word of God, and for understanding about who God is. He was developing such intimacy that it was noised abroad that Brother Lawrence knew God face to face, as a friend, just as Moses did.

How would you like to be known as the person in your region who knows God face to face? The church in this season is going to be known as the people who know God face to face.

You will finally get to the place where every time you come before the Lord you will literally be there before His Throne. How? By reason of use—exercising your senses. There is an old saying regarding the Word of God which basically states that if you’ve been there once, you have access again. When we teach this course, I specifically have the individuals attending begin to engage the realm of the spirit by affixing their heart and imagination on God. The majority of the time there is a divine release and people start having visions. Some people have even had a third heaven experience. Purposefully, I interrupt them and say, “Stop! Now open your eyes.”

Usually they look at me in bewilderment or annoyance because they have finally engaged the supernatural in a way they have always wanted to and I made them stop! The point of the exercise is to demonstrate to them that they can re-engage and access the eternal realm again. There is no time in that realm! It is not unheard of to have an unfolding experience over the course of many days and even, at times, over a lifetime.

It’s important to understand “reason of use.” We have our senses exercised by reason of use. The renewed man reflects the reality of the Kingdom of God, and a bridge is established. If we’re going to interact with the realm of the Spirit on a continual basis, at some point in our Christian experience we are going to have to see. Some people might say, “Wait a minute. I’ve been interacting with the realm of the Spirit through prayer and preaching and so on.” I’m talking about a different level of maturity in Christ, of activation into the destiny that you have. What God is doing today is allowing us to interact with the realm of the Spirit unlike any other generation that’s come before. There have been men and women throughout history who have paid the price and pressed through into this place of intimacy with God. There has never been a generation of believers, a corporate Body that has taken hold of this revelation and walked in this.

What will happen as God’s people begin to walk in the fullness of this revelation and we begin to model Heaven on earth? What will happen when we begin to interact and walk in two realms simultaneously as mature sons and daughters of God? The world has never seen the like.

Ambassadors of Christ

There are foreign ambassadors to the United States whom the United States is getting a little discouraged and disheartened about, because the cost of supporting them is becoming a strain on this nation. There is the cost of housing, medical and dental coverage, transportation, the various staff members each embassy requires, as well as a host of other expenses. Is this the truth?

No, it is not. When a foreign ambassador enters the compound where his or her embassy is, they have in effect stepped onto their own soil—they are now on the sovereign property of their own nation. Not only that, the host country does not support any foreign ambassador, nor do they pay any of the overhead or upkeep of their embassies. The government whom they represent covers and pays for every expense that is incurred by each embassy in each nation where they have a presence. There are times when each ambassador is allowed to go home on furlough and visit his friends and family. Because he has a diplomatic passport, he doesn’t have to go through the usual screening that regular passport holders have to endure.

However, we are ambassadors of Jesus the Messiah! Our source of supply is not of this world. The Sovereign whom we represent and His Kingdom bear the burden of our support! He supplies all of our needs according to His riches in glory (see Phil. 4:19). We have a diplomatic passport, as it were, because we are ambassadors. It is the Lord who opens every door that I am supposed to walk through, and He closes every door that I’m not. By the way, as a believer of Jesus Christ who has citizenship in Heaven, I can go home on furlough once in a while and visit. Where’s that in the Word?

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven… and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (2 Corinthians 12:2,4).

In John 14:12 Jesus said the works that He does we can do also, and greater works than these can we do because He has gone to the Father. We are also seated together with Him right now in heavenly places. First John 4:17 says, “…as He is, so are we in this world.”

There are many passages of Scripture we could look at that would identify who we are and what belongs to us now, but what I’ve shared should suffice. Where is He? He is there. That means what He’s doing right there—interceding, preparing a place, and interacting with that realm—I can do. That’s the Word of God. If you’ve never heard that before, then that’s good, you’re in the right place. I’m here to provoke you. Get out of the box that we’ve created for ourselves with religion and tradition; get into the Word and let God breathe life.

Pressing In

One of the major obstacles to overcome is this: Most people can only focus on any one thing for no more than 12 or 13 seconds at a time before their mind begins to wander off. If you don’t believe it, give it a shot. Right now, close your eyes, frame a picture of Jesus, and focus. See how long you can keep that focus.

We must have discipline, and we grow in discipline as we continue to practice. Pretty soon the mind says, “Fine, it’s easier not to fight it; let’s just do it.” Focus is a real problem. The concept of the mind aiding the Spirit is very important. As you worship or pray, you must focus your mind on the Lord and the things of the Spirit. Once that flow is established—once you’ve practiced enough to let this become operative in your life—you get to the inspirational flow. This is how the mind (imagination) is used to help you connect to the realm of the Spirit—it builds the bridge.

I have a dear friend who is living in Florida now who would often be visited by prophetic ministers. He said whenever one of them came to his house, they would gravitate toward and sit in the same corner, saying, “There is an open portal here.” They’d just sit there and meditate on the Lord. They would have visions and receive revelation consistently.

I asked my friend if I could come over and experience this same open heaven. When he said yes, I came and sat in the same chair as these seasoned men of God had done. At first as I was focusing my heart and mind on the Lord I was having difficulty concentrating and being still, but I persevered. I thought if those prophetic men of God said there was something here, I’m staying here until I connect with the Lord!

My friend would just laugh at me and say, “Go ahead, I’ll leave you alone.” I sat there for over an hour telling my mind to keep focused, when all of a sudden I began to see light. That was unusual to me at the time, so I opened and closed my eyes to “clear the data banks” and make sure it was not just me. When I closed my eyes again I was still seeing the same thing; it was the exact same picture.

I thought, “OK, I’m beginning to engage something; I’m going to push through.” As I continued to focus my heart and mind on the Lord, this light got brighter and brighter until it was what looked like veils beginning to be stripped away. Finally, I was able to see something. It was as if I were in a forest looking through the branches into an open sunny meadow.

Suddenly, I got the shock of my life! I pressed through the “forest” and I stood upon a plain overlooking the City of God. I was in absolute awe, not only at what I was seeing, but at how this whole process took place.

I got up from the easy chair and walked around, thinking it may have been a fluke or just my own imagination at work because I wanted to experience the Lord. After some time I went and sat down again. Remember the statement I made? If you’ve been there once, you have access again. This time, it didn’t take an hour of pressing through veils of flesh and reason; I instantly saw the same vision again.

I thought to myself, “In the natural realm, if I’m in a wide open space like this, I have the ability to look about me in 360 degrees.” So I started looking around and I discovered I was able to engage that realm in more than 360 degrees. It was absolutely astounding!

I got up and walked around again, trying to make sense of what I was experiencing. I kept going through this same routine for a week, wondering if it was really happening or if it was just me. Every time I’d sit down again in that chair, I was right back in that vast open space, which I now know as paradise, looking toward the City of God.

I thought, “Lord, I’m experiencing something, but You have to show me where this is in Your Word.” An experience without a biblical basis is a deception about to spring forth. Many people come out with these profound experiences which are not based in the solid Word of God. All such experiences must be viewed with caution and discernment. Better yet, if you just take your time, meditate on it, and get in the Word of God, you can prove or disprove if it is real or not. That is wisdom.

I’ll also say this: The man with the experience is never at the mercy of the man with the theology. You can tell me supernatural experiences and third heaven revelation such as I’m describing are not biblical or not for today. My answer is simple: Not only are such experiences biblical and for today, the Word of God is replete with examples of others having similar experiences! I’ve literally been there, done that, and I have the Word to prove it!

I continued to search the Scripture and prayed to the Lord to continue giving me insight into what the Bible has to say in this regard. I kept practicing, and that’s when He took me to Genesis 28 in respect to the law of first mention. We are none other than the house of God and the gateway of Heaven (see Gen. 28:17). We can see the angels of God ascending and descending, and we can talk with Him face to face.

What then clouds our perspective and blocks our sight? Flesh, pride, a religious spirit, unbelief—we can go down the list. There are times when the things the Lord begins to show you are not to been shared with anyone; they’re personal. On the other hand, when He does communicate, it will usually be for the benefit of others as well as yourself.

Communicating His Word

There is a prophet who is well known in the United States who has developed his own “language” with God, which is valid. One of the ways he knows the gifting of an individual when you come forward for prayer is rather unique—if you’re an apostle, his thumb will twitch. If you’re a prophet, his index finger will twitch. Other fingers mean different things, but when you hear him say, “My index finger is twitching; you’re a prophet,” immediately you’ll think, What in the world is this?

My sister heard something like that and thought it was New Age, but I said no, that’s just a lack of communication. The “language” he has developed with the Lord is a valid language. Understand, God says, “This is how you’re going to know when I have someone in front of you who has a certain calling. This is our language.” Rather than saying, “My finger is twitching,” he could say, “The Lord is speaking to me, and this is what He’s saying. You have a calling from God on your life, and this is what it is.”

He has a valid language; however, it must be presented in such a way that people are not put off, but rather are able to accept the message as it was intended. I could look at you and say, “You have an angel standing behind you doing this, that, and the other,” but why don’t I just tell you what God is saying? It’s just as valid but more presentable, and people can receive it instead of that other spooky spiritual stuff. Because visions are language, we must be able to communicate the truth and revelation the Lord is presenting to us in a palatable manner so others may be able to receive insight and be blessed. Otherwise, apart from our own benefit, it serves no purpose.

To activate, ask the Holy Spirit to help you frame a picture and start there. As you practice, clarity comes because the activation takes place in the midst of your practice, and then your eyes will be open to see Him clearly. We all have our own place to start because all of us have a unique language with the Lord that we’ve developed over the years, so every one of us is going to have a different picture to begin with. Does that mean it’s not valid? No. Our individual ideas of what Jesus looks like are just as valid a starting point as what another may conceive Him to look like. Don’t be concerned about starting with the perfect image to begin with. Remember—focus, connection, activation.

Looking Into the Mirror

We begin by applying the blood of Jesus. Nothing contrary to the word, heart, and will of the Father can cross the blood line. I believe in the power of God. Every voice that is not of God will be stilled. I have to come trusting and believing that my Father in Heaven, who says this is my inheritance and destiny, will bless me, because according to the Scripture if I ask Him for a fish He is not going to give me a stone. I have to trust Him.

We’re in a place right now that is healthy, because the Father delights to give His children the Kingdom. As His children, we ask and begin to operate in what belongs to us (what He says is ours in the Word). He is pleased and excited for us, just as an earthly Father is excited for his children when they begin to discover what he has provided for them.

Focus is the real problem. The concept of the mind aiding the spirit is very important. As you worship and pray, you must focus your mind on the Lord and the things of the Spirit. Joshua 3:5 says, “Sanctify yourselves.” Who’s supposed to do it? You are! You must sanctify yourself! Part of that sanctification is our thought processes—our mind, will, and emotions. Our mind also includes our imagination.

We have to sanctify our minds. Here’s a major key:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies (incorporated in your bodies are all your senses) a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1–2).

The word used in Romans 12:2 for transformed is identical to the word used in Mark 9:2 where it speaks of Jesus being

transfigured before the disciples. The word is metamorpho, meaning “to be transfigured, transform, or change one’s form.”[1]

As I properly frame pictures of the Kingdom of God in my sanctified imagination—as I gaze into that mirror—I see Christ in me and myself in Christ, and a transfiguration process begins. I become conformed to the image of Christ. Our ultimate destiny is to be totally conformed to His image and likeness. Your calling in life is to be changed into His image. Transfigured is the same word used when Jesus was transfigured. We, too, can attain total transfiguration through a renewed imagination.

The good thing about the promises of God is that He doesn’t say, “I’m only going to take you so far, and then too bad.” When the Lord gives us exceeding great and precious promises, it’s not so that we can only taste and see that God is good; it’s so that we can step into that promise and become what He says we are. When He says we can become transformed or transfigured by the renewing of our imagination, He means exactly what He says!

Endnote

1. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, #3339.

CHAPTER SIX

The Living Body of Christ

I had a certain prayer for years. I would pray, “Lord, I just want to be like Jesus; all of You and none of me.” For years that was the passionate cry in my heart, and it still is. One day, I was ministering in Libby, Montana, and I was graciously invited to stay with a couple who have since become dear friends. The lady of the house is profoundly prophetic with a gift that is unusual. When the Lord speaks to her, it has always been in full-color 3D “movies” as she calls them.

The first night I met them I was staying in their house, but I really didn’t know them. During the meeting that first night, I had a word of prophecy for her. As I was ministering to her, the Lord spoke to my heart and showed me she would have a prophetic word for me in the morning. Of course, she wondered what was so amusing, so I had to tell her what the Lord had spoken to my heart.

When I got up the next morning, she said, “Grab your coffee and come sit down.” I was a bit surprised, having forgotten what the Lord had said to me the night before, so I grabbed a coffee and sat down to visit with her. As I got comfortable, she started sharing with me what the Lord had shown her during the night about my life.

One of the words or visions she had was—she saw myself and Jesus walking side by side along life’s journey, when all of a sudden I disappeared into the body of Jesus. He continued for a short distance, and then He turned around and smiled at her. She said it was Jesus’ face she was seeing, but He had my eyes.

He then turned and continued along the road. After a short while He once again turned around and smiled, but this time she said when He smiled at her there was no longer any trace of me; it was His eyes looking back at her now. In other words, it was all of Him and none of me.

“Does that make any sense?” she asked. I shared with her how every night as I lay my head on my pillow, one of the prayers I would pray before I drifted off to sleep would be, “All of You and none of me, Lord. I just want to be like Jesus.”

I was excited and blessed as the Lord revealed through her prophetic word that He had heard my prayers and was at work even then to bring the desire of my heart to pass. Now I had a picture—a point of focus for my sanctified imagination! I would see what my friend had described every time I would set my heart and sanctified imagination upon the Lord.

All of Him, None of Me

My wife and I were ministering in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a few years ago, and it happened to be on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which usually falls in September or October. For the last nine or more years, Rosh Hashanah has been a season of profound clarity in the supernatural for me, because I’ve had visitations from God every year during that time. I have had other visitations and visions throughout the year, but when He visits me on the Jewish New Year He has been speaking to me about what He is releasing to the Body of Christ in this season.

That night in worship, I saw a 12-foot angel standing on the platform blowing a long, golden trumpet. I wondered what was going to happen, so I asked the Lord, “What are You saying?”

He said, “It’s Rosh Hashanah.”

The moment He said that, immediately above the platform the heavens opened, and the Glory of God shone with such brilliance I literally had to turn my face away. I knew I could not look into His Glory without damage being done to my natural eyes; however, as I turned I saw the figure of Jesus standing in the throne room of Heaven, and He said, “Come up here.”

Instantly every atom in my body began to resonate as if I were vibrating at an unimaginable frequency, and I was gripped with a great excitement and awe. I immediately found myself prostrate before the Throne of God in adoration and worship.

At some point, I was finally able to stand up and take in my surroundings. Now you have to understand, the Throne of God and the sea of glass before the Throne of God are vast beyond mortal comprehension. As far as the eye could see (and it can see very far in that realm) in every direction was this vastness before His Throne that was made of a substance resembling glass in its texture and transparency. His Throne… how can I describe His Throne? It was made up of what looked to be a solid substance, and at the same time it resembled a cloud of glory. It was both tangible and ethereal. This may sound strange, but it was worshiping and singing forth the praises of God. Everything in that realm resounds at some level with the praises of Him who sits on the Throne.

To say that everything was light does not do justice to what I experienced. The best way to describe it is there was an absence of all darkness—no shadow or shading that would indicate darkness. There is no heaviness brought about by the cares of life as we know them here on earth. It was the most compelling and desirable place anyone could ever want to be, and yet I know the Lord in His graciousness protected me from the fullness of the light, life, and Glory that are to be experienced there because I would not have been able to withstand such holiness, purity, and power while still in this mortal body.

I stood up, and for some reason there were only about 400 people standing before His throne with me. They were made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation and represented the whole of humankind. I looked toward the Father on the Throne and realized I was not able to see His countenance; rather, He was shrouded in a cloud of glory, which I knew was for our protection.

As I stood gazing in awe toward His Throne, He lifted his right arm and extended toward the group a scepter. Out from His presence (this is the only way I can describe the communication I experienced) His voice said, “I will grant your request, even up to half the Kingdom.”

I have to explain to you that over the course of my life I have had many unanswered questions I have lifted before the Lord. That evening I had a number of requests to present before the Throne of Grace, seeking the Lord for insight, wisdom, and direction. When I found myself in the Throne Room of Heaven and the Father indicating that He was going to grant my request even up to half the Kingdom, something extraordinary took place. Everything I thought was important to me—every petition and request—disappeared.

When the Lord extended that scepter and promise, the only response coming out of my inner man was, “All of You and none of me; I just want to be like Jesus.” There was no hesitation, nor was there any consideration about my list of questions and petitions.

Three times the Lord extended His scepter, and three times, without a moment’s hesitation, my answer was, “All of You and none of me; I just want to be like Jesus.”

After that third time, I instantly became aware of my surroundings once again in the worship service there in Belfast. At that moment, it dawned on me I could have had any number of the desires of my heart fulfilled in response to the Lord’s generosity and not one of those “important” requests even came to mind!

Spiritual Weaponry

I gleaned a number of insights from that experience. I learned in this dispensation of time the Lord is bringing forth a generation whose sole passion will be to emulate and be like Jesus, who was the mature son of God. We will see a generation come forth in maturity in this hour.

I realized what we deem significant and important oftentimes is not what the Father is passionate about. We must learn to discern what His desires are for our lives and follow them. If we will learn to be led of the Spirit, we will see the fulfillment of His purposes in our lives and in this earth. There is nothing wrong in having petitions and questions and seeking Him for answers. We must, however, be willing to set aside our wants and desires for His.

I understood that the expression, “all of you and none of me,” had to do with my character. We will retain our personality because it is what makes us uniquely us, but we will lose our individuality. We will become like Christ. We will walk in Kingdom authority. We will interact with the realm of the Spirit, and we will become everything God says we are.

As I was meditating on what had just transpired, still in the posture of worship with my hands lifted in worship, I suddenly felt a burning on my right ring finger. I opened my eyes and looked at my right hand and I saw that God had put a signet ring on my finger.

I must reiterate: What I was experiencing was what the Lord was speaking and releasing to the Body of Christ as a whole, not to me individually. The signet ring speaks of authority. It speaks of a coming of age in the family to which you belong. It indicates from that point on, the moment you now have the privilege of wearing that ring, whatever you say and do has the backing of the house to which that ring belongs. It speaks of maturity. We are moving from a “give me” mentality to a “make me” reality! Make me what? Make me like Jesus, who is the first born among many brethren.

Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Romans 6:13).

To be literal, your members—your senses—should be yielded to God as weapons of righteousness. Because we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, we must choose to yield our spiritual abilities, gifts, and senses unto God. Part of that yielding is our sanctified imagination. So, daily when you get up, go to Romans 6:13 and pray, “Lord, I sanctify my eyes, and I present them unto You as an instrument of righteousness. I sanctify my hearing, I sanctify my tongue, I sanctify my smell, my touch, my imagination, and my logical, reasoning mind. Father, today I yield them to You as instruments of righteousness.”

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee (Isaiah 26:3 KJV).

That word mind in the Hebrew is a fascinating word. It is the Hebrew word yetser, and it means, “that which is formed in the imagination.”[1]

Paraphrasing Isaiah 26:3, we would read: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose imagination properly forms images of You that reflects trust in You.”

There is a clear connection between heart purity and spiritual sensitivity in the Scriptures. We know the warfare that we wage is not based on carnal weapons because we don’t have a carnal enemy. We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood.

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4–5 KJV).

Carnal weapons are not mighty in the economy of Heaven. Even a nuclear blast is not a mighty weapon when it comes to spiritual warfare. The weapons we have are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. The key to this warfare is found in the admonition given us to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Key to Seeing

The battleground is not external; it’s internal. The struggle is not an external struggle; it’s an internal struggle. It has to do with discipline in your mind and thought life, and lining the thought life up with the will of God, the purposes of God, and the Word of God. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Most of us tend to look back to our past and think about how we passed “pure in heart” years ago; that is not only not the truth, it is not scriptural. If you’re born again and washed in the blood, you have no past—you have a pure heart! Old things have passed away and all things have become new (see 2 Cor. 5:17)! If I sinned, if I did something contrary to the Word of God 10 minutes ago but have confessed and repented of that sin, I have a pure heart. The qualifier is the blood of Jesus. We all have access to the blood of Jesus through the Cross and what He did for us; therefore, we are pure and washed. Our sins have become as white as wool.

You have pure hearts according to the Word of God and the washing of the blood of the Lamb, and you are qualified; therefore, you can see. Again, we usually relegate this (Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God) to when we die; that is not what the Word says.

The word see in this instance is the Greek word optanomai, meaning, “to gaze at with wide open eyes, as at something remarkable.” This is the same Greek word we derive the word optometrist from. We are putting on a lens or “spiritual glasses,” which enables us to gaze with wide-open eyes at something that is remarkable. Let me tell you, when you begin to gaze at the realm of the Spirit, it is remarkable. “Blessed are the pure in heart (that’s you), for you shall see.”

It shows us the relationship between having a pure heart and knowing God. We want to have a pure heart. Not only will you see God, but you will be blessed because now you are undefiled from the world. That which has your attention captures your heart. What you focus on you will connect with. Proverbs 22:11 says, “He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.” So pureness of heart brings a grace to what comes out of your mouth, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and the King will be your friend.

In talking about getting to know the Lord face to face and the adventure I’ve had in getting to know the Lord, I am endeavoring to challenge you, the reader, to believe the Lord for all He has for you. The experiences I’ve had came about through a passionate pursuit of God. It was through prayer, fasting, and the study of His Word. I share these experiences as well as the Scriptures to provoke and encourage you with this simple fact—this belongs to every believer!

The Fire of His Presence

With that in mind, let me share another experience I had some years ago. There was a time when I was ministering at a church in Kirkland, Washington. During the worship service, I began to hear what sounded to me like the APU of a jet aircraft firing up above the sound of the worship taking place. (An APU is an Auxiliary Power Unit used in starting the engines of a jet aircraft such as a Boeing 747.) I had my eyes closed at the time, and I was wondering where in the world that noise was coming from because we were miles from an airport. As I opened my eyes, there in front of me on the platform was a pillar of fire—the presence of God. I heard before I saw (two senses).

It was truly remarkable! I had never seen nor heard anything like that before. Of course, I had read the biblical accounts of the wilderness wanderings and the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, but I had never expected to witness this manifestation for myself.

While gazing upon this sight with rapt attention wondering what the Lord was up to, I saw to the right of this pillar of fire Jesus on the Throne. As I stood in awe gazing upon Him, He stood up. I have been blessed over the years to have face-to-face encounters with Jesus as He has revealed Himself in many facets of His character: I’ve met Jesus the Healer as He came and poured a healing balm over me at a very difficult point in my life; I’ve met Jesus the Comforter, who comforted me and held me through my tribulation. I’ve spent many hours with Jesus my best friend. This night, however, I discovered a new facet of His character. This night I met Jesus the King of Glory—Jesus the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!

He stood up and looked me straight in the eye and said, “Tell them!” The moment He said that, the fear of the Lord came upon me and I thought I would drop over dead on the spot. Every cell in my body quivered with the fear of God.

He continued, “Tell them the cup of their intercession is almost full, and when it is full I will begin to pour out in this region that which they have been interceding for according to My Spirit.” This was a command given from the mouth of the Lord; it was not a request! I could hardly wait until the pastor released me so I could do as I was told.

I continued looking at the pillar of fire, standing there shaking with the fear of the Lord, waiting for the worship service to end so I could do as I was told. The presence of the Lord was so tangible it was like being in an atmosphere of warm honey—so thick it was hard to move.

I told my friend John, “Go up by the platform!”

He asked, “Why?”

I said to him, “The presence of the Lord is there.”

So he went up toward the platform, and when he got within seven to ten feet of the pillar of fire he instantly fell down under the power of His presence.

I was intrigued by seeing and hearing the supernatural manifestation of the pillar of fire and then seeing what the effect was upon an individual in the natural, so I motioned to another friend, Roy, and said, “Hey, go up there; God is there!”

Roy is someone who is passionate and hungry for God, and so he went toward the platform also. Again I saw that when he came within seven to ten feet of the pillar of fire, he also fell under the power of God’s presence.

I kept sending people up toward the pillar of fire to experience God in this tangible way when the pastor came up to me and said, “When you are ready, just go ahead and begin to minister.”

As I approached the platform, I don’t know how I was even able to stand. There were four steps up to the pulpit, and it was the most difficult and taxing journey of my life! When I was finally able to reach the pulpit I had to hold on with all my might so I would not fall down. At that moment, I was standing in the pillar of fire, the manifest presence of God. Every atom in my body was buzzing or resonating as if a current of pure energy was flowing through me. It was only by grace I was able to proceed.

When I spoke, waves of anointing and of power were coursing through me and flowed out of me. That day I gained a new respect and understanding of the power of His presence and the fear of the Lord. I’m not speaking of a carnal fear. The fear of the Lord is an awe, respect, and reverence for Him. It’s a place of intimacy that I had never experienced to that extent before.

These experiences drastically changed my life and have helped in my understanding of who He is. It has helped shape my character, and it begins with a passion for Him. It comes through applying the Word of God as I have been relating to you in this book. This is not the purview of the mystical few who have attained the pinnacle of spiritual maturity. This belongs to every child of God!

Begin With a Pure Heart

Whatever gifts you have are all going to burn away or blow away, whether you go up or down. You don’t need healing, prophecy, faith, words of wisdom, and so on in Heaven. Those tools and gifts are for here. Though we should, as the Bible states, earnestly and passionately desire spiritual gifts, the most important thing is love. Love is not a thing or a feeling; it’s a person, and His name is Jesus. Earnestly desire to become like Him! That will change your paradigm and will propel you into the fullness of His promises for your life.

If you want to be a friend of God, you’ve got to love pureness of heart. The Word says again, “…As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Not as He was, but as He is, right now. He is love.

Proverbs 23:26 says, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.” First you’ve got to give Him your heart, then we will see to observe His ways.

When starting out in the ministry, I used to pray, saying, “Lord, I want to do this; Lord, I want to do that. Lord I want to see the sick healed and souls saved.” God blesses that to a certain extent, but there comes a time in our life where we have to say, “You know what, God? I’m tired of doing what I want; what are You doing?”

It’s so much easier when you start out saying, “Father, what are You doing today? I want to be a part of that,” instead of saying, “Lord, come bless me and what I’m doing today.” Our obedience to Him must be a daily yielding and following of the Spirit of God for that day. Ask, “Lord, how do I take a step today? What are we doing today?”

So spiritual perception begins with a pure heart. The question is, what is the heart? The heart connects with both the spirit and the soul. The heart is very hard to define. We can define the heart as the mind (both the imagination and the logical, reasoning faculty), will, and emotions. Everything you watch, hear, or see is burned onto the hard drive of your mind and begins to form who you are. So what happens when we don’t sort out what is right, what is wrong, what we’re supposed to think upon, and what we’re supposed to speak about so we don’t end up with a mixture? As I’ve said before, crisis situations do not form character—they reveal character. Character is formed in those alone times with God as you’re doing what the Word says and focusing on what God is calling you to do. Then when crisis comes, that which has been deposited in you comes out.

So everything we watch and see—everything that comes within the purview of our senses—can be burned onto the hard drive of our mind. That is why it is important for the man or woman of God who desires to move forward in God to sanctify their eyes, their ears, and their mind. We must be careful what we allow into our life. Taking responsibility for our thought life by applying the principles of the Word will sensitize us to the realm of the spirit. Without the application of the principle of sanctification of our thought life, we will continue on in a haphazard way in our spiritual progress.

“I have set the Lord always before me…” (Ps. 16:8). In other words, keep Him in the forefront of your mind, keep Him in the forefront of your heart, and set your focus on God constantly.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This is not an if or a maybe promise; it is a statement. You will be changed as you focus on God, as you properly frame pictures of Him in your heart and mind. You will be changed from image to image, from glory to glory. You will be translated or transfigured and changed into what you behold, whether your focus is on the Lord or something else. Whatever has your attention has you.

You become what you continually focus on. Hebrews 12:2 speaks of “looking unto Jesus.” Hebrews 11:27 says of Moses that “he endured as seeing Him.” The key is to have your eyes open so you can see. Why is it so important to look at the Lord? Again, what you focus on you will connect with, and impartation takes place. I’m giving you keys that took me years to learn and understand. They were stated in many ways through various means until I finally caught the revelation.

Holy Meditation

I have been told a lot of things by well-meaning Christians, like, “Meditation is of the devil,” or it’s “Eastern mysticism” or “New Age.” I have been warned that, “Using your imagination is not God.” All of these comments come from an uninformed mindset that fails to take into account all the Bible has to say about meditation. There is such a thing as biblical meditation. As a matter of fact, Joshua was told to meditate in the Law day and night! (See Joshua 1:8.)

The word meditate literally means to “utter silently under your breath, to chew on, or to masticate.” In other words, if I want to meditate on Second Corinthians 3:18—“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord”—it means I’m going to mutter it, I’m going to repeat it, I’m going to chew on it, I’m going to think about it so much that it is going to become real to me. This is meditating on the Word.

As I do meditate on the Word, I am framing pictures in my mind during the process. You cannot help but do so. As I’m looking in the mirror, I have an image—I’m seeing the Glory of the Lord. When I look into that mirror, not only do I see the Lord, but mirrors reflect my image back, so I’m seeing the Lord in me! I mutter, I chew, I masticate, and I think on these things, and guess what? Something begins to happen. I begin to be changed. “We have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man” (1 Cor. 15:49).

Begin to see this in a different light; it doesn’t only happen after you die, but also right here on earth. Just as I bear the image of an earthly man, I can bear the image of a heavenly man. All of Him and none of me; I not only want to, I desperately need to be like Jesus. That is my passion, my destiny, my purpose. Everything becomes secondary to that purpose.

I can truthfully say, after having had many experiences in the Lord, after applying the Word of God to my life, and after growing in this arena, there is only one thing that captures my heart anymore. It’s not seeing angels or Heaven. It’s not walking in supernatural signs, wonders, and miracles—it’s knowing Him and becoming like Him.

Redeeming the Imagination

What does that mean, when it says, “We have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man”? When you look in the mirror, you see your own reflection, but you’re told to see the Lord. Again, back to Second Corinthians: “Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). You are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

We’re told that when we look into the mirror of His Word, we are to behold His image, and mirrors, when looked into, reflect your image back to you, right? When you look into the mirror, you see yourself, but you’re supposed to see Jesus. As we truly learn to properly frame that picture of Jesus in us, something happens. You begin to be changed and transformed. When you look to the Lord with the eyes of your heart and you begin to see yourself in the mirror being transformed in His image, a divine transformation starts to take place. This is a key to interacting with the heavenly realm.

Beholding the Lord in yourself will change you into the same image as you look and see the Lord in you. Replace your image with the image of the Lord. Now, people have asked this everywhere: “Are you saying I’m Jesus?” No, you are in Him, His Body, but you are not Jesus. You’re no longer your own; you’ve been bought with a price; your life is now hidden in Christ. See yourself in Christ, and see Him in you. Let’s not get hypersensitive and ridiculous; I am not saying you or I am Jesus, but we are a part of the Body of Christ.

What you focus on you will become like through impartation. The end result of an unsanctified imagination is clearly shown in Romans: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom. 1:21 KJV).

You see, if we don’t learn to harness this, our hearts will be darkened through vain imaginations. I don’t care how hard you press in or what you do that is in agreement with the Word—if you don’t get a handle on the sanctified imagination, you’re hindered or crippled in your ability to become everything He has for you. We have to have the whole counsel of God, and I’m not by any stretch of the imagination saying I have the full revelation of this. I don’t. I am giving you my part. God will add to it in your life as He sees fit. What I’m saying is we have to start. We have to do something.

Where is Jesus right now? He’s in your heart; to make that an external thing, you have to behold the Lord in you. You have to build a bridge so that what you focus on you connect with and activation takes place. Yes, He’s in our heart. He’s standing here in this room. He’s all places at one time, but I want to be able to behold Him. I want to be able to see. So how do I get from where I am to where I should be? I can start by sanctifying my imagination. It’s not going to take long.

If you begin this journey and take one step, the Lord is going to take two steps. If you take two steps, He’ll take four. We don’t understand passion until we’ve touched the passion of God; then it makes us look feeble. He is passionate about you. We have to do this by faith. If you would spend time coming before the Lord with a sanctified imagination—beholding in that glass the Glory of the Lord—if you begin to see Jesus in you and you hold that focus and worship the Lord, something radical begins to happen on the inside of you. You begin to change into that image. The character of Jesus begins to have the preeminence in your life, and you become what your heart has desired to become for so long.

Walking in His Authority

Christ-like in character, nature, and integrity—this is what it’s all about. As we move forward in this, the world will no longer say that the church is weak and ineffective. They will rather say, “God is in you of a truth.”

This was the secret of Enoch. This is how Enoch eventually achieved transferal—the veils began to fall away. What veils? Veils of flesh, false doctrine, religious understanding, and reason, all contrary to the Word of God. The veil of unbelief is the first one to go.

Let me give you an example. We quote the Scripture, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). Then one day the Lord instructs you to go to a foreign country and minister the Gospel. The first thing most people look to is their finances: “Well I don’t know; I don’t have the money.” We bring out this laundry list of why we cannot obey Him rather than agreeing with Him. Didn’t you just say you can do all things? “Yeah, but.…” We glibly quote the Word of God, but we don’t walk it out.

Positionally, every promise in the Bible is ours. Possession-ally, we don’t walk in it. Why? Because we don’t really believe it. If you truly believe that your God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, you’d never look at your bank account again as your source. You would never again consider your job as your source. You would not go around dropping hints to people about lack in your life so they feel compelled to give. You would put your trust in God. You would give freely and hilariously. You would give joyfully. You wouldn’t worry about next month’s rent, utilities, or car payment; your attitude and your response would be, “My God supplies all my needs.” We wouldn’t have to build doctrines of “give to receive.” No, you would just trust God, because the Bible says if you’re walking where you should be in Christ all these things will be added unto you (see Matt. 6:33). You wouldn’t be able to contain them.

You see what I’m saying? If we truly believed the Word, we’d live differently and act differently. We grow into this more and more each day as we pursue the Lord. So the veil of unbelief is the first to go, but as you begin this process more veils begin to fall away. The more this happens, the more clear the image will become, and as the image becomes more clear, greater is the manifestation of Christ in you, the hope of Glory (see Col. 1:27).

Seventh Day

Five years ago, whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know, I was standing and worshiping the Lord in my alone time with God when suddenly I found myself standing in the stars. The first thing I noticed was the amazing symphony of praise coming forth as they were all singing the praises of God. Everything was alive and gave voice!

The next thing I realized as I looked around in wonder was that I could not see the earth anywhere. As I began to question the Lord about what He was saying to me, I began to receive revelation about the physics of translation. The veil of unbelief is the first to go.

Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude 1:14–15).

As I shared earlier, a day is as a thousand years with God (see 2 Peter 3:8). From the time of Jesus to the turn of the century, we have completed two thousand years, or two days. Now we find ourselves early in the morning on the third day. From the time of Adam until the turn of the century we have completed six days, and now we are early in the morning on the seventh day. Jude 1:14 says Enoch was the seventh generation removed from Adam. On this seventh day we are an Enoch generation. We can walk with God and be transferred just as he was because the Lord is no respecter of persons! What is the possibility of God in your life? What are you believing God for? Where is your heart fixed?

Image clarity has to do with purity of heart. It has to do also with proficiency which comes through practice. This brings purity of heart.

Anointed

One of the times I was ministering at a week-long event at a church in Fiji, I caught a severe chest cold. Can you believe catching a cold in a warm, tropical island climate? I had a low-grade fever, so I would sweat continuously each night. I was just worn out. I would go home each evening after the service, and I would be sweating in my bed, feeling half dead and worn out by this chest cold, praying and believing the Lord for healing. On top of that, the kids in the house all had chicken pox.

On the day we left, the mother of the three children who had the chickenpox took all three of the children upstairs to the bed I had been sleeping in, rolled them in it, and they were instantly healed of chickenpox.

When I heard their testimony I said, “Now wait a minute, God, I’m in there sick and dying. Why didn’t it work for me?”

He said, “The anointing in you permeated and saturated the bed as you prayed and interceded every evening. Her faith connected with that anointing, and that is why her children were instantly healed.”

Now picture this on an even greater level. You are so captivated and immersed in God, everywhere you walk there is a release of the anointing or Glory of God resident upon you and anyone who comes close to you is affected by that radiance.

Real Power

A good friend of ours who had had back problems for many years was ministering in our area. His back was hurting so badly that he decided he needed to go see a massage therapist to get some relief. In the little town we live in, he went into the massage parlor where they had the usual aromatherapy and New Age music. As he was laying there getting the massage, he asked the guy, “What is the deal with all this incense and stuff?”

The masseuse said, “Oh, there is power in that aromatherapy.”

He asked him, “What about that music?”

The man replied, “Oh, there is power in that also.”

Our friend said, “Really? Do you want to know what real power is?”

The man said, “Well, yeah.”

So our minister friend said, “Are you sure?”

The masseuse said, “Yeah!”

As he was still massaging his back, our friend said, “OK then,” and he consciously released the anointing and the man went flying back into the wall.

The masseuse said, “What was that?”

My friend replied, “That’s real power.”

The man had never seen a demonstration of true power like that in the church where he had grown up, so he left the church and became involved in the New Age movement. The truth was he really wanted to connect with the reality of God, but he didn’t see anything in the church to convince him God was real, so he went somewhere else.

So as every veil melts, clarity comes, and the Kingdom gets clearer and clearer. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” And “.out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). So where your treasure is, your heart is there, and out of that place your mouth speaks.

The light of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is single, your whole body shall be full of light. God is light. If your eye is fixed on Him, you’ll be full of light. If your eye is evil, you’ll be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, it will be because your eye is focused upon something other than the Lord (see Matt. 6:22–23 KJV).

Driving out Demons

We were sharing with some friends in Belfast, Northern Ireland, about what the Lord had been speaking to us in regard to the season we are in. We told them this is the hour when believers are going to be so filled with God that when they walk down the street demons are going to manifest and people are going to get delivered.

They were listening and nodding as we were taking a leisurely walk after dinner. As we were walking, a man brushed past me and entered a phone booth a few yards in front of us. Immediately upon entering the phone booth, he turned around and came back toward the four of us and, with glazed eyes and an otherworldly voice, said, “Go home.” He then began to walk away at a very fast pace.

Our friends were startled and said, “What was that?”

I remarked, “It’s just a demon; don’t worry about it.”

They looked at us in that certain way indicating unbelief and incredulity to my obvious lack of common sense.

I turned to my wife and we smiled, knowing that it would have to be the Lord who gave them the understanding of the truth about what we were trying to explain. We hadn’t walked another 40 yards when we came upon two young girls standing on the street talking. As we came near to them they jumped straight up in the air screaming at the top of their voices and fled, each in an opposite direction.

Again, our friends exclaimed, “What was that?”

This time I shared with them what the Lord had been saying to us. The impact of actually seeing His word being demonstrated in front of their faces was enough to convince them of the reality of the time and season we are entering.

When we begin to put these principles into practice in our lives—when we immerse ourselves in His presence—we may as well be ready for unusual manifestations to take place. We are supernatural beings who are beginning to understand that fact and are beginning to connect with our inheritance in Jesus the Messiah! Remember, any time Jesus came into proximity with a man or a woman who was demonized, there was an instant reaction to Him. We are His Body! This should be the norm, not the exception!

If your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. What is your eye? It is the instrument through which you see. It can be either with your physical eyes or the eyes of your spirit. Your focus will determine which “eye” is more attuned to your surroundings. If your focus is single, your whole body will be full of light. Single on what? Jesus!

If you will begin to practice keeping your focus on Jesus by meditating, imaging, and pursuing Him, you will be awakened to a capacity of sight you never knew was available to you. Remember, what you focus on, you will connect with. Once connection comes, activation takes place!

Endnote

1. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, #3336.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Translation by Faith: Getting Ready

Quite often as we have shared this message around the world, we have seen a majority of the audiences caught away in the Spirit with many being caught up into the third heaven. I am a believer in the Word of God, but I also believe the Spirit and the Word have to come together to bring clarity. It is wonderful to have experiences in God, but experience without the Word is something I don’t think we have enough foundation for, so I am going to give you both.

In this chapter I want to share with you a subject that will challenge your faith and hopefully provoke you to further pursuit of the Lord. What I am talking about is not transformation by faith—it is translation by faith. Translation means to be caught away. Some people call it transportation. I like the word translation.

Preparing to Translate

If you look in Acts 8:39–40 you will see an example of supernatural translation (I call it Philip Airlines). When Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away so that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. As the Scripture tells us, Philip was found in Azotus, approximately 30 miles distance.

You see, when I read the Word of God, I get excited because Jesus said He is no respecter of persons, and because Jesus said that I believe it. He is the Word and He doesn’t lie. So when I read stories such as what we have just shared above about Phillip being translated, I get excited.

A number of years ago, the Holy Spirit awakened me early one morning (that was the first miracle) to ask me a question. I tell my friends not to bother me at five or six o’clock in the morning because I am at bedside assembly with Pastor Sheets in deep intercession!

So the Holy Spirit awakened me, and He said, “Bruce, can a man be translated by faith?” I pondered that question for a few minutes before I answered the Holy Spirit: “Yes, I believe so.”

He said, “Good! Prepare.”

Well, I thought, Prepare? How do you prepare for that? So I asked the Lord, “How do you prepare for that?”

The answer was right in front of me. He said, “I just told you—by faith.”

Hebrews 11:5 states that by faith Enoch was translated. And I said, “OK, it can be done by faith.”

And so I began to mull this over. I began digging in the Word and researching every Scripture passage that spoke clearly about this subject or even alluded to it. I truthfully didn’t know where to begin, other than the stories the Lord had already given in the Word of God. Then some friends of ours who have founded a Bible college in Spokane called one day. The wife said, “You know, I had an interesting dream last night, and you were teaching on translation by faith in the school. There was great excitement because the students were understanding and really getting it!”

I said, “Really? What Scriptures was I using? Do you remember?”

She said “Yeah,” and she proceeded to give me a list of Scriptures. Supernaturally through a dream, the Lord directed my steps where to embark on the study of this subject! It was obvious through this and similar circumstances that the Lord’s hand was in this and He was wanting me to pursue this revelation.

About a year later while ministering in Canada, we met an individual who moves in the prophetic, and he had a prophetic word for us. He said, “You know, I have a Word for you. The Lord said to go back to the book of Isaiah; there is something there for you—it is a key that will launch you in the right direction.”

I had just studied the book of Isaiah and hadn’t seen any key, but I said, “Well, OK, I can do that.” When I got home a few weeks later I sat down at my desk and the Lord reminded me of this prophetic word, so I began to study the book of Isaiah. As I came to chapter 6 I found a key that astounded me! (I will share this key later.)

So, slowly the Lord had been unfolding this revelation until a moment came when I was caught up into the third heaven before the Throne of God. During this experience, the Lord put a mantle on me, and He said, “This is the mantle that will grace you to teach and release this revelation, and it is going to come in two phases. In the first phase, those whom you teach will be released and caught up into the third heaven. They will begin to see in the realm of the Spirit and interact in a new way.”

“The second phase,” He told me, was that at some point, “…you are actually going to teach the people how to physically translate like Phillip was translated, and so My Word shall be preached throughout the earth.”

My first inclination was to see if I could find any testimonies in our generation of translation. To my amazement, I discovered there have been individuals who have come forward with testimonies of being supernaturally translated, not only into the heavens, but geographically around the world!

One of the more astounding testimonies is of a pastor in Russia who ministers in three churches every Sunday morning. The interesting thing is these churches are hundreds of kilometers apart. He will minister in the first church for the 8:00 service, complete the service, and go into his office at 10:15 or 10:30. There he will supernaturally be caught away to the next church, minister there, and so forth until all three services are complete, then he will translate home. He does this every Sunday. Astounding!

I have shared before about an African man named Richard from Kenya who was told one day by the Holy Spirit, “Pack your bag and go to the airport. I want you to go to London, England.”

He said, “Yes, Sir.” He packed his suitcase and went to the airport. When he got into the lobby of the airport, he put his bag down and said, “Now what do I do, Lord?”

You see, he had no money, but in faith he had done exactly what the Lord told him to do. The Lord said, “Pick up your bag and go into the men’s room and go into the third stall on the left.”

So he took his suitcase and he went into that third stall on the left. He set his suitcase down and awaited further instructions. The Lord said, “Now, lift up your hands and worship Me.”

So Richard began to worship the Lord at the top of his voice right there in the men’s restroom. After a few minutes the Lord said, “OK, now go!”

He picked up his suitcase, and when he exited the men’s room he was in the foreign nation that his assignment was in!

Walking by Faith

Mainstream Christianity has difficulty with the supernatural because many of them have never had a supernatural experience and have been told that God no longer does these types of things. We are also not the students of the Word we should be, and we have difficulty in believing that when the Lord says something we can “take it to the bank,” so to speak. It is truth!

Jesus said:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father (John 14:12).

We have the privilege of doing the “greater works than these” because He was going to the Father. In examining the “works” of Jesus, we can look at His life before He was resurrected and even after He was resurrected because He made no distinction. He didn’t say we would just do the works that He did before the Cross. He said the works that I do you will do also. Why? Because right now He is at the right hand of the Father interceding for you and I at this moment. “The works that I do you will do also.”

Some of the things that Jesus did we don’t even dare to begin to believe because we think, “Well, no, no, no—that’s way out there. That’s impossible.” There is nothing impossible with God. Paul said (my paraphrase): “Well, I am boasting here, I don’t feel like doing this, but I know a man in Christ, whether in the body or out of the body, I can’t tell you, but that man was caught up into the third heaven and saw things that are not even lawful to discuss or to talk about” (see 2 Cor. 12:1–2).

Again, Jesus is no respecter of persons. If He did it for one, He will do it for another. I read that passage in the Word when I was 17 years old, and something stirred in my spirit. I said, “God, that is for me,” and I pursued Him for years until the Holy Spirit came and challenged me with that very thing.

Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going (John 6:15–21).

Immediately they reached the shore—a journey of approximately three and a half to four miles in a moment! We know Jesus was walking on water by faith (see Matt. 14:25–32). He talked with Peter about that at one point, and Peter said, “Lord, if that is You, bid me come” (see Matt. 14:28). Jesus said, “Come on, Peter.” Peter was doing fine until he began to look at the wind and the waves rather than keeping his eyes on Jesus. Scripture says he began to sink. Keep your eyes on Jesus! The moment you take your eyes off of Jesus and look at the circumstances, your decline begins. And so Jesus grabbed him and said, “Oh! You of little faith.”

We know that everything that Jesus did was by faith. Peter did what Jesus did by faith, and until he took his eyes off of Jesus he was walking on water. He was emulating or doing the works that Jesus did, and the Bible says we can also! Now, here is a key that I want you to see in this. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he said, “Lord, if that is You—if that is You—bid me come.” I want you to pray that right now: “Lord, if this is You, I want it. Lord, if this is You, bid me come!” Keep that in your heart.

Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people (Acts 12:5–11).

As you can see, Peter was in prison and an angel of the Lord came, released him from his chains, and supernaturally opened the gates of the prison, and Peter walked out. He was transported from prison to freedom! Now, you know there were guards on the gates and there were guards over the prison cells, but not one of them saw him.

Testimony, Not Tradition

I have on DVD a testimony of a man by the name of Brother Grubbs, who from 1950 through 1987 (the time of the interview) supernaturally was carried by the angels of God around the world for years and ministered all over the globe. Once his assignment was finished, the angels would bring him home. The stories he tells and the adventures in God he had are powerful, and needless to say, they got me excited!

Paul Harvey, an icon in American news, wrote an article in 1951 about a man who appeared in the U.N. and then disappeared. Brother Grubbs talks about what happened that day and how the Lord connected him with an angel in the United Nations.

We have to challenge our faith and begin to believe the Lord for the fullness of our inheritance now, not at some later date or in the great by-and-by. We have got to believe the whole Word of God, not just the part we are comfortable with. We have got to dare to step out on the water, if you will, and say, “Lord, if it is in Your Word, then I want it. Whatever it is that You have, Lord, I want it.”

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:11–13).

Most Christians know these verses, and yet we fail to grasp the significance of what is being said. In a nutshell, it says you can have as much of God as you want. You just have to be passionate about pursuing Him. There is absolutely no limit in God for you but what you impose upon yourself—no limit! I have been challenged for a number of years to believe the Lord for things I have never seen and never heard. It is a call to press deeper, to go further than I ever dared hope. I challenge you with the same word—believe for those things you’ve never seen and never heard before!

I want everything the Lord says I can have. I don’t care what tradition says or what man-made doctrine tries to limit me to. I want all that Scripture says is available to me! I have had to unlearn a lot of the theology I learned in my years of Bible college and seminary. Theology is the study of God, but sometimes tradition will have the opposite effect of what we at first desired. We end up being boxed up nice and neat in a tradition or doctrine that is contrary to Scripture, and we hinder ourselves from moving forward into the possibility of God for our lives.

Traditions are not all bad, but some traditions will hinder you. I want to be challenged by the Holy Spirit. I want my faith to grow. I want to become everything that Jesus said I could be, so I expect the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me into all truth:

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come (John 16:13).

Jesus said, “…because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). For 2,000 years, the Church has endeavored to do as Jesus did without ever realizing that everything He did on this earth was to make us as He is right now! But the Word clearly says as He is so are we in this world. Well, where is Jesus right now? He is seated at the right hand of the Father, He has a perspective from Heaven to earth, He is not sick, He is not in doubt, He is not in fear, He is not in unrest, He has no lack, and so on. Do you understand? And the Word says as He is so are we in this world. So you see, we are living below our inheritance and our birthright in Christ—far below that. I am more determined now than ever before to press on and to obtain as much as I can in Him in this life.

A Visit to Natalia

First Corinthians 5:3 is an interesting Scripture: “For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.”

I had an experience a few years ago that helped me to understand this passage of Scripture and to actually know how this may have transpired. We were sharing in a conference a number of years ago in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. It was the first time I felt I was released to teach on the subject of translation by faith since the Lord had begun to share revelation about this supernatural possibility in the believers’ life.

During the worship service and on into when I was teaching, I was caught away in the Spirit. My spirit man was pulled out the top of my head. As I ascended above the earth, I was taken over the European continent. It was night time and there was some cloud cover. I remember looking down upon a number of nations and marveling at the beauty of the city lights from such an altitude. I could distinguish, supernaturally, the outline of each nation I was looking down upon.

There seemed to be one nation in particular that was highlighted to a greater extent than the others, so I asked the angel with me which nation I was looking at. It was communicated to me that it was Latvia, Eastern Europe.

At that point we began to descend toward a particular city (which city I don’t know) and through the roof of an apartment complex. We stopped outside of door number 212. As I stood there wondering what we were doing, I heard the sound of a child weeping behind the door.

I was compelled to open the door, and I walked through the small living area into a back room where a little girl was kneeling by her bedside and praying.

As I approached her, the compassion of the Lord overwhelmed me. I knew her name immediately by the Spirit of God, and so I knelt down beside her, wrapped my arms around her, and began to comfort her.

In communicating with her, I found out her story. Her name was Natalia. Her parents were out looking for food at that moment because they hadn’t eaten in some time. Both of her parents were unable to find employment in that city. They were out of money, had no food, and were about to be evicted, and Natalia was weeping and crying out to God for His intervention.

I was able to pray with her and comfort her in her language—which I don’t know, but God knows. As we were finishing, I was immediately translated back to the meeting where I was still teaching in the natural.

Before this particular conference, I had an impression that something unusual was going to happen and we would be able to see this supernatural “something” either with the naked eye or on camera. With that in mind, I had a friend come to the conference who is a photographer with a number of very impressive digital cameras in his arsenal.

I told him to feel free to take pictures of whatever he felt led to do during any session of the conference he was inclined to be at. Well, he did not show any of the photos to me at that time, and frankly I forgot about them until sometime in June when it suddenly hit me that I’d not heard from him since that New Year’s conference.

On the night when I was caught away in the spirit (the story I just related to you), he had taken a picture that, in his own words, he didn’t know what to do with. In that photograph, I am absolutely transparent—you can see right through me. That was a supernatural event that he caught with the digital camera.

Again, I am just laying groundwork here.

Chariot Rides

Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven (2 Kings 2:11).

In a number of meetings that we have been in, we have witnessed an unusual supernatural phenomena similar to the preceding Scripture—a chariot of fire came into the room. Many in these meetings saw and felt this manifestation and were transformed by the interaction of this heavenly encounter.

The first such encounter was during a conference in the same church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a year after my translation experience. Because I’ve come to understand that visions are language, there are times I can share what I am seeing and there are times that I must use wisdom and convey what the Lord is saying through a vision in order that the people can receive what the Lord is trying to communicate.

On this particular evening I saw this chariot come into the sanctuary. The pastors, John and Ruth Filler, and I had a conversation before the conference because we had a sense the Lord was going to challenge our paradigm during that season.

I had said, “Pastor John, I really feel that we are going to be challenged to get out of the box at this conference.”

Little did we know! When I saw this chariot of fire and the supernatural beings pulling it (the horses), I immediately tested the spirit by asking, “Did Jesus the Messiah come in the flesh?”

Upon receiving an affirmative, I asked the Lord, “What are You saying, Father?”

He said, “Put two chairs in the chariot.”

I turned to the pastors and said, “John, out of the box, right?”

He said, “Yes, out of the box.”

I said, “OK.”

I asked two of the ushers to place two chairs in the front of the church in the position I indicated. Once they were there I said, “Now what, Lord?”

He said, “Have Pastor John and his wife, Ruth, sit in the chairs.”

Once again I turned to pastors John and Ruth and said, “Out of the box, right?”

Again they said, “Yes, out of the box.”

I said, “OK, you two come and sit here.”

He told me afterward that he was walking down there thinking, “What is he doing?”

Well, they sat in the chair facing the way the chariot was going. When they sat down they were immediately caught away in the Spirit. Ruth had an astounding experience of seeing the Ethiopian eunuch as Philip was baptizing him, and then she saw Philip translated away to Azotus, among other things. John was caught up into the stars and ended up in the third heaven. Their whole experience lasted about an hour, during which time I continued to teach with an occasional glance at the two of them to see what was happening.

Finally, the Lord prompted me that their experience had come to an end. I asked John to share with us what had happened during that hour. He was so undone by what had happened that he was unable to speak without weeping. He asked for some time to process what had happened before he shared with us this experience.

Get Out of the Box!

Now if this is stretching you, good! I hope you are students of the Word! Get into the Word and allow His Word to provoke you to become all you were created to be! Just because I am sharing these experiences doesn’t have to mean you have to receive them as gospel, but you do need to study the Word, you do need to understand what the word of God says, and you do need to receive by faith from God all that belongs to you!

There is so much in God that we have hindered ourselves from entering into because we have been stuck in a denominational box. We argue that much of Scripture is no longer relevant and God doesn’t do those things anymore. Flee that type of mentality and religious thinking! The Lord cannot be separated from His character! He is a supernatural God, and we were created in His image with the potential to enter into the fullness of what our sonship entails. We are supernatural beings in Him!

I am not trying to belittle any one individual. I do, however, want to expose unscriptural traditions and religious systems that keep God out of our realm of experience and place God’s people in bondage.

Luke 11:52 says the Pharisees took away the key of knowledge by the traditions of men. In other words, they hindered people from entering into the fullness of the knowledge of God by their traditions, and it kept God at arm’s length from the people and the people at arm’s length from God. We have to evaluate the traditions we embrace that have become comfortable to us and with sincerity ask, “Lord, are these traditions keeping me from the fullness of Your promise and from intimacy with You? If they are, I need help. I don’t know how to break out of this religious cage, but Father, You do it. Show me how to do this. Show me how to press into Your promise.”

I just shared some examples of translation in the Word of God—physical and spiritual, by angelic visitation, by the Holy Spirit, and by the Lord Himself. There were various means or methods portrayed in Scripture, such as Elijah and the chariot of fire, Jesus and the boat, an angel opening prison doors, and so on. Because all of these are clearly defined in the Bible, we need not question if this is possible; rather, we need to ascertain if this is what the Lord is calling us to as a group or as individuals. We need to move forward in our spiritual life with expectancy and anticipation. We need to begin to believe that all things are possible. The key is, we must believe.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Translation by Faith: Going

We want to trust God. He is our Father. If we ask Him for bread, He is not going to give us a stone. If we ask Him to help us develop an ear to hear His voice, He is not going to let the devil come in and deceive you all over the place. No, the love of the Father says, “My child, I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Peter said, “Lord, if that is You, bid me come.” Jesus is so excited when we say that. “Lord, I want to start walking in this journey, this adventure called faith.” He gets so excited with that. He is right there to meet you and begin to walk with you and train you and teach you. That is the way the Father heart of God is. I use this example: If you have ever had children, when your child begins to take their first steps and they fall, you don’t stand there and berate that child for how stupid and inept they are. No, you are excited because they are trying. Now, you multiply that a billion times—that’s the Father heart of God.

Finding the Paths

When you begin this walk by faith, He gets excited about you trying to enter in and become like Daddy and become all that He said you could be. Now, that’s His heart right now for you! He is sitting there with bated breath saying, “Come on! Come on! You can do this. Take My Word and believe it! Apply it and you will see that you can do it!”

Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it”‘ (Jeremiah 6:16).

This is one of the very first Scriptures the Lord gave me that started to give me greater insight into translation by faith. It took some digging, however. On the surface, you look at that verse and you can somewhat get an insight into the mind of the Lord in this regard. However, when I did an in-depth study of the original Hebrew, I put together all of the meanings of each of the words and paraphrased them, finding this treasure: “This is what the Lord says. Stand at the road less trodden and discern. Earnestly desire the properly concealed vanishing point which is eternal and perpetual. Ask where the road less trodden is and journey and vanish in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

The first thing we need to do to walk in these ancient paths is discern where they are! We have to learn to walk in discernment. There is much that is being released in the Church today, even doctrines of demons, that if we do not have a solid handle on the Word of God—if we don’t learn how to discern between both good and evil—we can be taken in. So it is imperative that we pursue God for discernment.

Second, we have to ask God believing that He wants to give to us what He said is ours. So He said, “Ask where the road less trodden is and journey and vanish into it.”

The third key is this: It is a place of peace and rest; it is not a place of fear or striving with your own strength and understanding; it is not a place of anxiety. It is a place of peace and rest in God. And so discern, ask, and believe, and you will journey and vanish and find rest.

Lesson One

After nine months of study, prayer, and fasting, I felt I was ready for my first lesson in translation by faith. I said, “Lord, I think I am ready for my first lesson.”

I live in the state of Washington and grew up in a small town north of Seattle named Edmonds. I occasionally return to Edmonds to visit family and friends and also to minister. At the time of this first experience, I was living in Spokane, Washington, about 325 miles from Edmonds. On a good day with normal traffic, this would be about a five and a half to six hour drive.

On this particular day, I was traveling with my friend back to Spokane. I had shared with him about this adventure I was embarking on with the Lord, and so I told him that morning we should pray and ask the Lord to transport us back to Spokane. So, we grabbed hands and we prayed, “Lord, translate us from Edmonds to Spokane.”

Now what was normally a five and a half to a six hour trip took us less than two hours! During the ride I remember driving by every exit; I remember driving through Snoqualmie pass and coming to Ellensburg where we stopped for gas and lunch! I remember pulling into Spokane with incredulity, wondering how the Lord had compressed time to get us to our destination in such a short period of time!

How did it work? I had no idea at the time how this could be possible. Well, I know one thing—Hezekiah was given 15 more years and the sun dial went backward 10 degrees, right? (See Isaiah 38:8.) So God can redeem and or compress time as He wills. He is not limited by time, nor is He limited by the speed of light. Christian, let me tell you something—in the realm of the spirit, neither are you! You are made in the image of God. As a son or daughter of God, you are not as constrained by the natural laws as many would have you to believe. The Lord can and has introduced a higher law—the law of the spirit of life in Jesus! I read just recently that physicists have taken a particle and translated it or transported it from one location to another. Bulk and mass is the next hurdle, but their understanding of the science of it is that it is possible. We already know from the Word of God it is possible.

And so I chewed on this experience for six months in prayer and study. I kept inquiring of the Lord to give me illumination as to how this worked. I already knew it was possible, having experienced it. I knew that physicists were beginning to have a small measure of success in this area, so I wasn’t stymied by the possibility. What I wanted was to know the how in order to better convey what He was teaching me.

He reminded me of a visitation I had some years earlier where He had given me a key ring with three keys. One of the keys was the key of Isaiah 22:22—the key of the House of David that what you open, no man can close, and you can close and no man can open. The Holy Spirit asked me, “Where is the House of David today?”

I said, “Well, Jerusalem.”

He said, “Where else?”

Immediately I understood! Jesus is sitting on the throne of David (see Luke 1:32). I said, “Well, it is in Heaven.”

He said, “Exactly.”

The second key given to me was Luke 11:52—the key of knowledge. The third key was the keys of the Kingdom. It was one key that was very plain but very ornate; it could change shape and size depending on the challenge of the moment.

He then said, “Now, remember the keys.”

I said, “Yes, Sir.”

He said, “There are doorways or portals that you have been studying in Scripture, and the way you open doorways and portals is by using a key! Use the keys!”

There is only one way to use a spiritual key—speak the Word!

The Death of Pride

I had studied doors, gateways, gates, windows, portals—all of these in the Word of God in my desire to understand translation. All of them speak of access (ingress or egress) into realms in the Spirit as well as their natural usage. For instance, a door is a portal or an entrance. It symbolizes a lateral transition entrance and exit. Lateral means from one point to another geographically. A gateway symbolizes the doorway or a portal that allows entrance between God’s visible and invisible world.[1] Recall the passage we examined in Chapter 2 earlier:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive”‘ (Isaiah 6:1–9).

One of the many questions I had when reading this passage of Scripture was: Why did King Uzziah have to die in order for Isaiah to see the Lord? As I dug deeper, I went back to Second Chronicles 26:1–22, which describes the life of King Uzziah. We find he was crowned king at the age of 16, and at that time he was wholly dependent on God, seeking him continually in those early years for wisdom and understanding in how to rule his people. Because of his acknowledgment of the Lord and leading his people to God, the Lord caused him to prosper in every aspect of his life.

At some point, pride found a place in his heart because he thought himself above the commandments of God when he went in to offer incense to the Lord, rather than allowing the priesthood to do so. Because of this pride, he was struck with leprosy and remained in that condition until the day he died. Pride in his case had an outward manifestation of leprosy. In the same way, I have often seen the root cause of many afflictions of those who come for prayer looking like leprosy in the spirit. With that in mind, we can read Isaiah 6:1 in this way: “In the year that pride died, I saw the Lord.”

You see, Church, we have to learn that when Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow Me,” that is exactly what He means. We have to embrace the crucified life. It is not enough to say, “I am a Christian and I am going to Heaven.” Thank God for the free gift, but the Lord wants more than that! He is looking for Christlike character in each and every one of us. And that means that we have to do something. We have to choose to be sanctified and set apart. We have to choose to embrace the crucified life, to die to the fleshly, carnal desires, and to press in to the fullness of the promise of God. We choose that, and the more passionate we are about our choice, the further we will go into the fullness of the promise of God. The Word says we can grow up into Him in all things. But the problem is that we haven’t grown up in Him in just about anything. Why? Because we haven’t been willing to pay the price.

Access by Humility

Let me tell you some of the other works that Jesus did that we can do also. Jesus became of no reputation. Jesus was reviled and persecuted and yet He didn’t speak a word back, and He didn’t defend Himself. Jesus left the opulence of Heaven and came to earth and took on the form of a servant so that He might win people to go back to Heaven.

You see, those are the works that Jesus did, but we don’t want to emulate that! We want to jump right over to the miracles and the wow factor! That’s pride. The true path of Christ-like character is first embracing what Jesus did, then walking in what Jesus did, and then becoming what Jesus said we are. Jesus was brought up in Nazareth. Nazareth literally means “sanctification, separation, and crowning.”[2] His whole life—the whole focus of His character development—was in a place called separation and sanctification so that He could be crowned and released into His destiny. That is the pattern of the life of Jesus. That’s what we have to embrace.

That was the atmosphere Jesus was raised in here on earth and the path we must take to become like Him. So in the year that pride died, I saw the Lord sitting on the Throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings. Now remember, six is the number of man, so look at this. With two he covered his face—humility in the presence of God. With two he covered his feet. That means my walk has to be circumspect and sanctified. And it means if you walk with God, people will see the fruit of it, but it is a private thing between you and God. This is the process of becoming. Then with two he flew—he soared.

And one cried to another and said, “Holy! Holy! Holy is the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth someday is going to be full of His glory!” Right? Are you still with me? Is that what the Word said? No! It said that the whole earth is full of His Glory already. If the whole earth is already full of His glory, why are we asking for God to release His glory? Why don’t we partake of or participate in the Glory that is already here? Because we don’t see and discern; because we don’t understand. You see, that glory—that anointing, really—what it says is the whole earth is already full of the potential of God for us to enter into.

Doctor Billie Brim, who wrote the book, The Blood and the Glory, used to travel behind the Iron Curtain in the early 1970s, and she would go to the underground churches and bring the Gospel. She met a husband and wife over there who became dear friends of hers. As she tells it, this man for years would translate all over Russia and preach the Gospel.

Continuing on, the seraphim were going around the Throne crying, “Holy! Holy! Holy is the Lord.” My first thought on that was, boring! Throughout all eternity, they have one function—circling the Throne of God and crying out Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! But you know, literally, here is a better translation. They are going around the Throne of God, and every time they are going around, they are going, “Wow! Wow! Oh! Wow!” Because every time they turn around they see a new facet of the character of God they have never seen before—throughout all of eternity. You and I are going to be discovering God for all of eternity.

The posts of the door were shaken. The posts of the door—what door? The portal—the pillars, literally, of this portal that gave him access from earth to Heaven—was shaken by the voice of Him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke, or literally the Glory of God. The smoke speaks of the Glory of God; it speaks of the incense before the Throne of God, which is the prayer of the saints.

So here we have a picture of a doorway, a portal, or an access place into Heaven. The Word says that Shiloh was a place that had God’s name on it, and God’s presence was in that geographic location. The people of that generation knew if they wanted to connect with or hear from the Lord—if they really desperately needed to hear from God—one of the ways they received revelation from God was to go into a place set aside like Shiloh where they would spend some time and sleep and dream so they could hear from God through a dream or vision. That was their normal way of communicating with God.

Thin Places

Early Celtic Christians in Ireland and Wales had an understanding that places like Shiloh were called a thin place where the veil between this reality and that reality was so thin that through prayer, sanctification, intercession, and worship Heaven was literally within reach. It was easy to connect with the spirit realm because of the atmosphere that had been created.

The Holy Spirit has been telling me for a number of years that this generation is in a very thin place—a place where the veil between this reality and the realm of the spirit is becoming so thin it is almost tangible, and we will literally be able to traverse that gap by faith and interact in a way we have never done before.

So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my (physical) eyes have seen (that word seen literally means to see, discern, perceive, have a vision) the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

Well, wait a minute! Nobody can see God and live. The truth is, something died. “In the year that pride died, I saw.…” Flesh is never going to be able to interact with that which is holy, but when flesh dies we can enter in. Where pride dies, we can connect. A basic Christian tenet is to embrace the crucified life—I am dead and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me!

When a prophet pronounced a woe, that meant it was done, it was set in stone. Judgment has now come. There is no reversing this. For a prophet to pronounce a woe upon himself is extraordinary. Something happened in Isaiah that caused him to realize his condition in the light of the Person and Presence of God. When he came into this place of revelation, when he saw pride die to the extent it did, and the revelation of God came, he realized how wicked he truly was.

This realization of his uncleanness was hinged upon his mouth—what he spoke! (Words are keys.) The Word says out of the abundance of the heart your mouth speaks (see Matt. 12:34). And so he said, “I am a man of unclean lips. I am undone.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged” (Isaiah 6:6–7).

Look at the progression here. Pride dies, there is a revelation of his true spiritual condition, and as Isaiah understood his spiritual condition, there is a transaction that takes place as God atones, cleanses, and does away with those things that have hindered us from entering into the fullness of His promise.

At this point Isaiah now has entered into and has access to the Throne Room of God. You can imagine the wonder of seeing the Lord of Glory and the activity in the Throne Room! He must have been absolutely awestruck and overcome with amazement.

As he is standing there, he overhears a conversation: “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Who shall I send, and who will go for Us?”‘ (Isa. 6:8).

You see, he never would have heard this had he not had an experience where pride died, his sin was atoned for and purged, and the sanctification process was completed and he was released into the Throne Room of God. His perspective had changed! He was hearing about strategies being formed in Heaven for the earth, and he got a glimpse of the government of God in action. He saw things from God’s perspective!

And the Lord said this: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” The word for go in the Hebrew is yalak. This is the same word used in Jeremiah 6:16—yalak—which means “to journey and to vanish.” The Lord was saying, “Who is going to journey and vanish for Us?”

Isaiah, who was standing there and overhearing this conversation, said, “Well, here am I; send me.” And the Lord turns to him and says, “Journey and vanish and tell this people!”

Isaiah never would have been privy to that conversation, he never would have had the opportunity for that supernatural experience, if it wasn’t that pride had died; that he was purged and cleansed and atoned for; that he had access into the Throne of God and heard what was happening in Heaven so he could interact with the Lord, volunteer, and receive a commission from God. Are you seeing this? Jesus said it this way—this is another promise that belongs to you because He said the things that He did you can do also (see John 14:12). He said, “I only do what I see the Father doing” (see John 5:19). Are you getting this? A key to walking in the supernatural is realizing you have access to that realm and you have a new birth covenant that you are able to see what the Father is doing, hear the strategies of Heaven, and enter into and participate in what He is doing in the earth today.

A Bride for Isaac

So how do we begin to walk and interact with Heaven in this way? We embrace the crucified life. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, because God has always said that He will exchange His strength for a lack of strength (see Isa. 40:29). “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isa. 40:31 KJV). That literally says they that wait upon God will exchange their strength. So here is the key: If you are willing, God will be your “able.” If you make the choice, God will make the change, because we are incapable in our own strength of entering into the fullness of the promise of God. So there has got to be the release of the fulfillment of the Covenant, and the Covenant is just that—My strength for your strength; My resources for your lack; My understanding and wisdom for your lack of understanding and wisdom.

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. So Abraham said to the oldest servant (Eleazer, “helper or comforter”) of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go (yalak: journey and vanish) to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me (yalak: journey and vanish) to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. And if the woman is not willing to follow (yalak: journey and vanish) you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed (yalak: journey and vanish), for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let

down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”

So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”

So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”

Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house

of my master’s brethren.” So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.

Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man by the well. So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels.”

Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels, and provided straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told about my errand.”

And he said, “Speak on.”

So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has. Now my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ And I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow (yalak: journey and vanish) me.’ But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family; for if they will not give her to you, then you

will be released from my oath.’ And this day I came to the well and said, ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go, behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water, and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,” and she says to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’ But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah, coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels a drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels a drink also. Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. And I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.”

Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go (yalak: journey and vanish), and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken.”

And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. And he and the men

who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”

But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.”

And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.”

So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.” Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go (yalak: journey and vanish) with this man?”

And she said, “I will go (yalak: journey and vanish)” (Genesis 24:1–57).

In this passage of Scripture, Abraham is a type of God the Father. His servant is not named here, but he is named earlier in chapter 15. Eleazer is a type of the Holy Spirit. Eleazer literally means “comforter or helper.”[3] Isaac, as you know, is a type of Jesus.

Abraham was old, well advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said to his oldest servant, Eleazer, who ruled over all, to enter into covenant with him that he would find a bride for his son, Isaac.

No Turning Back

It is the servant heart that rules over all the Father has. This is a key. It is a servant—a bondservant—that is released to steward all that God has, not just part. So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh and I will make you swear—we are going to go into a covenant by the Lord, the God of Heaven and the God of the earth—that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but you shall yalak—journey and vanish—to my country and to my family and take a wife for my son, Isaac.”

And then the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not journey and vanish with me to this land—perhaps she won’t yalak with me. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

Well, we know that Jesus is not going to be crucified again, don’t we? And Abraham said, “Absolutely not. Beware that you don’t take my son back there. He is not going back. The Bride is coming to him. The Lord God of Heaven who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family and who spoke to me and swore unto me saying, ‘To you and your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there. And if the woman is not willing to journey and to vanish with you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back.”

Now, this is interesting. In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham’s faith. That was on the third day, and the test was—”Abraham, do you love the God of the promise more than the promise of God?” Isaac was the promise of God for Abraham and Sarah’s life. He was the covenant that God had made. He said through your seed. What most people don’t know was that Isaac was 30 to 33 years old at the time when he took him up and offered him up on Mount Moriah, the same place where Jesus was crucified. It says that Abraham came back down, but it didn’t say that Isaac came back down. The next place that we hear about Isaac is when he meets his bride. Jesus has been gone for two days. He left, and the next place we are going to see Him is when the Bride and the Groom come together. This is a picture of the Gospel in these few chapters here.

“So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter (and made a covenant with him). Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed.” Now, ten in the Scriptures, in Biblical numerology, is the number of testing. So, we can look at this and say, OK, ten camels—these are camels that are going to be used to test something.

All his master’s goods were in his hands, and he arose and journeyed and vanished to Mesopotamia, the City of Nahor. And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time—the time when the women come out and draw the water.

Now, this is interesting. It is called the well of Lati Roi, which literally means “the well of the Living One who sees me,” or “the well of His presence.” We know that often water speaks of the Word of God as well as the Holy Spirit, so “the well of the Living One who sees me” speaks of drawing deeply of the river of Living Waters within us.

Above and Beyond

He made his camels kneel down, and then he said:

O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, “Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,” and she says, “Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink”—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master (Genesis 24:12–14).

Now, I want you to understand this. Eleazer comes to “the well of the Living One who sees me.” Eleazer is a type of the Holy

Spirit. He is looking for something in this covenant person, this family member of Abraham’s. What he is looking for is a servant’s heart—a bondservant. Pride has died! Humility is evident.

The truth is, at this “well of the Living One who sees me” you can only pour out what you put in to your vessel. You have got to draw the water of this Word out of the well so you can ingest it!

And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder (Genesis 24:15).

That’s interesting. They carried them on the right shoulder, and the right shoulder speaks of godly government. See again, the pitcher is a pitcher of clay—this is symbolic of flesh. So what we have is a clay vessel that holds water sitting in a seat of godly government, and the right hand speaks of greater blessing. She comes out to take the water. The servant ran up to meet her. In verse 17 he says, “Please let me drink a little from your pitcher.” She said, “Drink, my lord!” And then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand and gave him a drink.

She quickly responded to the Holy Spirit. Her servant’s heart was evident in her instant response to a need. She wasn’t afraid of what she might look like. She wasn’t afraid of what people might say—this woman speaking to this strange man who she had never met. She was quick and obedient because she had a servant’s heart.

And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well (of the Living One who sees me) to draw water, and drew for all his camels (Genesis 24:19–20).

Now listen. We might think, OK, she threw in a couple pitchers of water for the camels. Camels can drink from 180 to 360 gallons of water each. They had just come across 590 miles of desert. They were thirsty! And she had ten thirsty camels that wanted water! You do the math! We are not talking five minutes of work here. We are talking about somebody who, because of her servant’s heart, was willing to go all the way and do what was necessary to see that challenge met.

Passing the Test

Most people in the Kingdom of God are willing to go half way or part of the way, but few are willing to run and pursue until the course is finished. Are you hearing me? It is not passion for a moment—it is passion for a lifetime. I want to tell you, the Word says we are all in a race. I used to be a long-distance runner. I ran the mile and the two-mile, and after running all those laps—when I was one lap or a half of a lap out—there was the finish line. I could see it. I had to dig real deep, and I had to put every last ounce of strength I didn’t even know I had into that run, because there was the finish line and I was going for it.

I want to tell you, Church—the finish line is in sight today. We have got to be digging deep into the well of His Presence. We have got to dig deep, and we have got to press on with everything that is in us to attain and reach the fullness of the promise of God, because it is in sight. Part of that is this translation experience, but you have got to embrace the crucified life. You have got to have a servant’s heart.

Now, what do these camels look like? Let me tell you, she drew deeply from “the well of the Living One who sees me, the well of His Presence.” The first camel was the camel of sickness, and she took up this pitcher of water and she drew from the well of His Presence, and she poured out—by the stripes of Jesus I was healed (see 1 Pet. 2:24). And she poured until that camel was satiated and full, and she gained the victory—that test was passed.

The next one was the camel of lack, and she drew water from the well of His Presence—my God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (see Phil. 4:19). She kept pouring forth the water from the well of His presence, possibly up to 360 gallons, until that camel was satiated and filled.

With all ten of these camels, she saw to it that they were satiated in the water of the Word, the water from the well of His presence, and in doing so she met the challenge of the test that was before her. Here is our example for every test and trial that comes our way! How do we pour forth the Word of God from the well of His Presence within us? We speak it and we release it so that it accomplishes what He said it would. And if we have to do it 100 times or 360 times, you speak His Word. You are people of the Word.

Pure Servanthood

The man Eleazer remained silent, wondering at her, to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous. Have you ever had those times in your life where it seems like Heaven is quiet and you can’t break through—you are not hearing anything? Immediately, you begin to question if you made the Lord angry, if there is sin in your life, and at the most trying of moments you can wonder if you are even saved. Sometimes it is the Holy Spirit watching to see your response to the test that is before you. He is just watching your response—He hasn’t left! He is right there! There is a heavenly expectation hovering over you, anticipating victory as you draw forth out of the abundance of the deposit that has been placed within you—the water from the well of His presence. The Lord anticipates victory! Never defeat! Every test in your life is for the purpose of gaining another victory and emulating our forerunner Jesus!

Eleazer remains silent.

So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold (the number of testing), and said, “Whose daughter are you?” (Genesis 24:22–23)

The nose speaks of discernment. Gold symbolizes purity, holiness, and the fear of God. What he was saying was that there is a purity of discernment about this servant’s heart, and now, because she has passed the test, she is promoted to the next level of purity, holiness, and the fear of the Lord in her ability to discern.

He put gold on her hands; her hands speak of service—purity of service with a pure heart. With pure discernment, with passion she served and she satiated those camels, and she met the test and she passed and overcame, and there was a reward.

So let’s look down to where he reiterates:

“Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.” Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go (journey and vanish), and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the Lord has spoken” (Genesis 24:49–51).

Then he gave precious things to her brother and mother, and he and the men ate and drank and stayed all night. The next day, her mother and brother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten” (Gen. 24:55).

And Eleazer, the servant, said, “Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go (journey and vanish) to my Master.” So they decided, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally” (Gen. 24:56–57).

Now remember—purity of discernment, purity of service, a servant’s heart. Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you journey and vanish with this man?” And she said, “I will journey and vanish.” So they sent her away (see Gen. 24:58).

Now, I have just given you some keys. There are innumerable things in here I could show you about Hebrew words that speak of what I have been talking about—translation by faith. There are some key things that we need to understand. We have got to embrace the crucified life. We have got to allow God to purify our motives, to purify our conversation, and to deal with issues that we haven’t dealt with. We have got to have a servant’s heart—not just a servant, but a bondservant—realizing that everything that we have in this life is not ours; we are stewards only because everything belongs to Him. Even the gifting and the calling in your life—especially that—you are a steward over. It’s not your ministry; it is His ministry that He has given you a stewardship over. It is not your gift; it is His gift that He allows you to steward and utilize. It’s not your talent; it is His talent and He expects a return. You are to steward all that He has graced you with.

He is no respecter of persons. When you understand these promises—even the adventure of translation by faith—belong to you, then you can pursue Him for them, and then you will receive. If you are willing, He is able; if you make the choice, He will make the change. All things are possible to those who believe! Now, I have got to say this. It didn’t say, “If you believe with 500 pounds of faith when you have only got an ounce.” It says with whatever faith you have got you believe. (See Romans 12:3.) That’s all He is looking for. I am not talking about levels and measures of faith here. Truthfully, how much faith did Lazarus have? None! He was dead and buried. But Jesus had faith. God the Father and Jesus the Son will meet you wherever your point of faith is, and they will take you from that place into this journey.

The Second Heaven

Let me continue with another experience and lesson on translation by faith which the Lord gave me. About a year after the experience of driving from Seattle to Spokane, after much more study, prayer, and fasting and gaining a little more understanding about the hows and whys of translation, I said, “OK, Lord. I am ready for the next lesson.”

Little did I know! I was in my room worshiping God, and all of a sudden I felt this suction. When I opened my eyes I was standing in the stars! Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell you, I only know that I was experiencing something supernatural and it was tangibly real.

The first thing I noticed was the stars were singing the praises of God. They are alive and vibrant! It was an astonishing revelation to fully realize the truth of the Word that all of creation sings forth the praises of God!

After some time (poor choice of words as time is insignificant during an experience like this), I realized I couldn’t see the earth or the moon. Nothing was familiar. There was just this vastness of the universe with creation singing forth praise unto God.

As I was contemplating that discovery, all of a sudden I saw off into the distance on my right what appeared to be a doorway suspended in the vastness of space. I could tell it was open because a bright white light shone through the opening, so it looked like a doorway of light.

I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Go ahead!”

My first thought was, “Go ahead? How do I do that?” I knew enough to take at least a step of faith, so as I thought about moving toward the door, I instantly moved through the doorway. I found myself in a small office front that stood empty. Immediately, a “knowing” came from the Spirit of God that I was in Sydney, Australia. (I have since been there and found the area I was translated to.)

The sun was just coming up. It was very early on a Saturday morning, so there was no traffic on the street outside. As I looked around the office, behind me I noticed a doorway to the bathroom. There was gray carpeting on the floor that had been worn over time, and I noticed markings with electrician’s tape where the desks had been.

I said, “Wow! That’s cool, Lord; I’ve always wanted to visit Australia!”

As I turned back to the front of the office, toward the windows and door, I saw a black marble façade building with tinted windows across the street on the right and a gray marble façade building with tinted windows on the left, with the empty street in front.

I said, “Lord, this is great,” and I headed for the front door with the thought of a little sight-seeing in mind.

“No, that is your lesson; now go back,” He spoke audibly.

Needless to say, I was a little bit disappointed, but now I was faced with another dilemma: How do I get back? Again, I knew enough to take a step of faith when I’ve heard from the Lord, so I moved toward the bathroom door, and when I went through that door I was back in my own room at home.

Now, I prayed and chewed on that experience for over a year. I said, “Father, how does this work?”

He said, “Remember the keys.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Keys open what?” “Doorways.”

I said, “OK.” Then I asked, “What about when Paul was caught up into the third heaven?”

He said, “That is a different doorway and that is a different key.”

I asked, “Father, what was the significance of being in the stars?” He said, “Do some historical study.” So I asked, “Lord, where do I start?”

He took me back to the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. This is a compilation of books that never made it into the cannon of Scripture, including the books of Enoch.

The Lord instructed me to read the books of Enoch, so I read the books of Enoch. I was absolutely flabbergasted to see that Enoch had an understanding of the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation. He is even quoted in a number of places throughout the Bible.

One of the things I discovered was Enoch walked with God and he was taken out into the stars and saw the doors and the gateways of Heaven! I was fascinated.

I said, “OK, Lord, how do I marry that with the Word of God and what we can experience today? Because this is way out there.”

He said, “It is very easy. It is called the second heaven.” I got it! To go from the first heaven (where we reside) into the third heaven where Jesus is, you go through the second heaven where I saw the doorway. The second heaven is the domain of the demonic fallen angels. The third heaven is the realm of God.

From that point on, the Lord began to take me on journeys into the realm of the spirit, showing me how translation by faith actually works. One of the keys we discussed earlier, Isaiah 22:22, is an example. You open what no man can close by speaking or declaring in faith!

Jesus said the things that He did we will do also. He steps in; He steps out—between that realm and this realm, between this realm and that realm.

The adventure awaits every child of God who dares to believe that what His Word says is true! We can and will walk as supernatural beings in a natural world with free access into all that the blood of Jesus has made available to us.

You make the choice—He will make the change!

You become willing—He will be your able!

Endnotes

1. Paula A. Price, The Prophet’s Dictionary (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2006), 232.

2. Roswell D. Hitchcock, Hitchcock’s New and Complete Analysis, Nazareth.

3. Ibid., Eleazer.

CHAPTER NINE

The Glory Within

Lord, I pray that You would activate this word in the life of every person who is hearing this. And I thank You, Lord, that You have chosen us as a royal priesthood at the end of the age, Father, to show forth the goodness, the mercies, the salvation of God throughout the nations. And as we partake of this word, Father, may we be filled to overflowing, not just with the word, but with the revelation of Your Word that releases life. I pray, Father, that You would activate the angelic in the lives of those reading this. Release them, Father, to accomplish what You have sent them to do. I praise You, Father. One other thing, Lord—the most important—we apply the blood of Jesus over every individual reading this book and these words. This is seed that will not be snatched away, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

I am going to start with Romans 13:14. It is a familiar Scripture to many of us. Many of us have probably quoted it, and yet there is a significance to this particular Scripture that is important for us to grasp right now. This verse says: “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:14 KJV).

That word put ye on is the Greek word endueo.[1] It is the same Greek word used when it says that the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be endued (endueo) with power from on high. It means “to be clothed with in the sense of sinking into a garment.” Let me give you the word picture that creates. It is like little children who one day decide they want to dress up like Mommy and Daddy and so they put on Mommy’s and Daddy’s clothes. They can hardly move because they are enveloped in this mass of clothing, and through it all you may just be able to see their eyes or their smile, but they are lost—they are immersed in their clothing.

That is what it means to put on the Lord Jesus—to be so immersed in Him that all people see of you is your eyes! Everything else is Jesus! In the same way, this is when you are clothed with the Holy Spirit—you are endueod with the Holy Spirit, you are immersed in Him, and the only thing others see is maybe your eyes. We have to understand that when He says to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, He is saying, “Get yourself lost in Jesus.” Be lost in Him.

Another truth found in this Scripture is when we learn to put on the Lord Jesus we will not make provision for the flesh. That word provision literally means you are not going to have any forethought or plan in advance for the things of the flesh. Now, you know in the season that we are in it is very easy to get caught and carried away with concerns about the natural things of the flesh. With what has been happening in the world at this time, there has never been a better time to understand this Scripture.

If we learn to immerse ourselves in Jesus, we will not have any forethought for the things of the flesh. We are not going to be concerned about those things because we will be so fused together with Him. The provisioning of Heaven will become so real to us we will not be concerned about what is happening in the world. Jesus was never concerned about whether the economy was going up or going down, whether there was a shortage of food or a shortage of finances. We never see Him voice a concern for any of that in His earthly walk. Why? Because He was immersed in the Holy Spirit and He had no forethought of the things of the flesh.

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17 KJV).

Most of our lives as believers, we have been trying to live as He was. While that has merit and is a good foundation and starting point, we need to look at what Jesus is like right now and what He is doing right now. In that way, we can move toward the potential of this promise of being as He is in this world.

Well, what is Jesus like right now? He is in glory. I guarantee you that He is not worried about what He is going to eat, where He is going to sleep, what He is going to put on, or if He has enough faith. Do you understand what I am saying? This Bible that we carry has everything that we need for life and godliness. It has every promise we need, but if we don’t apply what has been so freely given to us, we will never walk in it. A mental ascent is not a reception or acceptance of a promise.

Do What He’s Doing!

There is a difference between mental assent or acknowledgment and walking in the fullness of a promise. John said, “As He is right now, so are you in this world.” While I know this concept is new and hard to even wrap your mind around, I also know it is a fact. As He is right now, so am I. That fact, when accepted and received, will display itself in our thoughts, words, and actions.

The fact is, we’ve not quite grown up yet into the full confidence and realization of these promises being true in our lives, but we are growing up. Jesus said:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father (John 14:12 KJV).

Do you know what He is doing for you right now? The first thing is He went to prepare a place for you, so that where He is you may be also. So our first example of a “work” we can do is to prepare a place for Him.

Some have said, “He already lives in my heart, Brother.” Yeah! But how much of your heart does He have? Did you give Him just the foyer of the castle of your heart? “Come in, but don’t touch anything because I’m comfortable being in control of my own life.” Do you understand what I am saying?

The second thing He does is He ever lives to make intercession for us. So we should be preparing a place for Him by allowing the Spirit of God to reveal our hearts to us, to cause us to become, and then we should be constantly interceding. Because as He is, so are you right now.

The Word of God teaches us that we are seated together with Christ right now in heavenly places. So as He is, so are you, and you are seated together with Him.

Can a man be in two places at one time? Yes, absolutely. You are there, seated together with Him in heavenly places, and you are here in this natural realm. You were born into the realm of the Spirit, into the Kingdom of God, when you accepted Jesus. Just as you were born into this natural realm and began to engage this realm with your five senses, so when you become born again, you can begin to engage that realm with the spiritual senses that

God gave you at birth. You can see, you can taste, you can touch, you can smell. Do you understand that?

The problem is we are so used to the natural realm and so used to being engaged in this realm that we neglect the reality of the realm of the Spirit, which is the real realm. This is but a shadow, and you can’t engage your senses to begin to operate and function in the realm of the Spirit.

If He said that we can do what He does (continual present tense)—”the works that I do,” not the works that I did—you can do them also. Do walls keep Jesus out? Do walls keep Jesus in? Does this realm preclude or inhibit Him from stepping from the spiritual realm or dimension to the natural realm or dimension? No, there is nothing impossible with God, and as He is, so are we in this world.

You start meditating on that for a short time and it will mess up your head, but it will get you straightened out, too. There is nothing impossible with God, and there is nothing impossible to those who believe.

Wilderness Experiences

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb (Exodus 3:1 KJV).

Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s courts, learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was next in line to Pharaoh—he was eloquent in speech and in deed. One day it came into his mind, “Wait a minute! Those are my people that are in bondage and in slavery,” and he knew within his heart that he had a destiny in regards to delivering his people from bondage. And so, as all of us have done at one point or another in our Christian walk, with his own understanding and the arm of his own strength he tried to accomplish and fulfill his destiny.

And what did that lead to? The wilderness. Have you ever been there? I’ll bet you have. And so now we find him as a shepherd on the back side of the wilderness. I have talked to a lot of pastors that have had a church there. Forty years he shepherded out on the back side of the wilderness. Hebrews 11:27 says that he endured as seeing Him (the Lord). If we take the time to dig and study through the Word in this regard, we come to the understanding that Moses knew God face to face—he was the friend of God. So he spent 40 years in the wilderness just hanging out with God, talking to him face to face. That’s not a bad trade-off.

Now at this particular juncture in his life, Moses comes to a place in his wilderness ministry called Mount Horeb. Now, Mount Horeb is an interesting place—it is the Mount of God. Horeb means “desolation and despair.”[2] Now, how can that be the Mountain of God? Quite simply, where did you meet Jesus? You met Him when you came to the end of yourself! And sometimes even after you have accepted Jesus, you revisit Mount Horeb in your wilderness experiences.

This is the same Mount Horeb where Elijah ended up after he fled from Jezebel. Here is Moses coming to Mount Horeb, and if we examine the Scriptures we find many of the patriarchs came to this same place of absolute desolation and despair. Paul himself said, “We despaired of life because we were overburdened. God, just take us home!” (See 2 Corinthians 1:8.)

Here is Moses at this place of desolation and despair, and he sees something that he has never seen before. He sees a burning, fiery bush and an angel standing next to it. And he says, “I am going to check that out. I have never seen anything like that.”

Well, I think that I would check it out, too. A lot of people would just check out—you know, “I am out of here; that can’t be God.” But there are enough of us who are curious and think, “That’s interesting.” So Moses comes to this place on the back side of the wilderness where he is at the end of himself. Do you know that Jesus often would go out into the wilderness to be alone with the Father? And most Christians in their Christian journey have decided, “Well, I don’t like wilderness experiences; they are too tough.” You have got to be kidding! That is where you meet God. When everything is comfy, cozy, and going your way, you seldom think of God. Our Christianity in America hasn’t really cost us a whole lot, but that is about to change. As we approach the last days, persecution will increase. Christians should not be surprised to see laws enacted that make following Christ more costly.

Well, here he is, and he walks up to the bush, and out of the fire God speaks and says to Moses, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exod. 3:5). The works of flesh—symbolized by man-made shoes—are not going to step on this holy place. And so, on that auspicious day, Moses had a face-to-face encounter with a God who was a consuming fire.

Use What You Have

You see, seasons of brokenness, desolation, and despair in your life lead to a purging and a purifying of your character so that you come to know Him in a more intimate way. That is why Paul said he gloried in trials, tests, and tribulations (see 2 Cor. 7:4). It was not because he got hit by too many rocks (like I used to think), but because it brought great intimacy between he and God. King David said a broken and a contrite spirit He will in no way despise (see Ps. 51:17). Until there is at least a measure of brokenness in your life, you are going to stumble and fall frequently. And the more of the anointing you have without brokenness, the greater the disaster in the making, because without brokenness pride sets you up for a fall (see Prov. 16:18).

Our Heavenly Father is interested in character, and brokenness in the lives of His people is one of the avenues that lead to character. And so Moses has an encounter with a God who is a consuming fire, and it changed his life. What I find fascinating is that after he had been in the courts of Pharaoh—eloquent in speech, learned in all the wisdom of Egypt—when the Lord said, “Go back to Egypt and bring out my people,” Moses said, “I don’t know how to speak” (see Exod. 4:10).

What he is saying in essence is, “Lord, what I thought I had, what I thought I knew, and the strength that used to be mine in the flesh amounts to nothing.” What he was saying was, “Lord, I really don’t know how to be led of Your Spirit right now because I’ve always relied on myself.”

And God said, “Let me help you. What do you have in your hand?” You see, Christian, we always make excuses why we are not doing something for God. I took 43 people one time on a missions trip to Fiji. Let me say this—I recommend that you never do that! Keep it to about 10 people at most. But anyway, I took 43 people and some of the young people from the program “Master’s Commission.” They were the best! I would take them anywhere. There were 11 of them, and they were making a decision on whether they were supposed to go or not. So I had asked them about a week into the process, “Well, what do you think?”

They said, “We are praying.”

I said, “Well, what are you praying about?”

They said, “The finances.”

I said, “Stop that right now! What you need to find out is, is it God’s will for you to go? When that is established, the finances will come, but if you are praying about finances, let me tell you, you are praying in the wrong direction.”

Now you see, we always put the cart before the horse. God doesn’t say, “If you have the finances, go,” because there is no faith involved. What you need to do is find out what His will is and then move in that direction. God will always meet you there. I want to tell you, any time we have traveled around the world over the last 10 to 12 years, not once did I have the finances to go. But when I heard God, I said to those who invited us, “Yes! We are coming.” Every single time the Lord has met the need.

Living in His Presence

So this God who is a consuming fire has an appointment in your life—once, twice, maybe many times. For most of us, it is many times. And then we see this:

And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day He called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud (Exodus 24:15–16 KJV).

Oh! I like that. I have got to explain this; I always have to throw in this plug. Second Peter 3:8 says, “A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day” (my paraphrase). So we can go back historically from Jesus 4,000 years to Adam. From Adam until the turn of the century, we have now completed 6,000 years, and it is early in the morning on the seventh day. On the seventh day, God spoke to Moses from out of the cloud and said, “Come up here!” Remember types and symbols—God is speaking to His people right now. It’s time to come into the glory. But you are not going to get there by way of the cloud; you have to first have an encounter with a God who is a consuming fire.

Verse 17 says the sight of the Glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel, but to Moses it was a cloud. That is interesting. To Moses, who had already had an encounter with God who is a consuming fire, he sees it as a cloud.

We have a good friend, Brother Dean Braxton, who was clinically dead for an hour and 45 minutes a few years ago. Somebody asked him one time, “Brother Braxton, what does the Throne of God look like?”

He said, “Are you kidding me? When you are in the Throne Room of God, you are not looking at the Throne! You’re not even interested in the Throne! But I’ll tell you what it was made of, not because I was focused on that aspect of Heaven, but because you have a ‘knowing’ when you are there and I ‘knew’ what I was experiencing at that time. The Throne that God was sitting on—some people say it looks like quartz or granite or some other material we can relate to here. It was a cloud of glory.”

Now, you think about this. Jesus went up in a cloud. He was already seated on His Throne. The Lord is returning in a cloud to rule and reign. What happens when the cloud of Glory comes into the house? The King of Glory comes into the house because the Glory is the atmosphere of Heaven as well as the Throne of Heaven.

Moses went up this mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, and the Lord wrote in tablets of stone the Law by which His people were supposed to live. Moses came back down the mountain, and the first thing he saw was a golden calf the people had made, and they were worshiping this golden calf. For the first time in history, the Law judged sin as Moses, in righteous anger, threw down the tablets of the Law.

Shortly after that, he went back up the mountain for another 40 days and 40 nights in the presence of the Lord. So we have a total of 80 days and 80 nights in the glory—face to face with God, with no food and no water—in just a short span of time, not to mention the many other times Moses talked with the Lord face to face. At 120 years of age, Moses had not abated in any strength, his eyesight was perfect, and he wasn’t sick or enfeebled

(see Deut. 34:7).

And yet, he was not allowed into the Promised Land. What did he do? He went out in the wilderness and he said, “Lord, I am coming home!” And he left his body. And it says the devil contended with Michael over that body (see Jude 1:9). Why? Because it wouldn’t decay. The natural process of death, decay, and corruption was so abated, so slowed down, that body probably would have existed—well, look at Adam—a thousand years?

It’s in You, Too!

Jesus is clothed with glory. He is eternal. When that which is eternal comes into contact with that which is mortal, something happens. You don’t negate eternity, or that eternal light, or that eternal glory. No, it does something to your mortal body that quickens it. And to whatever extent death, decay, and corruption are affected by that glory, they cannot function.

Jesus walked in this understanding and revelation while here on the earth. As a matter of fact, Jesus said, “No man takes my life” (see John 10:17). How could He say that? Because He understood the glory. He understood that He had a destiny to fulfill, and as long as He was in obedience to the will of the Father He was in the Glory of God.

No one killed Jesus. He laid down His life because He was compelled by love and obedience to God (see John 10:17–18). No one could take His life. Christian, as He is, so are you in this world. Get this revelation—no one can take your life! However, you can freely lay it down in the service of others and to fulfill your destiny.

And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door (Exodus 33:8–10 KJV).

So, get this—Moses knew God face to face. The Glory is the atmosphere of Heaven. When the atmosphere of Heaven comes, the King of Heaven is there also. And so any time that Glory came, he just began to talk with God face to face.

When the Glory of God touches or comes into contact with anything that is not immortal, it reverses the natural law of death and decay. Anything! Any created thing! What in this world has not been created? Everything has been created. Let me get this straight, Brother. Are you saying anything that is death, decay, and corruption the Glory can reverse? That’s what I am saying. So, you are telling me if I have a rusty old car out there, and if I pray and release the glory, it will be brand new? That’s what I am saying. That is the potential we have access to in the glory. Because the Glory of God brings life and restores what death, decay, and corruption have taken away, then anything that has death, decay, or corruption will have a violent reaction to life.

What do you think happens when you pray for someone who is sick and they are healed? You have released the Glory of God, and death, decay, and corruption are expunged! They are gone—it’s eradicated! What do you think happens when the dead are raised? Death, decay, and corruption are eradicated.

You see, we have so finitely limited God with our reason. Well, Brother, it doesn’t mean inanimate objects. It means anything that is created. How about mildew? How about mold? How about foul-smelling odors? Yes! Because not only is the Glory the atmosphere of Heaven and the Throne of Heaven, it is the fragrance of Heaven. Most of us have heard about ionizers that destroy odors. Let me tell you about the ionizer of Heaven—release the Glory and odors leave. Does it work? Oh! Yes! It does! My wife, Reshma, and I have done this in many places we’ve traveled.

You have heard of the shekinah Glory of God. It is a Hebrew word that literally means “resting or dwelling,” and it refers to the manifestation of the reddish-gold radiance of God’s Presence when it rests or dwells among His people on earth. When the pillar of fire and the cloud were resident in the camp of Israel, it was the shekinah Glory of God. It was reddish-gold in color. It comes from the root shachem, which means “intimacy or neighbor.”[3]

Now listen. Jesus said, “No longer do I call you servants… I have called you friends” (John 15:15). You are in Christ. You are seated with Him in heavenly places, so you are already in the glory. And Jesus is in your heart, so the Glory is in you. Why then are we always crying out, “Lord, send Your glory! Lord, send Your glory!” Isaiah 6:3 says the whole earth is filled with His glory. And we keep crying out in ignorance, “Lord, just give us a touch of the glory.”

You have more Glory in you than you can imagine! It can create universes! How do I utilize what is in me, then? Lord, if all of this is in me, then why am I going through such a hard time? Exactly. It is because we haven’t had an understanding of what the Word has to say or an awareness of what God has been trying to bring us into—the glory!

Endnotes

1. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, 1746.

2. Roswell D. Hitchcock, Hitchcock’s New and Complete Analysis, Horeb.

3. The Zondervan Pictoral Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1967), shachem.

CHAPTER TEN

The Glory Released

Let me tell you how I started on this journey of discovering the Glory and how to release it. It is something so basic and so simple, it is comical. I don’t like mosquitoes. I got tired of going to tropical nations and being eaten alive. I strongly believe that every time I went some place, they would ring the dinner bell and mosquitoes from countries around would come singing, “Bruce is on the menu.” Then they would go away singing, “There Is Power in the Blood.”

I was so frustrated and agitated with being a target of these pests everywhere we went! I said, “Father, I don’t mind going to all of these tropical places where I am sweating and hot and wrung out, but please give me something—give me a strategy to get rid of mosquitoes. I am tired of being eaten alive on top of it all.”

One day I heard the Lord speak to my heart just before an outdoor meeting, “Release the glory.” I was ministering in York, Pennsylvania, under a canopy in the cool of the evening next to a stream… with lights on. I was thinking, “Oh! Lord! I know this is not going to be fun! Please give me a strategy. What do I do?”

He said, “Release the glory.”

I said, “OK.” So, I went up to the pulpit and I set my books down and internally I said, “Father, I release the Glory of God as my defense.”

I watched that night as mosquitoes would fly up and then away from me. They couldn’t get near me. I was fascinated! The people there must have thought that I had lost my mind because I was watching mosquitoes more than I was teaching and sharing a message. I even forgot what I was speaking about! They could not get near me!

There was a lady seated in the front on my left, and she was eaten alive by mosquitoes. She kept saying, “I don’t understand! Mosquitoes never come near me!”

I was standing there silently laughing and saying, “God, this is cool!” I was so happy (for me) and I was totally astounded. I said, “Lord, what else does this work on?” I was like a kid with a new toy.

Let me show you what the Lord began to reveal to me from Scripture regarding the Glory.

Then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering [canopy, defense] (Isaiah 4:5).

Corporately, you are Mount Zion. Individually, you are individual dwelling places. The Lord said He will create above all of you a canopy of glory.

The word smoke is the Hebrew word ashan. It literally means “the terror of Yahweh, or the anger of Yahweh,” but it is the terror and the anger of God against sinful man.[1]

You are the redeemed of the Lord. Whereas to the unredeemed it becomes the terror of God and the anger of God, to the redeemed it becomes a joy, a wonderment. It causes us to be drawn toward Him in reverence, attraction, and confidence.

For 40 years in the wilderness, the Lord placed a cloud by day and the fire by night over the camp of Israel. On one side, the children of Israel were drawn and comforted by the presence of God. On the other side, the enemies of Israel knew terror! This cloud of smoke and fire by night was their defense!

The word flaming fire is from an unused root meaning “to gleam as in a sharply polished blade.”[2] Remember, this is your defense! God is going to put the terror of Yahweh on your enemies as a defense. He is going to cover you under the canopy of His glory. It is going to attract and draw you to His side! It is going to be a wonderment and a joy! But to the enemies of God it is going to bring the fear and the terror of God.

Night speaks of the natural progression of our 24-hour cycle, but it also speaks of the end of the age. Darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples at the end of time. This flaming sword at night is your defense! There are two places in Scripture that you see this flaming sword. You see it in the Garden of Eden in Genesis, when the Lord appointed the two cherubim to guard the way to Eden. You also find it in the Book of Revelation, coming out of Jesus’ mouth.

It would also indicate that you as a container—a conduit by which that Glory is released to the earth—have to do something. No man will take my life! I just released it. No weapon formed against me will prosper! I just released it.

The word defense is huppa. It literally means “a canopy; to cover, to veil, to encase, and protect.”[3] The best picture I can share with you of this encasing glory would be an example from the television show Star Trek, where they put up their shields. Nothing gets through! That’s like the glory! The only difference is the Glory of God doesn’t weaken with each strike, and you need never fear it failing! That’s the picture of this Hebrew word, huppa. It encases you, it veils you, it covers and protects you. From what? Death, decay, and corruption.

The virus H1N1 cannot get through the canopy of God’s glory. Bullets cannot penetrate the glory. Bombs cannot destroy it. I mean we could go on and on—sickness, disease, et cetera. Do you understand what the Glory is? Because as He is so are we right now in this world, and what He did you can do (see John 4:17; 14:12).

Living Under His Canopy

Jesus walked in this world with no sickness and no disease afflicting Him. We know from the Scripture that He was tested in every manner we have been tested, yet He overcame in all areas (see Heb. 4:15). As a matter of fact, remember when they were going to throw Jesus off the cliff because He so infuriated that religious spirit with what He said? The canopy of God’s Glory veiled Him and He walked through their midst—they didn’t even see Him.

And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow (shade) in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert (shelter) from storm and from rain (Isaiah 4:6 KJV).

The word shadowliterally means “shade.”[4] The word for heat in Hebrew is Horeb. Horebliterally means “desolation and despair.”[5] It also speaks of the heat of the sun.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling (Psalm 91:1–10).

When you are under the canopy of God’s glory, you are under the shadow, the shade, the covering of the Almighty. I hope you are getting this! Remember—Moses spent a total of 80 days in the Glory with no food and water. Why? Because the infusion of life that was in the Glory so infused his mortal body that he wasn’t hungry. In the same way, Jesus said, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of” (John 4:32 KJV). Are you understanding?

God is saying this canopy of His glory—this encasing, this covering—is going to keep you from the hour of desolation and despair. Remember, a thousand are going to fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, and they are going to look at you and say, “Why in the world are you not afraid? Why are you not concerned? Why are you not upset and anxious?” Because my God keeps me from desolation and despair. My God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory. I’m full.

Well, Brother, there is a famine coming—a shortage. Hallelujah! When the enemy comes in like a flood the Lord will lift up a banner! (See Isaiah 59:19.) It is going to cause us to press in to the truth of the Word and grow up into Him. I want to tell you, Christian, you will have the answer that is needed in the days ahead, because you know Jesus and you know how to appropriate the riches in glory.

You are the ones who are going to pray over an empty pot at dinner time, and it is going to be filled with food! You’ll be able to say, “Come on in, Brothers; come on in, folks.”

And they are going to ask, “How did you do that? Where did you get the food?” And you will share the reality of the Kingdom of God with them!

The word covert in Isaiah 4:6 means “a secret hiding place.”[6] He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High. Are you getting this? The secret hiding place. Wow! In John 1:4 it says, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” That word life is zoe; it literally means life as God has it. It is God’s life that is in you because you are in Him, and as He is, so are you.

Healing Power in the Glory

For years, I would ponder and question the Lord, asking, “Father, Your Word clearly teaches us that healing is the children’s bread, and I am grateful that I can come to You when I need healing. But Lord, what belongs to a mature son?”

Well, who is the only example that we had of a mature son? Jesus! He walked in divine health. Why? Because He walked in the glory.

“OK, Father, then how do I get from where I have walked to where I should be?” Simple! By faith! Start with mosquitoes.

In November, we went to Fiji to visit Reshma’s family. My folks had never met her family, so we had a small group who accompanied us there. Our pastors, Barry and Kay Hill, came, and some of our friends and their kids and a grandchild came. In the past, Fiji used to be the most difficult of places for me to visit because of the mosquitoes. I said, “OK, Father. Here is a big test as far as I am concerned! Every time I’ve come to Fiji, I have been ‘meal of the month’ for every mosquito on these islands. So I’m going to take what You have revealed to me and put Your word to the test, and I will know by this test if I’ve been hearing You correctly or if I’m way off.”

From the moment we walked off the airplane, I began to say, “Father, I release the glory!” Over the course of our two-week visit, I did not get bitten once! I mean, that is not a miracle to some folks, but to me that was better than raising the dead!

I have been asked if I shared this revelation with those who had traveled with us, and the answer is no, I didn’t. Somebody said, “Well, why didn’t you share it with them?” Because at the time I was still learning and practicing. First it had to be formed in me before I could release it through me. If I haven’t walked it out, then I am just giving you a theory. And I don’t know about you, but I am tired of the theories in the Church. I want to see somebody who has walked their talk and has evidence to back up what they say, so I keep practicing.

Again I said, “Wow! Lord, what else can this do?”

Well, three years ago I was told by the dentist that I needed some work done and it was going to cost seventeen thousand dollars! I said, “And my firstborn, right? Seventeen thousand dollars?”

Then I said, “No, I am going to go back and pray about this.”

“Father, I believe in miracles. I just went from maybe to amen, Lord.”

I was standing, believing, and contending in faith for three years. Then in January, after we had come back from our Fiji trip, the Lord spoke to me and said, “I want you to sit for a season and press in.”

So I went up into each day that I wasn’t traveling to spend time with the Lord, study, and write. One morning, all of a sudden my mouth came alive in rebellion! Have you ever had a toothache? What I experienced was not just one tooth on one side of my mouth; no, that would be too easy! I had four teeth acting up in all four quadrants of my mouth at the same time!

Three weeks! I prayed and pursued the promise of God for healing for three weeks! Finally, after three weeks of contending and being worn out, I had the presence of mind to ask, “Father, what are You saying in this?”

He said, “Release the glory!”

Now—internally mind you, not out loud—I said, “Lord, I release the Glory into those teeth.”

The sensation was as if somebody pulled a plug and all the pain just drained away and never came back. I said, “Lord, why didn’t You tell me that three weeks ago?”

He said, “Why didn’t you ask?”

Oh! Yeah! I forgot. I teach all over the world that the first response we should have in every situation is to ask God, to dialogue with Him, and I had forgotten!

I said, “Wow! Father, what else can it do?” This is getting rich! Well, May came, and May was my Father’s seventy-fourth birthday, and we wanted to have a barbecue for him. He likes barbecued steak, and I like cooking on the grill. So that morning I decided to cut the lawn and dress it up for the guests who we had invited over. We have a pretty big yard and in the spring we have had mosquitoes in swarms. So, I said, “Father, I am going to exercise my faith and release the Glory over the whole yard.”

Now, what happens when you put nice food out at a barbecue? Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Soup’s on! This time, however, there was not one insect! Not a mosquito, not a bug for four hours as we sat out and ate and had fun.

I said, “Wow! What else can this do? Lord, does it get rid of any other pests?”

Actually, it does! Demons hate the glory.

Overshadowed

Acts 17:28 says for in Him we live. Apart from Christ, there is no life, there is no zoe, the God-kind of life, and there is no life that has meaning for anybody. So in Him we live and move and have our being. Immortality and Glory are located in the Light, which is Jesus. You are in Him and He is in you, and as He is, so are you in this world. It is the same Light that is the Light of Life, the Glory of God. It doesn’t abide or allow corruption, decay, mildew, rot, deterioration, rust, mold, pollution, or bad smells.

Here is another application of the Glory from the Word. The children of Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness, and their clothes never wore out. And when the Glory was present—as it was for 40 years with them—supernatural manna from Heaven fell each day to feed them. They had “meat” to eat that we know not of. Interesting.

There was a man (I forget his name now) who, in the 1940s, 1950s, and into the 1960s, spent many years ministering in Africa and other tropical nations on a regular basis. He had a revelation about the canopy of God’s Glory as a defense, and he put into practice what he learned about releasing the glory. Many times this gentleman would minister in the evenings in thatched-hut churches out in the middle of nowhere with kerosene lamps as the only illumination. If you’ve ever been to a hot and humid jungle, you will know that at night lamps attract every conceivable insect known to man!

The fascinating thing is, because of his understanding of the Glory being a canopy of defense, those insects couldn’t come within 30 feet of those lamps! Not only that, but the people coming to the meetings would walk into the radiance of the Glory and be instantly healed!

This gentleman bought a suit off the rack of the department store once because in those days it was the normal apparel for a minister to wear. For seven years he tromped through the jungles and held meetings in the tropics and preached the Gospel, and in seven years he never washed that suit one time! And yet when he took it off, it smelled brand new—just as fresh as the day he bought it!

How could that be? Mildew, corruption, decay, mold—it didn’t touch his clothing because he had such a Revelation of the glory. I said, “Lord, if it is good enough for him, it is good enough for us.” (Sorry, ladies, you can’t go shopping as much anymore. You have to learn to release the glory!)

John 6:54 says, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” (paraphrased). Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world. He that follows Me will not walk in darkness” (paraphrased). Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (paraphrased).

What is the curse? Sin, sickness, and death. The destruction, the decay from the curse has been eliminated through the blood of Jesus. Why? Because the life is in the blood, and He is that Life and the Light of the world. The Glory overcomes sin, sickness, death, decay, corruption—all of that.

In Acts 2, it tells of the many signs, wonders, and miracles that were done by the apostles because the day of Pentecost had come and they were endued with power. Endueod—they were immersed in the Holy Ghost. Well, He is in Glory and we are in Him. So all of a sudden on that particular day there was a release of the glory.

In Acts 3, a very unusual miracle was done to a man who was lame from his mother’s womb, and he was healed.

In Acts 4, after the disciples had proclaimed the Gospel and then been beaten and put in prison, they were released and told never to speak in that Name again. So they went out and they prayed, and the place where they prayed was shaken, and they were filled again with the Holy Ghost and power.

In Acts 5 we see a shift take place that is astounding. After the endueo, or being immersed in that second dose of power (glory), Peter would walk down the street and people would get healed if his shadow overshadowed them. When we think of a shadow, it is the result of a source of light hitting a solid object which blocks the light in the “footprint” of the object. In this case, the word shadow does not convey that meaning. It literally means “an effluence and a radiance” that came forth out of Peter from within, and anybody that came in the purview of that radiance was healed.

The word overshadow used in the King James Bible literally means “to envelope in a haze of brilliancy.” When you and I as believers learn to release the deposit of the Glory that is within us, we will see unusual manifestations in those around us as they are touched and changed by that glory.

Charles Finney walked in this without even realizing what it was. He would go through town on a train and there was such an effluence, a radiance of the Glory that was upon him, that people would begin to drop and cry out for salvation. Now, there is a new Evangelism 101 course! Not how many tracts can you hand out or how many Scriptures can you quote. No, how much of Jesus can you release? We are in a new season. It is about becoming—becoming everything He said we are!

Release What Is Within You

And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power” (Mark 9:1).

The next verse begins, “Now after six days.…” What is after six? Seven! So on the seventh day:

…Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus (Mark 9:2–4).

Here is an application of the release of the glory. If this doesn’t excite you, nothing will. This Glory that was in Jesus began to so radiate from out of Him, so that it even affected His clothing and His countenance. Not only that, it eliminated the barrier between the natural realm and the spiritual, so that He was able to talk face to face with Moses and Elijah!

Meditate on that a moment. You are in the Glory and the Glory is in you. Release it! Release it! Practice all the time! Shortly you will begin to have supernatural face-to-face encounters with the King of Glory, Jesus!

How many of you really want to know Jesus face to face? Begin to practice releasing what is in you. When you go to the post office, release the glory. When you go to a restaurant (after you have ordered), release the glory. When you get on an airplane (wait until the autopilot is on), release the glory. Do you understand? You can do this by faith anywhere. What does it do? Well, I know that it works for mosquitoes, and I know it works for healing, and I know it definitely works for toothaches.

What else does it work for? Listen—death, decay, and corruption cannot coexist with the glory! We have never been fearful of having an accident in any aircraft we have ever been in. We have learned when we walk on board an aircraft to put our hand on the fuselage, apply the blood of Jesus, and now we also release the glory.

And I will give you a testimony—we flew from Perth to Malaysia in a malfunctioning aircraft. I used to work at Boeing. Let me tell you, when we got on, none of the video or sound systems would work. There seemed to be a malfunction in some of the electronics. The first thing that we noticed was, it was blasting heat. It was like somebody turned a heater on in the airplane. And then the air conditioning came on full blast until it felt like a meat locker. That would go for 15 to 20 minutes and then the heat would come back on… and then the air would go on. This went on for five hours! It was insane! When we finally landed and pulled up to the gate, everything died. That aircraft should not have been flying because there was an electrical problem. But the glory! The glory!

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).

The word sun is the Hebrew word shemesh, which means “a notched battlement.”[7] Let me explain. In Medieval times they would build castles, and they would have a little notch on the battlements where the archers could shoot at the enemy from a protected position. Psalms 84:11 says the Lord is a notched battlement and a shield or protector. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. That Glory is like a notched battlement that you are encased in and protected behind, and all the fiery darts of the wicked one can’t touch you; however, you can wage a good warfare from that protected position.

Untouchable

We recently heard a story of a village in a Middle Eastern nation that had a supernatural visitation with Jesus where each person in the village had a personal encounter and they accepted Him as their Lord.

When the authorities heard about the conversion of a whole village in this predominantly Muslim nation, they immediately dispatched a contingent of soldiers. They gathered all of the villagers in the central plaza of the village and told them they must recant and renounce their newfound Christian faith or they would execute all of the men of the village by firing squad.

Every single individual in the village said no, they would not renounce Jesus. So they lined up all the men, took aim, and fired. To the surprise of the soldiers, not one man fell over dead. As a matter of fact, not a single individual was even wounded!

Thinking there had been a misfire (a mass misfire!) they once again went through the steps—ready, aim, fire! Again, not one individual was injured or killed. In confusion and anger the soldiers once again lined up and fired into the line of men, and for the third time not a single individual was touched.

As if on cue, every man reached into his pants pocket and removed three bullets and handed them to the soldiers in front of them. The glory! The glory!

If we put all the word studies together into a whole, an accurate paraphrase of Isaiah 4:5–6 would read:

The Lord has created upon me as a dwelling place of the Most High, a cloud of smoke by day which releases the terror and anger of Yahweh against sinful man, but for me it is a mysterious wonderment, attraction, reverence, joy, and confidence. There is a shining of a flaming fire by night, as the flashing of a sharply polished blade. For upon me the Glory is a canopy that veils, encases, and protects. There is a covering, a protection from all heat, desolation, despair, and any instrument that would try to cut me down. It is a place of refuge and a secret hiding place from the storms of our enemy seeking to destroy me, and from distress and hardship.

Walking in Glory

The Glory of God you are in and that is in you is meant to cover the earth through you. I shared this story earlier, but I repeat it here to remind you that we walk in Glory. We were ministering in Belfast, Northern Ireland, some years ago, and we were talking to our dear friends after a shared meal. Somehow the conversation came around to the release of the Glory and we said, “You know, when you walk down the street, do not be surprised when demons begin to manifest as you pass by.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw “the look” that told me they really didn’t think what I said had any merit. Very shortly after that, as we were still walking and talking, a man brushed past me and went into a phone booth. He immediately turned around with demonic eyes and in an otherworldly voice said, “Go home!”

When he spoke in that demonic voice, our friends jumped back and said, “What was that?”

I replied, “It’s just a demon; don’t worry.”

I inquired of the Lord if I should address that demon at that time and He indicated that I was not to do so. We got a little bit further, about another 40 yards or so, and two young ladies who had been talking together jumped straight up in the air screaming and they fled in opposite directions!

Again, with shocked expressions on their faces, our friends said, “What was that?”

Once again I responded, “It was just demons.”

As we learn to walk in this realm called the supernatural, we discover there is an expectation of signs, wonders, and miracles that pervades your everyday life as never before. It is an adventure!

Let me say this! Be led of the Spirit! Don’t go out half-baked and start doing whatever you think you should do. Be led of the Spirit, but never walk in fear. Why? Because you are in the Glory and the Glory is in you, and nobody can take your life. No weapon formed against you will prosper. A thousand will fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand. It is not going to come near you.

Do you know? When the Lord was teaching and releasing this revelation to us, we were contacted by a close friend who we had not heard from in some time. She had a dream for four consecutive nights in a row. She said she had to tell us this dream, because, “You were in it.”

She said, “In my dream my friend and I were coming into the city of Spokane when bombs started dropping everywhere. Things were exploding, people were dying, there were fires, and all was in chaos when the Lord spoke to me and said, “Go north! Go north!”

So she started heading north toward where we live in a small town about 49 to 50 miles north of Spokane. She said, “I came up to your house and I needed a rest, so I decided to come in. I was sitting there and catching my breath when this older gentleman came rushing into the house and began to shout, “We’ve got to get out! They’re coming this way now. If you stay here you’ll all die!”

She said, “It was very uncharacteristic of you, but you stood up and said, ‘No! Watch this!’ Then you went outside and you said, ‘I release the glory!’ Immediately, bombs began to drop toward the house, and as they did they hit a shield, an invisible barrier, and they bounced off and exploded elsewhere.”

What a confirmation that was to me that we were on the right track. She had no idea what the Lord had been revealing to us. Now, I don’t care what is coming on the world, because you are the light of the world. That light is the Glory of God—it is the life of God—it expunges death, decay, and corruption. When you release the Glory and when you apply the blood of Jesus, nothing can breach that canopy of protection!

I am going to pray a prayer, and when I pray this prayer about releasing the glory, I want each one of you who is reading this to stir up that which is within you and release it now. If you have a need in your body or in someone you know, you can release it into that area of your body or their body.

Father, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You Your Word is true. We are in the Glory and the Glory is in us. Now, Father, by an act of our will, I am asking that You would fill us anew with the Holy Spirit and power, with an endowment of that Glory as we, by an act of our will, release that glory. Right now, Father, all sickness, all disease, all death, decay, and corruption must leave our bodies in the Name of Jesus. Right now, the Zoe Life of God fills us anew! Now, Father, we release the Glory into our homes, into every corner, nook, and cranny. All mildew, mold, decay, corruption, and everything that is not life is eradicated out of this home in the Name of Jesus. Now, Father, we decree this is a place where Your Throne of Glory has free reign.

And we thank You, Father, that in the Glory there is no lack. Every need is met sovereignly, supernaturally, beyond our understanding, beyond what we could ask, think, reason, or imagine. You meet every need because as He is, so are we in this world. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Father. Father, I am asking You right now, ratchet it up a notch.

Prophetic Word From the Lord

It has been My Heart’s desire for many generations to raise up a generation that would yearn and long to know Me face to face, to move aside the religious blockade that has been placed between Me and My people. And this is the generation that I have chosen to know their God face to face. And so, I am releasing to this generation and to My people an understanding of My Word by the breath of revelation that I release by My Spirit. And I am releasing My people from chains that are notmade by human hands, but that have been made by tradition and that have been made by human reasoning and that have kept you from the Kingdom of God. For I have chosen you in this generation to walk in the courts of your King, to see that land that is far off, and to know your God in ways past generations never even imagined. And I am stirring up within you a greater hunger and an understanding of the deep things, the secret things of the Most High. For you are a peculiar generation. You are a generation that shall see the fulfillment and the conclusion of the matter. You are a generation that has been chosen by Me to show forth the praises of your God, and you shall do that by coming into the fullness of the stature of the knowledge of God whose you are. And so I am saying to My people tonight, My Heart that has yearned for this moment is now being fulfilled because My desire is fulfilled. And in the days ahead, I will take you on an adventure in the realm of the Spirit beyond anything you could ask or think of—beyond even reason or a comprehension of a carnal nature, but it will resonate within your spirit to such an extent because you are My children made in My image, created for My Glory, and you shall know My ways.

Endnotes

1. James Strong, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, 6227.

2. Ibid., 3852.

3. Ibid., 2646.

4. Ibid., 6738.

5. Ibid., 2721.

6. Ibid., 4563.

7. Ibid., 8121.

APPENDIX A

Additional Scriptural Proof Texts

Old Testament Appearances of the Lord

1. Abraham saw and ate food with God (Jehovah or Adonai) (see Gen. 18:1–8).

2. Jacob wrestled with God (Elohim) and saw Him face to face (see Gen. 32:22–31).

3. Seventy-four men ate with God (Elohim) (see Exod. 24:9–11).

4. Moses saw God (Jehovah or Adoni) face to face (see Exod. 33:11).

5. Moses saw God’s (Jehovah or Adonai) back parts(see Exod. 33:18–23).

6. Joshua and all Israel saw Him (see Josh. 5:13–15).

7. Gideon saw the Lord (see Judg. 6:11–23).

8. Samson’s parents saw Him (see Judg. 13:3–23).

9. David saw God (see 1 Chron. 21:16–17).

10. Job saw God (see Job 42:5).

11. Isaiah saw and described God (see Isa. 6).

12. Amos saw the Lord (see Amos 9:1).

13. Ezekiel described God (see Ezek. 1:26–28; 10:20; 40:3; 43:7; 47:1–6).

14. Daniel described God (see Dan. 7:9–14; 10:5–6).

New Testament Appearances of the Lord Jesus After the Resurrection

Between the resurrection and the ascension there was a period of 40 days. During this time, the Lord Jesus appeared to His own followers on at least 10 different occasions as recorded in Scriptures:

Appearances on the Day of the Resurrection:

1. To Mary Magdalene (see Mark 16:9–11; John 20:11–18).

2. To the women returning from the tomb (see Matt. 28:8–10).

3. To Peter (see Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5).

4. To the two Emmaus disciples (see Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13–23).

5. To the disciples, excluding Thomas (see Mark 16:15; Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19–25).

Appearances After the Day of the Resurrection:

- 6. To all the disciples including Thomas (see John 20:26–31).

- 7. To seven of the apostles beside the Sea of Galilee (see John 21).

- 8. To all the apostles and over 500 brethren (see Matt. 28:16–20; Mark 16:15–18; 1 Cor. 15:6).

- 9. To James, the Lord’s half-brother (see 1 Cor. 15:7).

- 10. To all the apostles at His ascension on the Mount of Olives (see Mark 16:19–20; Luke 24:44–53; Acts 1:3–12).

Appearances After Christ Ascended Into Heaven:

1. To Stephen at his stoning (see Acts 7:55–60).

2. To Paul:

- At the time of his conversion (see Acts 9:3–8; 22:6–11, 14–15; 26:12–19).

- At Corinth (see Acts 18:9–10).

- In Jerusalem at the temple (see Acts 22:17–21).

- In Jerusalem at a later date (see Acts 23:11).

- In another vision (see 2 Cor. 12:1–4).

3. To John on the island of Patmos (see Rev. 1:10–19).

All of these occurrences took place before many witnesses over the course of many days and years.

APPENDIX B

Definitions From Scripture

1. Door—a portal or entrance. It symbolizes a lateral transition; entrance or access.

Examples:

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut (Matthew 25:10).

Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27).

For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries (1 Corinthians 16:9).

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me (Revelation 3:20).

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1).

2. Gate/Gateway—the leaf or wing of a folding entrance. It symbolizes the doorway or portal that allows entrance between God’s visible and invisible realms. A portal or vestibule.

Examples:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:13–14).

Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able (Luke 13:24).

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Genesis 28:16–17)

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke (Isaiah 6:1–4).

A heavenly portal is a spherical opening of light that offers divine protection by which angels and heavenly beings can come and go without demonic interference. God has designed portals to begin in the third heaven, travel through the second heaven, and open upon earth.

Throughout Scripture, we see the existence of doorways or portals:

Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in (Psalm 24:7).

Yet He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven (Psalm 78:23).

Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors (Proverbs 8:34).

Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John 1:51).

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Immediately, I was in the spirit… (Revelation 4:1–2).

The “door” in Revelation suggests God’s invitation for us to have access to His heavenly realm. As His friends, the Lord wants to open the portals of Heaven and release an unparalleled visitation of heavenly hosts.

Understanding means to “discern, give attention to; act circumspectly; diligence, obedience.”

Good understanding gains favor (literally, opens doors), but the way of the unfaithful is hard (Proverbs 13:15).

How do we gain understanding?

The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130).

So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding (Proverbs 2:2).

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:9–10).

Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything (2 Timothy 2:7 NASB).

Our prayer and assurance:

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths (Psalm 25:4).

…You set a limit (inscribe a print) for the soles of my feet (Job 13:27).

Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip (Psalm 17:5).

Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway (Psalm 85:13).

Remember:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father (John 14:12).

…as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).

When will this be released?

And he said, Lo, it is yet high day (literally, early in the day), neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them (Genesis 29:7 KJV).

What day is this? Early in the morning of the Third and Seventh Day.

About Bruce D. Allen

Throughout the years, many churches, cities, and nations have been touched and inspired by the life-changing power of God flowing through Bruce Allen.

Gifted in the prophetic and teaching ministry, the Lord uses Bruce to impart, activate, and release individuals and churches into deeper realms of the Spirit. A compelling presence of the Holy Spirit permeates the atmosphere, and it is not unusual for unique signs, wonders, and miracles to flow freely in each meeting.

The Father Heart of God is evidenced in Bruce’s ministry as the presence and glory of the Lord is released drawing many back to the Father and causing many to draw deeply from the well of His presence.

The mandate of Still Waters International is to “Prepare the way of the Lord and make straight paths for His feet.” This mandate focuses not only on the soon return of the Lord, but also for those who have been hungering for the presence of God in a deeper way in their life.

Still Waters International Ministries

P.O. Box 1001

Chewelah, WA 99109

Phone: 509–340–1369

Email: abidesinrest@msn.com

Website: www.stillwatersinternational.org

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One    Seeing: A Supernaturally Natural Occurrence

Chapter Two    Seeing: A Face-to-Face Reality

Chapter Three  The Sanctified Imagination: Eyes on Him

Chapter Four    The Sanctified Imagination: Activating Adventure

Chapter Five     Walking the Talk

Chapter Six      The Living Body of Christ

Chapter Seven  Translation by Faith: Getting Ready

Chapter Eight   Translation by Faith: Going

Chapter Nine    The Glory Within

Chapter Ten     The Glory Released

Appendix A      Additional Scriptural Proof Texts

Appendix B      Definitions From Scripture