(Today’s blog post is an excerpt from the first book of the Heaven Now Trilogy)

A vaccination is a dead or weakened version of a virus, and it’s designed to make us resistant to the real thing. Satan, the father of lies, works to undermine and weaken our understanding of the gospel until we become resistant to it. Present Access To Heaven brings light to some of the ways Christians mentally acknowledge Jesus’ death, resurrection, and incarnation, yet speak and act as if Jesus never died for our sins, rose from the dead, or came in the flesh.

The gospel is meant to bring us into a present experience of heaven. If we are lacking in the power and the heavenly experience that the gospel is meant to produce (including the peace, joy, and love that are in heaven), we should consider how our understanding of the gospel may have been undermined. 

This is the beginning of chapter 5, The Vision

Why Do I Feel Frustrated?

There was a period of time when I did an in-depth study of prayer and spent many hours praying, yet I felt frustrated with the results. I had never laid my hands on anybody and seen them healed. Yet I believed in miracles, because the Bible taught about them and I myself had been healed.

Then at the “Healing Fusion” conference I became convinced it is always God’s will to heal people, as much as it is to forgive their sins. That was when the miracles began. God showed me that he had always wanted to do these miracles in my life, but there were some things I needed to understand.

I had a vision four years later, highlighting beliefs which had hindered me from experiencing God’s power in my life. I realized I had unintentionally denied some fundamental gospel truths for many years. No wonder I had been so frustrated!

Similarly, I realized that many other people were continuing to unknowingly deny the gospel. This was why they were not presently experiencing heaven’s reality, made possible by believing gospel truth. It was why they felt spiritually poor.  I saw the need to hold fast to the truth of the gospel and tear down these “proud arguments” that are raised against the knowledge of the Lord.

I didn’t see this vision with my physical eyes, but it came as a clear picture in my mind. It highlighted important scriptural truths to help believers pray effectively.

Toronto

I had this experience while visiting some good friends who lead a small church in Toronto, Canada. They had asked me to share with the congregation. I came down with a cold and sore throat a few days before I arrived. I was going to speak on healing and miracles, but I was sick! Yet I knew it was God’s will that I be healed, and that whatever I felt physically did not change the reality of his word.

I decided to stand firm, knowing the Lord wanted to bless these people in Toronto. I was confident that no matter how I felt, people would be healed if I laid hands on them. By the time I arrived in Toronto I had just recovered from the cold. I was no longer sick, but my throat still felt dry and scratchy.

On Sunday morning I still wasn’t sure exactly what to speak, so I sat down for a while with my Bible to pray and to ask God for the message that would benefit the congregation. That was when I saw this picture.

Banging On The Wall Of Heaven

In the vision I saw a big wall. Many people were praying and fasting, and banging with their fists on this wall. They were crying out “Oh God, that you would rend the heavens and come down!” (Isaiah 64:1) They were working very hard, endlessly begging and pleading for God to open the heavens and send revival. They were asking God to come to them with a mighty visitation, and they were seeking authority over the works of the enemy.

Some of them had a big tree trunk that they were using as a battering ram, and they were trying to break through the wall. They were frustrated because it didn’t seem to be working.

Yet right beside these people was an open door in the wall. They were trying to break through the wall, but seemed blind to the door which they could simply walk through. There were only a few people who saw the door, and they walked in easily. They were full of joy and their faces were radiant. Miracles were happening all around them.

They were also praying unceasingly. However, their prayers were answered quickly, before they could even close their mouths from forming the words. The reason they were constantly praying was that they knew they had what they asked of the Father.

They were continually asking and receiving from the Father, and exercising dominion over sickness and the works of the enemy. They had a fullness of joy that was evident as they asked and received.

1 John 5:14-15 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

 Isaiah 65:24 Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.

 John 16:24 (NKJV) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

 The Interpretation

I understood that the place the people were trying to enter was the true Most Holy place which Hebrews 9 and 10 talks about. As we saw in chapter one, this Holiest Place is heaven itself. (Hebrews 9:24) The door is the body of Christ which was torn for us so that we could come to the Father. It corresponds to the veil which covered the Holiest Place, which Hebrews teaches was Jesus’ body. (Hebrews 10:20)

The first group was frustrated because they were trying to enter God’s presence through prayer rather than through Christ. They were never going to get through the wall that way, because the only way that’s possible to enter the Holiest Place is through the curtain that was torn, Jesus body.

I saw that in their approach to prayer they were denying that Jesus came in the flesh, denying that a sacrifice for sin had been made, and denying the resurrection from the dead. They didn’t realize what they were saying; nor did they comprehend the reason everything was difficult and ineffective.

The few who entered through the door were living in heaven while on earth. They didn’t pray in order to get into the Holiest Place. They prayed because they were already in God’s presence, in heaven, and had entered through Christ.

As a teenager, I had often been in the first category of intercessors. I knew what it was like to pound on a wall day and night, asking God to open the heavens and send revival. I remember the frustration. I read many stories of miracles and revival in other times and places, but wondered why I didn’t experience the same in my life. I remember thinking I needed to use the battering ram of prayer until I could get breakthrough and experience revival, yet the breakthrough never came.

In the vision, the second group of believers demonstrated what I had come to experience in the last few years. It became natural to pray all the time, because prayers were being answered all the time. Prayers were answered before I prayed them. I would just think a thought, and miracles would happen. It was glorious! I was already in heaven, and it was so much easier than before…

I continue this excerpt from Present Access To Heaven in the next post, explaining how the Christians banging on the wall were praying as if Jesus never died for our sins or made a way to the Father. Meanwhile, you may want to check out my Heaven Now book trilogy. It contains many similar insights into understanding simple gospel truths and exercising heaven’s dominion on earth. It’s also filled with testimonies of what happened when I put these truths into practice. I’m sure these books will encourage you and help you learn to walk as a heavenly person. Not only that, but your purchase supports our missionary work in Brazil and in every other place we go!