WHEN THE INVISIBLE IS SEEN

And life goes on! As it does, I often wonder about you. I wonder how long it's been since you last checked in and I wonder what has happened in your life between visits. I often ask God to give me insight into what is going on in your life and how I should be praying. I really enjoy it when I turn on the computer and see that someone is currently reading the blog. I will often say, "Ok, God, what does this person need. Guide me into prayer. It doesn't happen always, but sometimes I get an immediate sense on how my prayer should be targeted. Sometimes God causes me to really linger in prayer for someone. I've had this happen for people in the states and for readers in other countries.

I am not looking for some theological debate today. I'm just expressing some feelings and thoughts on something that has totally captured my thoughts lately. I haven't been able to stop thinking about the invisible, spiritual realm and the dimensions that God operates in. Some of the questions I've been pondering almost everyday for the last week or so are:

God, where exactly is the spiritual realm? Is it right in front of me? Am I actually moving in, out and around the things of the supernatural? Is a ministering spirit or angel sometimes right beside me to where if I move my hand I am touching it? Does it feel my hand even though I can't feel or see anything different? When we see a vision is it only a vision or are we really seeing something as it happens in the spiritual realm?

And then I keep searching the scriptures.

Are you familiar with the story where the Syrians were making war against Israel? Elisha kept telling the leaders of Israel the Syrian secrets. Prophets can do that. Ben Hadad sent a big army with horses and chariots to surround the city where Elisha and his servant were. When the servant got up early in the morning and saw this, he was horrified and asked Elisha what in the world they were going to do. Remember Elisha's response? "DO NOT FEAR, FOR THOSE WHO ARE WITH US ARE MORE THAN THOSE WHO ARE WITH THEM." Elisha was already looking into the invisible realm. The Bible goes on to tell us that "then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." These guys were actually looking into one of God's dimensions.

I recently had a pretty sweet experience while praying with my wife. About 2 months ago, Kay came home from work to tell me that the mother of her boss had passed away. We decided that we should pray for Sally and the family right away. As I prayed, "Lord, release Your ministering spirits"...........and before I could even finish what I was about to pray, which would have been something like...... "and bring comfort to Sally and her family"...... what I saw is still hard for me to describe without getting choked up with emotion. As the words.........."Lord, release Your".......were coming out of my mouth, I immediately saw the left side of what looked like a warrior. He had his back to me so I couldn't see his face, but what I saw was his left arm shoot straight out and his finger immediately pointed. The movement was instant. The speed was so incredible that I had no chance of making them out, but I knew that several ministering beings were on their way to be with the family. It was like this warrior was just waiting for my spoken words so that he could then order the command. It was intense, overwhelming and amazing all at once. Where exactly was this warrior being? Yes, he was in the invisible realm, but exactly where? How close was I to him when he issued the command?

When I invited Christ to come into my life I began to have a part in the kingdom of Heaven. If you've allowed Christ to live in you, so do you. The Bible tells me that those of us who belong to the Lord have been raised up from our old self of sin and have been made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6 has changed my perspective of where God is when I pray. I no longer think of Him being "way up there," while I'm way down here. My perspective is now like when I talk to someone who is close to me. It has even changed my expectations when I pray. If I have accessed the Kingdom, them I must be moving in and out of the supernatural realm constantly. I just don't always realize or even think of it. Angels must be able to slip in and out of our natural world and back all the time. The Bible is full of examples, both old and new testament.

Sunday in church, worship was incredible. Absolutely incredible. When hearts are poured out passionately to God, He responds. I started looking around the worship center expecting to see signs of angels moving back and forth. I was certain that we were in their company. I kept looking, but I just couldn't see them. I couldn't and didn't want to let go of the sense that we were worshiping in the natural and yet had also stepped into the supernatural realm at the same time. I hadn't discussed this with my wife at all, but almost as soon as we got home she told me that she had a vision during worship. I listened intently as she described how she saw what looked like a pyramid without the top connected to it. She did see the top, and as we worshiped it was being lowered toward the base. A glorious top that was crystal like in appearance, but yet the crystal was fluorescent green. For the people of that church that would be a pretty significant vision considering the many prophetic words that have been spoken about their church, what God is doing there and wanting to do there. This lasted for only a couple of seconds at most and Kay opened and closed her eyes to make sure she wasn't just seeing the outline of something that she had been staring at. She wasn't. Between the senses that I experienced and what Kay told me about her vision I am convinced that the passionate worship of the worship team and those of us in the congregation had opened up a portal into the invisible, supernatural realm. And what about my wife's vision? Was it just a vision, or was she actually watching something as it was happening in one of God's dimensions?

I remind of you something that happened to the Apostle Paul. Something that Paul must have pondered in his heart his entire life. Here is Paul's account in his own words.

"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."

Now I don't feel so bad. If the Apostle Paul wasn't entirely sure about how he had this experience then I'm certainly not going to put a lot of pressure on myself to fully understand these things. I'll just enjoy exploring the scriptures, pondering and asking God for clearer understanding. There are some things that I don't believe God wants or expects us to understand completely. If we could then that would remove our need for faith. One thing I do know though is that God is more than willing to allow us to experience, or at least to have a glimpse of the supernatural. In my humble opinion I believe that God delights in allowing us to have a peek into things that are not of our natural world. In fact in the coming days I am certain that this will become more and more common.

There will be many reading this who will think I've gone over the edge. That these things could have happened in Bible times, but they don't happen today. I'm 48. For most of my life I felt the same way. I felt that I understood that in this life there were limitations as to how much God wanted us to experience. I can't remember what exactly it was that challenged that thinking, but challenged I became. I started to read the scriptures FOR ME. I stopped trying to make the scriptures fit into some of the traditional things that I had been taught by man. Today I experience much more of what I would call the miraculous than I did even just 5 years ago.

I have a friend who has a saying which I really enjoy. He will say, "Eat the meat and spit out the bones." I encourage you to do just that with any of my writings!

Seize The Day,
Mark S.