Experiencing God's Presence #309

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

Colossians 3:1

Scripture says Jesus lives in those who have been born of His Spirit. We also know He is seated at God’s right hand in heaven—and that we are seated there with Him (Ephesians 2:6). Unless one of these statements is false—and being inspired Scripture, they aren’t—then both Jesus and we are in two places simultaneously. He is in heaven and in us, and we are on earth and in Him. The result is not only a dual citizenship but also a dual Presence. In His incarnation, He became an on-earth God; in our resurrection with Him, we became in-heaven people.

What does that mean for us? We’re used to the mysteries of the Godhead, so it’s not hard for us to imagine Jesus being in two places at once. He is, after all, a Spirit as well as a man. But then so are we. Our natural eyes see only the limits of location, but our spirits are capable of existing in different realms simultaneously. Our physical senses dictate thoughts and feelings related to the material world, and most of us heed those senses without much resistance. But Scripture calls us to lift up the eyes of our spirit and see differently. We are to think the thoughts of heaven and function in that realm.

You’ll have to choose which senses to heed: your physical senses or the spiritual perceptions given through God’s Spirit in you. Most Christians don’t know how to exercise those senses, but you can learn by asking and trying persistently. Paul’s instruction is to think the thoughts of the Kingdom and set your sights on the realities of heaven. Immerse yourself in another way of thinking, feeling, seeing, and doing. Wherever Jesus lives, you live too.

Spirit, open my spiritual senses to know the realities of Your Kingdom. Help me see myself here, in heaven, and everywhere else Jesus dwells.

From the book