“Therefore I also… do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 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 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
– Ephesians 1:15-21
There’s one thing every homeless person on the streets tonight, every family living without shelter in war torn countries the world over, every single person whose life is shadowed by loss and insecurity knows: there is nothing more important in this or any other life than knowing where you’ll be sleeping tonight, and where you’ll be waking up tomorrow. That’s something far too many of us take for granted, and it’s something that underpins our entire lives…most of the people reading this will find it difficult to grasp how important, how necessary it is for every venture we attempt in life that we have a place to venture from: that for every road we take in life, we can still see our home at one end of it.
Whatever it says in our passports underneath that odd photograph (you know, the one that despite our best efforts always looks like a mug shot of a 1970s bank robber) we are not of this Earth. We left behind that old citizenship when we left our old, dead selves behind. When we buried that person, or lit the funeral pyre, or set the last stone upon the cairn: however we chose to formally say our goodbyes to our first lives when we embarked upon our new beginning in Christ, we’ve said them and we’ve moved on. We are not of this Earth, but rather represent an entirely different domain. We’re citizens of Heaven, a completely other place, a dimension higher and more rarefied than the place we were born in clay. Whatever our neighbor’s passport used to say, they’re no longer strangers or foreigners now, no longer alien to us but fellow citizens of the Kingdom, along with the saints and every member of God’s own household, from the beginning of things to the end of time.
We are raised up in Christ, higher than where we were born, and we’re encouraged to seek only that which is above, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. Whatever our passports say, we are now and forever citizens of a greater, all-powerful realm. We represent Heaven in the world we’ve left behind, bringing about a manifestation of our Kingdom on Earth – we’re ambassadors of the Spirit!
Negativity, doubt, fear and anxiety are laced throughout the environment of the world, but they no longer have any authority over us. In point of fact, they’re not supposed to have authority over anyone! There’s only one Authority– that of the King Himself, and negativity and the poisons it brings with it are poor, worthless pretenders to that great Throne. Christ is the recognized authority in the Spirit over all mankind. Our role is to interact with the Kingdom in facilitating the pouring out of God’s blessing and power into the Earth: to carry out the King’s command with a glad and triumphant heart.
That’s where we start, where we live. No matter what our passport says, our point of origin is the Kingdom. There is nothing more important in this or any other life than knowing where you’ll be sleeping tonight, and where you’ll be waking up tomorrow. For us, it’s simple. We’ll sleep with the saints and wake with the angels, in Heavenly places far above any other rule, and any other authority. That’s the foundation we live with, the base of operations from which we plan the Spirit’s attack upon the shrouded places of the world.
When it comes to prayer, the main focus has always been that if permission, promise and provision exist in Heaven for someone or for something, then that permission, promise and provision can be brought to the world. What is in Heaven can be taken and released upon the Earth – and if it isn’t in Heaven, then it can be bound on Earth by the power of the spirit. Whether it’s sickness, anxiety, fear or self-loathing: if negativity cripples the heart, it’s not of Heaven and the Kingdom has authority over it.
When we worship, we do so from our point of origin in the Kingdom, not from our earthly situation and circumstances. When we worship, the Kingdom empowers us to loose the permission, promise and provision into the world. Our worship is a simple expression and articulation of that power into the Earth, creating a space for something incredible: the flourishing of the miraculous, tangible signs of the presence of God. That’s what happens when we pray in line with the revelation of the will of the Father, and manifest it through the voice of the Spirit. Faith becomes focused. God’s reality becomes everyone’s reality, and wonderful things begin to happen everywhere.
Heaven is our model, our home-base, not whatever place it says in our passport just below the embarrassing middle name we don’t want our friends to know about. In the middle of strife…in the middle of persecution, adversity and all manner of circumstances of negativity and need, knowing where we come from is the most important thing in the world.
