I keep hearing all these songs, especially coming from Bethel about bringing Heaven to earth. I think that is what their revival thing is all about….finding ways to bring Heaven to Earth.
When I think about Heaven, I think about beauty, love, health, joy, worship, adoration, peace, wholeness.
I think that is what Jesus did. He walked around, and often the New Testament seems to say that he was moved by compassion to do something about the condition of the people that he met along the way.
I keep hearing people say things like, “I can’t say that it is God’s will that I would be healed”. Its like they have this view of God that makes him some kind of sadistic God who puts us through pain to teach us a lesson.
I don’t know if that is accurate.
I think that he can use pain for his glory because he can use anything for his glory. But I am not so sure that his plan for us is to put us through pain to teach us a lesson.
I think that part of the reason that God is so amazing is that he can even take the things that the Enemy does to cause us harm and turn them into something beautiful. It really does take the power away from him. He is a God of restoration and healing. He is in the business of reversing the plans of the enemy.
When Jesus walked around, he was bringing Heaven to earth. He was healing, loving, worshiping, obeying, serving, and restoring. He brought joy and added value wherever he went. If people didn’t want him, he was a gentleman and left.
I think a lot about miracles and other powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit and…well…to me they all seem like manifestations of love. We love the powerful ways that the Holy Spirit moves when he shows up but we want to turn it into a formula. (We want a formula so that we can be sure we are doing the right thing so we can see an outcome so we don’t look like idiots) There is no formula except love.
When we love people, we are moved to compassion. When we are moved to compassion, we are then moved to action. And we don’t get caught up in thoughts like, “I don’t know if this will really work”. It comes as an overflow of love. We don’t need to chase some sort of formula. There is no special way to pray that brings the presence of God. When we are moved by love, then he shows up. Because God IS love.
I think that when we are moved from love to act on the behalf of love, then we bring Heaven to earth. If a miracle happens for our eyes or not…that is irrelevant. Love changes people. I think sometimes sickness comes from bitterness, unforgiveness, and fear in someone’s heart. Love changes hearts. Maybe God doesn’t heal them right away, but he provides avenues for healing. I have found that more often, healing comes as a process. As we lean into the love of God, he changes us from the inside out and healing is a by-product of Heaven residing inside of us.
Maybe this is what Jesus was talking about when he said that the path was wide but the gate was narrow. It is easy to proclaim the name of Jesus. It is harder to live Jesus. As an ambassador of Heaven.
We want a set of rules to help us know when we are on the right track. But no such set of rules exists. There are guidelines in the New Testament. But I think those are more like earmarks of living in love than they are a set of standards to live by. Like evidence of being a follower of Christ.
We don’t chase the behavior….we chase the lover. When we chase the lover, behavior comes naturally. We don’t search for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit – we seek the Father and the Holy Spirit shows up. We don’t seek healing, we seek to love and healing happens.
I think our goal is to bring Heaven to earth. That is how the Kingdom spreads. Not by creating new subjects to rule over with rules and laws…but by creating sons and daughters empowered by Heaven to bring Heaven to earth.
