Heaven Unveiled

On the road to Subic

March 1, 2012

And He said to them,

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel

to every creature.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved;

but he who does not believe will be condemned.

And these signs will follow those who believe:

in My name they will cast out demons;

they will speak with new tongues;

they will take up serpents;

and if they drink anything deadly,

it will by no means hurt them;

they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then, after the Lord had spoken to them,

He was received up into heaven,

and sat down at the right hand of God.

And they went out and preached everywhere,

the Lord working with them

and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.

Amen.

- Mark 16:15-19

February was clearly an end of a season for me.

This was confirmed when the cloud began to move in my life, signifying that it was time for me to pull up my tent pegs, fold the canvas, and follow.

It takes a certain amount of willingness... to be on the lookout for what God is doing. And then to obey.

It's not always easy, but the obedience part will always have its rewards.

For one thing, life gets less complicated.

And God's always bringing us to the place where we let go of encumbrances, the weights that hold us down... because the less structured life becomes, the easier it is to follow His cloud when it begins to move.

Get out of your country,
from your family,
and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.
- Genesis 12:1

This was the clear word of God to Abram, and it was a rhema word for me as well. First spoken to me years ago, it was being spoken to me again... a fresh reminder that I am to move out of my places of comfort, and follow Him to a much better place that He was preparing for me.

It sounds like a literal place, but I know that my comfort zone does not only refer to the physical and the natural.

I often get the feeling that God never wants us to become too comfortable.

As long as we are on this earth, there will be no sense of permanence. Everything is in transition...

And as another season of renewal and restoration is upon me, I realize that there are certain places that I need to return to, that God may have freedom to do a clean closure in those areas of my life.

In this season, my heavenly Father is giving me opportunity to break old cycles.

I welcome the change.

On the very first day of March, my friend Rosemarie and I, together with two other friends, were on our way to Subic to attend a three-day prophetic conference entitled, Gazing Into Glory.

How awesome is that?

And when the keynote speaker said these words, "You're here because you want more," I knew I was in the right place.

Because I was at a point in my life where I really wanted more.

I'd been feeling the need to receive a fresh understanding of what faith is all about, for this stage of my sacred pilgrimage.

Many of us hold on to a twisted understanding of faith, but God wants to simplify matters for us.

Faith isn't really about quantity, but often, that's what we've been taught and made to believe.

When Jesus talked about mustard seed faith, He was talking about a kind of plant that started very small, but eventually took over the whole garden. A mustard seedling is a fast growing plant that chokes everything out.

In this season I am asking God to pour that kind of high quality faith into my heart... a faith that takes over all areas of my life.

Not measured, not contrived... but a faith that trusts completely in God.



Many fresh truths were downloaded into my spirit during the conference and I came away feeling ten feet taller!

As a child of the King, heaven is my birthright. As a citizen of that eternal kingdom, I am living right now in the realm of glory.

The enemy deceives, and the things of earth distract.

In our heart of hearts we crave for spiritual realities. But I need not contend for or chase after something that is already mine... All I need do is to enforce it!

And God is opening our eyes to behold these realities in greater measure. He is maturing the quality of our faith, training us to discern the true from the false, all in preparation for His glorious return.

After an extended time of pure worship, we opened our eyes and found gemstone crystals on the carpet.

One of the speakers mentioned that the river banks of heaven are filled with gemstones and precious crystals.

Heaven resonates with pure worship!

In these last days, God is bringing heaven to earth to give us a tiny foretaste of what His kingdom is like.

And He is ushering in a season of the miraculous... signs and wonders to counteract the tide of doubt and unbelief.

The supernatural is part and parcel of who our God is.

To those who believe, heaven is being unveiled before our very eyes.

I took this picture of a portion of Subic Bay during an early morning stroll in front of our hotel.

A gemstone crystal, a souvenir from heaven.

Main speaker, Bruce Allen, and his wife Reshma.

Subic Bay Yatch Club, at dusk

A group picture with some of the conference speakers

John and Ruth Filler from The Gateway Church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

More about Subic Bay area here