Unlock Deeper Intimacy with This Prayer
Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
As we have seen before, Jesus’ ultimate desire was the union of God and man.
Jesus’ primary focus was not to change our destination but to change our position; however, by changing our position, our destination was changed as well. When you look at how dominant we have made Heaven the focus of the Christian experience, it is quite amazing in comparison to where Jesus places it. During this entire time of prayer and prophecy, Jesus never mentioned a change in destination until verse 24 when He essentially said, “Father, I desire that those You gave Me would be with Me where I am.”
Thank God for Heaven. I have seen a small portion of it, and I won’t lie, but I didn’t want to come back; earth, my family and my friends weren’t even on my mind. In October of 2005, I had been spending some extra time in prayer for a few weeks and started having some incredible supernatural experiences. One night, I laid down to go to sleep, and the next thing I knew, I was in Heaven. The first thing that stood out to me was not my surroundings, but what I felt in my body. There was a peace I had never experienced before, but also a continuous surge of electricity pulsated through my body. It didn’t hurt, but I could feel it. The only way I know how to explain it would be like putting a TENS unit on your body and feeling the light but very tangible electric current flowing in your muscles. I was very, very aware of the life of God that was flowing in me. I then looked around and saw people walking and children playing. To my left, I saw a building just a few feet from me; I walked in the door, and there stood Jesus.
We talked for a while, and then we walked outside. As we walked out the door, a massive crowd of people walked down the road and exclaimed, “It’s time to go to the throne room! It’s time to go to the throne room!” There was much excitement in the multitude of people. I got so excited about it that I took off running, trying to get ahead of the crowd. We then approached a staircase, and I began running up the staircase to be the first in line. When I reached the top of the staircase, I came to a door. When I went through the door, to my amazement, there was God on His throne. I could see everything about Him except for His face; I could see His smile, but a haze covered the upper portion of His face. I won’t go into detail about the entire experience, but let me tell you that Heaven is real!
I am thankful that when I fulfill the plan of God for my life and am satisfied with the years I have lived, I can take my last breath on the earth and go to Heaven. That experience and other experiences have made me look very lightly on the things of the earth. It also changed my perspective on death; I began to see where we had made death a big deal when, in reality, it is not a big deal at all. Death is simply our letting go of the body so we can get a massive upgrade!
However, let us put things in the proper perspective. If Jesus were to come today, we would be in Heaven for seven years during the tribulation. After the tribulation, all of us would return to the earth for the 1,000-year reign of Christ. After the thousand years, satan would finally be cast into the lake of fire, the earth that we know would be burned up and remade, and then Heaven would come down and become part of the new earth. So, this is less about going to Heaven and more about being with Jesus. Remember, all of this is about relationship and fellowship with Him!
I want to bring your attention to some other statements Jesus made in the upper room before He began to pray.
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:1–6).
Jesus was obviously talking about going somewhere. It was a change in destination. Jesus was talking about when we shed our earthly bodies, take on our spiritual bodies, and are physically with Him.
Although I look forward to that time in the future, let us not forget about the present; there is more to this than what we realize.
Although Jesus said, “I’m going and coming again,” Jesus also said, “Where I go you know and the way you know.” Look at something else Jesus said in this same time of teaching.
Soon I will leave this world and they will see me no longer, but you will see me, because I will live again, and you will come alive too. So when that day comes, you will know that I am living in the Father and that you are one with me, for I will be living in you. Those who truly love me are those who obey my commands. Whoever passionately loves me will be passionately loved by my Father. And I will passionately love him in return and will reveal myself to him (John 14:19–21 TPT).
The word reveal is the Greek word emphanizo which means “to manifest, exhibit to view, to show one’s self, come to view, appear, be manifest.” This Greek word is used ten times in the New Testament; four times it refers to someone disclosing information, and six times it refers to a showing, display, or appearance of something or someone. In the Septuagint, Moses declared, “If then I have found favour in thy sight, reveal thyself to me, that I may evidently see thee; that I may find favour in thy sight, and that I may know that this great nation thy people” (Exodus 33:13). What was the result of Moses’ request? God put Moses in the cleft of the rock and allowed Moses to see His glory.
With all that background information, clearly, Jesus was not simply talking about the sharing of information; this is about divine manifestations. I like Dr. Brian Simmons’ note on this verse from the Passion Translation: “I . . . will reveal myself to him” is more than merely “showing him who I am.” It means “I will personally come to him.”
Jesus was letting the disciples know that even though He would physically be leaving and preparing a place for them, this would not be the end of their encounters with Him.
Soon I will leave this world and they will see me no longer, but you will see Me, because I will live again, and you will come alive too. So when that day comes, you will know that I am living in the Father and that you are one with me, for I will be living in you (John 14:19–20 TPT).
Jesus told them that on the day of salvation, they will come alive. Jesus wasn’t talking to people who were physically dead; He was talking to people who were spiritually dead! Jesus was letting them know that when they became spiritually alive, they would come alive unto God. Because they would be alive unto God, they would know of their union with God and His indwelling Presence. This word know is not simply referring to intellectual knowledge; this is about experiential knowledge. Again, we are seeing a truth here that just because Jesus would be gone physically, there would still be the promise of encounters with Him. How? Because we would be spiritually alive and in union with Him.
We are told in Acts 2 that because of the Holy Spirit being poured out, we would experience dreams and visions. I do not believe this was just for information. Thank God for such experiences, but I also firmly believe these were for supernatural encounters with the glorified Christ as well. In His last teaching session with the disciples, Jesus very plainly lets them know, “I am going to be leaving the earth and going to Heaven, but even though I may not be here physically, I will still manifest Myself to you.” One day, we will physically be with Jesus, but while we are waiting, we can still “be with Him” spiritually. We can know the glorified Christ here on the earth because Jesus made the way.
I know this may sound a little farfetched, but these are the words of Jesus Himself. Maybe you are one of many who would say, “I see what Jesus said. But if it is true, how come I haven’t had any real spiritual encounters and experiences?” Well, it is a legitimate question, and my response would simply be this: “Maybe it’s because church folk told us it wasn’t possible.”
Instead of listening to what small-minded Christians are saying, maybe we should start listening to what Jesus was saying. Jesus is the One who said, “The world will see Me no longer but you will see Me.” Jesus is the One who said, “I will reveal Myself to You.” Jesus is the One who said, “You know the way.” Jesus is the One who said, “On that day, you will know by experience that I am in the Father, the Father is in Me and I am in You.” Instead of taking the words of Jesus and endeavoring to squeeze them into our religious boxes, let us take the words of Jesus for face value, expand our souls, and find out what is possible. Why? Because Jesus wants you to know Him.
Prayer
Jesus, You are the Way. Thank You for making the way for me to be with You in Heaven. Let the reality of Heaven and eternity with You become greater in Me. Holy Spirit, I ask You for a more heavenly perspective of life and death. Help me to renew my mind, develop my soul, and expand my faith for encounters with You. Jesus, I take off the limits today, and I declare that visions, dreams, and supernatural encounters with You will be my normal.
