Divine Access

❤ I love beginnings. They speak of the wonder of the new plan that is greater and bigger in some way than the past. God is in our beginnings as He is the Alpha as well as the Omega. There is fresh energy and enthusiasm for beginnings. I imagine God had incredible enthusiasm as He set out to breathe life into man and create new beginnings.

It says in John 1:1 that in the beginning the Word was with God. It was one with God from the beginning. The Word agreed with God because He was the living testimony of it. Amos asks, how can two walk (be in unity) with each other lest they be agreed? God is in complete agreement with the Word of God. There is not the smallest part that He disagrees on.

When we choose a different path than the Word of God, we are not walking with God or in alignment with Him. This is sin. We are to choose to trust and believe the Word even when the natural world is out of alignment. We also are to choose trust and His direction in dependence upon Him over knowledge and wisdom that would cause independence or distance.

The saddest part of the story of beginnings with Adam and Eve eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is that they no longer valued the Lord’s presence the same. Suddenly they were more focused on themselves and filled with fears and anxious thoughts about how they looked to others and being appropriate.

What you believe about yourself impacts you and can cause you to get stuck. Adam and Eve believed the lie that they were not sufficient as they were. They believed that they had to help themselves to get better and be better to gain glory (not glorify God).

We see examples of what people believe about themselves having impact on them in Job. Eilihu was young so he waited until everyone else that was older than him spoke first. His belief that others would know better held him back. He said, “Inside I am like a bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and reply.” (Job 32:19-20)

But then he eventually spoke for himself and corrected Job in a way that Job could receive. He started out with, “My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know” (Job 33:3). He corrected Job for self-righteousness and putting himself on the same level as God. He noted to Job, “But you have said in my hearing— I heard the very words – ‘I am pure, I have done no wrong; I am clean and free from sin.’”(Job 33:8-9)

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinkith, so is he.” Here is one example of a man, Elihu who believed and so spoke, helping Job with the truth and getting him set free. If he failed to break free from the belief that he was too young and everyone else new better, he would have never spoke up and left Job flailing around looking for the truth.

While at the same that Elihu stretched his beliefs to speak up, Job believed he was superior and on equal footing to God. He was in bondage to self-righteousness and couldn’t see it. Elihu spoke the truth which helped set him free. By this example, we can see that Job believing he was superior and on equal footing to God did not make him such.

All that to say that believing does not make something reality by faith unless it is God’s will. It just makes us foolish. This is where this statement about thinking and becoming can be pulled out of context. There are whole sermons that say whatever you think and believe will become reality. Believing something outside of God’s will for your life feels a little like name it and claim it theology that is self-focused and lacks glory to God.

There is truth to believing, however, as we are beings that were designed for belief to empower our lives. When we are born again, we are born into a new spiritual reality of a kingdom we once lost. This Eden reality where we live as spirit beings in the flesh expands as our beliefs expand. We are new wine that are in new wineskins. This wineskin (belief system) is brand new and then also expands over time.

We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. The unseen reality of the supernatural is not meant to be a one in a lifetime possible experience for the few fortunate people who God decides to bend reality for. Having an encounter with God or a major or significant miracle is not to be an outlier in this new Kingdom reality. Living out of this Kingdom realm is supposed to be as natural as was living in the natural before we are born again. We see Peter and other Apostles walking down the street and people around them healed by his shadow as he lives out of this realm.

I hear testimonies of folks like Heidi Baker multiplying food as it is served. This miracle happens regularly for her. But, this is not her sitting at a fully prepared table for dinner and wishing for prime rib so she is “believing for it.” She was given a promise by God that she could access food through the unseen realm whenever she needed it to feed those who are hungry. He told her that she had free access to a room of food. So when she reaches into this unseen realm by faith and pulls it forward, she is acting in obedience by faith.

When the leper asked Jesus to heal him with the qualifier, “If You are willing” the Lord did not hesitate to respond back, “I Am willing.” He is willing. Sometimes we are just not able in our rational mind to let the new reality in. It says that Jesus “could not” do many miracles in His hometown. The God of the universe “COULD NOT” do something because He restrains Himself to our will. If we are not willing or open to receive this new reality, He will not override and overrun us.

Here is where we get stuck. David proclaims in Psalm 103 not to forget all His benefits – He who forgives ALL your sins and heals ALL your diseases. Here is a promise that David, as our forefather, did not want us to forget. Jesus will heal when belief is there and will not over-ride someone’s will when they have unbelief.

When I pray for folks, there have been times that I have had a word of knowledge for them. They had some sort of pain and health problem but it was associated with something deeper where they were stuck. When I spoke to them about the deeper issue, their body became healed. It was amazing to see. Whether it strengthened their faith or healed the deeper root cause that set them free, I am not sure. But I watched them being healed before my eyes.

I also had an experience where a young lady was demon possessed. No one seemed to be able to help her get freedom. They would try to cast it out and she would just fall to sleep or run away. She had this spirit in her since she was little as she experienced great trauma and it was causing her to have black outs and make some unsafe choices. As it turned out, her soul was holding to this demonic force and was afraid to let go. As I spoke healing and freedom to her soul, she let go and the spirit left her. She was finally free.

Many people confess unbelief and don’t realize it. They don’t see that it is holding them back. They complain continually about this or that ache or problem and don’t realize that they are agreeing with it. Their confessions are directing what they believe. It is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of his mouth. Instead of the bad report, we need to start speaking truth to ourselves. We have to have faith and be willing to step out into it.

The man at the pool of Bethesda said, “I can’t get healed because no one will put me in the pool.” He was so set that this was what he needed to be healed, it limited him. It was never that Jesus did not see him there laying by the pool. Jesus knew and came right to him. But first, Jesus had to help him change his perspective (beliefs) from getting into the pool to being willing to receive from Jesus. Once He looked to Jesus instead, the man was able to pick up his mat by faith, be healed and walked away.

So perhaps it is better to say that we do not always have beliefs that align with the new Kingdom reality. Perhaps it would be better to say as a man believes, so he will eat the fruit from his beliefs. They may keep one in bondage or send them soaring into a new Kingdom reality of truth of free access to a Kingdom realm not only for oneself but for others. We become glory carriers and, in essence, the Ark of the Covenant, in the midst of the people.

The enemy would love hold us to worldly beliefs and ways of thinking such as that our worth is determined by our looks and our financial value. He would like us to believe that we are never enough, never good enough and are without hope in a lost and dark world. He wants us to believe we are on our own and something is wrong with us. I once believed this and it resulted in cutting, anorexia, bulimia and suicide ideation. Life felt hopeless. The end beliefs of agreeing with the enemy is a lifeless lack of joy, misery and torment.

But we are not people who live in this old reality of the world. We are to be people who let the Spirit of God inside us define the reality around us. We are meant to live by every Word from God as our lives are expanded and stretched in multidimensional ways.

We are to live in a reality where we fear the Lord first and, as He speaks, so we believe. We want to be careful not to be those who just try to jack up our faith to believe in something but those whose hearts leap at the sound of the voice of our God and let reality unfold according to His truth by our belief and faith in Him. The Lord has this new Kingdom reality for us to live into. We have full access through the covenant.

Along with miracles, deliverances, and healings, visions and dreams should not be rare, but a regular occasion. The heavens are open to His Kingdom realm. “I’m waking up to heaven” sings in the background. It is not meant to be so unusual.

Our belief in the unseen heavenly realm that we belong to should be larger than our belief in this realm. It is through this unseen realm that we are anointed, equipped, and empowered. This is why the armies of Israel were victorious – their belief in the covenant of God to defend them, protect them and extend them. They would fight large armies with just a small group and win. It was not their size or number, but their belief and empowerment from trust in the Lord that took them into victory.

He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly realms in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Do we believe for victory? For healing? For deliverance? For protection and provision?

Lord, “What a rich harvest Your goodness provides! Wherever you go there is plenty” (Psalm 65:11). We believe, help our unbelief. We want to live in the realm of faith and the goodness that You have promised. Forgive us where we fall short of this and help us to live in Kingdom truth. Let us experience this year a greater measure of signs, wonders, and miracles than we have ever seen before.

Some key concepts and reflections taken from Wendy Backlund, The Unseen Realm, Igniting Hope Ministries.