As we are changed “from glory to glory “ (II Corinthians 3:18”, our salvation will continue to work its way out — spirit, soul and body — according to our faithful stewardship of each area.
Throughout church history, there have been individuals and groups who serve as signposts along the way, displaying to us what is possible and available to us in Christ. One of the most profound displays of both the possibilities and the process was a group of intercessors called the Golden Candlestick. In the 1920’s, this group of intercessors began meeting together to worship and to pray. Though many of them had been trained for ministry in Aimee Semple McPherson’s Bible school, the Lord asked them to lay down their aspirations for public ministry and to minister to Him in the secret place. They agreed, and, under the leadership of Francis Metcalf, prayed together four or five nights a week for about 50 years. First, they began getting glimpses of the Spirit realm through dreams and visions, which Francis Metcalf called “raptures.” As they ministered to the Lord, He would give them downloads of prophetic songs that were in perfect meter and rhyme. Their faithful stewardship of these kinds of experiences enlarged their spiritual capacity to include their physical bodies, and many were physically translated to heaven and would return wearing heavenly garments and jewels. They would physically transrelocate to different geographical locations in the earth, where they would lead people to Christ and would share the Gospel with unreached people groups. They would return from these trips, too, with tangible tokens of their journey. Though Francis released some of her revelation in teaching form, they did not speak openly of these kinds of encounters, and few in the earth knew what they were doing or that they even existed.
From their encounters, we see the progression many people experience as they grow in the reality of the supernatural realm. Often, the Father will acquaint us with the Spirit realm by simply allowing us to see in the Spirit through dreams and visions. As we faithfully steward the revelatory realm, we then step into the realm of encounter, where our souls become conscious of what our spirits are actually doing in the heavenly realm. When I was in this transition, I began waking up from “dreams” realizing that they were not dreams at all but were actual encounters. The next expansion happens when the soul is no longer just aware of our spirit’s activity, but it actually leaves the body (which is actually just the “real” of the counterfeit of astral projection and occultic soul travel). When Holy Spirit was transitioning me from my soul observing to my soul going, I began noticing that my viewpoint was also transitioning from third person to first person. I will never forget the first time I looked out through my soul and spirit eyes at the face of Yeshua. I touched His face and could literally feel His skin on my fingers. My encounters began feeling more “real,” but it was really ME who was becoming more “real,” as more of me was now embracing reality. Our bodies are longing for the full realization of what our spirits know so well. And this is the inheritance of God’s fully mature sons!
To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. And it’s not just creation. We who have already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God’s sons and daughters — including our physical bodies being transformed. –Romans 8:22-23, TPT
This verse is not just a “one day in heaven” promise. The Spirit who raised Yeshua from the dead lives inside of you, and His job is to quicken your mortal body, making spiritual reality physical reality in you NOW!
This is an excerpt from my book, Miracles Are Normal: Co-Creating Through Oneness With God. You can purchase paperback or digital copies from my website here: Miracles Are Normal. And you can purchase from Amazon here: Miracles Are Normal on Amazon
Happy Encountering!
Virginia