Several years ago, I read the book “Ladies of Gold” by James Maloney. He tells the remarkable story of a group of intercessors who, under the leadership of Frances Metcalfe, prayed together 4 or 5 nights a week for about 50 years. Many had graduated from Amiee Simple Mcpherson’s Bible college, and the Lord asked them to lay down their aspirations for public ministry and to minister to Him in the Secret Place. They agreed.
First, they began getting glimpses of the Spirit realm through dreams and visions, words of knowledge, etc. (which Frances Metcalfe called “raptures”). As they ministered to the Lord, He would give them downloads of prophetic songs that were in perfect meter and rhyme. Then, as they continued to faithfully steward these experiences, the Lord began to entrust them with more, and they literally began entering these dimensions in body. They would be translated to heaven (like Enoch, Jesus, Paul the Apostle & John the Revelator) and would come back with different clothes and with jewels from heaven. They would be transrelocated to different geographical places in the earth (like Philip when he ministered to the Ethiopian eunuch) and would lead people to Christ and would share the Gospel with unreached people groups, also coming back with tangible tokens of their journey.
Few knew what they were doing or that they even existed. And, though Frances released some of her revelation in teaching form, they did not speak openly of their encounters. As a young man, James Maloney was invited into their meetings toward the end of their 50 years of faithful intercession. Only a few years ago was he released by the Lord to share what he had seen. One of the things he had shared was that he later went back to the house where they gathered. He began looking for the door through which they often entered as they translated or transrelocated, only then realizing that it was not a physical but a spiritual door.
As I read this book, I felt the Lord encouraging me that these kinds of encounters are not for a special few, but are freely available, through the shed blood of Jesus, for all who have a YES in their heart and are willing to pay the price. We do not earn what has been freely given to us in Christ, but we do submit to the work of spiritual growth and maturity so that the Father can trust us with deeper revelation and greater manifested authority.
These kinds of encounters might be new to us, but they are the Ancient Paths that God is restoring to His church today. Acts 3:21 says that heaven must receive Jesus “…until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”
Here are some practical keys to help you rise above earthly limitations and live out of heaven’s supply today:
1. THESE KINDS OF EXPERIENCES ARE AVAILABLE TO ALL BELIEVERS THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. It’s not just for the “special few.” When Jesus’ flesh was torn, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, showing us that there is now no separation between us and the Father or between the dimensions.
2. WE ARE ALREADY SEATED WITH CHRIST: Ephesians 2:4-6 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
The word, ‘seated’ actually means this: ‘the right of admittance to such a space’. The work that Jesus did on the cross gives us the legal right to have admittance into our eternal homeland…the heavens. And this word is past tense. We (our spirits – the real us) are already there. Death is not the door to heaven. Jesus is the Door!
3. WE DON’T HAVE TO WAIT FOR GOD TO INITIATE ENCOUNTERS SOVEREIGNLY. WE ARE ALREADY THERE, AND ARE JUST BECOMING CONSCIOUS OF THAT REALITY.
4. WE ARE CITIZENS OF HEAVEN:
Philippians 3:20 says, “But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] Savior,”
The word ‘citizen’ means ‘an inhabitant of a place, a person entitled to the privileges and franchises of that place.’ What is in heaven? Everything! Everything you need to have life abundant is in the heavenly realms.
5. WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS WHO OCCASIONALLY HAVE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES. WE ARE SPIRIT BEINGS HAVING A HUMAN EXPERIENCE! THE SUPERNATURAL FEELS MORE NATURAL THAN WE THINK BECAUSE IT IS OUR NATURAL STATE!
II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
We are created in the image of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So we are 3-part beings: spirit, soul and body. So this verse is referring to our spirit man, the real “us.” At salvation, our spirit which, because of the fall, was “dead in sin” comes alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-6 again). Everything that needs to be done in us is completed in our spirits at salvation. And now, that salvation must be “worked out with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). The process of spiritual growth and maturity is all about co-laboring with the Lord in the restoration of our soul (mind, will and emotions), so that what is already done in our spirit is worked out into our soul, into our body and into the earth.
When our salvation touches our soul, we are healed from trauma, lies we have believed are replaced with truth, our wills come under the government of God, and we are able to connect intimately with the Father in our minds, wills and emotions. When it is worked out into our bodies, we start having more tangible experiences and our entire being experiences SOZO – Divine order and complete wholeness. In John 7:38, Jesus said that out of our bellies would flow “living water.” So, when His life works its way out, “the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the water fills the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). Earth bows to heaven, as heaven fills earth through us, His gates. This is how His kingdom will come “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
This is why Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU” (Luke 17:21). Religion tries to work from the outside in, but encounter happens from the inside out.
6. WE ARE LEARNING TO BE WHO WE REALLY ARE. WE ARE LEARNING TO LIVE OUT OF THAT PLACE WHERE WE ARE SEATED WITH CHRIST IN HEAVENLY DIMENSIONS. WE RULE AND REIGN FROM HEAVEN INTO THE EARTH, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. AS SPIRIT BEINGS, WE ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THE LIMITATIONS OF THIS PHYSICAL REALM, BUT WE MUST EMBRACE THE RENEWING OF OUR MIND TO SHIFT THE WAYS WE HAVE BEEN CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD.
Here is the link to the video version of this teaching: Living Out of Heaven, part 1. And be sure to stay tuned, because next week, I will share many Biblical and present-day examples of people who lived from heaven to earth. I will also share some amazing personal testimonies. It really is the Father’s good pleasure to give YOU His kingdom!!!
-Virginia