HEAVEN'S REALITIES

by Revivalist Todd Bentley

~ PART 2 of 2 ~

Hey! First things first! Everything hinges on God! I say that because it's God's idea to open up heaven's realities (the supernatural) to us. What's more, not only does God see fit to open up the supernatural to us, He does it in a natural way. For instance, recalling the supernatural experience from Part One, blessing upon blessing happened in that meeting because I had been doing what was expected-in other words, what was natural and what I ought to do. Spending close times with the Lord, taking His word seriously, and being open to the supernatural made the difference.

The same goes for you! If you want to experience the reality of the heavenly realm, then be open to it, get on excellently in your walk with God, and honor Him. As you do, you'll be in the right position for God to teach you about the supernatural; and in a natural way He'll take you into heavenly experiences. The key is divine revelation. God speaks to you, and you believe what He tells you-it might be in a vision, a trance, a dream, or something else-and you do it. It's not, "name it and claim it," or let's have a bunch of visions, or let's have a bunch of dreams. And always remember, the purpose for walking in heaven's realities is to glorify God so that the lost would come into right relationship with Him. He is mighty to save!

~ HEAVEN'S REALITIES ARE DIVINE INTERVENTIONS ~

Now I want to share some great supernatural stories that not only testify about heaven's realities and how they manifested in my life, but also how they came forth in the lives of other believers. You'll see that what manifested in the natural in the earth, we got first in the spirit. As divine revelation, visions and dreams connected with faith, and as we partnered with God, circumstances changed in the natural realm. Finances were provided; people were healed; a young man dropped his drugs; a prisoner recommitted his life to the Lord; the prisoner's brother received deliverance from witchcraft; and the fire of God fell! Yah!!


~ Faith at work through DIVINE REVELATION brings financial miracles: ~

One of my first experiences in the supernatural happened during our first month of ministry. My wife and I needed $500 for our rent. Although we didn't have a single partner or any support, I did have faith. It burst on the scene as I wrestled all the way through in the spirit-divine revelation came! Finally I could say with assurance, "God, I believe I've got my rent. That $500, I have it!" By faith I knew that the provision was already in heaven. Yet, in the natural, when the countdown reached the two-day mark my wife was stressing because the rent was almost due. But I told her, "Honey, I have it! I know I have it because I broke though in the spirit!"

Still, the day before the rent was due, I didn't have it. But, by faith, even though the money wasn't actually in my hand, I knew I had it because I had a divine knowing. And so I was bold and confident. After all, God spoke to me that I had it! So the next day, the day to pay the rent, I said to God, "I know that I know that I know that I have it. You told me I have it."

Later that morning, as my wife and I were sitting in church our miracle happened. A woman, who was also at church, had a vision. She saw herself going to the bank and withdrawing all the money she had. Then she saw (in the vision) that she walked up to Shonnah and me and gave us the money. So that morning, rent day, she came to us and said, "I had a vision. I saw in the spirit, and I took out this money ($500), and God told me to give this to you and your wife, that you needed it." "Thank God, I have it!" I said.

Now, guess what! The very next month we were in the same tight spot! Is it going to be like this every month? I wondered. Yet I knew that the rent money would come in because I had a visitation from the Lord; He spoke to me that I had the money for the rent. So, as I was waiting on the Lord to fulfill His word, one of my friends came over to our house the night before the rent was due. "Todd, I'm sorry," he said, "I was so disobedient; the Lord has been speaking to me for the last three weeks about covering your rent." He gave us six post-dated checks, paying our rent for half a year!

Those first two miracles set the stage for our ministry and they reveal how Fresh Fire Ministries continues to thrive to this day.


~ Faith at work through A DREAM brings healing: ~

Before a group of our interns went to a university campus in Bellingham, Washington to do "power evangelism," one of the interns had a prophetic dream. He dreamed of a large man who had a leg injury, wearing a cast/boot. Then he saw himself praying and the man got healed. So the next day he went with a group of interns to that university, and as he walked around all day, in faith, he looked for the man he saw in his dream.

Finally he saw him, this big guy who actually was an all-state pro linebacker! So he walked up to him and said, "I had a dream last night and you were in it. In the dream I prayed for you and you got healed. Strange as it seems I dreamed about you and here you are!" They spoke with each other for a while and when the man felt comfortable with the idea of being prayed for, the intern prayed. Right away he was healed! He took off the boot and ran around! The doctors had just told him it was going to be five, six more weeks with that boot on!


~ Faith at work through PRAISE AND WORSHIP brings heaven to earth: ~

A young man I know of who lives in California had it in his heart to change the spiritual atmosphere by bringing heaven to earth. So he went to the mall by himself and started playing his guitar, all the while impressed with a revelation about the power of praise-God inhabits the praises of His people. As he began praising the Lord, dancing around a little bit, taking authority over the spiritual atmosphere, he actually began to open up a spiritual portal in the middle of the mall.

He was worshipping away, and then he decided to stop playing and to sit down. It wasn't long before he noticed a young man walking toward him. As the young man came by the very spot where the worship had just taken place, he took out something, dropped it on the floor, and kept on going. It was his drugs! Now, why did that happen? It happened because there are no drugs in heaven! Heaven was so real that when he came into contact with that reality he was forced to drop his drugs. We're talking about a real world-on earth as it is in heaven-heaven's realities!


~ Faith at work through A TRANCE brings hope, deliverance & God's fire: ~

One time when I was in Atlanta, Georgia, about to preach, I fell into a trance. Suddenly, I was traveling down a highway moving as fast as a car but I wasn't in a vehicle! It was so real. I could see the cars and the pavement; the Lord told me to pay attention to the road signs because He was taking me somewhere. So I did, and I saw the name of the exit, Chattanooga highway, and I took the exit. Next, I was standing outside a prison still in the trance, looking at the prison.

Although my physical body was in the church, the next thing I knew I made a decision to go into the prison. Boom! I was in. I began to walk down a cell block to a particular prison cell and there I met a young man locked up in that cell. We had a conversation about why he was in prison, and with renewed hope he gave his life back to Jesus. Wow!

When the trance was over I asked God two questions. "God, what do You want me to do with that experience? Is something going to change in this realm (one earth)? Immediately the answer came. By divine revelation I knew from the Lord that there was a woman in the meeting who needed to hear about what I had seen during the trance. So, as I described where the prison was, as well as what the young man looked like and what we had discussed, a woman jumped up and said, "My best friend was supposed to be in this meeting tonight; she was coming, but she had an emergency. That's her son in that prison!"

So I said, "Get me a cell phone. Let's call her right now!" What happened next is incredible. Just as we called her friend, right at that very moment, her friend's other son was trying to kill his father! The mother was panicking on the phone! She blurted out, "Right now, my son, he's involved in witchcraft, he's trying to kill his father," Quickly, I said, "Let's pray! I take authority over witchcraft; I render it powerless in the name of Jesus!" BAM! Right then, something happened. I don't know if he fell on the floor, but instantly the violence stopped-deliverance took place!

The woman arrived at the meeting two hours later. Coming up onto the platform she said, "My son was involved in witchcraft; he was just trying to kill his father. When you called and you prayed with me, the assignment stopped! My son got free! My other son, 22 years old, is in prison . . ."

Another time I was one of the guest speakers in a conference in Seattle, Washington, and while I was listening to one of the other speakers, suddenly it was like I was in a trance. About three feet in front of me a blue pillar of light appeared, and I began putting my hand into it. I could feel something sort of "electrical." So I asked a couple of people sitting beside me if they could see it, but they couldn't. Seeing that pillar, and it went up like a tornado into heaven, I began asking the Lord, "What do you want me to do with this?" He said, "Get in it." But I wondered if I would disturb the meeting, and while I remained seated, God repeated, "Get in it." So I jumped off my chair and jumped into the pillar of blue light. Instantly, I was in heaven. (I won't go into what took place in heaven.)

Back at the meeting, when the experience was over, God said, "Go back to your hotel room. I'm going to visit you in power for one hour." So I told this to a few of the other guys, and after I asked if anyone wanted to come with me, they decided to come.

As soon as we got inside the hotel room I was impressed with the thought that it was important to remember what time it was, so I said, "Everybody, take note of the time." Then, in unison, we all said, "It's quarter to eleven." Now the "atmosphere" had been normal but as soon as we said, "quarter to eleven," instantly, bam, the glory fell, and fire. I was lying on my bed. Everyone was suddenly having a supernatural encounter, shaking-two people were in the same vision and another guy was in different one. I was screaming, "The fire, the fire, I'm burning up! The fire!" and right then, an angel appeared. His appearance reminded me of the angel spoken of in the Book of Revelation in Chapter 10: "Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven . . . and his feet (legs) were like columns of fire" (v. 1, Amplified Bible, emphasis mine). He stood over my bed; two pillars of burning fire!

Then, just as quickly as it all began, it was over. All of a sudden the atmosphere was ordinary again and everyone was as normal as you and I. We looked at the clock and it was quarter to twelve, to the exact minute. The power of God fell for one hour. We were all awed by the experience. But what happened next really shocked us! About twelve hours later not only did that particular hotel room catch fire, but so did some other rooms! Totally burned to a crisp! Why? Because the reality of what happens in the spiritual heavenly realm affects what happens in this (earthly) realm. We're talking about heaven's realities, making heaven real.


Todd Bentley