Hands up! You're surrounded! Surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses!-those great saints in glory-they're watching you and me. Those guys in Hebrews 11 have their attention fixed on us and how God is bursting on the scene through this generation. With cheers and shouts they're wild with excitement, roaring, "You're the last day generation; you're the last day army! GO church, GO! GO church, GO!"

Friends! Their "floor" is our "ceiling." What a launching pad! Did you get that?! We serve the same God they served, and since mighty exploits happened through them, they are sure to happen through us. Just look at what's taking place in Lakeland, Florida!

YOU ARE MADE FOR THIS!

Yet, I can still sense some of you asking, "You mean God's powerful acts can happen through me? You mean I can exercise my spiritual senses? Yes the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, but is it within me? Is there really an invitation to come boldly before the throne? Can I really have trances, visions, dreams, and visitations of the Lord? Be aware of angels? What do you mean, it's my inheritance now? You mean, as a natural being, I can enjoy the things that God created in this realm now AND I can, as a spiritual being, made alive by the Spirit of God, experience what's in the heavenly realm with my spiritual senses NOW, too?

Yes, you can! You are made for this! Look. It's in the Bible. It's God's idea. Just take a look at what the Apostle Paul said:"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:1, 2). Receive that truth, since it's by your determination to set your mind "on high" like this, that you will know Him-"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. 1:17). That's what Paul prayed; it's for us too! Then, with that heavenly mindset you'll be in the right position to advance the Kingdom of God in the earth!

Now for those who still might be skeptical, here's a question: Why would Paul pray that God would give that to us if He didn't want us to have wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, (not about Him)-which only comes out of [from] encountering, tasting and seeing Him? What's more, Paul also prayed-since the people were Christians, but they weren't living in the experience of heavenly revelation-that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened; that they would know the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance (v. 18).

EXERCISE YOUR SPIRITUAL SENSES TOO!

Listen! That prayer is just as alive today as it was back then, for the Ephesians. Today, God wants our understanding to be enlightened! He wants us to "look at . . . the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). We're being encouraged by God to look there, to the things which are not seen-yet, also consider this-there's nothing better than living under an open heaven for seeing the unseen!

But we live in the temporal world, and we're all too comfortable with what we see, feel and hear in the natural. Yes, we have good natural senses, but God says, "I want you to set your eyes on these things which are not seen, I want you to look for them, because the things which are seen are temporary, but there's an unseen realm, and that realm is eternal." We need to begin to exercise our spiritual senses and become more conscious of that realm.

ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO TEACH YOU!

The Bible from the beginning to the end is full of the supernatural, the reality of the supernatural-normal men like you and me, having extraordinary encounters with God. There was Elijah, taken into heaven in a chariot (2 Kings 2:11).There was Paul, who had an abundance of visions and revelations (2 Cor. 12:1, 7), and he was taken into the heavens too. In fact, he couldn't even talk about those things because it would be unlawful for him to talk about them (12:2-4). Peter went into a trance, and what came out of that encounter transformed the entire early church (Acts10:9, 10). Just read the incredible experiences of John, the revelator, in the Book of Revelation. Then there was Elisha (1 Kings 19:16-21; 2 Kings 2:1-25) to name just a few.

So! Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you about the unseen realm. Set your mind on things above. Our problem is we're not putting our expectation there. What's more, those things aren't just about healing and financial blessing. They're about the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, angels, and "on earth as it is in heaven." They're about you, as the heavenly creation that you are, even though for now you happen to live on the earth. You're a citizen of heaven NOW! Yes, you have all of the "business" of life here, but there is a place, there is an invitation, whereby you can access, live, and touch heaven-that dimension, now-by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can make yourself available and you can say, "Each great saint that's touched this dimension of God's Spirit was a man or a woman just like me, and they served the same God that I serve. So why wouldn't God want me to hear (ask yourself that!), why wouldn't He want me to see? Why wouldn't God want me to experience who He is? Why wouldn't He want me to know the reality of heaven?" Look. If you wait on heaven, God will give it to you.


SANCTIFY YOUR IMAGINATION!

Just like an eagle flies way up high, and with his keen eyesight he sees far off into the distance, God wants you to be high "by setting your mind on things above," and to have eagle-eyes-clear prophetic vision that sees far off. However, the first thing you must do is sanctify your imagination. If you're going to have eagle-eyes you need to sanctify your mind's eye by guarding what you do with your natural eyes.

After all, you and I are joint heirs, members of the body of Christ, and if we're really a chosen generation, if we're really a royal priesthood-set to display the virtues of Christ-then we have to live like it. Sanctified! We have to sanctify our imagination. There's a song from the past for children that's also relevant today, for both young and old alike: "Be careful little eyes what you see . . . be careful little ears what you hear." Because we need to be careful! God wants a royal priesthood, and that priesthood is called royal only because it is holy.

"The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart" (Prov. 20:27). Yes, the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord-that's how God brings revelation. Revelation, it's in your soul and it's in your spirit, God as a lamp-"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps. 119:105). He brings revelation and communicates with you in the realm of your imagination on the inside in the same place where you think, have fantasies, good or bad. So you must be careful about which things you allow into your eye-gate, the things that you watch, because they affect your soul-your mind, will and emotions.

Paul exhorted the Ephesian believers to "put off . . . the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph. 4: 22-24). He told them not to walk like the Gentiles-their minds were confused and full of darkness. They were immoral (v. 17-19).

He told them not just to live holy lives, but he also warned them that if they didn't, if they were immoral, impure, or greedy, they would not have an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God (Eph. 4: 20-32; 5:1-5). So, friends, just like the Ephesians, we need to take Paul's words to heart. We must honor God by living pure lives. Purity is a sign of respect that reflects the high value we place on our vast, rich inheritance in Christ Jesus.

Part of our inheritance, one big chunk that God wants to give us, is a well developed, sanctified seer anointing. This indispensable anointing, this ability to have the eyes of our heart enlightened (Eph 1:18, NASV)-especially when we understand our authority in Christ and how to walk in the gifts/manifestations of the Holy Spirit-gives us the capability to co-labor with God on a spiritual level that boldly shows God off to the world so that men will be saved!

Now we've come full circle! Because the seer dimension thrives in, and goes hand in hand with, an open heaven.


CLOSING

So press in to God and honor Him by receiving all of the inheritance that He wants to give you now. Today is the season of the Lord's favor and the hour of His visitation! Capture it. Be fully engaged, completely renewed, ready to ride the wave of His greater glory into this next season. Why? Because, if God's outpouring in Lakeland, Florida is any indication about what He has in store for the world, we're in for the ride of our lives. And you won't want to miss it! No wonder that great cloud of witnesses is madly cheering us on! Wow!!

Todd Bentley