Living In Heaven's Reality : Pastor Tony Samuels

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. - Matthew 6:10

Jesus told us to pray for the will of Heaven to be done on Earth. What does that mean? What should it look like? First, we must understand what Heaven is like. Heaven is a place of peace, a place of joy; it’s a place of abundant provision. So our lives should be full of these manifestations of Heaven: a life full of peace, a life full of joy, a life full of the abundance of God; nothing missing, and nothing broken. Now I understand what Romans 14:17 means when it says, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of rules about food and drink, but is in the realm of the Holy Spirit, filled with righteousness, peace, and joy.” Kingdom living is living in the heavenly realm. Jesus is saying He doesn’t want you to have to wait to get to Heaven to experience it; He wants you to experience Heaven right here on planet Earth!

You might be wondering, “How do I experience Heaven on Earth when all hell is breaking out?” I’m glad you asked! When you hear the word Heaven, you instantly think of a place that is above the earth. So to experience this heavenly realm, we have to rise above the things that are happening here on planet Earth. The first thing we must correct is our focus. The Bible says in Colossians 3:2 (TPT), “Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” The reality you focus on will become the reality you live in! This is so rich, I want to add another translation to this. In the Amplified Bible, it puts it like this: “Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value].”

The thing that is hindering most people from experiencing the heavenly realm is their focus. By focusing on the things of Earth, we remain locked into what is going on in the world around us. God wants us to come up higher and begin to docus on things above. There is power in focus, and there is power in the information you are hearing, receiving, and acting out on. The Bible says we are in the world, but not of it. God wants us in the world, but He has not called us to participate or partake in the chaos of it. 

We come up by focusing on Him, and feeding on things that are from the heavenly realm. Church, it’s time to starve our doubts and feed our faith so we can begin to live in this higher reality. Now, because we live in the reality of Heaven, our response to life should be different. James 1:2-4 (TPT) says, “My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things. And then as your endurance grows even stronger it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.” This is amazing! In difficulty, the Bible says that we can experience the greatest joy! So difficulties are not meant to destroy me; on the contrary, God says I am going to release the heavenly realm right in the midst of it! This joy that we have is eternal, not circumstantial; the world didn’t give it, and the world can’t take it away. Your understanding of your position and your identity will dictate what happens in your life. 

Ephesians 2:6 says, “He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ!” In the spirit, we hold a high position. We have to bring our mind into agreement with this revelation. As you begin to focus on your position and your identity, you are going to have a completely different reaction to the things that are going on in this world…because you are not in it; you are above it. The Lord is saying, “Come up, My people. I have prepared a place for you. You are with Me, and I am with you.” Church, it’s time to experience and live in the reality of Heaven.