HEAVEN: What do you think of when you imagine heaven?

[Cardinal]

 :cloud9: I'm sorry, but having been bit by a brown recluse and been only 2 hours away from dying according to my physician at the time (God healed me), I have requested of the Lord only half kidding, that if I make it to be a manifested Son of God in fullness, that my first "official" act will be to make all poisonous spiders and snakes into harmless bunnies. Works for me...... :laughing7: Blessings....

PS. I should point out that the bunnies part is an addition after much softening of my heart.....I originally was more in the ET mode on those  :winkgrin:

[Redlettervoice]

No one can imagine with their minds what the completion of all things will truly be like because all we have to guage it by is this earth and this realm we're in now, which is still under the curse. 

But for me, I believe that we'll no longer be governed by the laws of the realm of knowledge of good and evil.  But we'll see the return of our original state before Adam went through the threshold of the natural realm.

The natural will no longer be the dominant realm.  Just as right now, the spirit is invisible to us and the natural is all we can see, I believe that will all be reversed and natural will become invisible and spirit will be all that we see.

The making of all things new is not saying God will make all new things.  I believe what's being made new is our perspectives of what already exists.

Agree with Nathan.  I "see" what he is saying.  I believe we will
see inside those mansions that Jesus described......behind the veil,
in my Father's House are MANY..........Jesus reached the place.....when
He said I am ONE with my Father, earlier He had said, My Father is
Greater, but He grew in stature spiritually, and then said "In that day,
"ye" shall know ....I am in you, you in me, etc." How is it they said
that we shall know?  "We will come to you!"
I believe in "seeing" into the supernatural.  It should be a common
occurence .........we just have not been taught that. People think you
looney........

You know I was talking to someone today and I typed these words.
I believe that the manifestation of the Sons of God is in the "heavens."
Spirit to Spirit.  One Son to Another.  Same Spirit. 

When we are born again, we can "see" into the Kingdom.
And when we overcome, we "enter" ........the Kingdom.

Jesus is our Pattern..........it is possible!  With God, all things are
possible.

[Nathan]

p.s. there are though, still a few kinds I totally go :eek: over...
but I try not to do my first instinct and kill them, I try to just shuffle them out the door.


Nathan... when you talk of natural and spiritual...
what exactly are you referring to?
Why would anything need to be invisible?
I'm not following you on that one.

I think I get a little perplexed at all the talk of "no more natural", what does that mean to people?

That's my whole point.  Our imaginations can't comprehend what the "spirit realm" is like because for me, it's what Paul was talking about when not only did he say the carnal mind is always at emnity with God (at war with) but also that our minds are not subject to the law of God . . .neither "can" they be.  Meaning that our minds can't comprehend the governing laws of the Spiritual realm because that's not what they were created to do.  Our minds were made to allow us to operate in this natural realm.  But they don't have the capacity to understand the spirit realm.

Then why bother?  Because spiritual truth comes by way of revelation from the Father.  It's the Peter experience where Jesus asked him "Who do YOU say that I am"  and God revealed to Peter right then and there that Jesus was the Christ.  Peter didn't learn it, and he didn't understand it either, but he did see it because God revealed it to him.

Through our intimacy with the Father, revealtion of the nature of Jesus will manifest.  "in" that revelation of Jesus, understanding will then take affect because that's the process of having a renewed mind.

Hebrews 11 and the first part of 12 talks about the fact that we are encompassed about by a great cloud of witnesses.  Can you see them?  No.  Why?  Because they are on the other side of this natural realm we live, but they are still all around us.  "That's" what I'm talking about when I speak of the spiritual realm.  That's where God "is".  "This" realm we live in now is the lower realm.  When Scripture states that Jesus came to the "lower" parts of the earth in Ephesians 4 speaks to the fact that the natural is "under" the authority of the spiritual. 

When Adam walked with God in the "cool" of the day, it literally means he walked with God in the "spirit" of the day.  The garden of Eden is a spiritual place . . .it was before the fall.  It was why he was removed from the garden.  Because he chose to eat from the tree of knowledge, that tree is more than just a tree, it was a gateway into the natural realm.  That was why God told him not to eat of it.  It's the realm of death and decay.

But we've been given the unique advantage through the finished work of the cross to walk in the spirit while still being exposed to the realm of the natural.  When walking in the spirit, we are given the authority to rule in the natural.  Bad things still happen here, but they no longer have us under bondage any more.

[sparrow]

p.s. there are though, still a few kinds I totally go :eek: over...
but I try not to do my first instinct and kill them, I try to just shuffle them out the door.


Nathan... when you talk of natural and spiritual...
what exactly are you referring to?
Why would anything need to be invisible?
I'm not following you on that one.

I think I get a little perplexed at all the talk of "no more natural", what does that mean to people?

That's my whole point.  Our imaginations can't comprehend what the "spirit realm" is like because for me, it's what Paul was talking about when not only did he say the carnal mind is always at emnity with God (at war with) but also that our minds are not subject to the law of God . . .neither "can" they be.  Meaning that our minds can't comprehend the governing laws of the Spiritual realm because that's not what they were created to do.  Our minds were made to allow us to operate in this natural realm.  But they don't have the capacity to understand the spirit realm.

Then why bother?  Because spiritual truth comes by way of revelation from the Father.  It's the Peter experience where Jesus asked him "Who do YOU say that I am"  and God revealed to Peter right then and there that Jesus was the Christ.  Peter didn't learn it, and he didn't understand it either, but he did see it because God revealed it to him.

Through our intimacy with the Father, revealtion of the nature of Jesus will manifest.  "in" that revelation of Jesus, understanding will then take affect because that's the process of having a renewed mind.

Hebrews 11 and the first part of 12 talks about the fact that we are encompassed about by a great cloud of witnesses.  Can you see them?  No.  Why?  Because they are on the other side of this natural realm we live, but they are still all around us.  "That's" what I'm talking about when I speak of the spiritual realm.  That's where God "is".  "This" realm we live in now is the lower realm.  When Scripture states that Jesus came to the "lower" parts of the earth in Ephesians 4 speaks to the fact that the natural is "under" the authority of the spiritual. 

When Adam walked with God in the "cool" of the day, it literally means he walked with God in the "spirit" of the day.  The garden of Eden is a spiritual place . . .it was before the fall.  It was why he was removed from the garden.  Because he chose to eat from the tree of knowledge, that tree is more than just a tree, it was a gateway into the natural realm.  That was why God told him not to eat of it.  It's the realm of death and decay.

But we've been given the unique advantage through the finished work of the cross to walk in the spirit while still being exposed to the realm of the natural.  When walking in the spirit, we are given the authority to rule in the natural.  Bad things still happen here, but they no longer have us under bondage any more.

Ok thanks for clarifying.
There is a lot of "spiritual" versus "natural" and not everyone is talking about the same things.
So I appreciate your explaining your thoughts on this.
thanks bro.

[sparrow]

:cloud9: I'm sorry, but having been bit by a brown recluse and been only 2 hours away from dying according to my physician at the time (God healed me), I have requested of the Lord only half kidding, that if I make it to be a manifested Son of God in fullness, that my first "official" act will be to make all poisonous spiders and snakes into harmless bunnies. Works for me...... :laughing7: Blessings....

PS. I should point out that the bunnies part is an addition after much softening of my heart.....I originally was more in the ET mode on those  :winkgrin:

:laughing7:

:HeartThrob:

[sparrow]

I'm not really sure exactly what I think of Heaven, you know, exactly what or where it'll be, but I saw a preview for this movie called The Lovely Bones, by Peter Jackson, and inside the trailer were scenes of what I HOPE Heaven will be like. (Keep in mind, I didn't like ALL the scenes of "Heaven," or what's supposed to be like Heaven, but it was very cool.) Plus, it looks like a sweet movie.  :laughing7:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/thelovelybones/medium.html

Y'know what, those couple of scenes in that preview, (esp. the tree with the "leaves" that are actually birds and then when they all fly off) made me feel so happy all day yesterday. Just had to thank you for posting that. I never would have seen it otherwise.

Sometimes when you're surrounded by all the stuff of this world...(and it starts to stick to you because you're not being mindful to rise above it) you need a beautiful vision to put in your head to override all that dark stuff. What a great vision that was!  :icon_flower:

[Tim B]

p.s. there are though, still a few kinds I totally go :eek: over...
but I try not to do my first instinct and kill them, I try to just shuffle them out the door.


Nathan... when you talk of natural and spiritual...
what exactly are you referring to?
Why would anything need to be invisible?
I'm not following you on that one.

I think I get a little perplexed at all the talk of "no more natural", what does that mean to people?

I tend to be the same way. I used to kill bugs... and now I tend to avoid it. Spiders can be an exception though, like, if it's a Wolf Spider. Those things are huge. Or if it's a Brown Recluse. Those things are dangerous.

[Raggedy Anne]

:cloud9: I'm sorry, but having been bit by a brown recluse and been only 2 hours away from dying according to my physician at the time (God healed me), I have requested of the Lord only half kidding, that if I make it to be a manifested Son of God in fullness, that my first "official" act will be to make all poisonous spiders and snakes into harmless bunnies. Works for me...... :laughing7: Blessings....

PS. I should point out that the bunnies part is an addition after much softening of my heart.....I originally was more in the ET mode on those  :winkgrin:

Oh, goodness.  I'm sorry to hear that Cardinal.  I have been unable to access this site again for nearly two days, and just now got back in to find all this exciting discussion here in the 'Heaven' Thread.   There are lots of creatures in this natural world I'm afraid of, some of them insects (tarantulas, scorpions, fire ants, wasps) as well as sharks, gators, snakes, lions, tigers and bears.   I am just trying to imagine if all these creatures were harmless, then I would not be afraid of them, of course.  But as it stands now, they have the power to kill me in the natural way of dying.   All things in the natural are an allegory for spiritual realities, it seems.  Perhaps these dangerous creatures are here to parallel with the evil things in the spirit - for our learning and comparison.   Just a thought...

Anne, back for as long as God allows me to access the Tent

[Raggedy Anne]

I believe in "seeing" into the supernatural.  It should be a common
occurence .........we just have not been taught that. People think you
looney........

It's true, they do.  Even my kids sometimes give me a funny look when I tell them "the Holy Spirit spoke to me this morning right when I woke up and said....."
I think sometimes they just think I'm being overly religious if I share stuff like that with them.   But at the same time, they know God is very real to me.  My children are believers, but I don't think they have been walking with God long enough to listen and hear the Spirit speak to them regularly.   It takes time, and it takes God's own will to be wherever we are in our spiritual journey.   As you well know, God can hide himself should he decide to do so.   My prayer lately has been just to keep hearing his voice speaking to me of wonderful things and teaching me in the quiet of my heart as I wait for him.   He's my faithful companion - something no person can replace.    :HeartThrob:

[Cardinal]

:cloud9: I'm sorry, but having been bit by a brown recluse and been only 2 hours away from dying according to my physician at the time (God healed me), I have requested of the Lord only half kidding, that if I make it to be a manifested Son of God in fullness, that my first "official" act will be to make all poisonous spiders and snakes into harmless bunnies. Works for me...... :laughing7: Blessings....

PS. I should point out that the bunnies part is an addition after much softening of my heart.....I originally was more in the ET mode on those  :winkgrin:

Oh, goodness.  I'm sorry to hear that Cardinal.  I have been unable to access this site again for nearly two days, and just now got back in to find all this exciting discussion here in the 'Heaven' Thread.   There are lots of creatures in this natural world I'm afraid of, some of them insects (tarantulas, scorpions, fire ants, wasps) as well as sharks, gators, snakes, lions, tigers and bears.   I am just trying to imagine if all these creatures were harmless, then I would not be afraid of them, of course.  But as it stands now, they have the power to kill me in the natural way of dying.   All things in the natural are an allegory for spiritual realities, it seems.  Perhaps these dangerous creatures are here to parallel with the evil things in the spirit - for our learning and comparison.   Just a thought...

Anne, back for as long as God allows me to access the Tent

:cloud9: Thanks Anne, but no worries. This happened YEARS ago. Blessings...

[noname]

hehehe...gotta love that Raid add :laughing7:

I think one thing we have to remember is that it is prophesized that there'll be new heavens and a new earth...some here talk about spiritual things as if they would be unseen things...anyone got proof of that?
"spiritual things" can mean a lot of stuff which sometimes just confuse me...but i can imagine a new earth...(where the spiders don't bite :winkgrin:)

[Nathan]

Nope, not a shred of proof, I see it in faith.  He's not making all new things, he's making all things new.  The new heavens and new earth spoken of are things "within" me.  If the flesh profits little, then I believe  there's little benefit to trying to prove things physically happening.  It's all inwardly seen.

[noname]

If the flesh profits little, then I believe  there's little benefit to trying to prove things physically happening.  It's all inwardly seen.

me, I'll gladly take the "little" that the flesh would profit (ie new earth promised in revelation)...something i can understand...anything extra would be a huge bonus :thumbsup: :bigGrin:

[legoman]

Lately, this is what I have been thinking heaven will be like.


It will be much like earth is now (but in a spiritual form - whatever that is).... 
EXCEPT everyone will want to do the right thing, so everyone will do the right thing!

Wouldn't that be great?

[Raggedy Anne]

Legoman,

Yes, unity of wills and the removal of strife would be fantastic.  Surely part of the problem with this present world is billions of wills fighting for supremacy rather than submitting to the mind of Christ.

I like listening to people's thoughts about heaven.  Thanks everyone for sharing them. 

Anne