FADE Fighting Against Demonic Entities

The Heavenly Realm Everyone would like to get to Heaven, believers and non-believers alike. But what will Heaven be like? How will it look? What will we do? Man has asked these questions over and over again through out the ages. We know that we will worship God in Heaven. And that there are rewards in Heaven to be given us. There will not be any sickness, tears or death. What we know of the heavenly realm makes my heart long to go there as well as every believer. Let’s look at a beautiful scripture that says so much about the heavenly realm and our natural realm. “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.” Psalm 84:10-12 NIV Lets begin by looking at verse 10 “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” 42 I’m a doorkeeper at my church. Well my title technically is “greeter.” But I stand at one of the front doors and greet people as they walk up to attend service. I usually say good morning and then I will open the door for them. Our church doors are huge! They must be 8 to 10 feet tall and are made of a heavy glass. The elderly have a hard time opening these doors so I will do that for them. The one drawback to being a doorkeeper is that I’m on the outside. I open the door and I can hear all the other people inside the church talking and laughing and having a good time. I can also hear worship music and it all sounds so wonderful and glorious! Then the door closes and I’m still on the outside. But don’t feel sorry for me because eventually I get to the inside. Every Sunday it’s so exciting to be on the other side of those glass doors, that I never get tired of it! After my shift of doorkeeper, I get to join the others in the fellowship, laughter, praise and worship. When the psalmist says “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked” I can relate to that. Just one day as a doorkeeper in Heaven must be so wonderful! I can just imagine holding open the door for the followers of Jesus Christ, welcome home! I would say with a big smile on my face. Or opening the door for angels coming back from doing their work on earth, welcome Holy Ones! Or dare I say it, holding open the door for Jesus himself! No I think I would be too busy on my knees worshiping the Lord who died and shed His blood on the cross for me. I can just imagine when I open the door all the sounds I would hear. Laughter, people talking excitingly as they are reunited with their loved ones, 43 and angels singing and worshiping to God! How glorious the sounds will be! How magnificent to feel Gods glory in the atmosphere! Then as a doorkeeper I would have to close the door and be on the outside again. But it will be different this time because what door can hold back Gods glory? What door can keep out the sounds of thousands upon thousands of angels singing Glory be to God? None I can imagine. So I must agree with the psalmist, I too would rather be a doorkeeper for one day than a thousand days in the tents of the wicked. “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” Verse 11 has such a wonderful and awesome promise! If on earth, right now, we walk blameless in the eyes of God he will give us favor, honor, and no good thing will he withhold from us! I want deeply for God to bestow favor and honor on me. I want deeply for God to bless me with good things, who wouldn’t? The last verse of our main scripture is simple but oh so powerful! “O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.” Psalm 84:10-12 NIV I know it’s hard to trust God at times. It sounds so easy to say, “Lord I trust you” but in your heart you’re really not sure. 44 Don’t let the doubts creep in and uncertainty cloud your mind. Because trusting God is also part of walking blamelessly. There is another important door other than the doors to Heaven. That is the door to your heart. Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Rev. 3:20 NIV He is the way, the truth, and the life (John. 14:6 NIV). You can’t get to Heaven by being a good person, you can’t get to Heaven by doing good works for others, and you can’t get to Heaven by just going to church. You get to Heaven by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, who died and was raised from the dead. “That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Ro. 10:9-10 NIV It was November 15, 2009 on an early Sunday morning. I was about to engage in intercessory prayer as I did every morning. But this time I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to prepare my heart on a deeper level. 45 So I praised God, asked for forgiveness, prayed some powerful scriptures and let God fill me with his love and grace. I was ready, but for what I didn’t know. My eyes were suddenly opened to the spirit realm and I saw Holy Spirit standing there right beside me. The next thing I knew he transported me to Heaven, in the Spirit! My heart was beating fast and I was amazed! The first thing I noticed was all the clouds. We seemed to be standing on them. I looked up and saw the gates of Heaven! My mouth dropped open in wonder and awe. The gates were so tall. I would say several stories high! I saw two angels on the left looking at me at the entrance. As we stood there my eyes looked past the gates and in the far distance I saw the Father’s House! It was majestic looking in stature. It glimmered a beautiful white color. A white I have never seen before. However, I’m getting way ahead of myself. These divine visits will be told at another time. But I do want you to know; I have seen family and friends in Heaven during other visions! It was a short reunion but the joy I experienced is almost indescribable! I truly want to encourage you to keep the faith until the end. Stay close to God and keep Him first in your life. Then you will one day enter the doors of Heaven and hear the sweet words; “welcome home faithful one!” 46 Thoughts of a Mighty Warrior 1. Why can’t you get to Heaven by just being a good person and just going to church? 2. Have you heard Jesus knock at the door to your heart? Did you let him in and do as Paul said in Romans 10: 9-10 NIV “That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” 47