I believe that everyone is created to interact with this invisible realm but many have never had their eyes opened or don't take the time to become familiar with it. So the common condition is to be directed by the dictates of this natural world. God does not call us to such a one sided existence; not only does He call us into His unseen realm, He Himself gives us abilities to interact with it, beginning with the simplicity of a bended knee in prayer.
The Bible tells us about the spiritual gifts God has for us. God gives them to us as we ask but He also gives them as He wills and we might experience them without asking or fully understanding their nature or purpose. I wonder if you know what it is to see someone across a room and immediately feel their pain in your body or a burden of their heart press upon yours; to discern someone who has an hidden motive in a business transaction or to know what God is about to do in someone's life. These are expressions of those gifts. What about praying for an physical injury and seeing it immediately disappear, knowing a stranger's thoughts, seeing angels and demons or having faith to believe for impossible situations? These are some of the amazing spiritual gifts God gives us.
For many years I experienced and loved these gifts but didn't really understand the details. I was both keenly aware of Heaven's activity yet ignorant of how to interact with it. In some respect it's like being an X-Man having supernatural abilities that make me different in a good way. I talk to people about these things but it seems to be a language not everyone understands.
Now I've come to Bethel in Redding, CA, where I'm surrounded by 2,000 students who totally understand this realm. They live, eat and breathe this invisible reality. It's like coming to a school for the gifted, where once you thought you were unusual but now you realize you're normal. Even after months here the reality of this can be overwhelming. Yesterday was such a day, that day I saw the Holy Spirit guiding and leading me with more clarity and precision than I've ever known. In the last session I'm sitting at a table with students I've just met and hear one say "I'm such a feeler" and I know EXACTLY what she means. She's an X-Woman, a student with supernatural abilities, able to feel people's pain, joy, grief and longings; she knows where God stations His angels in a room and how He's feeling about someone or something. As she speaks it seems like decades of hidden understanding overwhelm me as she articulates her invisible gift.
This is Bethel, the most exciting environment for discovering God. I've heard teaching about the gifts and their operation, now I have an entire leadership team demonstrating, cultivating and awakening those gifts. Imagine what it's like to suddenly realize God has made you a seer and He speaks to you in images, or that you're a feeler and you feel things, a gift that can be so strong that some here thought they were bi-polar because of the emotional swing caused by encountering different people. As Kris Vallotton said in class, "Many of you were the most spiritual people in your church and your leaders weren't sure what to do with you. Welcome to the land of the giants!" Oh how I love this new world! If this resonates in your heart, run for the things of God. Ask Him, ask Him, ask Him questions. Seek and you will find.
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