Heavenly Places
Heavenly Places/Realms
What are the heavenly places? Where is it? Is that the destination of the righteous? Is that the place where God lives?
Heavenly places or heavenly realms are the places where spiritual activities take place. It s like a park but different in the atmosphere, wherein the park people go to relax and play with families, past time. Still, it is not what we are expecting in the heavenly places, the center exclusively for spiritual movements or actions of angelic and demonic activities, where both the righteous and the wicked play the most demanding games of good and evil, light against darkness and the fight for everlasting life or forever condemnation.
Islam and Judaism believe that they have seven heavens. So why did Paul mention that he knew someone who reached the 3rd heaven and said that whatever he heard cannot be revealed or uttered? Many believe this is Paul’s experience, and he is not bold enough to write down that it is him. Maybe he was not allowed to see the whole picture of the third heaven. That’s probably the reason why he cannot describe it.
God is fair and just, and I believe that we also have seven heavens, where the 3rd heaven is the highest place where the principalities or the spiritual forces of evil are allowed to go in and out and use their power against the defender of the kingdom.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
The worries of this life not to be tempted with the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire of the flesh to be subdued and other things that choke the whole world with lies remain the struggle of the body and make the defense of faith a little more complicated. The heavenly places are almost overtaken by these evil-minded forces, choke the world, and become unfruitful in fighting back. But we have the most powerful and merciful behind us in this battle, and “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 1:3
The end is near, and they are running out of time, and judgment will come upon this world; now, the prince of this world will be cast out. These evil forces are only allowed to be in and out of the heavenly places to give them a chance to open their eyes and turn their lousy work from darkness to light, for the Father of lies back to become the light bearer again and surrender the power he received together with complete submission to the authority and control of the One True God that they may receive the complete forgiveness of their rebellious acts.
Ephesians 1:20 says God “raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” Where are these places located? Is it above the earth or within the world? Because in Ephesians 6:12 speaks of evil forces in the same realm: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” It was revealed many centuries ago that the third heaven is where the righteous and wicked do their things, but no one can reach the 4th heaven, for the angels of God guard them. No flesh and blood, even the spiritual being shadowed by darkness, can enter this well-protected heaven.
Many well-known preachers already stopped seeking the hidden truth with the admission that they had already finished the race and accepted that we only have three heavens and God lives in the 3rd heaven. Revelation after revelation, and no one can tell not unless you are chosen to spread the word of truth regarding this matter. As flesh and blood have very little understanding of the spirit world. We cannot use any of our senses to seek revelation. God is a spirit, and He revealed the things he wants to be revealed through His Spirit.
However, we can communicate with God through His Spirit since the Holy Spirit is in us. The Bible is the only source and has complete guidance regarding the heavens. We need to go deeper into why the Bible is here; to study what God tells us about it. God’s home is called heaven (Acts 7:55; Isaiah 63:15), not heavens, which means many levels and can be called dimensions within the same space, time, and framework.
The distinction of God’s place (heaven) must not be confused with the sky that encompasses all kinds of spirits. The abode of God in heaven above all the heavens. It is the holy of holies; His throne is together with His faithful angels. In God’s paradise, where God sits on His throne—Matthew 23:22; Hebrews 4:16, with His angels surrounding Him—Revelation 7:11; Psalm 99:1; and servants (ministers) to serve God— Matthew 4:1; Hebrews 1:14; Genesis 19:1.
Heavenly Places are open spaces.
Heavenly realms belong to everyone who desires to carry their excellent or evil task. Evil spirits can challenge us, and it’s been ongoing, but they will never rechallenge God as they did in eternity past. They did it before, and they lost, and they will lose again if they ever will try one more time. If they obstruct God’s plan this time, it will be their last, and they will meet their ultimate end. There will be no more like the earth to reign; they will vanish like vapor in the air and no dust to trace, so they will never exist again. They knew that, and they were afraid of it.
God has no counterpart in power and authority. All the energy in the heavens and on earth only works if God allows it to work – Luke 22:31; Isaiah 14:12; Revelation 12:12. God controls everything and gives power to the powerless, which is our assurance of being safe and secured under His wings.
Heavenly Places are full of Hope.
Through prayer, we can bring the whole darkness into complete surrender. Just one speck of light can start getting their kingdom down to the ground because their strength comes from total darkness. They need their recruits to be full of submission. When Daniel needed help, he prayed earnestly, and the answer to his prayers was through an angel; Daniel was told that he needed the help of Michael, the archangel, to win and continue on the task assigned to him by God. God will tell us what to do.
During Daniel’s time, God was directly involved in human affairs, but we have the Spirit of God in our time. That is why it is so important to acknowledge the Holy Spirit daily, like anyone who uses the name of Jesus whenever they open their mouth. The Holy Spirit is involved in our daily activities. Jesus is seated at God’s right hand and will be in charge once. God puts all his enemies under his feet, including death.
We need to understand what is happening in the heavenly realms right now and be aware that include us, and you will find out why and how we are involved:
1st there is a nonstop battle between good and evil at all times, days and nights.
2nd Evil forces led by the Father of lies are working hard before they run out of time to thwart God’s plans.
3rd, The most they hated and wanted to destroy first are all the excellent work we established: ministering God’s goodness, savings lost souls, and spreading the Word of God throughout the world. They want to destroy whatever they can John 10:10, and we should never let it happen.
4th Many humans claimed that they experienced being in heaven, and the truth is they are talking about the heavenly place and never mentioned what and who they encountered. As Paul said, the one he knows that went to heaven is prohibited from speaking about it.
5th Heavenly places or heavens are us. We always struggle with new knowledge and reject it in a second because the ability doesn’t fit what our Mind is set to. Our Mind is the arena of faith, and our stronghold is the word of God. A person lacking knowledge is like a gladiator entering the arena without armor.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge– Hosea 4:6. They may have the means of learning but do not understand what it means and how to use it.
6th Mind is the best device to win a battle, and being busy with other things leads to the neglect of guarding our Mind and the chance for evil to attack. It has been said that when we waste our minds, we also waste wisdom; when we weaken wisdom, we destroy knowledge and understanding. Therefore, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are the three pillars of our defense against darkness.
7th Ignorance of the word of God with the behavior of being in and out of the arena of faith put someone in an awkward, if not terrible, position of losing faith. We have to stay focused and aware that our Ignorance puts us vulnerable to being snatched by the enemies of the faith.
The Mind can form positive and negative thoughts, good and bad ideas, and suggestions that work and do not work. We must always stay in God’s word, whether there is an attack. Our relations with God will protect us from having negative thoughts, bad ideas, and suggestions that will not work. Stay in the light of God’s Word and avoid being victims of their deceptions.
Though they are winning the battle in deceiving our body, with great confidence and assurance from the Almighty God, together with the mighty Son and the ever-growing members of the third persons of the Godhead, winning is at hand. We will surely win the war, destroy whatever they have, and bring them down to the bottomless pit.
During the time of the ancient believers, they were servants of God. These evil forces played into their hands the Ignorance and lack of knowledge of the Old. They can even detain the angels that give messages to the Prophets (Daniel 10) But now, through the work of the Son of God, we became the children of God; We are sons of the highest. So God does not leave us defenseless against these evil forces.
We are now totally equipped with God’s armor and renewed Spirit, and being a partaker of the Divine nature of the Father, we are also equipped with the divine power that can destroy their stronghold in the heavenly places. So Corinthians 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
We need to train more where they always attack us; We need to have greater faith while waiting for help to come upon us; this is a spiritual battle, and faith is our stronghold. We cannot single-handedly fight this battle without support from the highest protector; Our body might not have the strength to match the devices they can use against us, but one thing is their weapons is no longer unknown to us.
Weapons of faith destruction
The promise of Lies, deceitful acts, and temptations to attract attention is the exact weapon to weaken our senses; the eyes used for seeing and then beauty is an excuse for its being perfectly correct but not to tempt us to do evil works. How sweet the sound of having a good life is; the sky is the limit to enjoyment and luxury. But, living all the promises can come true and can also be broken. Would you trust the promises of darkness that will snatch your soul once you are out of focus on the Holy One?
Lies can give you everything; they can even give you stars in the celestial body, it gives you the power to control anything you can imagine, but it is a lie. So lies, Deceit, and Temptations are three very effective weapons; they are simple but powerful enough to put our souls down.
We need to stand firm against these three weapons of the devil. And we must stand firm with our faith and be aware of their devices; the influence of Money, the desire for the flesh, and perversity. These are about seeing the Money flows, desirable behavior in Mind and perversity in the heart devises evil.
The power of prayer gives strength to our souls. Through prayer, we can always feel that our souls are in constant contact with God. Since the Holy Spirit is in us when we pray, we get God’s attention sooner, and His answer comes quickly. There are unknown evil forces present that may distract the help sent by God, but we need to be still and trust Him that he will never leave us.
The heavenly places’ existence is as accurate as the earth. Heavenly realms are more spiritual, and the earthly realms are more physical. In the physical world, we use our senses, and in the spiritual world, we use the help of the Spirit. Our imagination is our ticket to enter the heavenly places. We will have a more challenging role in earthly living than in holy places. Life is concise, and our stay here on earth is also short, but when our earthly body decays, the Hope of a new glorious body awaits, which is always—2 Corinthians 5:1; 1 John 5:11.
Be mindful that heavenly realms are natural and could be within you, besides you, or upon you. There is a song that inspired me too by Fred Astaire’s Cheek to Cheek “Heaven, I’m in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak, and I seem to find the happiness I seek when we’re out together dancing….”
We can make heaven if we are aware of doing it, and you can make hell out of yourself by not doing anything. Our faithfulness can be used to utilize in making heaven. At the same time, we are waiting for new heavens to come. We can physically live like heaven by just being with the Spirit of God. Do not put aside knowing that the real battles are fought and won in the heavenly realms (Spiritual).
We submit to your glory in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.