intimacy with God

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Three Levels of Heaven Part 5…Level Three

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

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Although I have so much more to share concerning the second level of heaven…I am compelled to jump to the third. I will come back to the second in time but I cannot wait any longer to begin to unveil the greatest mystery in our universe…the true secret of life.

Having an understanding of how energy works and learning how to change the way you perceive life and learning how to develop a positive energy field and learning how the “law of attraction” works are all very important…BUT…these things pale in comparison to what I am going to share with you today! It took me about 40 years of life to start to understand these things. So, please hold these truths in your heart, hands and mind delicately and let these things begin to take shape and work in a way that you might be able to actually embrace what I am sharing today.

One word of warning before I begin, however…don’t think you understand what I am talking about simply because you have heard some of the same words before. Try to get to the “pearl of great price” or the true “nuggets of gold” in what I am sharing. Do not summarily dismiss any of it simply because you see something you recognize and believe you already know. You may not have fully embraced what I have to say yet. If you actually do understand and actually live the way I am going to describe…please share with us a bit of your journey. I will be incredibly excited to hear from you and so will others. I will try to be as clear as possible…but if you have any questions at all I would very much like to hear them and see if I can respond. Please use the comments below to further this discussion.

First of all…the Third Level of Heaven is NOT PHYSICAL in any way…at least in any way that we can interact within our physical world. You need to understand this in order to even begin to comprehend what I am sharing. That is why I emphasized so much that the second level (essentially the energy level) is very physical. It happens to be largely unseen but still very physical. The Third Level is entirely Spiritual in nature…not the type of spiritual that many people believe is real. Most of what people believe in general about the spiritual realm is simply an unseen physical realm such as energy or the like. Whether you can wrap your mind around it or not…the truly Spiritual realm doesn’t have any  physical aspects at all. The problem comes with communication though. We still have to communicate with language that is very much tied in to the physical realm. However, I will do my best!

I grew up as a Christian. My family went to church regularly and I learned about what it means to live a “Christian” life. I was fortunate in that I grew up in a fairly unique setting where the church we attended was very attuned to the concept of Grace. What I was taught was that there was a God who cared for me enough to die for my sin which opened the door for a life of being able to interact with Him.

This is a fairly typical teaching in the Christian church. However, as I grew and expanded my horizons within the church I quickly realized that most people believe that there is more to the picture of what it means to be a Christian than simply what I was taught as a boy. I soon began to see that there was a great deal of emphasis on becoming involved and “doing your part” and sacrificing yourself and a whole host of other things that would easily cause one to feel obligated to this organization or that organization.

I flirted with this concept of feeling obligated but in the end it didn’t feel quite right. This idea that you had to be obligated to the local congregation to be “acceptable” to God was not quite in line with what I learned as a boy and also through college to some degree or another. So, I tended to not engage fully with any “church” that I attended and my response to any question asking for my help was an automatic “no.” This way it at least gave me a chance to think and pray on it. Still though…I rarely helped out. It just seemed to go against my grain. There were plenty of people that needed help outside the church…I always figured my energy was best reserved for these people. So…I thought, if I were going to be of service in my life…I wasn’t going to do it because of obligation…I was going to serve out of a sense of love or someone else’s true need.

The atmosphere of these local congregations was one of making people feel selfish or inferior if they chose not to help…or worse yet, the people that truly wanted to help but couldn’t for one reason or another really felt bad. I never let any of these feelings take much of a toll on me but I was always curious as to why there was always such a feeling of dissonance most of the time in these places.

I got married and started having children. My wife and I talked about it and decided that we didn’t want our children to become involved with “Sunday School” or anything like that. We felt like it was our responsibility to share our hearts, beliefs and understandings with our kids and didn’t want other’s input too early. So, we kept the kids with us during the services because we also wanted to stay together as we took time out to honor and worship God.

However, we still were asked on a semi-regular basis if we would help with the children’s programs etc…I always said “no” and they always couldn’t figure why we were not willing to help. My thinking was why would I want to contribute to something that I thought was already a waste of time. I also didn’t like the constant arm-twisting in trying to fill spots for Sunday school teachers. It seemed ridiculous to me that if this were of God it would have to be manipulated in such ways.

I always told the “arm-twisters” if there quest were truly what God wanted then He would provide…otherwise just let it die until such a time that God was going to provide for the needs of the program. Of course, I was not appreciated for such advice!

Anyhow…through all of these years I constantly felt as if most of the “church-going” people were really missing out on some key elements of what it meant to have a relationship with God and what it means to practically live that out. The general consensus of most people was that in the end although you are “saved by grace” you continued to be saved by what and how much you did. That was a complete disconnect for me…it did not sit well with me.

Of course on the other hand there was always the question in my mind of what the practical out-workings were of a life of complete Grace. The argument against this type of life is that the “Christian” would then continue to sin knowing that God had it all covered anyhow. I knew that this also was not right.

I had always enjoyed a good relationship with God and good open communication. However, I still always felt a bit disconnected and never could figure out why. Until…I came to a realization that I was feeling the disconnect because I had a bit of a misunderstanding about what it actually means to be a Christian…or one who relates to God in an intimate way.

Now, I figured if I had this misunderstanding and I was already far removed from the typical teaching and practices of the local church in its inner workings, then how far askew must most people’s understanding be?

Well there came a point when I began to realize that my concept of God and of the cross was off. I was always taught that God the Father needed to judge the sinners of the world…it was something that he almost took delight in or at least was something that he was compelled to do by His own sense of justice… His nature was to judge because of His own standards of perfection.

The next logical step was that this “mad” God needed to take out His anger on someone and His son was the only one who could really take what His Father dished out. So Jesus became the incredible loving one and the Father became the “bad” one. You know the “good cop bad cop” routine…well they played it to a tee. But if it was the Father’s nature to really want to “get” someone for his/her actions…then it wasn’t such a lovely proposition to hang out with Him ever. Jesus was good…but the Father…He is too scary.

So, although the Bible talks about God being Love…He (at least the Father) didn’t seem to act like it much of the time…always ready to “smack you down” if you stumbled. As I began to realize the disconnectedness of all of these things it started to make sense to me why so many local “churches” behaved the way they do. They are simply reflecting their understanding of how they believe God Himself works.

So, although I never felt much of the bondage that most people feel growing up in the “church,” I did feel a bit of that disconnectedness until I began to “see” things differently. The greatest revelation of my life was when I realized that I had the whole concept of the Cross messed up. I believed what most “churches” teach that the cross was an undertaking of God to make sure that someone was punished for my sin and your sin. Of course that someone was Jesus.

But there were things that didn’t make sense to me in light of beginning to understand that Jesus was a perfect reflection of the Father. When Jesus was confronted with sin His response was always truth but always couched in a great love and understanding. When he was kneeling down with the woman caught in adultery…His response was one of a loving understanding with the hope of bringing healing to the woman.

Now that concept resonates with me…it made sense that the very nature of God would be to want healing for His people…not punishment. As I considered this…it also made sense that the only people that Jesus ever really showed any anger toward were the people who were always using religion to control others. Again…this is something that resonates with me.

If Jesus is a perfect reflection of the Father than that is how the Father feels as well. I began on a journey of understanding that has completely “rocked” my world and given me a completely different life…this…what I am about to share…is what the 3rd level of heaven is all about.

You see…the beginning of understanding is that the cross was not about punishment at all…but about healing and cures. The Bible is quite clear that Jesus actually became sin. He didn’t carry sin so that he could be punished on our behalf…He became sin so that sin could be dealt a deathly blow once and for all. Like all things in the universe…the energy of sin is connected with itself. All sin for all time is connected.

When Jesus became sin and was able to withstand the loving wrath of His Father (I will explain this in a moment) sin was dealt a death blow once and for all time. The effects of the cross were that there is now a cure for sin for anyone who connects into that event. The reason Jesus was able to do this was because he lived a perfect life. He was not stained because of sin and therefore His relationship with His Father was never marred in any way. Because of this He was able to withstand the Father’s wrath upon sin itself as Jesus Himself became sin to accept the cure for sin within His very own body.

Now, the term “the loving wrath of the Father” what does that mean? In God’s incredible love his desire is to destroy anything that gets in the way of our relating to him. Thus his wrath is simply an action of His love against whatever stands up against us to keep us from His loving arms. What are the effects of sin? In essence…it is shame and hiding and isolation…all things that keep us from wanting and being able to become close to God Himself. We do not feel these things because God is distant (as is so often taught) but because we cannot get past our own shame and guilt to actually engage in a meaningful relationship with anyone let alone God Himself.

So, His wrath is an act of Love that leads to the opening up of the doors that we normally keep shut and locked. When we experience the curative nature of the cross we then realize we are free to love and (more importantly) to be loved. Being able to live and walk in the Freedom of being loved by God and knowing that reality down to the very core of your being is an incredible experience. I know of very few people who have actually experienced this as I have.

One of the most beautiful things in my life is being able to not only know the love of God for me but to actually experience His affection for me. I literally feel so close to God, the Creator of All things, that I can climb up into His lap if need be and just be held. Or, I can have an interactive conversation with the Father and I will share my heart with Him and He will share His heart with me.

The fact that God is a trinity (three persons with one nature) explains an awful lot about the very nature of God. He has to be able to have relationship with Himself that is perfect in love, harmony, sharing and caring to ever be able to have that type of relationship with me. In fact…He has such an incredibly beautiful and selfless relationship within the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that His greatest desire is for me (and you) to join Him in that relationship.

When our sin and shame no longer have power over us and we are able to walk in complete FREEDOM to love and be loved…then we can actually, in practical and real terms, enter into the amazing relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and enjoy that relationship and be included in it…it is an absolutely incredible thing.

This is what it means to live in the third level of heaven…to actually and really enjoy and be involved with the most beautiful relationship that could ever be possible…ever! That is the incredible intimate, affectionate relationship of God as He relates within Himself and to me and anyone else who wants to accept the invitation.

That is what Jesus meant when He told people that the Kingdom of God was right there. This love relationship is the ultimate reality of what the Kingdom of God is and it is here to be enjoyed. It is truly amazing and unbelievable. I so hope and wish that you will join us in this journey of inter-relating and having intimacy with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This is not a physical relationship…not even in the energy realm…at all. It is more real than any of that. It is the most substantial realm of existence there is and it is available to anyone who desires it. I can tell you this very surely…God certainly desires it. There is the sin and shame issue that always gets in the way of His yearning for you and His invitation to you.

However, Jesus in His amazing love and the Father in His amazing love created a way of cure for these things if we would only take it into our very being. The pain Jesus felt on the cross was only matched by the pain that the Father felt because of what His only Son was experiencing. A Father’s love for His son is indeed special and unique…and God the Father’s pain in joining with the Son to provide a cure for our sin was because He made an incredible sacrifice in allowing Jesus to do this thing. The Father had to agree that we are worth it…that the relationship that the action of the cross would open up was worth the sacrifice to both the Father and the Son.

It is absolutely incredible! I hope you get a sense and a flavor of what this means. The enormity of it is staggering. Yes…living in the second level is special because we get to experience the physical nature at its finest when energy interrelates and we feel like we are really connected to something. Then we experience the power of the law of attraction and all that comes with that understanding.

The third level of heaven does not negate that…in fact it celebrates that. However, the experiences able to be had in the second level of heaven pale in comparison to the experiences awaiting us all in the third level of heaven. Wow…it is absolutely and stunningly beautiful and exciting. Language does not even begin to be able to convey all that is there waiting as we enter into the most beautiful relationship there ever was and ever will be…entering into fellowship and intimacy and absolute love with the author of love and the best lover there ever was and ever will be.

Again, I hope you will consider joining me as we venture and dwell in the third level of heaven.

As always…Blessings and enjoy this adventure we call life!