Jesus Opened Heaven
I want to share with you the deeply spiritual thing I did that ensures that I always preach under an open heaven.
I got saved!
Jesus opened heaven.
I find it quite aggravating when people keep trying to come up with ways to “open heaven.” The only reason that people come up with these gimmicks is because they believe that heaven is closed. That’s also why the gimmicks are so useless and flaky – they try to accomplish what has already been accomplished.
So many Christians have more faith in defeated demons than in the King of Glory who conquered them all. They picture the sky as being full of ugly demons and figure that their special prayers are required to punch a hole in the demon layer so that a little trickle of glory can pour out somewhere where there is an open heaven. That is absurd.
You do not need to “open heaven” with extravagant praise and worship. I LIKE extravagant praise and worship. I express myself exuberantly when I praise and worship God. Good praise and worship creates a nice atmosphere and it pleases God regardless of the benefits it has for us. I’ve led worship at some good-sized campmeetings, so I am certainly not against it. But it doesn’t grant an audience with God – the shed blood of Jesus does. And that’s a good thing. That blood is forever shed, much as Satan wishes that he could un-shed it. We aren’t always offering extravagant praise and worship, so if that is what opens heaven, heaven is only open the minority of the time. But because of Jesus’ blood, heaven is open ALL the time! I like that much better than the picture that some people paint.
You do not need to “open heaven” by having 2 Chronicles 7:14 meetings. You only need those if the conditions in 2 Chronicles 7:13 apply – that GOD shuts up heaven and there is no rain, GOD commands locusts to devour the land, and GOD sends pestilence among His people – things that will NEVER happen under the New Covenant.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14:
If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 is one thought, which is why 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 does not apply to the New Covenant. Read it for yourself! You might be shocked, but you might also be mightily blessed when you stop wasting your time asking God to have mercy on your country. (I think that even the phrase “Lord, have mercy” should be replaced with the phrase “Lord, thank You for your mercy,” but I’m pickier than most people.) God IS already merciful, and Jesus already IS our merciful High Priest. We don’t have to ask Him to become merciful, toward you or toward your country.
You do not need to “open heaven” with “spiritual warfare.” A horrible amount of time gets wasted by Christians who think that they have to go up to the high places to tear the devil’s kingdom down. Spiritual warfare takes place between your ears, not between the Van Allen belts. If you want to see people delivered from the devil’s kingdom, lead them to Christ instead of commanding demons to leave town. They have a right to be around, but they don’t have the right to defeat Christians.
We don’t have to open heaven to get heaven’s treasures on the earth. We are ALREADY blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). We already HAVE BEEN GIVEN all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4). Christians are notorious for constantly trying to get what they already have and become who they already are. (Read Who You Are and What You Have to make sure that you’re not asking for what’s already yours!)
God says that you can come boldly to His throne of grace so that you can obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). This is PROOF that heaven is open to you.
Picturing a closed heaven leaves you with the incorrect mental impression that God is withholding things from us. So many people think that heaven will be shut until we reach a certain quota of revival prayer. I can tell you exactly how much revival prayer is required under that scenario – just slightly more than you actually have time to do! But the Word tells us that God didn’t spare His Son, so how will He not with Him freely give us all things (Romans 8:32)! NO good thing (including “revival”) will He uphold from them who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11)! Contrary to popular opinion, God is not holding back anything! He’s just waiting for people to make themselves available for His use. (On-the-job training is available).
Lazy, carnal Christians are the impediment to moves of God, not closed heavens.
If someone wants to be saved, does he have to wait until the local cosmic intercessors club opens heaven? NO. He can receive the new birth right now. If someone needs a healing or a miracle, does he have to wait until the local cosmic intercessors club opens heaven? NO! He can receive his healing or miracle right now.
You don’t need to ask God to open up the heavens. They’re open.
You don’t need to gather the intercessors and bombard the gates of heaven. They aren’t shut.