We are born to live under an “open heaven.” Without this blessing, we won’t be able to replenish the earth with heaven’s resources.

My wife and I were at a service in Fortuna, California, with several other people from our school and staff. Many local pastors were also present. Having embraced the message of the Kingdom, they encouraged their congregations to participate. Healing came extremely easily that night.

Out of about 200 people, around 40 to 50 acknowledged that God had healed their bodies that night. There was a woman with a damaged optic nerve; doctors had said she would never see from that eye again, but she was healed and can now see.

A deaf person was also instantly healed that night, as was a woman confined to a wheelchair due to crippling arthritis. She danced and shouted, expressing the joy of her deliverance.

Another wonderful miracle happened as our students prayed for a child with clubfoot. He too was healed. Because the leaders stood together in unity and love, it was very easy to enter the realm of miracles.

A TIMELY REVOLUTION

I am incredibly excited about the revolution I see unfolding in the Church. We are once again becoming the dwelling place of God, as promised in the Bible. We thirsted for more, prayed for more, and now we are receiving unprecedented insight into our privileges and responsibilities in the Kingdom of God. These ideas are not just being thought about; people are acting on them, and increasingly, God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.

The Bible speaks a lot about how we are a dwelling place for God and “the house of God” on earth. What does it mean to be “the house of God”? Why is this concept important? How should this change the way we live our daily Christian lives? What does this have to do with the renewing of our minds?

The answer: It has everything to do with these things! Let’s start by going back to the first mention of the House of God in the Bible. This is found in Genesis 28, which says:

“Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. He reached a certain place and stayed there for the night because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place and put it under his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. … Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’… And he called that place Bethel…” (Genesis 28:10-13, 16-17, 19).

Because this is the first mention in the Bible of the House of God, this passage defines the nature of this subject for the rest of Scripture. There are several aspects of this house we need to pay attention to.

First, Jacob said, “God is here, and I didn’t even know it.” This tells us that it is possible to be in the presence of the “House of God” (which we will begin to define in a moment) and never know it is there. In other words, without revelation, as in Jacob’s case—a dream—we may be unaware of God’s presence and work in our lives or around us.

I have attended religious services and meetings and observed, time and time again, how God dramatically and completely transforms one person’s life, but the person sitting next to them has no idea that God is even in the house. They’re thinking about what they’ll eat when they get home, while other people are having a total spiritual overhaul just a few feet away. I don’t know how or why it works this way, but it happens all the time.

One of my former elders, Cal Pierce, was a board member who was bored when I became pastor. I had called a special leadership meeting because of what God was beginning to do in the church shortly after we arrived. It was clear that I needed to present this new move of God to our leaders so they could truly “lead the charge.”

Cal didn’t like what was happening in the church and attended the meeting out of obligation. But God came upon him in one of the most sovereign acts I have ever seen. The Holy Spirit came upon him powerfully and apprehended him for a new work. If the Holy Spirit has claws, this man experienced them! God drafted him in an instant for something new.

He was already born again, headed for heaven, but God had a purpose for his life that was much greater than what he was experiencing. God shook everything that had been holding him back. But while he was experiencing this spiritual transformation, there were many in that room who experienced or realized nothing. They were like Jacob before his dream. God was there, and they didn’t know it…

This text is an excerpt from the book “The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind” written by Bill Johnson.

We invite you to read the following article: “AN OPEN HEAVEN.”

THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD