The prayer that gets to heaven, is a prayer that starts in heaven. . .

Above is a cool little phrase that I have heard for the first time about seven years ago. It was spoken at a wild and crazy prophetic speaking engagement that my wife brought me to. It was at a church called, “The Furnace”, if that is any indication of the kind of event we were at :). At the time, I was very uncomfortable with this type of charismatic environment. But I knew that God was asking me to learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable differences between churches. There were plenty of opportunities to discern in my spirit what was good and Godly and what was not. I was surprised to observe the many interesting ways people worshipped and connected with him. . .

In this place I met two self-proclaimed and widely accepted prophetic speakers; Patricia King and James Goll. I was really blessed by what they had to say.

One of the things that they spoke of that has greatly influenced me, is how to connect with God.

God is spirit, and his people must worship in the spirit. It may be obvious to most, but profound for me to grasp this verse from John (4:24). It means that although we can see Gods people, the results of his handiwork and his created beauty in the physical world, we cannot truly KNOW Him without connecting with him in the Spirit. For me, this means I need to forsake my self-conscious behavior and my own will; open my spiritual eyes and approach our creator in the spirit. The most common way I do this is by emptying myself, visualize approaching Jesus in the throne room and then entering into his presence. . . .

This may sound crazy or make believe to some, but I can assure you that the spiritual world is real, and in many ways, much more real than the physical. Perhaps this is where a measure of faith is required. And let me be clear; the faith that is required is up front before you “see” God and the spiritual world. Once you experience God, faith is no longer required for this portion of your walk.

This brings me to the final thing I wanted to share, which is regarding prayer;

If you pray in the natural; that is from a perspective of the physical; it is more of an exercise of talking TO God. You can do this while carrying out your day – praying for meals, requests that come up, within situations that remind you to speak to God. That is good and I believe God hears those prayers. But there is something extra powerful or effective when you are caught up from a spiritual perspective and pray from the throne room or from heaven down to earth. Basically, if you are spending time with the Lord and you are in a state of spiritual worship or you feel and sense His presence –It is much more like praying WITH God.

Both of these things – Forgetting the physical and entering into a spiritual mindset to connect with God. And then praying from that spiritual place with God. I just encourage you to test these out if you have not experienced them before to bring a more rich and intense encounter of God into your life.

What does your spiritual encounter look like?

What Does it Mean to Be, "In The Spirit"