Knowing Our Father lives in heaven can change and challenge our prayer life!
I ended the previous episode “Who art in heaven” with part 1 of my story about my earthly father, and how I was given a vision of him in heaven. Today I am going to complete that story, but not without first discussing what it means when we pray to “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
Let’s lay the foundation:
We have a Father who so longs to communicate with us, He sent His own son to represent Him in this sinful, painful, angry world. And He still longs to be near us, to hear us, and to communicate with us. If you have received Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son and perfect representation of Himself, you have the right to approach the Father as an heir to the throne. (Hebrews 1:1-3)
In the last episode, I explained a bit about how that works.
Look at (Mark 11:21, Luke 10:21 Matthew 18:10) In the Prayer Jesus taught us, as well as in His own prayers, He referred to the Father “in heaven.” This seemed significant and important to Jesus. Why? Pause for a moment and consider that. Does it make a difference in your prayers when you know God the Father is in heaven?
I just finished reading the amazing story of “Rees Howells, Intercessor” by Norman Grubb. I read it long ago as a new believer. Reading it afresh, I was transported back to the early days of my salvation and I realized how deeply this book affected me. What Rees Howells shared about prayer has shaped my entire Christian walk and prayer journey.
Rees Howells started off as so many of us do, hungering for more of the Lord’s presence. Then moving forward, only one step at a time, learning and growing in the art of prayer. As he listened, trusted, and obeyed the Lord, he developed a profound walk with God and an intensity in prayer that is rarely matched. He was greatly used by the Lord during World War 2, as he led a group of intercessors in focused prayer.
I want to share three lessons that I get out of Rees Howell’s story, which relates to this matter of knowing the Father is in heaven.
1. Gain the Position
The book tells us Rees Howells would “continue in a place of abiding, day by day, becoming increasingly conscious that the spirit was engaging the enemy in battle and overcoming him until finally, he would become fully assured of the victory.” (John 15:7)
After Rees Howells felt the “position” as he called it, was gained, he considered it a sin to return to prayer. Rather, he would thank the Lord for the answer no matter how bleak the situation appeared in the natural. In time, whether it be days, weeks, months, or even years, the answer would manifest at last.
Part of Rees Howell’s “secret,” (if we can call it that as it is quite available to all who search out the kingdom of God) was connecting with heaven in such a way that he would be certain of the Father’s desire in a situation. Then he would cling tenaciously to the belief that he would have what he asked if he did not grow weary and lose heart!
That sort of insight and faith may not happen after one quick prayer session. It may take many. It may take months. It may take fasting. But, If we are able to get beyond earth’s veil and connect with heavens’ agenda, our prayer will be much more direct and powerful.
And we will have confidence in what we ask! (1 John 5:14-15)
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
2. Remove Selfish fear
We often run to God out of fear for the future, our safety, or our health. Sometimes what feels fearful through our eyes, is really heaven setting things up for HIS agenda to prevail. For instance, we may lose a job and want the Lord to give it back, but heaven has a better job or plan for your life!
Rees Howells wrote: “you can’t hear things in the spirit while you have any turmoil or fear in you. You can’t take a shade of fear into the presence of God.”
You yourself probably know this to be true. When our nerves are frayed, we are not surrendered enough to hear from the Father.
Psalm 34:4
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”
Being fearful doesn’t mean don’t pray! It means before you bring a concern to Him, examine your motive and willingness to accept the Fathers will. Heaven has no fear. As you align with heaven, fear will dissipate from within you. God’s love is perfect, and “Perfect Love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18)
While air raids sounded and bombs were dropped within miles of the school, Rees Howells wrote “ the only thing I am afraid of is that I should miss God’s will. Many people are afraid of consequences.”
This thought has really challenged me to consider whether I am selfishly clamoring for a thing so that my earthly life is soothed and my own comfort maintained? Versus seeking God because I want first of all to see the work and will of the Father accomplished, despite what it may cost me.
Honestly, when I look around our nation and the world it can be utterly frightening. But do I pray out of fear for the consequences? God seems to be looking to see if I am praying for my own selfish wants or if I am lined up with heaven’s agenda.
3. Use God’s written word
The Bible reveals heaven’s agenda.
When we read the Bible our spirit aligns with God and gives us wisdom about the things that are on heaven’s agenda.
For instance, reading the Bible it is clear God “ desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)
Rees Howells took upon himself a deep burden for “every creature” to hear the gospel, and declared war in prayer against anything that would block people from hearing the gospel. With this in mind, he fervently prayed all through Hitler’s attempt to take over the world.
Understanding from scripture that the salvation of all people was the will of God, Rees Howells was activated to intensely pray and spend much time alone doing battle in prayer. Because of this, he was often given insight into what the enemy was doing, and would then instruct those who served with him how to pray over the war. Many times it was clear these insights could only have come from God. They were proven true over and over. And over and over the allied forces saw the enemy defeated when it seemed certain all was lost.
One commanding officer observed “at the end of the battle one had the feeling that there had been some special divine intervention to alter some sequence of events which would otherwise have occurred.”
The View from Heaven
Another way to incorporate the Word of God in our “prayers from heaven” is to “shift our mindset” to consider what we read as though you were reading it from heaven.
Let me explain:
A bit ago I was relaxing at the edge of a beautiful golf course, watching high schoolers play golf. I was thinking about this very podcast and asked God if there was anything else He would like me to add.
Almost immediately afterward, I read Psalms 102:19-20
“For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold the earth. To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are appointed to death.”
I love this picture of the father, looking upon us, seeing our weakness, pain, suffering, and desiring to set people free!
Think of it this way, if you were running through a corn maze on earth, and someone was above you with a drone, and could give you directions through an earpiece, you could easily and fearlessly get from one end to another without hitting a dead end or doubling back. In this maze of life, the Father is eager and willing to help us through, and show us how to rescue a few souls away from enemy territory along the way!
That picture of our father made me continue reading all of Psalm 102 as though I was sitting next to the Father, looking on earth with HIS perspective! It made that Psalm jump to life in my heart. It made the truth of God’s goodness profound and gave me faith to believe it! Doing this helped me to see how His viewpoint from heaven may cause the answers to my prayer to look very different than what I expect them to be when I am pitifully calling from
earth.
Look at: (Eph 2:6)
“…and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Know that we are already seated with the Father! When we pray, we are sitting there with the Father, discussing with Him our concerns and needs, pointing things out on earth as we sit next to Him.
I just want to make that an assignment for you. Try it! Pick a Psalm and after a time of worship and reflection on your father in heaven, believe what Ephesians 2:6 says when it states you are seated with Him in heavenly places” and pray from that perspective. Then, please, please please, with sugar on top, let me know if it transformed your view of prayer! My contact info is in the show notes.
Also, if you get the newsletter, this assignment will be in the accompanying Bible Study.
Now, don’t tell me you haven’t signed up for the Newsletter or my ears will hurt!
Go now, even at once, and follow the link tree account in the show notes to sign up!
And as soon as you do, hurry back as I finish the story of my own father in heaven and my glimpse into heaven.
In the last episode, which you may also link to in the show notes, I shared about my father’s battle with cancer and how he was unable to eat. Our family prayed my dad would be well enough to at least eat again. As his situation worsened, the Lord gave me a vision of my dad feasting at a large and busy table. Except… it was in heaven.
Lets pick up the story there:
At the moment the Lord gave me the vision my mother burst in the door, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Joni, Joni,” she cried, “I didn’t know what to say… they asked if I wanted him on life support. I don’t understand what’s going on!”
Shaking my head clear of what I had just seen, I quickly responded “What did you tell them?”
“I told them I didn’t know!”
I hurried over to the hospital where I learned my father had been unable to breathe on his own following the surgery. Without a clear decision from my mother, they automatically placed him on a ventilator. Keep in mind, these were the early days of life support, and it was unexpected and controversial.
Dad was not expected to survive and my siblings were called to come say their good-byes. I tried to reconcile this new development with the vision I had. My dad couldn’t breathe on his own? How would he be in heaven? He had not only never received the Lord, he was hostile to the gospel!
I was the first to see my dad when he woke from surgery.
I cautiously entered the large ICU room, with four beds each hosting a cancer victim clinging to life. A nurse at a center desk cast a gracious smile my way. Machines hissed and clicked displaying numbers and symbols that were meaningless to me.
“Dad?” I ventured, trepidatiously approaching the bedside of the man I both loved and felt estranged from him. His eyes fluttered open and he smiled weakly, as though he was happy to see me. Then sadness. He could not speak with the trac down his throat, but mouthed the words as he shrugged his bone-thin shoulders “what happened?”
I did my best to explain. It seemed to make no sense to him.
Then I did it. I had to. There was no time left.
“Dad, do you know the Lord? Have you ever asked Him for forgiveness? Have you ever committed your life to Him?”
I sucked in my breath as my dad took in this question. I still feared his rejection, even though he was but a skeleton of his former self.
My dad shook his head, mouthing “I don’t know.”
Boldness poured out of me.
“Well you can know dad! You only have to pray! Take my hand and say these words in your heart.”
There, in the midst of hissing and clicking machines with indiscernible flashing numbers, my dad surrendered to the Lord.
And for a season, he rallied! He now motioned for the chaplain to pray with him each day, and loved listening to my mother read scriptures to him. The wall of hostility he once had towards God evaporated like mist as the sun rises.
My siblings, never inclined towards the things of God, seemed changed as well. We spoke much of the Lord, the Bible, and His ways. We saw Gods hands throughout the time we spent at the hospital. Once we happened a book in used book store that was all about life support, how to reconcile it with faith. We read a chapter aloud together each morning and each chapter would be perfectly fitted for the day ahead.
Once, despite his weakness, my dad insisted on writing a note. His machines hissed and clicked loudly in protest, but my dad insisted on writing! I was down the hallway, but my sister soon found me. She handed me the small paper with the thin pencil scrawl where my dad had managed to write “I love Joni.”
I was not in Zion when my dad took his final breath. My sister says one tear ran silently down his cheek as she and Mom released him to heaven.
While choosing caskets my sister began to weep when she saw one with the Lord enjoying dinner with the disciples. “That one!” She told the director.
And low and behold, it turned out my father had purchased a plot years ago in the cemetery in a section called “Last Supper Gardens.”
You may think I was happy to know my dad made it to heaven after so many years of hostility towards God. I mean, yes, I was. But as the death of a loved one so often does to a person, I began questioning every decision we made. During the months after the surgery the family was asked to make a number of difficult decisions. I kept thinking about all the ways things may have gone differently if we did this or that. It plagued me. I never felt close to my father, and now that chance was gone. For all of us. My sisters first born child, due in one month, would never meet him. My mom was alone. Did we make the right decisions for him in those final months?
I couldn’t shake the sense we had failed my dad, somehow. He wanted to go home. He wanted to eat. The surgery and the life support took those small comforts away. He died in a sterile room, trapped in a bed with hissing machines.
There was nothing I could do now, of course, and the church in Crystal Falls was growing at last. We were holding prayer meetings each Thursday, and a number of people had moved to the area to help get a new work started.
It was at such a prayer meeting one night I was kneeling, absorbed in prayer, when I was suddenly in a different place. There were huge, ornate rounded doors before me which opened as an angel escorted me inside. I did not see the angel, but I knew one or two were there to escort me into this room.
The room was full of people, all at tables, sitting close together and talking and laughing and having wonderful conversations with one another. The tables were overflowing with all sorts of food and drinks.
I was escorted to a particular place. I could see a man in front of me with thick dark hair. He turned and looked up to see who had come to visit him. It was my dad! A younger, healthy, not balding, version of my dad!
He was surprised and delighted to see me. He wanted to tell me all about heaven. I could tell he had so much he wanted to say. I waited as his mouth moved, trying to form the words that would express all the wonders he now experienced.
Emotion overcame him. “Thank you.” Was all he managed.
Again he tried to talk. To say more. Oh, so much more… but again, his main thought overflowed in a simple, deeply heartfelt “thank-you.”
With that, the angels escorted me back pass the tables of people, food, and happy conversations. I walked back through the ornate doors that opened on their own. and I was kneeling again on the shag carpeting in a small house in Crystal Falls.
And then I knew.
My Dad did not care about the decisions we made or didn’t make. He didn’t care anymore about being at his little mobile home or eating earths lesser foods. All he cared, truly cared about, was that an undeserving soul like himself had made it to heaven.
And all he could say was “Thank you.”
Let me say to you what God told me so long ago:
Whatever you do
Make it to heaven.
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