God has created everything with a purpose and assigned it a role as per His overall plan. We, with our worldly knowledge may not be able to discern the purpose of a stone in the way or a thornbush, but He definitely knows. It is therefore necessary for all to remain connected to heaven, in the way defined for them, and keep seeking the blessings for others and for themselves. The basic role of everything is to be dependent on heaven and seek regular guidance and strengthening.
Reasons for unfruitfulness in believers – The first and most important point is about the creation itself, for it is God’s creation and He has total authority over it. Even though the devil has stolen some authority due to the sinful conduct of humanity, he does not have absolute right and control; Job 1:12 and 2:6 clearly illustrate this point. The devil keeps creating hurdles in our way, to somehow keep us engaged in worldly treasures and achievements. Distracted by the lies of this world, as spread by Satan and his demonic forces, we tend to forget about the love of God and any expectations that He has from each one of us. We are thus filled with greed to have more and more of the earthly treasures, rather than being satisfied with what we have from God. With this the sense of thankfulness also decreases and a sense of demand and right comes in. Someone who strives to walk in obedience to God, He guides and strengthens him, but the one who is bent upon glorifying himself only, is uprooted.
As per Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah, before anything could be created, God created emptiness by retracting His glory into Himself. Then He released a beam of light, which we know as Lord Jesus and with the power of that light all things were created. Without that light from God or once it is retracted from the world, it will all get automatically destroyed. In the Garden of Eden, this beam of light, Lord Jesus was seen by Adam and Eve in bodily form for ‘they heard the sound of the LORD walking in the garden in the cool of the day’ (Genesis 3:8). A spirit will not make a sound in its movements. After sin, they lost this direct way of communication and were pushed out of the garden.
In that fallen state man’s desire to reach heaven did not diminish and they decided to ‘to build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens’ (Genesis 11:4). This was called the Tower of Babel, representing Babylon, the kingdom of evil and the devil. Their aim in this was ‘let us make a name for ourselves’ and there was no intention to glorify God in any way. In like manner, right from before birth, Jacob desired the blessings of the firstborn son of Isaac. His name itself means ‘heel-catcher or supplanter’ and he deceived his father Isaac to receive the blessings of the firstborn son, pretending to be Esau, his elder brother. To escape Esau’s anger, he was sent to his mother Rebecca’s people in Haran.
Alone and uncertain about his future, he stopped at night at a place and putting a stone under his head as a pillow, he slept. He had a dream and saw a ladder ‘set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven’ (Genesis 28:11-19). The angels of God were ‘ascending and descending on it’ and he saw the LORD God standing over it. So, the angels were taking the prayers to God and returning with the answers from Him. The Hebrew word ‘natsab (nawtsab), used about God standing above, means ‘to take a stand’. Jacob was alone, afraid of what lay behind and also before him, for he was going to people he had never met before. When we reach such a desperate state in our lives, God takes a stand to help and rescue. This is God’s outreach to mankind. Jacob received the blessing given by God to Abraham and with that the promise from God, ‘I will be with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised to you’. What a wonderful meeting with the Creator who loves each one of His created beings!
The 15 minutes immediately after our prayers are crucial and determine the outcome of the time spent in God’s presence. The devil will always try to fill us with doubts, especially quoting some other time, when no answers were received. We need to remember that God’s yes, no or not yet are answers of His love, for either we are not ready for the blessing or it will be harmful. When Jacob woke up, he declared, ‘This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven’. He called that place Bethel or Bayit-El ‘the House of Elohim’. The stone he had used as a pillow was set up as a pillar/altar and anointed with oil, acknowledging God. God is Omnipresent, present everywhere but once we recognise His presence, we submit to His authority and give Him glory.
The angels were seen to be ascending with the prayers first and then descending after presenting themselves before God and with answers. God understands and knows our nature, our needs and wants but waits for us to realise and ask Him for fulfilment. We, in our unbelief or ignorance, either do not ask at all, or ask to use it for our own pleasures (James 4:3). Immediately after asking in prayer, we are filled with doubts. Many people ask for prayer for a certain problem and even before saying ‘Amen’, they start asking to be remembered in our prayers for the same issue. I would rather wait for an answer from God and then thankfully seek Him again for an answer.
Receiving heavenly blessings on earth – Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, who was stoned by the Jewish leaders for blasphemy, said, ‘Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’ (Acts 7:56). After finishing His work of redemption of mankind, as was decreed in Genesis 3:15, Lord Jesus ascended to heaven. Apostle Peter in His spiritual knowledge saw that He ‘has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him’ (1 Peter 3:22). He has all the authority and power over everything in heaven, on earth and below the earth and is our High Priest, making intercession for us and blessing us. Our Lord underwent all that we undergo and He is fully equipped to understand the pain of our sufferings (Hebrews 4:15).
Nathanael was called by Phillip to come and meet the Messiah from Nazareth, but he doubted if anything good could come out of that place (John 1:45-51). Yet when he reached the Lord, he was shocked to be told about his spiritual state and being under the fig tree. For a Jew, being under the fig tree means to be in prayer and only the One, to whom he prayed, could know this. Immediately Nathanael declared Him to be ‘the Son of God’ and the ‘King of Israel’. Then the Lord revealed more about Himself, ‘you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man’. Lord Jesus came to link heaven and earth together in a close connection and show that the ultimate authority is not with the earthly courts but with God. He was the ladder on earth but with the presence of the Holy Spirit a believer becomes the channel of God’s presence, love and truth, to lift others towards God. As a ladder to heaven, grace, peace and kingdom principles are visible in their earthly relationships and circumstances.
As prayer warriors, we pray for others and divine answers and comfort from God, blesses others who are in pain. Their lives display the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace and all of the total nine, thus, drawing others to God. Lord Jesus became a bridge between the sinful humanity and heaven, and as His messengers, we do the same, to show the Truth and the Way. As intercessors, like the Holy Spirit in us, we become the source of help for the suffering humanity. The gifts of the Holy Spirit help us to be vessels of God’s grace to the unbelievers. We come into God’s house not to receive and store the blessings, but to be so filled that we can be the channel for others. Our Lord is the ladder and the door to heaven, and our prayers in faith are heard by Him.
Lord Jesus has promised, ‘whatever you ask in My name (as per My character), that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son’ (John 14:13). The Father must be glorified in and through our prayers. Lord Jesus prayed to God the Father by declaring, ‘I have glorified You on the earth’ (John 17:4). In the total of 26 verses in this prayer, He used the word give 18 times, thus showing the importance of being a giver while being a receiver. Heaven opens for such people and the Lord stands up to bless them. To stand is to welcome and readily intervene in our present state and also welcome His servant into His presence in heaven or here. As our Intercessor before God the Father, He stands up to firstly defend us from the devil’s false accusations and then to plead our case for blessings to be released. Standing also implies readiness to declare judgement in our favour, for He has cleansed and set us apart to be His chosen ones.
The prophetic message of Psalm 110:1 is fulfilled, for He, as God the Son, shares the throne with His Father in heaven as a co-equal. God has resurrected us into a new life in Lord Jesus at baptism and has ‘raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:5-6). A believer, even when he is living here on earth, is already seated with the Saviour Lord in heaven and the Holy Spirit is the line of communication. Our destiny is definite and with our eyes on the Lord, we tap into heaven, through our prayers, to receive answers and fulfill our needs from the Good Shepherd.
The reasons for dimness of the light of God’s glory on us – Lord Jesus has given us abundant life while the devil’s efforts are for stealing, destroying and killing (John 10:10;28-29). He further assures eternal life to His sheep, with the promise, ‘they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand’, And then, He reveals the power and plan of God for us, ‘My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand’. We are seated with Him and secure in His hands and Apostle Paul with full knowledge of such great blessings could say, ‘Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ’ (Ephesians 1:3). The earthly rulers may afflict and the forces of evil tempt, but our Saviour stands with His own. He has the final verdict and after the crucifixion of Friday, the coming of resurrection on Sunday is also definite.
We have the vision of Lord Jesus standing for us and we are also required to stand for Him before others to fulfil His good purpose. When we confess Him before others, He also will confess and speak for us in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33). All the spiritual blessings that we have received in the heavenly places are in Him. We have to draw all that from Him, to affect our earthly circumstances. He is not only the ladder, but today He also stands on the top in heaven over it.
Prophet Daniel fasted and prayed for his people’s exile to be over, and Gabriel, the Archangel came with the answer from God (Daniel 10:1-13). He was stopped by the prince of Persia, a demonic spirit, until Archangel Michael came for his help. We are involved in a spiritual battle and since our prayers are generally limited to our own spheres, Michael, the army commander of the heavenly forces, will not usually come, but help will definitely arrive. There may be delays but we must remain focussed on the Lord in heaven and His forces will remove the hurdles.
Our hope is not rooted in comfortable circumstances but in the Living God, who welcomes in love, intercedes, judges righteously and reigns forever. We are comforted by God’s Word, ‘Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear’ (Isaiah 59:1). He stands knocking at the door to reach us to save and be our Saviour Lord, but are we ready to climb the ladder one step of trouble over the other, victorious in Him? We must remember that God has ‘made everything beautiful in its time’ eyt, He has placed each one of us in a particular place and situation with a purpose of bringing a change there (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We must live with the realisation of being in God’s presence always, and any situation that we face never slips His notice and attention.
The LORD God compared His Word to the rain which cannot go back up but water the earth (Isaiah 55:10-11). His promise is that in like manner is My Word, ‘that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it’. It is His Word, His pleasure and His purpose that must be fulfilled.
Moses interceded for forgiveness from God for his people for the sin of making and worshipping the golden calf (Exodus 33:14-16). Finally, God promised, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest’. He had this assurance from God, yet, he still prayed, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here’. Moses wanted the people to move forward into the Promised Land with realisation of God’s Presence with them. They had the presence of the LORD moving ‘before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night’ (Exodus 13:21-22). We also must live in a like manner with the truth of His love and presence with us. The Saviour Lord is seated in the place of honour and authority and when we live as His followers, looking unto Him, He steps forward to help and rescue. However, we need to watch out and not switch from the ladder of grace to the tower of self-effort and ‘make a name for ourselves’. This change happens without any deliberate effort but suddenly and innocently!
We seek the ladder to heaven from God without realising that it is present in us in our own heads. When we humble ourselves and bring the head under the feet, humility guiding our steps, we get connected to the God in heaven. He starts lifting us higher, equipping us to fulfil His plan for us. Study and meditation of the Word of God, move us closer to God and He, as our loving Father fills us with His peace, helping us face all situations in His power!
