NEXT LEVEL LIVING: Come Up Here!

After these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. And immediately I was in the spirit…" Rev. 1:1-4

John said I looked and I saw a DOOR…anytime we see the word "door", whether figuratively or literally, it always represents opportunity. Doors are alway significant to come across no matter who you are or what your life is like or where you are going. Life without doors is a dead end road, a stifled existence, meaningless and hopeless. But a door represents OPPORTUNITY that gives us a chance and prospect for progress or advancement and everyone needs a chance to progress – develop, improve, grow, move forward!

John said he looked a door was standing open.
It's one thing to have a door before you, but to have it open means it's time for doing a certain thing. It that stands open as a free invitation; you are invited to participate and suggested to do so. It means that whatever is beyond that door is accessible to you- you can have it, you can take of it.

John said he looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and he heard a voice say this…"COME UP HERE" !

In talking about Next Level Living one key point is that GOD has a location. I don't want to get into theology over it - because I know we are the temples of the Living God – He dwells in us..
And I know that God is omniscient - He can be anywhere at anytime… But it is made clear in the Word that God has a location and a position and it is located and positioned at ELEVATION….
In the Bible he is referred to as "El-Elyon" - "GOD MOST HIGH"
Psalm 113:5 says, "Who is Like the Lord our God, Who dwells on High". Ephesians 4:8 says of Jesus that, "He has ascended on High" Even David when stating where he would look for the Lord - He said "I will lift mine eyes to the Hills from whence cometh my help, my help comes from the Lord!" Even as children we even know instinctively that heaven and God are above and the devil and hell are below!

When the Bible talks about LOWER, the lower has a negative connotation. For example in Proverbs 29:23 - "A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor," it uses the word "DAL AL", meaning broken, feeble, to be oppressed, emptied, and impoverished.

Lower Level Living is in the natural and the physical that has a lower mindset and direction that is remains, and continues in that which is of the world, physical and in the natural and leads to being broken, feeble, oppressed, empty and impoverished. You may not intend it, or set out for that end, but anything birthed and nurtured in a Lower Level will have that fruit.


So when John saw an open door in heaven and a voice that said "COME UP HERE", he counted an opportunity before Him and an invitation to come UP – to leave the world, the physical and the natural and start doing, living and operating in a new level – that is supernatural, heavenly and of GOD.
Now let me come to you – to us…
We operate in the natural, on the earth, we live in the world. We have no choice, bound by gravity and our flesh. We not only physically live here, we also are occupied in this lower level. We are busy with packed schedules, complicated lives, weighty issues, & constant demands. We are working long hours, running errands, involved in relationships, dealing with circumstances, striving to get make ends meet, anticipating tomorrow, dealing with the past, getting through today, deliberating decisions, chasing good times, raising children, providing for necessities and borrowing for luxuries, carrying burdens of conflicts, pushing through to do lists
And right here in the middle of all of that --- An open door, a voice saying…"COME UP HERE!"

Inconvenient? Too much already to deal with? No energy to live on the lower level and definitely not enough come up to some new place?
BUT IT'S A DOOR… it is an opportunity to grow and advance, an opportunity to come to a new level…COME UP HERE!
Interruption? YES! It interrupts all of our lower living! See an INTERUPTION is something that hinders or stops the action or discourse by breaking in…

In fact the voice was like a trumpet, a noise so loud it throws you into a concern and agitated state.
For some of us…
The facts are we need AN INTERRUPTION – before we get so of course, before we ruin ourselves, before we forget our purpose, before we lose ground, before the enemy of our souls devours what's ours, before the little foxes spoil the vine, before we are so deceived and asleep so deeply we can not be awakened, before the end comes with destruction…WE NEED AN INTERRUPTION!

We need a voice that is like a trumpet so loud it causes agitation to our ears and soul. That agitation is conviction (to prove or declare guilty of an offense…) The offense of lower living….1 John 2:15 "do not love the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever

For some though, this voice calling Come Up Here…
It's the door we have been waiting for all along…it's another step in the journey, it's what we crave, and it's where we have been for a while…waiting on the rest of you.

NEXT LEVEL LIVES:

Did you read those statistics on my last blog?   Go ahead and take a minute to do that if you didn't already.....

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Because of these eye-opening stats of average Born-Again Christians who believe in Christ as well as their eternal life probability, the church now finds itself in a...FULCRUM!  Go ahead and look that up.  I did.  What caught me about this word, fulcrum, was that it finally gave me a word that I could attach to what I had been observing and analyzing for quite some time now.  The church is in a fulcrum - a paradigm shifting - a teetering point - a fork in the road...you name it!   It's in danger of losing it's credibility and it's influence because it is full of average Christians coming in and out of church claiming high things but living on a lower level. 

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When I talk about the next level or living higher or for that matter living lower, I'm not referring to "holiness".  Should we be "holy"?  Yes - unashamedly, Yes!  Why?  Because the Word of God declares it!  I am not referring to "holiness" by a man's list or expectation of do's and don'ts because that is religion and regulation.  True holiness is gained through transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives and that is a journey and anyone who has a Next Level Life will experience transformation and the by-product is holiness.   But when I talk about living on a lower level and how that damages the effectiveness of the Church in the world, I am referring to people who are Christians from a choice of confession, attend Church services & events, but never make the connection of relationship, revelation, intimacy and surrender which lifts them out of a lower level to the next level that a new life in Christ can bring.

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What is a lower level specifically?  I can only answer that with the Word of God. 

 Proverbs 16:25 says, "there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death."  Now I have to stop here and say this;  we need to clarify if we truly believe that God has an opinion and a stand on everything and we either believe it and yield to it, or we don't.  This scripture tells us it is possible for we as humans to believe our way is the right way but be totally dead wrong!  Isaiah 55:8 says, "seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near, let the wicked forsake HIS way and the unrighteous man HIS thoughts, Let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon...for My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are My ways your ways...for as the heavens are HIGHER than the earth, so are My ways HIGHER than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."

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It is possible to be a Christian and think that what we think, believe and do is right, but it is absolutely not in line with what God thinks, believes and wants us to do.  It is TOTALLY possible because His ways and thoughts are up HIGH and ours are naturally LOW!  That might be why the Word also says in Romans 12:2, "do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."  In other words, get saved, but then make an effort and an investment in finding out what God thinks and feels about everything and make that your mindset.   

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The thing is, you can't get to the Next Level without humility, brokenness, intimacy and relationship with God Himself.  And the thing on top of that is, you can't stay at the lower level with humility, brokenness, intimacy and relationship with God Himself, because it will change you.  Will He love you at the lower level?  Yes.  He loved you while you were in sin and He will certainly love you at a lower level of living, but you will be cheating yourself and cheating God of the dividends from  His investment of His grace, blood and power for you and you will be cheating the World of the manifestation of what all that does in a Child of God.

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And this is the FULCRUM.  If we as Christians are just church goers and ministry followers, and on -the- edge- of- a- new- thing pioneers and  are thinking, acting and living on a lower level, all the time not concerned that God is somewhere saying, "Hey down there...the world is watching and you are really blowing it," then we are wasting our time doing what we are doing!  So - perhaps we need to take the path that leads to the NEXT LEVEL.  

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"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."  The word "unveiled" means true honesty & transparency...BEING REAL.  Come before His Glory in intimacy, not pretense and be real, honest and transparent.  Let Him show you His ways and thoughts, and if yours aren't in line with that, be real, get over it and change!   It doesn't matter what is the "new thought" or the "new way" to be as a Christian, what matters is what is God's way.  So get off the lower level...and get to the next level.  How do we come before His Glory?  Well, that is another blog!  

NEXT LEVEL LIVES: Never The Bottom!

  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every

 spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...who is rich in mercy, because of His 

great love with which He loved us and raised us up together and made us sit 

together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." 

   Ephesians 1:3; 2:4

By reading that scripture it is obvious that God has set a position of blessing and it is located on a "higher" spiritual level.  In fact, a thorough familiarity with His Word will reveal that higher positioning is an ordination of the people of God and is what our Heavenly Father desires for His Children.   Deuteronomy 28:13 shows us that one of our inherited covenant blessings is that we always "be at the top, and never at the bottom!"  That is Next Level Living!

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God desires us to be in this Next Level because He knows that only there will we become who we are at our best and achieve everything we are capable to achieve.  In the Next Level, we move beyond the norm and see lasting fruitfulness, influence and significance.  And at the Next Level we come to know and experience Him in His fullness.  None of this is possible living below our purposed position.  And make no mistake or have any misconceptions, Next Level Living is purposed!  It takes effort, commitment and passion!

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Just as it takes effort, commitment and passion to live on the Next level, if you make no effort, have no commitment and exude no passion you will live on a "lower level".  Lower Level Living is a life that is average, common, and usual.  And it is entirely possible to be a Christian who is average.  In fact, there are millions of average Christians.   I found it interesting in my research of the stats found with the Barna Group, that the typical Christian is defined by the fact they can answer "yes" to two questions;  "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?"  and "If you died, are you confident you would have eternal life?"  That seems right, normal and sufficient evidence to being a Christian.  So my question is what is the fruit of this typical Christian.  Let me just put it out there.

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42% are involved in adultery

30% advocate a homosexual lifestyle

38% are involved in pornography

60% believe cohabitation outside marriage is acceptable

35% believe getting drunk is acceptable

17% believe non-prescription drug use is acceptable

1/3 believe abortion is socially acceptable

1 in 7 say their spiritual lives & faith are a top priority

1/3 read the Word of God

46% believe that Satan is a NOT a living being

36% believe in NO moral absolutes

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101 million typical Christians

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 What is your initial thought on all of that?  Horrible?  Who Cares?  Can you be a Christian and fall into that line up?  None of those are my point or my concern here in this blog, (in my prayer closet yes)!  But what I want to point out is this;  as a Christian you can live on a Lower Level that is average, conformed, common and possibly corrupt (which I will lay out later on), or on the Next Level that is extra-ordinary, transformed, supernatural and Divine and it is a choice of effort, commitment and passion.  

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This teaching is manifold and I am going to let it set here for the next fews days.  I hope you'll check back and let me unfold it for you!