I know now that there is a dimension surrounding us called the heavenly realms. Most people are not aware of this dimension. Certainly non-Christians are not. Sadly, because we are so immersed in our secular and materialistic society, Christians to whom this dimension should be home are only dimly aware of it, if at all. The heavenly realms, to believer and nonbeliever, seem like a distant echo reserved for people who have died.
This needs to change. Christians have blessings in the heavenly realms and have access to them now.
This movement into the heavenly dimensions of life and the blessing that Jesus Christ brings is a two-staged process. The first stage is spiritual regeneration. We need to have our old self-centered hearts of stone replaced with hearts that are centered on God. This regeneration may take place in a dramatic conversion or it may take place quietly during a Sunday-school teacher’s lesson. However it happens, it is a gift of God that we do nothing to deserve and can’t achieve through our own efforts.
The next stage in the process, however, is different. It is the development of a Christian mind. The apostle Paul writes, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” Romans 12:2.
It is with the new mind that we begin to distinguish the sights and sounds of the heavens and that we begin to discern with our hearts. As we learn to think Christianly, we are able to articulate the individual notes of creation that sing God’s glory, whereas before, the notes were all compressed together. Our minds are like prisms that distinguish the colors of God’s glory that previously seemed a brilliant white light.
How we get this Christian mind is no mystery. Nor is it a mystical experience. It comes through the process of education. Just as it takes years of education for an engineer to think like an engineer or a doctor to think like a doctor, so it takes years to learn to think like a Christian. It requires all the effort that we can muster and then some. And even then, the transformation comes slowly, over a period of time.
…from Spiritual Encounters
Intentional Faith 