The Heavenly Place/Ginosko

Epouranios – the throne room, the heavenly place where God dwells, heaven, the heavenly temple, sanctuary. We’re blessed with every spiritual blessing in the epouranios in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Jesus was raised from the dead and was seated at the Father’s right hand in the epouranios (Eph. 1:20) (and in Christ, we are also seated where He is – Eph. 2:6). We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the epouranios (Eph. 6:12). In Christ, we are chosen, accepted, made holy, adopted as His children, redeemed, forgiven, given all wisdom and prudence, sealed with the Holy Spirit, and a partaker of the mystery (which is Jesus, the hope of glory, in us). We are no longer a slave to sin, but to righteousness.

            I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the epouranios (Eph. 1:17-20). Jesus, I pray for an outpour of Your Spirit. That our eyes would be enlightened. That we would realize that in Christ, we are seated with You in heavenly places, with all things under our feet. May we claim our inheritance that is in Christ Jesus.

            During the preaching of this message, I kept getting a picture of a hot air balloon in my mind, but did not have a revelation of why this was. The next morning, during my early morning walk with the Lord, I physically saw a hot air balloon floating above the mountains. This made me think of the mental picture from the day before. I then had a revelation! We’re climbing a mountain, wanting to get to the top peak in order to see the higher view. Spiritually, we want to gain divine, heavenly perspective. There’s only so far we can go on foot hiking up a mountain. Once we get to the peak that’s it. But, if we were to get in a hot air balloon, we could go above and beyond what we could do on foot. A hot air balloon needs fire and wind to lift it off the ground. The Holy Spirit is described as fire and as wind. Sure, we can learn a lot through Biblical study. We can gain a higher perspective and perhaps make it to the top of the mountain. But if we are caught up in the Spirit, we can see so much more than we could have imagined possible. There is an endless frontier, there’s always more Jesus to seek and learn from, and we need to be lifted up into the heavenly place to gain understanding and receive divine vision and perspective. Holy Spirit, give us your eyes and a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Lift us up beyond what we can learn and know in our own strength.

            Gnostos – facts, information, data. Oida – understanding, perception, “I see”. Ginosko – knowledge but found in relationship, an intimate understanding. I want to Ginosko Jesus. What’s the point of this training if it’s just learning facts and information about God. I want it to be my reality, my life, I want Jesus to be my best friend. I want to talk to Him more throughout the day than any other person.

            Ian Thomas said, “The Christian life can be explained only in terms of Jesus Christ, and if your life as a Christian can still be explained in terms of you – your personality, willpower, gift, talent money, courage, scholarship, dedication, sacrifice, or your anything – than although you have the Christian life, you are not yet living it! If the way you live your life as a Christian can be explained in terms of you, what have you to offer to that man who lives next door? The way he lives his life can be explained in terms of him, and so far as he is concerned, you happen to be “religious” – but he is not! “Christianity” may be your hobby, but it is not his, and there is nothing about you which leaves him guessing, and nothing commendable of which he does not feel himself equally capable without the inconvenience of becoming a Christian! It has got to become obvious to others that the kind of life you are living is beyond all human explanation! That it is beyond the consequences of man’s capacity to imitate, and however little they may understand this, it is clearly the consequence only of God’s capacity to reproduce Himself in you!”

(content from message of www.ellerslie.com)