By Debora Galloway
March 2, 2021
For the past year God has been teaching me something crucial that I believe is for all of us. I’ve been calling it “Going Up”. Early in 2020, I started having visions of going up stairs to a doorway in Heaven. I kept pondering Rev 3:8…
“See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it…”
In the past, at times during prayer or worship, I was having a recurring vision of sitting on a stool in heaven next to Jesus. I knew it had something to do with Ephesians 2:6, we have been…“raised up together, and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Over the past year when I would have this recurring vision, it was a bit different, the stool was often empty with dust on it. I knew God was saying He wanted me to “Go Up” to that place more often. My chair in heaven was collecting dust! The problem was I didn’t really know how to go up or what to do there. I was having my quiet time every day reading the word, worshipping, praying, receiving revelation, so what was the meaning of this empty, dusty chair? It was definitely an invitation, but to what?
Is your chair in heaven collecting dust?
Then in January of this year, I attended a meeting at our local house of prayer, that changed everything for me about “going up”. A visiting guest speaker led us into an encounter in heaven, where she asked us to close our eyes and imagine ourselves in the throne room of heaven as she read Revelation 4 & 5. It starts out like this..
“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice… saying ‘Come up here, and I will show you things that must take place after this.’“ Rev 4:1
I think imagining Jesus specifically in The Throne Room of Heaven was a key to my breakthrough. In the past, I was seeing Jesus a lot in visions and in some encounters, but I was not specifically aware that He and I were both together IN HEAVEN. When I did become aware it seemed to change everything for me! It was so real and personal! Our spirit can actually be with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph 2:6) , while our bodies are on the earth.
Encounter Jesus in Heaven
That night at the prayer house, I started having a vision of Jesus in the throne room with eyes of fire and then eyes of refreshing living water. The leader told us to allow Jesus to take us into another room in heaven to show us whatever He wanted to reveal. Jesus led me into three other rooms that night: one where He confirmed some things about my identity, another where He was confirming a new area of my life that I was just starting in, and lastly one that gave insight into my future. I’m still unpacking everything I saw in those rooms!
The next morning, while praying in my quiet time at home, I imagined myself in the throne room again, looking at Jesus with his eyes of fire. He said He wanted to show me another room, and in my mind’s eye, He extended His hand for me to follow. Since then, Jesus has taken me to three additional rooms in Heaven, each with extremely personal meaning about what God is doing in my life. For me, these experiences have promoted real and tangible peace, joy, refreshing, healing, confirmation, greater faith and more intimacy with both Jesus and Father God. That’s a lot of really awesome fruit!
Live from Heaven Continuously
One morning shortly after I experienced all this, I was having my daily quiet time and the Lord told me to pull out a devotional that I had not cracked in months and go to the next chapter that I hadn’t read yet. (I like to be led by His Spirit, so it varies what I end up focusing on each day) This particular morning the devotional was about being present with God throughout the day. The author was encouraging the readers to write a detailed plan of how we can be present with God multiple times a day. Remembering the dust on my stool in heaven, I knew exactly what God was getting at. He didn’t just want me to “go up” during my quiet time, he wanted me to “go up” several times a day and learn to live from that place of being seated with Christ in heavenly places. He wants us to learn to live from Heaven in intimate relationship with Jesus and Father God to guide our emotions and thoughts and to see down from heaven (God’s view) to have His perspective throughout the day and respond accordingly. So, this is the new journey that I’ve been on, living from heaven as much as possible!
For those of you who don’t have a lot of visions or encounters, and this whole “going to heaven thing” seems a little out there for you, let me give you some food for thought. In my last post, I mentioned a flowing river. It’s continuously flows in and out, unlike a lake or pond, rivers keep flowing. God wants us to be in constant connection with Him all the time, for the flow of His Spirit to be moving at all times in and through us. For me the primary reason to “Go Up” multiple times a day is to keep that flow of His Spirit continuous, strengthening my intimacy and relationship with Him, keeping His perspective throughout the day, and praying from His perspective not mine.
I’ve been reading a book about Intercession that belonged to my mother who is now in heaven. She left a bookmark with the below scripture inside the book:
“So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corin 4:18
The bookmark had some other things on it and was labeled Day Six. When I realized I wanted to include this scripture in this post, I remembered that is my sixth post! I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The other contents on this card say, “This world is not my home”, and “How should the fact that this life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?” I googled all this and found out it’s part of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life Curriculum. But why did my mom have Day Six of Purpose Driven Life in her intercession book?
If our entire life on earth is a short blip compared to eternity in heaven, and if God tells us in His word that He wants us to focus on what is unseen and eternal while on the earth, add to that Jesus keeps inviting me to heaven, what does all this mean to us in the here and now? I believe God wants ALL of us to learn more about the realities of heaven, encounter Jesus there in personal ways, so we can bring that into our daily lives here on earth. Jesus himself said to pray the following…
“your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matt 6:10
Fulfilling this would be a litter easier and more effective if we actually knew what it’s like in heaven! We know from scripture a few things about heaven…Father God, Jesus and the angels are there; there is no sickness, oppression, injustice, demons, nor darkness; there is light; there is Father God’s mansion which has many rooms where Jesus is preparing a place for us, and much more! So, going up and encountering Jesus IN HEAVEN is one way to “fix our eyes” on what is eternal, to keep our emotions, thoughts and prayers coming from heaven’s perspective instead of reacting to our circumstances. Going up multiple times a day is one way to keep the river of His Spirit flowing through us continuously to keep us in heaven’s perspective continuously. After all, we are told to in 1 Thess 5:16 to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing”.
In regard to going up for answers and breakthrough for problems or warfare, in Feb 2020 while receiving some ministry, the minister suggested to me that I stop trying to fight the enemy like He’s right in front of me, but instead “Go Up” to heaven where there is no sickness and no oppression. From there we can ask Jesus or Father God what to do and simply follow their lead. In John 5:19, Jesus said “The Son of Man can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do.” Instead of immediately engaging the enemy when he starts snooping around or throwing punches, we should first “Go Up” and see/ask what Jesus is doing and/or what He would like for us to do. We need look down on our circumstances from God’s perspective and then do only what He tells us to do. This was the first time I heard the words “Go Up”. I believe God had been trying to show me this with the visions of the stairs to a door and the stool in the heavenlies next to Jesus, but I didn’t have language for it until that moment. To be honest in the beginning it was little hit or miss for me until I had that January encounter in The Throne Room of Heaven that changed everything for me about “going up”!
The following examples both came to me days after writing my last post and feel like clear confirmation that God is focused on this topic right now. I received an email blast from a Christian Leader who explained that when diving, to get an octopus to let go of you, fighting it is useless as it will use its suction cups to hold on tighter and resist. However, if you simply “go up” a few feet it will dart back down to the lower waters it prefers. Great example! He even cited Rev 4:1 which I was visualizing when I had my Throne Room Encounter! Later THAT VERY SAME DAY a friend told me of a TV program that she and her husband watched the night before depicting eagles getting rid of attacking ravens. Eagles can fly higher altitudes than ravens, so they simply fly higher to get away from them. Another great example! Stop trying to fight things at face value, instead “Go Up” all the way to heaven where Jesus and Father God are and enlist the wisdom and authority of God! Get up above the problem, look down from Jesus’ perspective and get His instructions. This can be extremely helpful to keep us in peace and rest in the midst of warfare and troubles since heaven is full of peace and joy!
In closing, I want to emphasize that the primary reason we “go up” is intimacy with God, deepening our relationship with Him, receiving from Him what we need, and helping us to see from His perspective which for me has resulted in peace, joy, healing, revelation, confirmation, etc. I think the possibilities are likely endless! I’m guessing this is a journey I’m going to be on with God for some time, maybe the rest of my life!
In the beginning, if going up is new for you, like my experience, you might have more fruit when someone is leading you in an encounter with Jesus. If you want to try it on your own, here are a few helpful pointers:
Tips for your Trips to Heaven
- Put on some soft worship music in your home. Settle into a quiet spot. Turn off all distractions (phone, TV, social media, etc.) Don’t be in a rush. Do this when you have some time and don’t have to look at your watch.
- Close your eyes and imagine Jesus standing before you, maybe in the throne room next to God’s throne. Look at His beautiful face. Worship Him and just keep looking at Him in your mind’s eye.
- Once you see Him, ask Jesus what He would like to show you and continue to look at Him until you see or hear something else. Be patient with the process and just keep worshipping, looking, listening until you see, hear or something else is impressed upon you.
- Once you see or hear something additional, just keep looking, listening and/or worshipping until you see or hear more. If you’re not sure of the meaning of what you are receiving, simply ask God clarifying questions.
- If you see or hear something that you know isn’t God, renounce it and command it to leave in Jesus Name. Don’t let it get you off track. Return your focus to looking at Jesus.
- When you’re all done, make sure to write down all that happened right away. We can so easily forget and loose what God showed us.
- You can always go back to Jesus another time and see if He wants to show you more!
I look forward to your testimonies of going up and spending time with Jesus! Feel free to contact me if you want to share, ask questions or you can post in the comments section of this blog post. Enjoy your intimate times with Jesus! Go up! The door in heaven is open.