In 1988-1989, a sustained move of God came upon the 6th grade class at Dominion Christian School in Kansas City, MO and spread to the rest of the students. Just like the 1920’s visitation upon the Chinese orphans chronicled in H.A. Baker’s book Visions beyond the Veil, the kids in Missouri experienced angelic activity, meeting each other in the heavens, visions, out of body experiences and fresh insights into the love of Jesus and His realms of heaven.

The school happened to be affiliated with a large church called Kansas City Fellowship, a church that not only believed such things could happen but welcomed spiritual experiences. During that time, I went to Kansas City as part of the ministry team accompanying John Wimber, former pastor of the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship. We held a special ministry time at the school for the children and watched as the power of God engulfed many of the children, laying them out on the floor releasing visions of Jesus and heaven.

Later in the evening, a couple of the children came to the house where I was staying and I asked them what they had seen and felt. A three year old girl said, “I saw angels like in a movie. And then I fell asleep.”

“What did they look like?” I asked.

“Like this,” she replied. Holding her little fingers in front of her she wiggled them and spread her arms wide, lifting them upward as if shimmering angel wings took flight before me.

I knelt down to her level as I asked, “And what did you feel?”

She cocked her head as if annoyed by questions she hadn’t the vocabulary to respond to, thought for a moment, and then stretched out her hand until it touched my forehead. “Like this,” she said as the most exquisitely sweet and delicately loving presence of God flowed down through my head and body; making me feel light as a feather that could float to the ground and not feel a thing upon impact. It was the kind of feeling I could imagine Jesus giving to young children to bring them into revelation of how loving and kind He really is to everyone. It was the kind of feeling that all adults would love to experience – pure peace, love and delight.

The deep truths and miracles of the extraordinary realm of the kingdom of heaven are not revealed to the wise and learned but to children (Matthew 11:25) – or, more to the point, to the child hidden within us all; beneath wrinkles and aches, financial responsibilities and relational stressors, who longs for release into another kingdom.

How do we get to experience these extraordinary realms of the kingdom of heaven – the place where we can transcend natural limitations and step into the world of the miraculous, the place where we can see Jesus face to face? According to Matthew 18:2-4, the one who approaches Jesus like a child is the one who will enter into the deep things of God; eyes open to seeing the realms of heaven, spirit ready to receive the deeper truths of who Jesus is and what this life is all about, joyfully delighting in visions and increasing in faith as they see miracles working in everyday life.

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Do you want to know Jesus better and experience a greater revelation not just about who He is but insights into His kingdom and the place where He dwells? Do you want to receive healing in the depths of your soul and throughout your body? Then come like a child. Simply believe.

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Key # 2: Focus on the Presence of Jesus

If we want to access the revelatory realms of God, we must come before Him in childlike faith and expectancy (key #1) and enter into His presence through worship that seeks to focus solely on the presence of Jesus (key #2). And it is His presence that fills us and carries us away into the realms beyond reason – into His heart and His kingdom.

No one who has experienced such intimacy of encounter with the tangible, sensory awareness of the Presence of God can deny that He exists and that He is the God who is love. All other gods pale in comparison to Him. All other shadows flee. When we focus on His presence and worship Him alone, the revelatory realms of God burst open.

For many people, however, the presence of God often seems far away. Others sense Him one day then feel like God is hiding Himself from view the next! How do you catch hold of His seemingly elusive presence?

James Goll talks about this dilemma in Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Experiences,

"I once had a very intense dream that seemed to last all night long. It featured a man who was dressed in a white robe and at first appeared to be an angel, but who I later realized was the Lord. When I first saw Him, He was standing far away and looking at me. Then He turned, ran away a certain distance, and stopped, looking back at me in an enticing way, as if to say, “Come on, catch Me if you can.” I ran after Him, but just before I caught up with Him, He took flight again. After putting some distance between us, He stopped again, looked at me, and motioned with His arm for me to try to catch Him. Once again, I took off after Him and, once again, He ran away just before I caught Him. This scene played out over and over again: He would run; I would run; and He would let me just about catch up to Him before running away again. The entire dream probably lasted no more than five minutes, but when I awoke, I felt as though it had gone on for hours.

The dream had no words—only a continuing cycle of run-stop-pursue. What was this revelatory experience all about? Why did the Lord keep running away, only to stop and egg me on to follow? This dream was a lesson in how the Lord wants us to be in passionate, hot pursuit of Him. He is saying to all of us, “Come after Me; come catch Me; come be where I am.” Then, as He whets our appetite, He moves farther off so as to stir up our desire to pursue Him. He seems to be saying, “You must understand, I have more for you—much more. I’m going on ahead of you to prepare it. Come after Me.”

For me, this particular revelatory experience had a twofold purpose: first, to create in me a greater appetite and a stronger hunger for the Lord himself; and second, to reveal the simple truth of Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (NASV). This dream was a teaching tool to demonstrate how the Lord creates within His people a deep-seated craving and yearning for more of Him. Once aroused, that appetite is never satisfied: the more we get, the more we want. Indeed, arousing a ravenous appetite for God’s Presence is the ultimate purpose of all true prophetic revelatory experiences."

One of the keys to accessing the revelatory realms of heaven is simply to focus on God’s presence and covet Jesus alone. As James wrote so eloquently, once that appetite is aroused, the more we crave His presence and are willing to go after Him.

During the most revelatory seasons of my life, my focus was on worshipping the Lord, not seeking for supernatural experiences. Angelic encounters, prophetic dreams and visions of future events, heavenly transports and actual visions of Jesus were byproducts of the relationship I was developing with Jesus. He was my focus. His presence was my delight. And, as a result of the intimate relationship we were sharing, He delighted to show me the things that He sees. He wanted me to experience the fullness of the kingdom that He dwells in – in heaven and on earth. And He desires that for every member of His body, His Church, the one He calls His “bride”.

Jesus desires that His bride, the Church, know Him intimately. Out of that relationship, will He not reveal all things and give to us more than we can ever imagine? The bridegroom desires to show His beloved the place where He dwells, the home that He is preparing, a taste of the wedding feast to come. Focus on Him and He will reveal more to you than you can ever imagine.

Come to Jesus today and say, “Here I am, Your beloved. I worship and adore You. Come and be with me. Let me know You more intimately, see You more clearly and be with You in the place where you dwell.” Worship until His presence fills you, then catch Him and hold on as His embrace lifts you into the revelations of who He is and His kingdom come.

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Key # 3: Welcome Heaven on Earth

I entered a meeting where dozens of Christians lay on the floor, focusing their attention on Jesus, worshiping Him, moving away from the cares of their days and into His Presence. Many felt themselves rising into new spiritual heights. It was as if Earth lay far below and the gates of Heaven had swung open. After about 30 minutes, the worship came to an end and they sat up, one by one, and came forward to speak about what they had seen and heard and felt. For the most part, their encounters involved hearing the tenderness of Christ speak to them about the concerns of their hearts: concerns about family members, church matters, and desires to serve God in significant ways.

These believers were able to access the revelatory realms of God because they came in childlike faith expecting that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom (key #1). They spent time focusing on Jesus in worship (key #2) and welcomed an encounter with heaven on earth (key #3).

During this meeting, while others ventured into the throne room, I found myself wandering through one of the rooms of the library of Heaven. The Father sat with His eyes cast downward as He focused on the book that lay open before Him. His broad, wooden desk was covered in a scattering of papers strewn between the piles of books. He held a long quill in His hand. Shutting the book he was reading, He deliberately opened the front cover, leaned forward and signed the book, as I stood watching, silently.

As if noticing me for the first time, He looked up, smiled, and said, “I like this book. In fact, I like all of your books,” he added, sweeping His hand towards a pile of books on His desk, then nodding towards the piles of books that were stacked up on the floor. Then, He held the pen out to me as a gift to take back to Earth. As I took the pen in my hand, still standing speechless before Him, a rather tall angel appeared on my left side. The Lord let me know that this angel had arrived to give me sword-fighting lessons, and then He vanished immediately from the room, as the angel took over. My time with the angel seemed like delightful child’s play.

I left the meeting feeling a little miffed at the “quality” of the vision. It was as if I simply spent a little time daydreaming what I already knew to be my destiny as a writer. Big deal. No new revelation there. I didn’t consider it a valid trip to Heaven, a beam-me-up-Jesus encounter where Heaven’s sights and sounds and tastes and smells were more real than the floor that I was lying on at the time.

Much later, I was to repent of that attitude and realize how grieved the Holy Spirit must be when we fail to receive the gifts that God gives us – ignoring the dreams and visions or casting them aside as worth less than what we have heard that others received.

After awhile, I realized that the experience was very profound and served to catapult me out of a state of frustration of being locked into a series of jobs that drained my time and energy and into an intention to pursue writing more seriously.

It was a valid experience, yet it somehow seemed inferior to me--when I compared it to others’ descriptions of their visions. I think our comparisons make God feel nauseated. If we are to access the revelatory realms of heaven, we must remain in a state of childlike faith, welcome what He shows us and receive it as a precious gift.

Many people immaturely debate about whose experience is greater--one who went to Heaven in their imagination or one who was beamed up suddenly and shockingly in the form of an open vision, a vision so real that reality fades away as they are translated in bodily form. In the process, it leaves people feeling like they received an inferior encounter. Some even try to exaggerate their encounter and make it seem more than it was in an attempt to elevate themselves as more “spiritual” or “prophetic.”

In the year following my trip to Heaven’s library, I realized that sanctified imagination moves us into authentic encounter. We need to take care not to grieve the Holy Spirit--to value the insights God gives us with regard to ourselves and His kingdom--and not to compartmentalize spiritual experiences into degrees of superiority. The true imagination intuits the realities of God’s Kingdom and brings heaven into the domain of our earthly lives.

My experience served to bring me into alignment with God’s plan for my life. What remains hidden from my eyes as far as the contents of books, ledgers, and the contents of written materials locked away in hidden vaults that I have seen in subsequent visions, are slowly being opened to me. Immediately after that experience, God’s vision and timing came together. Doors that had previously been shut opened, enabling me to publish what I had been writing.

In fact, the Shifting Shadows series of books and my Glimpses of Jesus series are a direct result of that visit to the library room of Heaven. The fruit of that vision attests to the fact that it was a God-ordained encounter. I call it a back-door prophetic revelation--an encounter that comes through the back door of our defenses and gives us an aha! of personal revelation. It makes us more aware of ourselves, unblocks inner obstacles, and unleashes a desire to fulfill our purpose as well as to understand the nature of God more fully.

Others have experienced visits to Heaven that seem much more profound. But the question of who had the greater experience--one who went to Heaven in his or her imagination, or one who was suddenly beamed upwards and into the council chambers or throne rooms of God--should never be an issue. They are both valid experiences.

However, what makes them profoundly different is not the intensity of the vision of Heaven; it is the calling, the message, the revelation received, and the understanding of what one is called to do with that encounter. It is the difference between receiving back-door prophetic revelation and throne-room prophetic revelation. The responsibility of receiving revelation and knowing what to do with it is a huge weight to carry.

Back-door prophetic revelation is revelation that slips in behind our defenses. God gives us heavenly encounters that speak about the issues of our hearts. My encounter in the library of Heaven and others’ experiences in the throne room during meetings where people spend time in God’s presence seeking Him for revelation are examples of God speaking to each one of us about the callings, gifts, and concerns on our hearts, drawing out of us what He knows we need. This kind of revelation reveals that God is concerned with everything in our lives. He loves us enough to talk to us about the issues on our hearts. It is deeply personal.

Throne-room prophetic revelation speaks more about the issues on God’s heart. God initiates the encounter, senses are heightened beyond imagination, and you know that you are actually out of your body and in another dimension--the realm of Heaven. The insights received here often have to do with God’s heart towards an individual’s calling, as well as the future of the Church and even nations. The one who receives that level of revelation has a tremendous responsibility to not only share the burden of God’s heart, but to discern how to express His heart and His message to the Church and even to the nations. Its purpose is for corporate revelation.

Both personal revelation and corporate revelation are very important to God. Neither is inferior to the other. One is not of lesser importance than the other. Jesus came to die for the individual, not just the world.

If we are to access the revelatory realms of heaven, we must welcome what God gives us and value the relationship He is developing with us. So come in childlike innocence and wonder, enter into His presence and focus solely on Jesus. There in His presence, you will find that He speaks so clearly that heaven descends to you on earth and lifts you into the greater realms of His Glory.

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This article is based on the book Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Experiences
By Julia Loren & James Goll
www.julialoren.net