“After this, I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice that I heard was as it were the voice of a trumpet talking with me; which said, “Come up hither, and I will show you things that must be hereafter.” Revelation 4:1
In life, you are either going up or coming down. There is no standing still. The moment you stop ascending; you begin to descend. God’s continuous invitation to His covenant children is to come up higher! This is an invitation to divine communion, divine companionship, divine fellowship, divine relationship, divine intimacy, and initiation. It is an invitation into the reality and experiences of the supernatural.
Benefits of Ascending Higher With God
- A Place of Visibility:
Jesus said, you are a city set on a hill and the light of the world. Neither of which can be hidden (Matthew 5:14-16). Up there is a place of visibility, fame, and glory. It is a place of shining beauty, excellence, distinction, and stardom. It is the place reserved for champions.
- A Place of Ease:
Sweat and toiling are not permitted there. Life is struggle-free and answers to man effortlessly. That is where things work for a man on their own accord, including the opening of doors (Acts 12:10). There is direct access to divine speed and restoration, while delay and denial of life’s inheritance are not permitted there. Rejection turns to promotion, hatred, and opposition turn to opportunities (e.g. Joseph, David).
- Adverse Laws of Life Are Suspended:
That is why Isaiah said, ‘You will run and never be tired, walk and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:31). This is why Mary was able to conceive without being with a man. Sarah conceived at the age of ninety, and Elijah and Enoch both ascended to heaven without seeing death. Isaac sowed on very hard, dry ground in a time of terrible drought and reaped a bumper harvest the same year.
- A Place of Divine Immunity:
That is why Moses was immune to any infirmity during his 120 years of sojourn on earth (Deuteronomy 34:7). Caleb remained as strong as a 40-year-old at the age of 85 (Joshua 14:12-14). Plagues, afflictions, demonic attacks, or oppressions are not permitted there.
- A Place of Divine Sight, Divine Hearing, and Divine Empowerment:
When Jesus took three of His disciples to the Mount of Transfiguration, they saw Moses and Elijah and heard God’s voice. The other absent disciples did not have this experience (Matthew 17:1-8). Rather, they were battling with a demon-possessed boy because they were powerless to deal with the demon. But when Jesus arrived, he cast out the demon instantly (Matthew 17:14-18). To Descend Downwards is the place of spiritual dryness, powerlessness, and carnality. When Moses stayed with God, he was enveloped in God’s glory, which made it difficult for the Israelites to look upon his face when he came down (Exodus 34:29-35). Elijah was able to call down supernatural fire from heaven upon Mount Carmel, which consumed the stones of the altar and the water on it, along with the sacrifice (1 Kings 18:36-38).
Beware of Satanic Invitations:
Just as God is busy extending His invitation to humanity, Satan is also doing the same. An example is in 2 Kings 1:9, which says, “Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.” God beckons His children to “come up hither,” while Satan is ferociously beckoning “come down.” Satan is against anyone going up. He wants men to come down. He tirelessly works to crush great and colorful destinies into the abyss of meaninglessness and forgetfulness.
- Adam was created for grandeur, glory, and honor, but he accepted Satan’s invitation. Whenever you walk contrary to God’s instruction, no matter how minor the instruction may be, you will slide down the ladder of life.
- Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. He foolishly accepted Satan’s customized invitation to fornication/adultery (Genesis 35:22). Thus, he lost his position of excellence (Genesis 49:3-4), his birthright to Joseph, his priesthood to Levi, and his kingship to Judah (1 Chronicles 5:1-2). Illicit sexual relationships are a terminal disease. These sins humiliate, corrupt, and pervert great and colorful destinies. 1 Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee fornication.”
- Levi got his priesthood authority from Reuben, but his customized invitation card from Satan was anger. Thus, his father cursed him with a generational infirmity that almost wrecked the ministry of Israel’s greatest prophet (Genesis 49:5-7).
- Moses’ acceptance of Satan’s invitation cost him access to the Promised Land (Exodus 2:11-12, 32:19; Numbers 20:11-12). Show me a man of uncontrollable anger, I will show you a man that is coming down.
- Judas’ issue was the love of money (Luke 22:5). As a result, he lost his place in the apostleship.
Do you know what Satan’s invitation card to you is? What is that aspect of your life that everybody is rebuking you for? That part of you that everybody is complaining about. That negative aspect of your life that you justify and self-righteously provide explanations for. Only you can identify it and fight it out. Stop it before it stops you.
Qualifications for Coming Up Hither:
- Redemption: It takes place in the spirit (Revelation 4:2). The mystery of redemption is that it translates a man from the flesh into a spirit, from human to divine (John 3:6, 1:12). “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). God’s sons and daughters are also spirits. Are you really born again or simply a religionist or reformer? “Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin…” (1 John 3:9).
- Sanctification: This means to be set apart and consecrated to a holy God. To be sanctified means that you must be dead to sin (Colossians 3:5-10), dead to self, God-centered (Philippians 2:5-7), and totally renewed in your mind (Romans 12:1-2).
- Clean Hands and a Pure Heart:Pass this test to come higher (Psalms 24:4).
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit: You must have an encounter of being filled with Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues (Luke 4:1; Acts 2:4). Once baptized, you gain access to being led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14,11).
- Let the Word of God Fill You: Colossians 3:16 explains this in detail, and Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night…”
- Fasting and Prayers: The LORD Jesus provided us a rock-solid example of this, particularly when He was led into the wilderness to be tempted (Matthew 4:1-2). Receive the grace to live a holy and pure life for God, shunning every thirst and desire for sin.
Conclusion:
Jesus instructed His disciples to go and make ready the place for the last supper. The instruction was descriptive and clear (Mark 14:15). The place for the last supper is like the place He has gone to prepare for us – large, upper, roomy, furnished, and prepared. There are plenty of vacancies there, eliminating the need for struggles and competitions. Down here it is overcrowded and oversaturated. Up there is the place of expansion and enlargement. I pray that you and I will not miss it in Jesus’ name
Prayers:
- Thank You, Father, for Your grace and mercy that continually beckon us to “come up hither.”
- I pray that the anointing for divine sight, divine hearing, and divine empowerment falls upon me by fire from this day forward, in Jesus’s name.
- Every limiting law of life that my destiny is responding to, be revoked and annulled now by fire, in Jesus’ Name.
- I prophesy that I am sitting with Christ in the heavenly places. Thus, the devil and his cohorts are under my footstool as of today, in Jesus’ Name.
- I command all doors of breakthroughs in life to open to me of their own accord henceforth, in Jesus’ Name.
- From henceforth, the supernatural becomes my normal order of life, in Jesus’ name.
- Every power that is hiding my destiny in the corner and valley places of life or taking evil decisions against me in the spirit world, be roasted now by fire, in Jesus’ Name.
