Open Heavens: Signs of a Closed Heaven and 8 Keys to See It Open
"When you are born again, you are known in heaven. When you encounter the Lord, you are known in hell."
In every believer's life there has to come a season of real encounter with God. Our lives should be marked by visitations of God that permanently transform us. Moments when God's voice comes with such clarity that, in spite of everything happening around you, you have no confusion about which path to take.
In church, people think encounter is about falling down. No. Encounter is about rising up. It is about being changed in the presence of the Lord. It is about light shining on your dark path until every doubt disappears.
The Lord says, "Seek ye my face" (Psalm 27:8). Seek My face, not My hand. Say it with me: "I'm not seeking miracles. I'm seeking God." When heaven becomes real, confusion disappears. Fear disappears. Indecision disappears. The fog lifts.
The One Gate That Must Always Be Open
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17).
Of all the gates in life, there is one gate that must always be open for you: the gate of heaven, the gate of the presence of the Lord. Jesus began His ministry only after the heavens opened. When heaven opened, the presence came. When heaven opened, the voice of the Father became clear. When heaven opened, His ministry started. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power" (Acts 10:38).
I believe every child of God should carry their own personal open heaven. Some say, "The gates of hell are open over my life." But if the gate of heaven opens for you, your life can never remain the same. And when you truly encounter the Lord, hell knows your name. The evil spirit said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" (Acts 19:15). This is your portion.
When the Heavens Are Like Iron
God warned Israel that if they turned away, "I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass" (Leviticus 26:19). For some people the heaven over them is so hard that there seems to be no entry. No rain. No presence. No joy. No breakthrough. Only struggles.
When Elijah declared no rain, it did not rain for three years and six months (James 5:17). For the heavens to open again, he built an altar and poured water on the sacrifice (1 Kings 18:33-35). In a famine, water was a precious sacrifice. Then the fire fell and the rain came (1 Kings 18:38, 45). There is only one way to activate the altar, and that is sacrifice. Many people have no fire in their lives because there is no true sacrifice on their altar.
Signs of a Closed Heaven
No visions, no dreams, no revelation from the word. Your spiritual antenna is disconnected from the heavenly realm.
The enemy prevails over you. Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail (Matthew 16:18). They can fight. They are never supposed to win.
You sow but don't reap. "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven" (John 3:27).
One step forward, two steps back. You start to see a pattern.
Mysterious problems that cannot be explained.
You live in the past. All your stories are about what God did five or ten years ago.
You can't focus in prayer. When heaven opens, prayer becomes a joy.
Your blessings disappear as if stolen.
Repeated failures. Every door closes and every helper runs away.
Debt and bondage. "The borrower is servant to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7).
No testimonies, only stories. No peace, only pieces.
Constant complaints, shame and cycles of sickness.
There are three kinds of lives. In a normal life you climb the stairs, you labor and you see the result. Many people are climbing up an escalator that is going down. The more they try, the more they fail. But some are standing on an escalator that is going up. That is the life I pray you will enter. Always forward. Always upward. Never backward and never downward.
There is a kind of failure that is the Lord's work. When you pray, "Let Your will be done," He breaks you so that He can make you. But endless defeat is a different thing. Say it: "That is not my portion."
Isaac Dug the Wells Again
"Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him" (Genesis 26:12). The Philistines envied him and stopped up the wells his father's servants had dug, filling them with earth (Genesis 26:14-15).
See what the enemy attacked: the supply lines. Your financial problem is not the real problem. Your marital problem is not the real problem. The real problem is when the enemy has blocked your doors of supply.
Isaac did not fight the Philistines. He dug again the wells of his father and called them by the same names (Genesis 26:18). He kept digging until he reached Rehoboth and said, "Now the LORD hath made room for us" (Genesis 26:22). Make your mind: "I will dig again until the heavens open over me."
8 Keys to See the Heavens Open
1. Look up
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD" (Psalm 121:1-2). Stop looking here and there.
2. Labor for revelation
"Wisdom is the principal thing" (Proverbs 4:7). You see breakthrough as an event. No. Breakthrough comes with revelation. Isaac did not prosper just because he sowed in famine. He was in Gerar by revelation, because God told him not to go down to Egypt (Genesis 26:2-6). If God gives you a dream, labor to seek His face for its meaning.
3. Enter a season of focused prayer and fasting
The angel told Daniel that from the first day he set his heart to understand, his words were heard (Daniel 10:12). If your problems are big, your prayer and fasting must be focused.
4. Give thanks
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Complaining people are going nowhere.
5. Do not stop assembling together
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25). Stay connected with the assembly where the Lord has planted you.
6. Give
God promises to "open you the windows of heaven" (Malachi 3:10). One sign of the Lord's deep work in us is a change in how we give.
7. Honor your leaders
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves" (Hebrews 13:17). God is not fond of an independent and rebellious spirit.
8. Decide to obey
"To obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22). You will never lose by obeying God.
Declarations
The gate of heaven is my portion.
Lord, I'm not seeking miracles. I'm seeking Your face.
No more mysterious problems in Jesus' name.
Always forward, always upward. Never backward, never downward.
I will dig again until I find the wells of revival.
My help comes from the Lord.
I will labor for revelation, and I will walk in obedience.
The Mystery of Open and Closed Doors Series
This is Part 4 of a six-part teaching on the doors God opens, the battles at the threshold, and how to walk through. Here is the full series in order:
The Stealer of Joy: Why Closed Doors Are Part of Your Warfare (and How to Walk Through Them)
A Great Door and Many Adversaries: Why the Battle Intensifies at the Door
People Are Gates: How God Opens Doors Through the People He Sends
Open Heavens: Signs of a Closed Heaven and 8 Keys to See It Open (you are here)
Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving: The Kingdom Protocol for His Presence
Saved but Not Free: When the Gates of Darkness Hold a Believer Bound
Previous: People Are Gates | Next: Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving
More Teaching Series
Marriage in the Lord series: Start with Part 1: Marry Only in the Lord
The Decision series: Start with Part 1: Why Decisions Matter
The Lordship series: Start with Part 1: Is Jesus Your Lord or Only Your Savior?
Stay Connected & Grow Deeper
Watch the full message: The Mystery Of Open And Closed Doors (Part 4) on YouTube.
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