By Paul Metcalf
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." Genesis 28:16
My wife, Rachel, and I were half way around the world in the city of Surabaya, Indonesia when a routine miracle became the catalyst that would forever change my life. This was my fourth trip to Indonesia and had previously made two trips to India. Throughout each trip, I saw first hand the power of God released resulting in thousands of people becoming born again, the demon possessed delivered, many healings including blindness, deafness, and muteness. Even on the trip to Surabaya in 2008, I prayed for a pregnant woman whose baby had been declared dead in the womb. After praying, the baby began to move around. Yet with what happened on this particular day, life as I had known it, would never be the same. As Rachel and I were praying for those who were sick, an elderly man came forward for prayer. When he approached us, it was obvious that this man was blind in one of his eyes and there was a milky looking substance that covered it. We were no strangers to praying for these types of sickness. So we prayed the first time and nothing happened. We decided to pray again and his condition was no better. I, however, felt an urgency to pray one last time and, when I moved my hand, his eye that was milky was now perfectly clear. I told the interpreter to have him cover the eye that was good and follow me. Without any hesitation he started following me with no problem whatsoever. He went on his way home and I knew his life was never going to be the same again.
We finally arrived home early on a Friday morning and my Dad had come to the airport to pick us up. I remember as we were getting close to our home, the Holy Spirit began speaking to me about the man who had been healed. He told me that his life became a living testimony of the power of God. In other words, his life became evidence that pointed to a greater reality. For the next few days, I constantly thought over that event. I didn’t realize it at the time but that one healing became an invitation to enter into a place I knew very little about: that place is the Kingdom of God.
I was reading the book of Genesis Chapter 28 about Jacob becoming sleepy and laying his head upon a rock and falling asleep. As Jacob slept he had a dream of a ladder going into the heavens and the angels of God begin to ascend and descend upon it. Jacob is awakened from his dream and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I didn’t know it”. Immediately when I read those words the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “Paul you are disconnected from My Kingdom.” I had no clue what that meant, but I was determined to find out. Since that time, which began in April of 2009, I have been on an amazing journey of discovering the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God in its simplest term means the King’s domain. It is the rule and reign of God. When Jesus was asked by His disciples how to pray He taught them to pray “Our Father who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:9-10)
There are two things I want to point out. The first is our Father. The Kingdom of God is all about relationship and, more importantly, relating to God not as the distant other or the unseen presence but as He truly is: our Father. Secondly, He said on earth as in Heaven. The desire of God is that Heaven would invade earth.
When Jacob awoke from his dream, He said, “this in none other than the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven and he named the place Bethel.” Bethel means “house of God”.
Today you and I are the house of God according to 1 Corinthians 3:16. Notice though that not only was Bethel the house of God it, is also the gate of Heaven. So as believers we are not only the temple of the Holy Spirit, our life is also the gateway that releases Heaven upon the earth, which is exactly what Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “On earth as in Heaven.” You carry the kingdom wherever you go and because you carry the kingdom wherever you go, people can have a life- changing encounter with the power of God. Since the time this all started, we have seen several people healed of broken bones and other sickness in places such as Walmart, Outback Steak House, Best Buy and many other locations. About a month into discovering the Kingdom, the Holy Spirit spoke something to me that I want to leave with you. He said to me “You are not waiting on the kingdom; the kingdom is waiting on you.”
Paul Metcalf
Grace and Mercy Ministries
www.paulmetcalf.net
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