A few days ago while I was praying, the Lord showed me something that still has me thinking and rejoicing. I felt desperate for Heaven—wanted to see Jesus—you know, that passion that rises up in His beloveds sometimes because we have the “gift” from the Holy Spirit that causes us to desire Him so much.
This desire for Heaven is not because I am ready to die because I am old, even though I’ve lived for 61 years. Most of the time I feel more like about 25 or so on the inside. My 81 year old mother says she feels the same way. Our souls simply do not age, do they? They are young. I suppose it is because God didn’t design us to die when He created humankind to start with. Since we live in a state of fallenness—and have since the days of Eden, our bodies eventually die but our true selves (our mind, heart, soul, and spirit) are eternal—made in God’s image. My desire was for Jesus. In this life, we must die to attain that reward.
I prayed: Let me put on the heavenly body… let me be like You and be with You!
Of course, it would be great if He’d come here—I’d rather not have to die. I asked Him why it must be like this…Why can’t I see You when it is all I really want? Why does it have to be this way—that we can’t see You until we get to Heaven?
I told the Lord that I long to know Him like I would know anyone whom I love this much … to intimately know Him … His mannerisms … to recognize the crack in His voice when He speaks… the tone of His voice … the sound of it. What does His laugh sound like? To know how His eyes narrow or light up in certain situations … to be able to recognize Him from the back from a distance just by the way He walks. I know these are human desires for a “human” Jesus. Just the same, I want to know Him like that. I want to really know Him in the now—in reality. I realize if I want to see him as He is now—in His glory—I’d need to leave this planet and this body.
Here’s what thoughts came to me from the Lord: One day you will have all you wish for and much more than you can imagine. For now, I will tell you something. I am most pleased when I am loved and desired by faith—sight unseen. When I experience your love by such faith, my heart swells full. These days you live by faith, they will pass by fast. These days are short and will seem like nothing to you one day. For now, I am pleased, so pleased by your faith. It really affects me—you can’t imagine how much.
In this listening prayer experience, I felt His feelings too—which was powerful; undescribable really. I know this much: Faith and Christianity wasn’t meant to be a belief system, or an organization with moral codes and traditions to keep, which is what some people think and experience. It’s not what the Lord wants.
I rather think He set out for one thing: to sweep us off of our feet. Faith was meant to be a love affair. I wonder what Heaven will be like—well, it will be Heaven because we’ll be with Him. Really, I can hardly wait.
By the way, I sent HIS KINGDOM COME to the publisher WestBow Press. I’ll let you know when it’s available—possibly in a few weeks. I’ve posted the first 11 chapters (out of 52 chapters) on my web site. Feel free to pass it along to others — it can be downloaded and attached to email because the excerpt is in a pdf file. Send me an email (link is on my web site https://margaretmontreuil.com )if you have any difficulty.
It will help the cause of spreading this bit of Kingdom News in telling others about the new novel. Enjoy!