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Heaven Is The Presence Of God
- Apr 18
- 8 min read
Luke 17:20-21 Living Bible
20 One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God begin?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God isn’t ushered in with visible signs.
21 You won’t be able to say, ‘It has begun here in this place or there in that part of the country.’ For the Kingdom of God is within you.”
Romans 14:17 Authorized (King James) Version
17 for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
When I first got saved, my desire was to escape hell. Later, it became a longing to enter heaven. Yet I came to see that both motives were centered on myself. In time, God showed me that heaven is not merely a destination, but the joy of being with Him—indeed, heaven is the presence of God.
Today, by the Holy Spirit, my former self has been put to death and I am being sanctified, so that I may love Him more than life itself. Now my longing for heaven is no longer driven by fear of judgment or the pursuit of a better place, but by a sincere desire to be with the Lord.
To be with God is heaven. In His presence there is fullness of joy and eternal pleasures (Psalm 16:11). His kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). The presence of God is heaven.
Today, therefore, those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit live even now in heaven—not as a mere idea, but as the reality of His righteousness, peace, joy, and eternal pleasures within. The kingdom of God is present among His people in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). Yet we also confess that its fullness is still to come in the presence of the Father and the Son in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21), when we will be with the Lord without hindrance. Until that day, the Spirit within us is God’s sure pledge of what we will one day experience completely: unbroken fellowship with Him, and the fullness of joy in His presence.
Psalm 42:1-3 Modern English Version
Psalm 42
For the Music Director. A Contemplative Maskil of the sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they always say to me, “Where is your God?”
"Breathe" (Hillsong Worship - 2021)
Isaiah 41:17-18 Modern English Version {Paraphrased}
17 {And the Lord says} When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongues fail for thirst,
I, the Lord, will hear them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
"Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome in This Place" (Benny Hinn Healing Worship - 2008)
Isaiah 55:1-3 Modern English Version {Paraphrased}
The Invitation to the Waters
1 {And the Lord says} Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.
3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Listen, so that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Revelation 22:12-17 Modern English Version {Paraphrased}
12 {And Jesus says} “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me to give to each one according to his work.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of {eternal} life, and may enter through the gates into the city {New Jerusalem}.
15 Outside {the New Jerusalem} are dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices a lie.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let him who hears say, “Come.” Let him who is thirsty come. Let him who desires take the water of {eternal} life freely.
"For Those Tears I Died" (The Isaacs - 2018)
2 Corinthians 5:16-20 Modern English Version
16 So from now on we do not regard anyone according to the flesh. Yes, though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we do not regard Him as such from now on.
17 Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new.
18 All this is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.
20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you in Christ’s stead: Be reconciled to God.
"The Old Man Is Dead" (Pastor Del Way - 2004)
2 Corinthians 7:10-11 Modern English Version
Godly Sorrow - Crying in the Presence of God
10 Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
11 For observe this very thing, which you sorrowed in a godly way: What carefulness it produced in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what intense desire, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In all things you have proven yourselves to be clear in this matter.
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Romans 10:9-10 Modern English Version
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved,
10 for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Acts 2:38-39 Modern English Version {Paraphrased}
38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise {of the Spirit} is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Luke 11:9-13 Modern English Version
9 {And Jesus said} "And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 “If a son asks for bread from any of you who is a father, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will you give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will you offer him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
John 3:1-21 Modern English Version {Paraphrased}
Jesus and Nicodemus
Born Again by the Holy Spirit Through Faith in Jesus
Born Again by the Holy Spirit
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 He came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Through Faith in Jesus
9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can this be?”
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, but you do not know these things?
11 Truly, truly I say to you, We speak of what We know and bear witness of what We have seen, but you do not receive Our testimony.
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 No one has ascended to heaven except He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but {to save the world through Him}.
18 He who believes in Him is not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 This is the verdict, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that it may be revealed that his deeds have been done in God."
Prophetic Prayer to Receive the Holy Spirit and Get Born Again
World without end. Amen.
DP
4/18/2026
