Do you believe in the goodness of God during trials and circumstances? That’s the question in every test and trial you go through. If you can maintain ascension in the middle of your crisis, you will maintain the attitude God wants you to have while going through the temporary trials and circumstances of earth.
That’s what I mean by entering a portal of prosperity and peace. It is a place where we know His goodness resides and we operate in that faith daily. We must know that He is bringing us to a place of greater good during the trial. If we can train ourselves every day — no matter that place of fear, bondage, insecurity, or weakness — to maintain a mental understanding of, “God is causing all those things for my good,” then we would have joy amid our trials. The writer of the book of James tells us to “count it all joy” when trials and temptations come our way.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:2-8, KJV).
Yes, a double-minded person is unstable and Eve was our evidence of that. As soon as the serpent told her something untrue, she agreed with that lie. She became double-minded and could not stand. If we don’t believe in the goodness of God, we will become unstable. The goodness of God is a staple in the eternal realm of prosperity. The prosperity realm builds off of knowing God is good all the time. Therefore, the writer of the book of James could say, “count it all joy,” amid what was going on. I’m not saying it’s easy to do; it’s a challenge but it’s what the Word says, right?
The writer of James is saying, “I know it looks bad but as kingdom citizens, you have authority to count it joy.” We have kingdom authority to stand in the realm of a prosperous soul and have joy amid of temptations and trials. This kind of authority will open the portal of prosperity so you can enter that realm and the devil will flee. To count it all joy, to laugh amid your trial is a strategy of war.
When we talk about the ascension, we must realize the disciples thought they had lost their Lord and Savior. They had heard the stories. Jesus had walked in and said, “Listen, this is what will happen to me. I will die, and then in three days, I will resurrect” (Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22). He told them all these things but they didn’t realize how weak their faith was until everything happened.
God is telling you things about who He is and about what’s going on around you. You may not be in a place yet where you can receive it but He’s talking to you; He’s sharing with you. He speaks in His Word, the Bible, when you pick it up and seek His heart. The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a story about who He is and how He causes all things for good.
Our Father Now
“Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'” (John 20:17, NIV).
Jesus explicitly says that God is not only His God but our God. He’s not only Jesus’s Father; He’s our Father. Jesus is explaining this to Mary because He wants her to tell the disciples that His resurrection caused a completion and a finishing point.
Now the scenario has changed. Since the resurrection has occurred, we have a new relationship with Father God. We can have a personal relationship with Jesus’s Father, who is also now our Father, because Jesus finished His task to go the cross and reconcile us to the Father. Think about that for a minute. Jesus had to die, go to Hades and get the keys of death, and resurrect so that we might have a relationship with the Father.
Most Christians don’t hold their relationship with God in the place that they should. And I think today, many are way too casual about our relationship with God. For us to have life in Christ and a relationship with the Father, there was a cost. Jesus paid with His life. The dominion of sin, death, and the grave was broken, and we were made whole through what Jesus did. So now we, as unbroken people, can have a new life, the foundation of which is our relationship with God. That is powerful. We were pulled from death to eternal life through the heavenly portal activated by faith in Jesus Christ. We now receive all the benefits of this new foundation, including God’s power inside us, in that Jesus told the disciples that He would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, when He ascended and would go to the Father on our behalf.
Portal of Power
The resurrection defeats death and its power, but the ascension is the portal for eternal life-giving power to come to us. Jesus says,
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:16-18, KJV).
This excited Jesus. I want you to know that. He overcame the dominion of death, sin, and the grave. This foundational first step meant that those who were saved would also be with Him in the heavenly kingdom. However, I believe Jesus was even more excited that He would ascend because He would then send us the Holy Spirit, who would be our Comforter and friend, God living in us. I believe that was a greater joy for Jesus.
There were clear steps to this victory: His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and sending us Holy Spirit. These steps to salvation were decided before the foundation of the world, as Jesus agreed to have this task, and the Holy Spirit had to wait a lot of years before He could come and be with us. Jesus knew we would all have fellowship with the Father through the Holy Spirit because of what He, the Son, had done.
Take an inventory of how much you honor the Holy Spirit in your life. Do you honor God living inside your body as His temple? This is why it’s so important to keep your body holy, pure, and righteous. It’s not so we can go and brag about how great we are or how we do everything right and others do everything wrong. By the way, it’s self-righteousness when we do that. When our eyes are open spiritually, and we see that the relationship with Him is more important than anything. We realize the fullness of Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension. When we honor Jesus for giving us a relationship with the Father, we are grabbing hold of the gift of the Holy Spirit, who never leaves nor forsakes us. We are stepping into knowing that God is our Father. He is not only Jesus’ Father but also our Father, and we are adopted.
Our position has changed because the dominion of death is broken but the good news does not stop there. We are now moved to the dominion of life and the prosperity realm. We are now back in the Garden of Eden on the earth. We now live in the eternal portal of prosperity, which means we are grounded in God’s love and goodness. Being seated with Christ in heavenly places means that we live beyond the initial step of recognizing that sin, death and the grave has been defeated. {eoa}
The preceding is excerpted from chapter 3 of Candice Smithyman’s book, Heavenly Portals (Charisma House, 2022). For more information or to order the book, please visit mycharismashop.com.
Candice Smithyman is an apostolic and prophetic revivalist and healing minister in Orange Park, Florida, and the founder of Dream Mentors International. She is the host of the Glory Road television broadcast, which showcases international prophetic voices and can be seen on the FaithNOW app, King TV and other outlets. She is also the host of Your Path to Destiny on the It’s Supernatural! Network, the On the Glory Road podcast with Destiny Image Podcast Network and the Manifest His Presence podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. Smithyman has been a guest on such TV shows as Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural!, Today With Marilyn and Sarah, Paula Today and The Jim Bakker Show and has authored multiple books on soul transformation, healing and heavenly encounters.
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