"The Open Heavens Above Us" by Garris Elkins

In some circles of the Church-world people talk about open heavens. These open heavens are where God is visiting earth in a visible way and the things of heaven are falling in their midst, like healing, deliverance and supernatural encounters. I like to hear stories of heaven invading earth. Testimonies of God's supernatural work in our lives are powerful and release faith.

Lately, I have come to feel that we don't need to pray for the heavens to open up because, at the resurrection of Jesus 2,000 years ago, He literally pierced the heavens above us as He ascended. Those heavens are still open today. One reason why Jesus rose from the dead was to give us access to the heavenly realm.

If I believe the heavens are open over my life, I will step out in faith in response to that open heaven and actually pray for someone to be healed or for my neighbor down the street to know God. Where people believe God has made everything available for them now, those same people will take the risk of faith and begin praying bold prayers, because there is no ceiling of hindrance above them that needs to open.

If heaven is really open above the Church, and if we really believe this, then something will have changed in our thinking and we will no longer pray for something that has already been done. It's like praying for our daily needs - Jesus said to not pray for our daily needs.  Our needs have already been met. Maybe a similar understanding applies to how we see the heavens over our heads. God wants us to see the heavens as open and to stop praying for what has already been done.

The heavens are truly open above us. God is looking for people to walk under those heavens in faith, downloading His healing word through the open access we have with eternity.