If you are a believer in Christ, then you are risen with Him and seated in the heavenly places in Him. As those who are in union with the risen and ascended life of the Lord Jesus Christ are perspective about all things should be different than those who see things through natural eyes. Jesus was the prototype of the New Creation and the New Self, and He, therefore, modeled for us the risen and ascended life while still living in His physical body here on earth. John 3:13
Even though Jesus didn’t physically ascend to the right hand of the Father until 40 days after His resurrection, He lived his life on earth as one who had already ascended spiritually. His body was on the earth, but in a sense, he was already seated in the heavenly places and lived on the earth from that point of view; heavens perspective. When Jesus proclaimed that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He was declaring that the reality of the reign of heaven was pressing up against the reality of the dimension that is earthly. The phrase “at hand” literally means “to press or squeeze,” and Jesus saw every situation and circumstance from the perspective that heavens truth and reality was squeezing up against what was happening in the natural. I’ve quoted these few verses that I’m about to quote many times over the last few years, but I find in them remarkable insight into how Jesus saw things through the lens of faith, and therefore how we in union with Him are supposed to see things. To live by faith, or the faith of Jesus is the simply see things from and ascended heavenly perspective. Here are the verses from John 3:31 – 32 that I was referring to, “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He bears witness…” Let’s make this very practical. There are no offended hearts in heaven. There is no resentment, bitterness, unkindness, lust, greed, pride, fear, hatred, insecurity, or jealousy, etc. He who comes from above is above all things, and because you are in Christ seated in the heavenly places, then you are above the pettiness of all those things. You have been resurrected, and in Christ, you are seated above the reign of sin. Our truth and our true identity are that we in Christ get to see all things only as true from heavens point if you and all those sinful dispositions and attitudes and actions that I listed are beneath you and who you are in Christ. The next time you get tempted to give in to fear and resentment because you feel you’ve been rejected, remember that that person who walks around with those attitudes is buried and that you are a new person in Christ above all that nonsense. Say no to who you once were, and in surrender to your new life in Christ, say yes to the heavenly person that you truly are. We, in Christ, are now part of His big story of redemption. Don’t give in to the deception and the lies of the small story of the fallen false self that was crucified 2000 years ago in Christ. Think big! Live big as those who are seated now, enthroned with Jesus in heaven, though your body is still on earth. Actually, it is now His body, and he wants to tell his heavenly story of redemption and new creation through you.