Imagine Heaven DevotionalSample

Walking in His Presence

We may not understand it now like the prophet David who wrote this psalm, but there’s no greater reward in all of creation than intimacy with God. He is the light, love, and life of the universe and the innermost desire of every heart. No one ever wants to leave His presence. 

Dean Braxton describes being with this magnificent light and love of Christ: 

It was pure joy. Jesus is pure light! His brightness was before me, around me, part of me, and in me. He is brighter than the noonday sun, but we can still look at Him in Heaven. . . . Jesus is more beautiful, wonderful, and glorious than I can explain. I stopped looking at Him with my eyes and saw Him as He is—from my heart. . . . 

I was in Jesus, and Jesus was shining out of me. I would see the brightness. The brightness was around me. I was part of the brightness, and brightness was shining out of me. All of it was life. I just wanted to praise Him forever. . . . 

Everything about Jesus is love. His love for you is so personal it seems as if it is only for you. You come to realize that He has cared for you forever and will continue to care for you forever.

Imagine the most majestic, beautiful, awe-inspiring Being, who possesses such power that one word alone speaks into existence whole universes. Imagine this brilliant, beautiful light of God to whom all beauty, joy, and pleasure owe their existence. 

And now imagine feeling a unique, close intimacy with that person—a closeness that rivals all other relational intimacies, unites all people, and takes away all the mourning, crying, and pain of our past. In the presence of Jesus, you will experience the deepest, most genuine, lavish, unconditional love you could ever imagine—and it will be given to you as if you were the only person ever created. 

Dear Jesus, thank you for your love for me. I long to experience a greater intimacy with you. Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit dwelling within me, and help me walk in the light of your presence every day. Amen.

Taken from Sid Roth and Lonnie Lane, Heaven Is Beyond Your Wildest Expectations: Ten True Stories of Experiencing Heaven (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2012), Kindle ed., loc. 2–4.