For several years I found myself with the grandest of situations where I would sleep in my prayer closet. My sensory system has been broken my whole life, so I must always sleep alone. I set up a twin bed in a small room that was also my prayer closet. I had the windows boarded up to block sounds. It was such a quiet and peaceful place for me to be.
There is just as much purpose in your resting as there is in your labor. “It really is senseless to work so hard from early morning till late at night, toiling to make a living for fear of not having enough. God can provide for his devoted lovers even while they sleep!” (Psalm 127:2 TPT).
In this prayer closet, I also had a small desk where I would read Scripture, write in my journal and pray. It was at this desk I would also write my sermons for when I was preaching in the prisons. I would go to sleep each night and wake up each morning immersed in the things of God.
More can be accomplished in your morning prayers than in all your efforts throughout the day. “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up” (Psalm 5:3 NKJV).
Many nights when I would get home very late from teaching classes at one of the prisons, I would end my day in the Word and then in prayer, thanking Him for all He does for me. Before I would sleep, I would anoint myself with oil, consecrating myself to the Lord before I crossed over into sleep.
To wake up different, go to sleep different. “Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.” (Romans 12:2 TPT).
When I anoint myself with oil, the Lord led me in how I would do so. This is not a pattern for you to follow, but an encouragement for you to ask the Lord to show you the pattern He has for you. I always start with anointing a cross on my forehead. I want heaven and hell to know that I belong to Christ.
For your life, you must fight back and take back what is rightfully His. “The fact is, you don’t belong to yourselves; for you were bought at a price. So use your bodies to glorify God.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 CJB).
Next, I anoint next to my eyes that the Lord would open my spiritual vision. Then next to my ears that I would hear the Lord in all that He might tell me. Then by my nose and on my lips that I would smell the fragrance of Christ and be surrendered to the Holy Spirit that He would then speak through me.
You have to give yourself over to Him before He will pour out through you. “for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matthew 10:20 NKJV).
Then I would anoint behind both sides of my neck that the Spirit of Christ would rest upon me. And finally, I anoint the palms of my hands that the Holy Spirit would help me in everything I do. There is something special and supernatural that happens with the anointing of oil.
If you can explain everything that happens in your life, then you are missing out on the supernatural from God. “Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed” (Acts 8:13 NASB).
Then I would lay down to go to sleep, and when I closed my eyes, I would sense a glow of light all around me. Sometimes I would open my eyes, and I would see something special with the glow. It is in our beds where we can rest such that we can receive the Lord in all His glory.
Nothing is impossible in your dreams, and that is why God will sometimes meet you there. “For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction” (Job 33:14-16 NKJV).
There was one night when the glow was especially bright such that it was as if I had left the lights on. I was in such a wonderful place and was praying thanks as I lay there in bed. Then I felt someone sit down on the edge of my mattress. Nobody had come into the prayer closet through the door, so I knew it was from the Lord.
You will not walk in your anointing until you first sit in His presence. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One [you have been set apart, specially gifted and prepared by the Holy Spirit], and all of you know [the truth because He teaches us, illuminates our minds, and guards us from error]” (1 John 2:20 AMP).
I never opened my eyes, and I do not know if I had, would I have seen who was sitting right there next to me? I don’t know. Was it an angel? I don’t know. But I felt the presence of the Lord. There is no natural thing that can compare. Never doubt that a supernatural God can bring you supernatural experiences.
You can’t be filled with the Spirit of God and continue as you were before. “For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set controlled by the Spirit finds life and peace” (Romans 8:6 TPT).
Child of God, if you want to experience the deeper things of God, you must go deeper in the experiences that you have with Him. Stop thinking you’re not special enough. He sent His Son to die for your salvation; believe me, you are so special to the Father.
God loved you even when you were His enemy, and He still loves you even in your failures. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. …For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8,10 NKJV).
Blessings to you,
Paul Balius