TRUTHS FROM THE OTHER SIDE: Devotional from "Am I Okay, God?" by Lorilyn Roberts

If I [Jesus] go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

—John 14:3

Science fiction gives me the ability to travel to faraway places—and I like the exotic. In reality, Scotty can’t beam me up, I can’t travel to Mars, and I can’t live under the ocean.

But what if I could walk through walls? What if I could die and come back to life? What if I could read other people’s minds, talk to animals, travel through time, and visit the spiritual world through a hidden door?

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From Seventh Dimension – The Door, a Young Adult Christian Fantasy:

“Will the king always be with me?”

“Always. The seventh dimension is within you.”

—Shale Snyder and Astella, chapter thirty-seven

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The seventh dimension is a place beyond time. It’s within you and amongst the stars, but a heartbeat away and a prayer close by in times of need. God is ever mindful of what we do and where we are. If we feel estranged, we have moved—not God.

The Bible says many unusual things happened on the night of Jesus’ crucifixion, events often overlooked by the casual reader. I mention some of those strange apparitions in The Door to draw attention to the fact that much of what happened at the cross was supernatural. Supernatural means what it says—unnatural to the world we can see and feel and touch. I call it the seventh dimension.

Matthew 27:45 says from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land.

Matthew 27:46 says Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” He didn’t cry out to one of his followers or his family. He cried out to God.

When Jesus gave up his spirit, Matthew 27:51 says the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. Tombs broke open and dead people came out of them. After Jesus’ resurrection, they went into Jerusalem and appeared to many people.

Those that saw this exclaimed, “Surely he was the son of God” (Matthew 27:54).

A violent earthquake shook the ground following Passover. An angel rolled away the stone from the tomb and sat on it. Matthew 28:3-4 says, “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.”

Later that day, Jesus met the women who had followed him and his disciples. Over and over, he told his followers, “Do not be afraid.”

Stop and think. Imagine you had been there. You witness two earthquakes, see something strange in the sky, hear about the tearing of the curtain in the Jewish temple, and are told dead people have come back to life. One of them even appeared to you—your uncle who died five years ago. You hear rumors of an angel appearing before the guards in the garden.

Reports spread about several appearances of Jesus, even though you saw him die on a cross. You witnessed a spear stuck in his side and nails driven into his hands and feet.

In today’s world, with all of our medical technology, how long would it take someone to recover from that kind of injury, if it were even possible?

When have dead people come back to life and greeted hundreds of astonished onlookers? With the Internet, Twitter, Facebook, and around-the-clock television reporters looking for the story of the century, we would know about it immediately.

When has there been an eclipse associated with two earthquakes that occurred simultaneously?

What is the boundary between the spiritual world and the natural world? Spiritual beings can go back and forth—humans can’t. Jesus’ resurrection is proof that a person can come back from the dead. He was the first to be raised.

While his disciples recognized him, he appeared strangely different. They witnessed him travel through walls. He was no longer bound by the limitations of a human body. Something supernatural happened—that had never happened before.

All these things were possible because there’s a seventh dimension—a reality we can’t see or touch or feel—a reality that is outside of time as we know it. God’s reality is bigger than we can perceive because we are mortal.

When sin entered the garden and tainted God’s creation, it took away the immortality of humans. The unique relationship that man had with God in the garden ended. Death began and time took on a different meaning. Man would count the days, grow old, and die.  

When Jesus died,  he conquered sin once and for all. We will still suffer a physical death if the Lord tarries, but God will resurrect us so we can live with him forever in heaven. Those who have not received Jesus’ salvation will also suffer a physical death, but they will be resurrected to spend an eternity in hell.

We only have glimpses into the world of angels and demons—like we can see the introduction to a movie, and catch scenes of what’s to come, but we can’t “see” the movie until the movie hits theaters.

We have visual clues into a world beyond this one—evidence that demands our attention.

Jesus said in Luke 17:21 that the kingdom of God is within us. Because we are made in God’s image, his image is imprinted on us—in our synapses and in every breath we take. We long to be known by our Creator. We are the created: loved and molded in the Creator’s image.

Shale’s adventure into the seventh dimension is what happens to all of us at some level once we begin our quest for truth—a truth that is unlimited. The spirit from beyond teaches us about things we can’t understand naturally. Science has no answers for spiritual truths. They must be perceived spiritually.

When we die, we leave earth and go somewhere. We don’t stay here. No human has ever escaped the inevitable except two men in the Old Testament. In both cases, their being “taken up” without death was to glorify God.

Martyrs throughout history have also glorified God in their deaths—a testimony to everyone who comes after them. We are but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow, but we hold the truth within us. God wants us to share that truth with a world that needs more love—God’s love.

In the last book of the Bible, we are given a detailed account of the seventh dimension. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was imprisoned on the island of Patmos. He was an old man as this vision happened many years after the crucifixion. John was told by an angel to write down everything he saw.

John was given a glimpse into the future. He saw many events yet to take place, mysteries, terrifying images for which he had no words. His writings make up what is known as the Revelation.

… and the living one; and I [Jesus] was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.

—Revelation 1:18

I can’t do justice to understanding Revelation, but I have thought about what certain things mean many times—the receding of the scroll, how John could see so far into the future, why God gave him the vision, and what God wants us to learn. Revelation is the only book in the Bible that offers a blessing to those who read it.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

—Revelation 1:3

Imagine there is a ruler timeline for the whole universe. You’re a tiny, insignificant dot in the year 20__. You can see only a sliver of what’s on that timeline. That’s your reality. But the seventh dimension covers the whole timeline and keeps on going past the edge of the ruler forwards and backwards. A ruler is only two dimensions—but the seventh dimension is, well, who knows how many dimensions? I chose seven because it’s the most sacred number in the Bible.

Let’s take another example. You’re a fish in an aquarium. That is your world, perhaps located in the corner of the living room. When you look through the glass of the aquarium, you see a world that you don’t understand. People outside the tank seem like gods to you. They dump flakes of fish food in your tank—they keep you alive.

Your three‑dimensional world is only as big as the fish tank. Because you don’t understand the outside world doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You see distorted glimpses of it through the aquarium glass.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face-to‑face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

— I Corinthians 13:12

Shale was known by Jesus long before she knew who he was. She sensed there was something she wanted, but she didn’t know what it was. She longed for something she could not name. Have you ever felt that way?

That longing is for Jesus Christ. Jesus was fully human and fully God. He died and was resurrected on the third day. He now assumes his godly position in heaven. The Messianic Jews accept Jesus for who he said he was. They call him their Messiah. The king resides in heaven now, his abode.

In Seventh Dimension – The Door, the birdcage descended from heaven and alighted on the king’s out-spread palm. Then he opened the door of the cage and set the small bird free.

The symbolism is powerful. In the same way, the king set the bird free, Jesus freed Shale. You are that beautiful bird in a cage waiting—to be freed from sin, freed from impediments that blind you and bind you. You’re as free as you give yourself permission to be—free to become all God created you to be.

Don’t place limitations on yourself—your lack of belief, your lack of trust, your lack of faith—your lack in these areas is because of sin. Sin limits your ability to receive love. Jesus came to set you free. That freedom is yours once you commit your life to him.

Your freedom is a gift—Jesus Christ will not force himself on you. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word—a perfect gentleman. You must choose to let him into your heart.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

—John 15:7

You have been given everything you need to live a godly life in the person of Jesus Christ. Take a moment and ponder where you want to spend eternity. Remember, you’re no more than a worm, but Christ was willing to become as lowly as a worm in order to save you.

Out of the seventh dimension greatness visited us in the form of a king. He left his throne and entered the abode of man. He became one of us so we could become one of his.

In our flesh, limited by our ability to see the supernatural, we see God through general creation. But we must open our eyes to see. We must not let depravity steal our joy. We must not let evilness wax our love cold. The choice to heed God’s calling is ours.

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Dear Jesus, I have sinned against you and others. You died for me on the cross, my only way to heaven. Please come into my  heart and help me to follow you. Thank you for your gift of salvation.

http://bit.ly/Old_Testament_Prophecies

THE DEMONIC DEATH KNELL: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts

There should be a funeral for dead marriages. There isn't.

At first the rain fell softly outside my bedroom window. Soon it increased in intensity. What began as a light mist quickly turned into a torrential downpour. The closed blinds could not shut out the lightning bolts that pierced the darkness. Thunder rocked my already frayed nerves that kept me up most of the night. Light finally arrived but the rain continued to pound relentlessly.

I dressed and ran out the door. I didn't know where I was going. Part of me believed I would never return. I wanted to run away from everything—life; Tim, my husband; the future, the past, the present—mostly I wanted to run away from myself. I wandered down the street through the pouring rain soaking through my clothes. I was a bad wife, I convinced myself, and deserved to be punished and sentenced to a life of misery. I walked around a fenced-in retention pond and headed down a pathway into the woods. I was ready to end my life of thirty years—a life that I saw no value in—wasted.

“God, why have you abandoned me,” I cried out. “Where are you?”

Lightning imprinted and disappeared across the angry sky. I felt fearful and fearless, in control of my thoughts, but my emotions spun out of control.

A stream bordering the woods near my house caught my eye. I approached the crest of the hill and was surprised to see it rambling on in the distance; I climbed down the slippery slope as raindrops seeped into my cold, waterlogged clothes.

As the rain fell harder, the sides of the creek turned to mud. I lost my balance and stumbled down the embankment as the cold water oozed into my shoes and socks. I smeared the slimy mess over my arms, legs, face, and into my blonde hair. The smell of the rancid water sickened me. I continued to cry out to a God I wasn't sure I believed in anymore, but if He did exist, I was angry with Him.

“Where are you?” I cried out. “Why don't you save my marriage?”

Over the seven years of marriage, I had kept my faith hidden because Tim couldn’t or wouldn’t relate to that part of me. If anything, he had belittled my search for understanding of the deeper things in the Bible, much like others had bullied me as a child. Anything from the Bible always stirred up controversy. I dragged Tim to church despite his protests because it was too hard to go alone. All Tim’s promises of a wonderful life as a doctor’s wife and supporting me so I could return to school had vanished—the way of  everything else in the marriage.

The religion classes I took at Santa Fe State College had given me an academic understanding of the Bible, but not the kind of heart knowledge that reached down into my soul. With the resignation of the pastor a few weeks earlier at the church we attended occasionally, Tim vowed never to go back. Rejected and feeling unloved, I’d given up.

The limestone from the muddy creek burned my eyes and scratched my skin. How many creepy, crawly things filled the water that now covered by body? I rolled over and stared up at the darkened, gray sky. Is this all there was? Was there nothing more to live for?

As dirty as I felt, it wasn't enough. There had to be something more I could do to become the ugly, dirty, unloved person that I was. I climbed out of the creek and headed back to the house. The rain had let up but not the seething pain that lashed out at me. When I returned to the house, I washed off the dirt in the shower knowing I had not accomplished what I wanted.

Then I remembered the pills in the medicine cabinet. I tried to dismiss the thought but I couldn't. I wanted my torment to end. Rejection consumed me. I longed to be loved, held, and needed. I felt like God had abandoned me. The lies were deafening.

I opened the medicine cabinet and searched for pills—anything I could find. I pulled out several bottles—an assortment of Tylenol, Bayer, and other things accumulated during our marriage. Not concerned with what they were, I opened each bottle and threw the contents on the table.

I sat for a long time staring at the scattered pills that threatened to end my life. They spoke my name, called out to me, and taunted me. I was in a trance. I took them and made a face—my face, with a mouth contorted into an upside‑down smile. Nobody could hurt me anymore. I took pleasure in the fact that the last act in my life was mine, not something somebody did to me.

As I reached for the pills, I was stopped by something far bigger than myself. A voice spoke to my heart out of the recesses of time and space, a word‑thought that was not of this world. It was not an audible voice, but it was as real to me as if it had been.

I saw myself standing in front of Jesus, outside the gates of heaven. He was waiting for me. From his lips came a question I had no answer to.

“Lori, how can you do this thing when I died for you two thousand years ago? How can you throw your precious life away?”

I stopped. The words were said in a gentle, pleading tone, spoken in a language I understood. I was in the presence of Goodness, even as I sensed a spiritual war waging in the unseen world around me. I felt fallen angels battling against the armies of God.

Demonic beings wanted my soul and unseemly forces beckoned, “Take the pills and end your suffering. You belong to us. Nothing in the world of light will ever change you because you are unlovable.”

Evil is relentless, especially when it thinks it can win. The clamor would have been deafening if my earthly ears could have heard it, but the battle belongs to the Lord. He knows His own and I was His. The choice was mine, though, to choose life over death. God's unconditional love lets us choose who we will follow, a love that does not condemn or control. Would I allow love to conquer hate or would deception convince me that despair was the only answer? Could I accept forgiveness as the path to freedom? Did I believe Jesus loved me, would never leave me, and had forgiven me?

I closed my eyes and prayed for deliverance from the darkness.

Jesus stood before me, His eyes seeing through to my soul. Hope would emerge if I could believe in His healing power. The Risen Savior created a sense of calmness where chaos had existed. An overwhelming sense of peace enveloped me. Love pierced the darkness and Hope raised His scarred hands, reminding me of the price it cost Him. The shadows began to lift, grudgingly at first, refusing to accept defeat. A veil of light embraced the dark surroundings and the demons fled. They recoiled because they could no longer see. They were lost—lost in the darkness because the light had blinded them.

I knew at that moment, that I couldn't do this heinous thing. I no longer believed the evil—an evil that tried to hurt me. I had been deceived. The fallen angels knew they had lost their hold on me—at least for the moment. The screams of hate by the demonic powers slowly trailed off as the darkness dispersed, leaving behind a cat-o’-nine-tails reduced to whimpering.

They would go in search of their unsuspecting next victim. For the moment, I was free from their taunts. An overwhelming sense of love caressed my soul. A deafening silence waited on cue for the celebration to begin. God’s angels began to shower me with grace.

The Immortal Being of the universes cast out my despair with His perfect love and covered me with mercy. No longer fettered with chains in a dungeon of defeat, I was free. For the first time, I felt loved.

I was now at one with “The One” who knew my greatest need. He embraced me as I had never been held, loved me as I had never been known—unconditionally. I was given another chance at

life. Poor in spirit, I had seen God.

I quickly cleared the brightly-colored pills off the table and threw them away. Their enchantment had lost its magic. No longer condemned, I was a new creature, a new person, redeemed by the Redeemer. Exhausted but renewed, I had seen a great light. Jesus had won—life over death. A celebration was at hand. If the rocks could have cried out, they would have.

Jesus said in Matthew 15:7, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” 

“God, please show me the way,” I begged. “Please forgive me."

For the last twenty-six years, God has never left my side, but I will never forget the day He delivered me from that demonic death knell. I thank God for reaching down and saving me, the wretch that I was. Little did I know then the great plans He had for my future.

By the grace of God, since that experience, God has restored by life many times over. I finished college and obtained my Master of Arts in Creative Writing. God brought me two beautiful daughters from the ends of the earth that are now fourteen and twenty-one. I was blessed with a job that allowed me to stay home and even homeschool them. I have published four books and lead a network of Christian authors from around the world. 

Most of all, my relationship with Jesus Christ has never wavered. Even though at times I’ve made mistakes and disappointed Him, God has been faithful and provided for all of my needs. I feel blessed for the doubts I once had because God showered me through those dark days with His perfect love and gave me hope. God is sufficient to meet every need, even when I am weak; and for that, I am thankful.

To check out Lorilyn’s latest book, Seventh Dimension – The Door, a YA Christian fantasy, you can purchase it at the following websites:

To buy Seventh Dimension – The Door at Amazon:  http://amzn.to/UBE1Mr

To buy Seventh Dimension – The Door as an audiobook:  http://bit.ly/11YrzMI

To buy Seventh Dimension – The Door at Barnes & Noble (Print):  http://bit.ly/WRkUha

REMEMBER: There is no pit so deep, no hurt so painful, no secret so horrid that God can’t cover it through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. Open up your heart to the infinite possibilities of living a life of love, no longer warped by bullying or scarred by deceitful words. Where there is life, there is hope—and healing!