Capture Heaven’s Attention: 8 Ways to Attract God’s Presence & Release the Miraculous

Core values are the inner structure around which we build our lives.

These values of truth have the power to transform our lives—not only ours but also the lives around us. Core values are not just principles to agree with but are values that help direct our lives. They are Kingdom virtues that help guide us, motivate us in our decision-making and our actions. The values that I have mentioned below can be sought from God. One encounter with Jesus can form all of these values inside of us. Jesus is the treasure. These values have the power to transform our way of thinking and lifestyle. These values direct us back to the source, who is Jesus.

We discover God’s nature and His values in His name. For example, Jehovah-Rapha, “God who heals.” God values healing, for it is in His name. When we discover what God values, we also discover His will. When we build our lives around the will of God, our lives capture Heaven’s attention because our lives are centered around Heaven’s values. Values are important. Values help shape our thinking and our lifestyles. How we spend our time and resources is the direct reflection of what we value. When our value system contradicts the values of God and we recognize it, then we are able to repent. Repentance is a change of heart, which leads to a change of mind, change of direction and a change of purpose. The idea that Jesus does not want us to change is not biblical. Jesus not only desires change for us but also valued it so much that He died on the cross so that we can become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV). Jesus desired to see you and me live from a place of knowing that we have been made right with Him, for those who put their faith in Him and abide in His Word are right with Him.

Jesus desires His will for our lives to become the focus point because when we discover His will, we discover His value system. His value system does not align with the values of the world. The world values taking and getting what you can out of your life. “Spend your life on yourself. Get more, spend more. You deserve it. Your life is yours.”

If anyone has ever had a two-year-old, you know that a two-year-old’s values are centered around Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine. He desires to take and needs to learn the value of sharing. This is why we all need to be born again. Born from above. Born into the Kingdom of God. If we are not careful, we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that being a Christian is about getting our needs met instead of seeking first what God desires and values.

Again, the world values taking all that you can get in this life while God values giving and sharing and demonstrating the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.

Here are the values that I base my life on:

1. The Presence of God

The presence of God is the gift of God to us. God with man. When we understand that we are not alone, faith grows. It is by grace that we are saved and it is by grace that we can even live in the presence of God. To become aware of the presence of God is to live with the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. The presence of God is the power of God at work in and through the hearts of believers. Jesus said it was to our benefit that He go and that He would send us the Holy Spirit. The cure for an orphan heart is the presence of the living God. When we, the people of God, become aware that we are never alone, faith arises in our hearts. Living in the presence of God does not mean that you deny the issues across the world; it just means that the issues never get bigger than your awareness of God and His power to bring transformation to hearts and lives.

And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:32-33 NKJV).

When the presence of God rests on ordinary people who make it a priority to walk in the Spirit, Heaven’s attention is captured. Many people have said God does not need us, but the truth is God wants us and desires to fulfill His plans through His Church who walks in the Spirit through hosting the presence of God as they daily turn their hearts toward His heart, seeking to do His will on earth. In the presence of the Lord, there is strength and mentorship of the Spirit. As a young man, I learned that God’s presence is waiting for us in the secret place where no one else is around. In His presence, He clothes us in power and creates the courage to leave the secret place filled to overflowing in the public place with power and might.

2. Faith in God

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6 NKJV).

Faith does not come out of trying hard but rather out of trusting God and resting in the confidence of God. Faith comes from hearing God speak and our hearts believing and taking action. Faith is a muscle that we can daily exercise. Faith grows when it is used and shrinks if not stewarded. Faith comes from God and grows under His lordship as we abide in Him. Faith is what pleases God, and without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is not tangible but spiritual and has godly wisdom attached to it.

Faith comes from God and grows under His leadership. Faith sees from Heaven’s perspective and takes steps of action toward the will of God. Faith comes from knowing Him and His character. Faith captures Heaven’s attention. Faith believes and inspires us to dream big God dreams alongside Him and to pray God prayers that capture Heaven’s attention. Faith empowers us to plan and respond to what we believe is true.

Faith is contagious, but it becomes offensive to those who want to live in unbelief. Faith is forward-thinking. We are called to move from faith to faith. Faith pleases God. A sign that we are growing in our relationship with the Lord is of course the way we love but also our faith. Is our faith alive or is it dead? Faith is active. This core value of faith not only is needed but is a requirement if we are going to move forward in our relationship with Jesus. People don’t grow in God without being intentional about growing in their faith in God. This core value I noticed began to be formed in me when I started to study the Word of God and what God wanted and could do with those who believed as written in Mark 16:17-18. I carried the pas- sage of Mark 16:15-18 around for almost a year, and I would pull it out, along with other Scriptures, and declare the Word of God and then tell the Lord, “I am a believer, and this will happen in my life.”

3. Spirit-Led Obedience

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:14 NKJV).

When we know and value the will of God, faith comes alive in us and through us. Spirit-led obedience places a high value on the will of God. Honoring the will of God leads us into a Spirit-led, obedient lifestyle to His will on earth as it is in Heaven. To desire to be Spirit-led by God is to say, “God, I will obey your voice and your leadership in my life, for it is the upmost important value that I have because I love you.” Many people say, “Oh yes, I love Jesus,” but they refuse to obey Him. Their lack of desire to obey God and His Spirit reveals their lack of love. Obedience is the value that clearly defines whether or not we are following a fictional Jesus that desires no fruit from our lives or the Jesus in the Bible that we read about. Spirit-led obedience is a sign of being a child of God. The desire to obey Him reveals a desire to love Him. A desire to love God will produce a desire to want to obey and when we miss the mark, we acknowledge it and desire to grow in obedience. Spirit-led obedience becomes a form of worship to God. Jesus desires worshipers that will worship in Spirit and truth. Over the years I have learned that the faster I obey, the less liable I am to talk myself out of obedience. When we obey God, we grow in our capacity and authority in the spirit realm.

This core value, when applied in our hearts and lives, separates church-goers from disciples of Jesus. This core value intimidates the devil. The devil is OK with people going to church as long as they don’t obey the Spirit of God. This core value clashes with church culture. A person with this core value is not satisfied with just going to church but seeks to be led by the Holy Spirit and not to play it safe. This core value is the value that says, “God, if You call me out of the boat, I will come to You. It is the value of radical obedience, knowing that obedience is worship unto the Lord. This value began to be formed in my heart when I left that revival tent and was told by the Lord not to go to anymore parties with my old friends and to start wearing a Christian T-shirt to break the fear of man off of me.

Honoring the Holy Spirit and His leadership in our lives puts more value on what He thinks than what other people may think about us. This does not mean that you become rude to others. It is just the opposite; you honor people because God honored them by sending His only Son for them to die on the cross. It just means that you don’t seek to value and honor people more than you honor God. This core value helps us not to grieve the Holy Spirit and helps us not to quench what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives and through our lives. Learning to honor the lordship of Jesus and the Holy Spirit helps fight off the fear of man. To honor the Holy Spirit is to have a heavenly mindset and to be led by the Holy Spirit into all truth. Honoring the Holy Spirit contributes to Spirit-led obedience.

This core value began to be formed in my life when the Holy Spirit showed me at 20 years old that looking at inappropriate mag- azines grieves and quenches the Spirit’s work in my life. I noticed that when the Holy Spirit revealed truth to me and I honored the Holy Spirit, who is holy in me, that God began to produce a bold- ness in my heart, and He began to pull shame off of me because He told me that He lived in me and was holy, and He desired me to treat Him well. This created a desire to honor the Holy Spirit and His leadership in my life by what I looked at, listened to and talked about. The grace of God empowers us.

4. Eternal Perspective

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteous- ness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17 NKJV). 

To have an eternal perspective is to value the gospel and to live with the awareness that everything here on this earth is temporal. To live with an eternal perspective is to live with inner conviction that Heaven is real, and so is hell and that they are real places that last for all eternity. To live with an eternal perspective creates an urgency in our hearts, knowing that there is a judgment that we all will face when we stand before Jesus in eternity. To have an eternal perspective with a value for life acknowledges that some are headed toward hell, which creates a heart of compassion for the lost to share the gospel with them, knowing that the answer and cure for mankind is Jesus Christ. This core value magnifies the need to know the good news and how to communicate it with others because the power is in the gospel. The gospel gives us an eternal perspective and is the number one core value that we must allow our lives to be built around. To have an eternal perspective shapes the way we think and live. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18 NKJV).

To live with an eternal perspective helps keep us focused on things of the Kingdom of God and what really matters to Jesus. To value and to live with an eternal perspective will keep us from falling into religious activities that demonstrate and bear no long-lasting fruit or value in eternity. Years ago, I began to pray for more of an eternal perspective, and one night I had dream of people going to hell. In the dream, I was shaken with the reality that not only is Heaven real and is a real place but so is hell. I started looking up Scriptures in the Bible and was amazed at how many Scriptures there are in the Bible about hell. Please don’t just take my word for it. Please start to read your Bible, and look for this. Many people don’t live with an eternal perspective and have deconstructed the Bible so much that they have lost their first love for Jesus and the desire to share the gospel with others. They live their life just like Jesus said many people would before His return. Like the days of Noah will be the return of Jesus (see Matthew 24:37-39 NKJV). To have an eternal perspective motivates prayer and intercession. A lack of prayer often reveals a lack of eternal perspective. Prayer changes the course of history. When Daniel began to fast and pray, there was a war in the spirit realm (described in Daniel, chapter 10). The spirit realm is the eternal realm. The spirit realm is more real than the natural realm.

5. God is Still Speaking

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him” (Mark 4:23-25 NKJV).

When we value the Word of God and how God speaks in many different ways, it actually attracts more of the Word of God for those who have ears to hear. This core value is vital for receiving direction from the Lord. To value the voice of God and to trust that God wants to lead us and guide our lives creates trust and expectation on God’s leadership and guidance for the paths that He has for us. This core value also makes us aware that God not only wants to help direct our lives but also wants to help direct other people’s lives that we may come in contact with. This core value validates that God is still speaking. This value understands that His children are wired to hear God speak to them. This value also helps us under- stand that as His children, we are discovering the ways He speaks. This core value that God is still speaking creates a desire inside of us to know the voice of God and spend time in God’s presence praying and conversing with Him.

When God speaks, it creates faith in our hearts to speak back to Him what He has said and declare on the rooftops in faith what God has said. Hearing the voice of God creates faith that turns into action. Years ago, someone told me that God wanted to speak to me directly through His Word but also in dreams and in visions. They encouraged me to keep a journal by my bedside and when I would study my Bible in a place of prayer. This was new for me at first but I noticed that God spoke to people all through the Bible in dreams and visions. When I started valuing dreams and visions as one way that God could speak to me, I noticed that it began to take place. Today I see that one of the main ways that God has given me direction is through dreams and visions that are always backed up with the Bible. Most of the outreaches that we have started over the last 21 years came from a dream or a vision.

6. Compassion for the Lost

And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34 NKJV).

The core value of compassion is the value of the heart of God for humanity. Jesus throughout His ministry in the Gospels was moved with compassion for the sick and hurting and those in need. It was the compassion that He had for humanity that led Him to give up His life. His desire is that none should perish (see 2 Peter 3:9). The core value of compassion is not gained by striving but by honoring the heart of God, which is the compass of Heaven and asking for His heart to feel what He feels about people. Compassion is an action word because compassion moves us forward and is different from pity. Feeling sorry for someone does not bring us into action or change the person. It just leaves the person we feel sorry for help- less and hopeless. However, compassion has an answer that comes from the heart of God. Compassion has an inner conviction that pulls someone forward to help others.

Years ago, while a ministry student at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (hereafter referred to as BSSM), I began to ask God to give me more compassion for people and to help me move forward to help people instead of moving away from them. I knew I needed the heart of God. “Give me more of Your love, Lord. Help me grow in Your love toward others. I want to feel what You feel about people.” I remember leaving a store and while sitting in the parking lot, I saw a man walk by about 50 yards away, and I started crying over him. I could not hold back the tears. “What is going on with me, Lord? Why am I crying over this man’s soul like this?”

I could feel the Lord say to my heart, “I am giving you My heart.”

When I saw the sick at times, it would just grip me, and I would feel the same thing for them. When I saw people who were unfortunate living on the streets, the same emotion of compassion for them would come over me. I could feel my prayers being answered. God was giving me a gift. He was giving me His heart so that I could be moved into action.

7. The Power of God

For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20 NKJV).

To value the power of God is to value the things of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not an earthy kingdom but a realm of the Spirit of God and the influence of Jesus. This core value believes in a big God and that He has all power and authority. This core value understands that the Kingdom of God is the kingdom of power and might. To live with this core value gives us faith to believe that anything is possible. Walking in the power of the Holy Spirit is for every believer because the same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus lives in us who have put our faith in Jesus. To value the power of God is to value the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the boldness that the Holy Spirit produces in us to be His empowered witnesses.

This core value helps produce a dissatisfaction for anything else and is confrontational with religious spirits (not people). The core value of the power of God causes us to seek opportunities to see Jesus get His full reward and to see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven. When we exercise this core value in faith, we take risks and desire to see people saved, healed and delivered. This core value is the value of the Kingdom of God. This core value produces a flame and conviction inside of us that we are called to represent Jesus in word and in deed by demonstrations of power. God wants to use the everyday believer to openly display the power of God, and when this core value is formed in the Church, miracles, signs, and wonders will be normal for the everyday Christian to destroy the works of the devil.

8. The Word of God

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV).

To value the Word of God is foundational for building a life that is centered around faith in Jesus. The Word of God will help us see clearly and build us up. When we read the Word of God, we see clearly what God values and His desire for us. If we don’t have a value for the Word of God, we won’t have much of a value for all the other values that I have already mentioned above. To value the Word of God and to apply it to our lives will keep us on the straight and narrow path. A Jesus path. A path that disturbs the normal. To live your life around the Word of God is to value what He has already said. Many people seek the latest prophetic word that will make them feel warm inside but have refused to value what God has already said. To value the Word of God gives us ears to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying in this hour because it will match up with Scripture and will never demote Scripture. Years ago, I was challenged by some of my peers to read and meditate on the Word of God more, and when I look back, this was a pivotal time in my life that helped build structure around the Word of God. God desires to give us structure with which to build our lives. To build a house with a bad foundation that has no structure does not make sense financially because it will not last long under pressure. Many people neglect time in God’s Word, assuming that everything will be OK and they have it together. The truth is, if you’re not building your house for success on the Word of God, you’re building it for a great fall.

All of these core values grow under the influence of God’s grace. They can be turned into convictions that grow over time into trees that produce fruit that feeds others spiritually as we point them back to the source, Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. When we honor and value what God values, it captures Heaven’s attention. It takes humility to value what God values. God lifts up the humble and puts down the prideful.