Have you ever had a “Jacob’s Ladder” moment when heaven opened up above you?

In Genesis 28 Jacob fell asleep, and in his dream-like state he saw what he couldn’t see during his distracted waking hours. He saw angels ascending and descending on a giant stairway that stretched between heaven and earth. And as if that wasn’t awesome enough, he actually saw the Lord Himself, calling out to Jacob, promising to bless his life.

When Jacob woke up from his dreaming sleep he exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of  God; this is the gate of heaven.”

God wants that house to be your house too. That wasn’t a one-time-for-Jacob-only Bible story—it was a picture of God’s intentions for you.

He wants you to increasingly live under an open heaven in 2014.

Jesus, modeling God’s heart and intention for us, began and ended His ministry under open heavens (see His baptism and ascension in Luke 3:21; 24:51). And the apex of His ministry occurred after the cross when God Himself reached down from Jacob’s Ladder and shredded the Temple veil that separated people from His presence.

The message of the Gospel is of heaven’s desire to draw near. That’s what Jesus told Nathanael when He recruited Him to be His follower, and said: “You will see heaven open, and the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51).

Jesus’ call to Nathanael is in effect for you and me. He wants us to pitch the tent of our life at the base of Jacob’s Ladder where everything changes when heaven draws near.