Jesus taught that when we pray, we are to acknowledge that His abode is in heaven. But what does this mean? Does this obligate us to look skyward every time we pray? Does it imply that God resides somewhere far above the clouds, beyond where science and technology has thus far been unable to probe?
The reality is that heaven is not so much a place, as a reality. Heaven is a spiritual realm. It exists all around us in our physical environment. That is what Isaiah experienced when he suddenly witnessed the throne room of almighty God displayed before him in the temple. That was what Jacob saw in the desert at Bethel when his eyes were opened to the spiritual realities all around him.
Heaven is the spiritual world that God inhabits. It is not far away from us, but rather it is all around us. The world of the spirit continually takes place very near to us, even right before our eyes. It is close at hand. Our challenge is that we often do not have our spiritual senses attuned to perceive it.
When we pray to our Father “in heaven,” we are acknowledging that God is spirit and that He is extremely close to us. God functions in an environment far greater than what we experience with our physical senses, but He is always close at hand. The next time you pray to your heavenly Father, don’t look up into the sky. Rather, look carefully all around you with your spiritual eyes wide open, for He is much closer than you may realize.