An Exercise in Union

I was in a service a few years ago and Bill Vanderbush was speaking. Bill, who is a brilliant communicator and has since become a friend, did an exercise with everyone in the room. I have since appropriated and done this same exercise many times, often without even crediting Bill.

I thought I’d do this exercise with you and also, give Bill his due.

Ready?

Normally, Bill and I would ask you to close your eyes. But since you can’t read with your eyes closed, go ahead and keep them open.

Now take a deep breath and imagine a throne room, and in it, a throne. The room can look like anything you want, it’s your imagination.

If you need to close your eyes to imagine this, go ahead, we’ll wait…

OK, got it?

Good.

Now we want you to imagine Jesus is sitting on the throne.

Take your time, we’re in no rush.

Now, we want you to place yourself in the throne room; anywhere you want; there is no wrong or right place.

This is where Bill and I normally have folks open their eyes. And then we ask questions. “How many were able to picture a throne room?”

Nearly every hand goes up and I imagine yours would be among them.

“How many were able to picture themselves in the throne room?” We ask.

Again, nearly every hand goes up.

Then we get more specific, “How many were near the door or in the back, or along a wall; somewhere away from the throne? Again, there’s no wrong place.”

There are always some hands.

Was that you?

We keep going, “How many were at the front, maybe even at the feet of Jesus?”

We wait for more hands before continuing, “How many were sitting right next to Jesus?”

On that fifth question, when Bill did this exercise and I was in the audience, I thought of Ephesians 2:6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

I had imagined myself sitting next to Jesus. So, I raised my hand and I opened my eyes, I thought Bill was done asking questions.

But it was the perfect setup for the last question that Bill and I love to ask, “How many were sitting on the throne…?”

To be continued…

 “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. John 17:21-23

…The Kingdom is at hand, it’s within reach. But even better, the Kingdom is within you…

For more information about Bill Vanderbush, or for links to his website and social media, or listen to our Podcast interview, CLICK HERE