Tag: eternal resting place

Welcome to Heaven

Revelation 21:23
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

There is something different about the light at sunrise and the light at sunset. The light at sunrise seems to welcome us to our day and inspire us to greater things. The light at sunset seems so calming and comforting, preparing us for our evening of rest. Yet there is nothing that carries us along and sustains us better throughout the day than a bright, sun-filled sky. There is no question that light plays a significant role in our physical and emotional well being.

What if you woke up one morning and noticed a light filling your home that was more radiant and comforting than the most beautiful day that you had ever experienced? What if when you got out of bed there were none of those usual aches and pains? What if when you looked in the mirror you liked what you saw? What if your work for the day was perfectly satisfying, leaving you feeling wonderful? What if throughout the day you felt an overwhelming since of being loved and a desire to share that love with others? What if you could not resist delighting in the Lord non-stop all day long? What if when the day ended there was no darkness, only that radiant and comforting light that you had first experienced in the morning? What if this day never ended? Welcome to heaven!!

Let us eagerly await our new home for all eternity. Let us rejoice in knowing that day after day without end we will be in the presence of the Author and the Essence of everything that is good. Let us delight in knowing that we will never encounter anything evil again. Let us praise the Lord!!

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing a place for us that is beyond our imagination. We thank You, Jesus, for making us worthy to receive our new homes for all eternity. We pray, Father, that You will draw us into intimate relationships with You here on earth, so that we can begin experiencing the fullness of who You are before we ever leave our earthly bodies. May we become vessels of Your perfect love so that others can know You and be drawn to accept Your Son as their Savior. May many experience Your eternal home as a result of them being drawn to Your Son by seeing the radiant and comforting light coming from Your obedient children. We ask all these things in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

When All You See is Jesus

Matthew 14:30
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

When Peter first stepped out of the boat, all He saw was Jesus. He saw nothing but the one he desired to be with. His focus was on His Lord and His Lord alone. With His focus only on His Lord, he walked on water. But then Peter let his focus shift to his surroundings and down he went.

It is a bit difficult for us to relate to walking on water, but we can all relate to finding ourselves in a place in life where we feel like we are sinking. In these times, we are weak in faith and our doubts are overwhelming to us. Too often we get to this place because we are seeking a way out through our own strengths. Our focus is on our problems and not on the promises of Our Savior.

Peter was rebuked for his lack of faith. We should know that we share in Peter’s weakness. As disciples of Jesus Christ, there is no valid reason why we should be of doubtful mind. Even on the stormiest of days, He is always with us as our ever present help.

Let us put all of our focus on Jesus. Let us learn to follow the life path that He has prepared for us. Let us walk that path boldly even when the world tries to distract us and the enemy tries to deter us. Let us be confidently yoked by faith to Jesus all the way to our eternal resting place with Almighty God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating each of us with a unique purpose through which we serve You and bring honor and glory to Your Name. We rejoice in knowing that we are destined to fulfill our purposes here on earth as well as in Your eternal kingdom. We exalt the name of Our Savior, Jesus, who walks along side us to insure that we have the strength to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy. May we keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus so we are not distracted or hindered by the things which are trying to pull us away from our purposes. May we stand before You one day and hear the words, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of Our Redeemer, Our King, Our Priest and Our Prophet, Jesus Christ.

The One and Only Requirement

James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

The garment is not acceptable if there is one snag in the fabric. The tune is no longer in harmony if there is one note out of key. The chain is broken if one link does not hold. The law is not kept if one point is not held.

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30 STOP!! There it is…the first and greatest commandment. We need not go any further to realize that we are incapable of meeting the requirements of getting into heaven. We simply cannot earn our way in. We cannot get past the first requirement. It is impossible for us to love the Lord in the manner that He requires.

Remember, God demands perfect, not partial obedience. A good effort is not good enough. Good enough is only found on the Cross. The only way that we can meet the requirements that God demands is to have the blood of His Son wash us clean of all of our sins so that we may stand before Him in the image of His Son.

Let us wake each day seeking the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and reveal to us the darkness that still resides there. Let us receive the counsel of the Holy Spirit with the thought of taking His insight to the Throne of God and asking Him to “wash me O Lord, purify me O Lord. Cleanse me with the precious blood of Your Son, Jesus”.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for demanding perfection concerning Your laws. We rejoice in knowing that Your kingdom, which we will inherit, will be void of anything that is less than perfect. We thank You for providing an eternal resting place for us that will be the essence of everything good. We bless the name of Jesus, whose shed blood allows us to stand spotless before You. Father, we claim Your promise to perfect Your strength in our weakness. We pray for the grace to live in the fullness of Jesus Christ as You prepare us to love You with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds and with all our strength for all eternity. We ask all these things in the name of the only One without fault, Jesus Christ.

One God-Directed Task at a Time

Luke 18:31
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

Jesus was perfectly attuned to the work that He was called to do. He spent His entire time on earth completely focused on doing the will of His Father. He did not care if He preached to one or to ten thousand. He was not seeking recognition for the good work that He was doing in the sense that we would seek recognition for ourselves. There is so much that we need to learn from Jesus about how we approach our work.

Jesus was only concerned with pleasing the Father. Nothing could discourage Our Lord on His way to Jerusalem to meet His fate at Calvary. No amount of suffering could deter Him. No distraction could lead Him to hurry to the next task. The only task that Jesus was concerned with was the one that the Father put before Him. There is so much that we need to learn from Jesus about persevering through our trials.

It is important that we tune into the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit directs our attention to Our Savior. The Holy Spirit works in our lives so that we can learn to align our personal plans with the plans that God has for our lives. Just as Jesus aligned His plans with the Father’s plans so that He would find His way to Jerusalem, we must align ourselves with God’s plan for our lives so that we can find our way to our Jerusalem, New Jerusalem. We must not let anything or any circumstance take us off our path.

Let us please Our Father in heaven. Let us surrender completely to the One who was completely surrendered to the will of His Father. Let us accomplish all that was set aside for us on the Cross through Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing for our eternal resting place in New Jerusalem. We praise Our Savior, Jesus, for clearing our path to get there. We ask for the Holy Spirit to direct us to our path and prepare us for the journey. We pray that we may be strengthened so that we may be steadfast in doing only the things that are pleasing to You, Father. May all that we accomplish be for Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of Our Spiritual Rock, Jesus Christ.

Ask and It Will Be Given to You

Luke 11:9
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

In this passage, we find a solemn declaration and promise made by Jesus Himself. The declaration rests on His authority. He makes the statement with the boldness of knowing it is true. He opens the way for us to ask for food for the body and nourishment for our souls and He promises that for those that act in accordance with His counsel shall find their requests satisfied.

When we knock at Jesus’ door, seeking Him, our lives are changed forever. Once we have accepted Him as Our Savior, we are new men and women in Christ. We are new people who are faced with the eye-opening need to let our old selves die, so that our new selves are properly prepared to be in the presence of Our Lord.

Once we establish our relationship with Him, we will be in a place that is greater than anything we have ever experienced before. We will never want to leave that relationship. To stay there, we will find that we are forever humbled by our need to cleanse ourselves. We will find that the experience of first meeting Him is the beginning of our preparation for being in His presence for all eternity.

Let us knock on the door of heaven and let Jesus know that we desire to have an intimate relationship with Him. Let us humbly accept being yoked to Him. Let us learn to surrender to the fullness of living in His presence each day. Let us joyfully anticipate the eternal resting place that He is preparing for us in His Father’s house.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly bow before You. We thank You that we are allowed to approach Your throne because Your Son, Jesus, has prepared the way for us. Make us forever mindful of His sacrifice which washed away our sins for all eternity. Open our eyes to see the sins that remain in our lives so that we may ask forgiveness of them and repent of them. May Your Holy Spirit guide us in continuously seeking the presence of Your Son in our lives. May we find all we need in Him. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord God Omnipotent, Jesus Christ.

Relinquishing All the Power We Think We Have

Matthew 5:40
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Jesus’ instructions to His disciples was simple enough. It just does not make sense to us and it probably did not make sense to them. It is not natural for us to bear an injury for the sake of peace. In the flesh, it is difficult for us to meet this standard.

As we become disciples of Jesus Christ, we learn to commit our concerns to the Lord. We learn to avoid the disputes that our flesh would demand. We come to recognize through the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit that our flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. Only our spirit will find its resting place with the Father. And it will be our spirit that will find supernatural peace and comfort on this earth when we follow the principles that Our Lord teaches.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ cannot be carried out in the flesh. God does not start with our natural ability and build on it. He only asks that we rely on His grace and submit to the presence and the supernatural work of the One that dwells within us. And as He promises, His grace is sufficient.

Let us relinquish all the power that we think we have in the flesh in exchange for the supernatural power that we receive in the spirit through Jesus Christ. Let us strive to be spirit-filled, fully empowered disciples of Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the all-sufficient grace that You provide that allows us to live as disciples of Your Son, Jesus. We humbly acknowledge, Father, that You do not see us as who we are today or who we have been. We rejoice in knowing that You see us as who we are in Christ. We pray, Lord Jesus, that You will walk by our side and lead us to the way of peace. We ask that You show us how to draw the world to You through our living testimony as Your disciples. We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

How We Should Approach Our Work

Luke 18:31
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

Jesus was perfectly attuned to the work that He was called to do. He spent His entire time on earth completely focused on doing the will of His Father. He did not care if He preached to one or to ten thousand. He was not seeking recognition for the good work that He was doing in the sense that we would seek recognition for ourselves. There is so much that we need to learn from Jesus about how we approach our work.

Jesus was only concerned with pleasing the Father. Nothing could discourage Our Lord on His way to Jerusalem to meet His fate at Calvary. No amount of suffering could deter Him. No distraction could lead Him to hurry to the next task. The only task that Jesus was concerned with was the one that the Father put before Him. There is so much that we need to learn from Jesus about persevering through our trials.

It is important that we tune into the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit directs our attention to Our Savior. The Holy Spirit works in our lives so that we can learn to align our personal plans with the plans that God has for our lives. Just as Jesus aligned His plans with the Father’s plans so that He would find His way to Jerusalem, we must align ourselves with God’s plan for our lives so that we can find our way to our Jerusalem, New Jerusalem. We must not let anything or any circumstance take us off our path.

Let us please Our Father in heaven. Let us surrender completely to the One who was completely surrendered to the will of His Father. Let us accomplish all that was set aside for us on the Cross through Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing for our eternal resting place in New Jerusalem. We praise Our Savior, Jesus, for clearing our path to get there. We ask for the Holy Spirit to direct us to our path and prepare us for the journey. We pray that we may be strengthened so that we may be steadfast in doing only the things that are pleasing to You, Father. May all that we accomplish be for Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of Our Spiritual Rock, Jesus Christ.

The Ultimate Benefit Package

Jeremiah 31:31
“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.

Jeremiah foretold of a time when the Lord would bring in a new covenant. This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ when he stepped down from His seat by the Father in heaven to accept His sacrificial calling on earth to be the Redeemer of all men.

When Jesus came to earth, He issued an invitation to all men to “Come to Me.” He established Himself as the way, the truth and the life. He did not make it mandatory to accept His invitation, but He did make it clear that accepting His invitation was the only way to become worthy to be in the presence of Almighty God for all eternity.

Because Almighty God knew our frailty so well, the benefits of accepting His Son’s invitation went beyond the eternal reward promised. By accepting His invitation, we were also extended the grace needed for sustaining us during our time on earth while we were preparing for our eternal resting place in heaven.

Our earthly benefit package includes, but is certainly not limited to:
• access to the unimaginable favor of the King of Kings
• the privilege of laying all of our burdens on Him
• the satisfaction of having our thirst for knowing our Maker quenched forever
• the treasure of being able to learn from Our Master all that is good and pleasing to Almighty God.
Why should we go to any other quarter to have our needs met?

Let us go to Jesus to receive the grace of God that comes through Him. Let us go to Jesus for the peace, comfort, joy and salvation that He holds in His hands. Let us respond without delay to His invitation.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Your Son to reveal to us Your will and Your love. We bless the name of Jesus for providing the yoke that joins us to Him for the purpose of having all of our burdens lifted from us. We rejoice in knowing that we live in Your constant shadow protected from evil and supplied with our needs. We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will guide us to release all of our cares into the arms of the One who invites us to come to Him. We ask all these things in the name of the Yoke of Our Burdens, Jesus Christ.