Tag: eternity

Receiving What Jesus Has to Offer

Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Mary Magdalene was a terrible sinner but she was forgiven from her past sins by Jesus as He cast 7 demons out of her. She accepted all that He offered to her. Following her deliverance, Mary Magdalene traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. Based on what Jesus had done for her, Mary was brave enough to stand by Jesus in his hours of suffering, death and beyond. She had a true relationship with her Savior.

On the other hand, when it came to doctrine, Mary was not well schooled. She certainly would have looked foolish if she had been challenged in doctrine by the Pharisees who were known for their knowledge of God. But with all their knowledge about God, they did not know Jesus. They did not have an intimate, saving relationship with Him. They did not receive what He had to offer to them.

The Holy Word teaches us that even the demons are profoundly knowledgeable about Jesus, but they do not know Him. They certainly do not have an intimate relationship with Him. Full knowledge of Jesus means nothing unless He knows us. The only way that Jesus knows us (as in accepts us into His kingdom) is if we have accepted Him as Our Savior. When we respond to Jesus’ voice and accept Him as Our Savior, then our relationship with Him springs forth for all eternity.

Let us go to the door and receive the One who knocks. Let us open our hearts to Him. Let us seek to have an intimate relationship with Our Savior King. Let us proclaim our relationship to the world so that others may know Him, too.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing us with a Savior. We thank You for sending Your Son to this world so that all could know Him. We thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to open our hearts so that we could receive Your Son as Our Savior. We pray, Father, that You will teach us how to go beyond our knowledge of who You are and move into a living relationship with Your Son. May Jesus become the center of all we do. May others come to know Him through our living testimonies. We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

Surrendering to the Finishing Work of the Holy Spirit

Hebrews 12:5
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.

Once we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Lord begins His work in us. He promises that He will complete every good work in us. He also promises that He will discipline us as needed to get us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Him. He will leave no blemish untouched.

As the Lord works on us, we can think of ourselves as a piece of old furniture that needs refinishing. Our old stain is no longer acceptable at the place where we will be displayed. We need a new refined finish. Our new finish cannot be applied until all of the old stain is removed. The first part of our refinishing will be relatively easy as our old stain is stripped away. This first step, however, will reveal the depth of the old stain. This then leads to the tough part of the process. To get rid of the stubborn stain will require sanding, scraping, chipping and maybe even gouging. This tedious process will be repeated over and over until all the old stain is completely gone. Only when all the stain has been removed completely will our final finish be applied.

God has various ways of completing His finishing work in our lives. Sometimes it is by the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit, sometimes it is by our reading of His Word and sometimes it is by the spoken words of His ministers. Often He allows affliction and trials to bring us to acknowledge and confess our iniquities, to recognize our shortcomings in fulfilling our duties or to convince us of our folly in following our own nature. All of these things are done through His perfect love and forgiveness.

Let us humbly surrender to the finishing work of the Holy Spirit. Let us submit to the work of the Master, who is preparing us for a place in His house.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing us to join You for all eternity. We bless the name of Jesus for His precious blood that He shed so that we may be washed clean of every stain of sin in our lives. We bow before You, Father, in full surrender to Your good work in us. We pray that You take us into Your hands and prepare us to stand before You in the image of Your Son. We rejoice in knowing that we will be in service to You in Your house forever. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Becoming Totally Reliant on God

2 Kings 2:12
And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Elisha had been forewarned that his master, Elijah, was going to be taken from him. Elijah asked Elisha what he wanted from him before he was taken away. Elisha asked for a double portion of the anointing that the Lord had placed on Elijah. Elijah said that this was a huge request, but if Elisha witnessed his master being taken away by the Lord then his request was granted.

Having gone through his final lessons from Elijah, Elisha saw Elijah taken away. Elisha now stood alone. In a show of extreme grief of having lost his master, he tore his clothes in two pieces. He knew that he would no longer have his guide and leader to rely on. But because he had asked for it, he was granted a double portion of the anointing that was held by Elijah. Elisha would now rely on God, not on his master.

As Almighty God prepares us to spend eternity with Him, He may allow the people around us who we have relied upon to be taken from us. It may be through death or through a broken relationship, but they will be removed in some manner. Our Lord may also allow our finances or our possessions that we hold dear to be taken from us. During these times, we must learn to rely on the Lord and not on the world around us. Until we come to the point that we are totally reliant on God, He is likely to continue to allow the removal of people and things from our lives until we totally surrender to His reign in our lives. Through it all, we will learn the comfort, the power and the strength of resting in the hands of the One that created us.

Let us turn to the Lord for the peace and the strength that only He can provide when a person, place or thing has been taken from us. Let us find our new direction under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we struggle with our change. Let us boldly ask the Lord to replace what we have lost with a double portion of His blessing on our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to rest in the comfort of Your hands as we go through our journey of surrendering completely to You. We praise You for Your loving kindness and Your mercy as You never forsake us as we struggle to find our way. We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we may begin to see all that You have prepared for us. We beseech You, Father, to grant us the fullness of the power and strength that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of Our Ever Present Lord, Jesus Christ.

Imagining and Awaiting Our Eternal Home

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.

Our Faith is Built Through the Storms of Life

Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

This passage calls attention to that great day when all will see the wisdom and happiness of the friends of Christ and the madness and misery of His enemies. Great sorrow and suffering will be ahead for those who wound and crucify Him by their non-belief. Those who have not accepted Jesus as the way, the truth and the life will find out that He is the only way to eternity with the Father in heaven.

Isn’t it ironic that Jesus will arrive in the clouds? It is quite natural to associate the idea of clouds with storm clouds. When storm clouds are building we are likely to think that defeat is near. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, we come to realize that when storm clouds begin to build in our lives that our victory is near.

Just as God used the clouds to guide the Israelites to the promised land, He can use the storm clouds in our lives to turn our focus to Him for guidance. Through this process, He teaches us dependence on Him for providing the pathway through the storms of our lives. Paradoxically, without the storm clouds, we would never develop the faith that we need to completely surrender to Our Savior. The perfect pathway through the storms of life lies in a relationship with Jesus Christ. The only pathway from this life into eternal life is through Jesus Christ.

Let us look to heaven and not to earth for our support when we find storm clouds building in our lives. Let us turn to the Light of the World for our victory when the clouds become the darkest. Let us share each victory with those still in the darkness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Light of the World, Your Son Jesus, to save us from the darkness that comes to devour us. We praise You for the faith that You build in us as Jesus carries us and comforts us through our trials. We pray that we may learn from the trials that we pass through so that we may comfort others who pass the same way. Through the light of our living testimony, may we draw others through the darkness to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. We ask all these things in the name of the Judge of the Living and the Dead, Jesus Christ.

Every Moment in Life is an Opportunity to Surrender to God’s Plan for Our Lives

Mark 6:45
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

The directive was clear to the disciples. “Get in the boat. Go to the other side of the lake. Wait on Me.” So off they went, obedient to the directive given them. They probably assumed this would be a relatively easy trip. Little did they know that their journey would be difficult. In fact, their journey was described as painful for the wind was strongly against them. But in the midst of their struggles, Jesus showed up and the winds ceased. Once again they were reminded of the power and ever presence of the Lord in their lives. Once again God received the glory.

This passage reminds us that life is not about achievements, not even achievements in the areas that God is leading us. We may have the feeling that God is leading us to a particular end. He is, but not how we are thinking about it. The goal of getting to a particular end is simply a by product of the process that God is taking us through. With God, the process is the end.

All the trials that we encounter in life become part of the process of preparing us for our eternal place with the Father. The process is complete when we seek the will of the Father in every circumstance in our lives. His purpose is that we call on Him and His power in each moment that we live, regardless of the end that we may be working toward.

Let us be alert to each precious moment in our lives. Let us recognize that each moment is an opportunity to surrender to Our Savior and to obey the calling of Almighty God. Let us understand that it is our growth that is important to God, not the end result.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for being ever present with us during the chaos of our lives. We thank You that we can call on You every single moment of our lives to be our strength when the trials of life come against us. We pray that You teach us how to live every moment of our lives aware of the sanctifying process that You are taking us through. May our relationships with You mature beyond our expectations as we experience the fullness of Jesus Christ in our lives. May we savor each moment, knowing that it brings glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord over all, Jesus Christ.

Through His Grace We are Provided Hope and Joy Under the Heaviest Sorrows

2 Corinthians 1:5
For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

As the Body of Christ, we identify with Christ’s suffering on the Cross. We are crucified with Him. He endured the highest level of suffering for the remission of our sins. We suffer with Him as we confess our culpability for putting Him on the Cross. As result of His suffering and ours, we are given the abundant comfort of eternal life.

On a different level, Jesus Christ considers the sufferings of His corporate body to be His own personal suffering. He identifies Himself completely and directly with His church. So everything that we suffer in life, Jesus shares in. This is especially true of those things that we suffer for His name’s sake. But as we suffer with Christ, we receive the abounding comfort of His love.

Whether we are dealing with the physical or emotional suffering, Jesus provides the strength and comfort that we need to overcome the suffering that we endure. He supplies it abundantly so that we are never asked to suffer more than we can handle. Through His grace we are provided hope and joy under the heaviest of sorrows and suffering.

Let us humble ourselves at the Cross of our suffering King, Jesus Christ. Let us exalt His name for what He suffered on our behalf. Let us repent of all that we have done that put Him on the Cross. Let us accept our personal suffering, knowing that through Him we will be strengthened and even made cheerful so that we may be made useful and comforting to others.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to comfort us in all of our suffering. We humbly ask forgiveness for putting Your Son on the Cross because of our inequity. We ask that we may suffer crucifixion with Jesus as we die to our old selves and take on our new lives in Christ. We pray that everything that we suffer in life be for the glory of Our Savior. May we always be cognizant of His personal and physical suffering. May both the suffering we go through and the abundant comfort that we receive result in eternal good for ourselves and for those around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Worthy Lamb, Jesus Christ.

We Only See a Mere Portion of Almighty God’s Power

Job 26:14
Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

It is completely breathtaking to realize that we have only seen a mere portion of Almighty God’s power. It is quite inspiring to know that in Heaven we will be on an endless journey of enjoying and discovering all of God’s divine capacity.

Just think that all that has been revealed to us about Our Heavenly Father through the experiences of the ages and through the writings in His Holy Word is only a foretelling of His omnipotence. What we see of Him on earth and what we read of Him in the scriptures are illustrative of His awesome nature, but most of what He does each and every day is invisible to us. To name all the wondrous powers of Almighty God would be as fruitless as trying to count the stars.

God’s never ending works are completely immeasurable. They extend well beyond our ability to conceive of His might. We can be certain that what we see or know of Him is nothing in comparison of what we do not know about Him. Yet, we can be even more certain that all of His mighty wonders were eclipsed when He gave us His Son as the way, the truth and the life. With that gracious act of mercy and that unfathomable expression of His perfect love, He opened the gateways of heaven for all of His children to become heirs to His kingdom for all of eternity.

Let us press on through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may grow in our knowledge of the Lord and all His ways. Let us become willing vessels of His power and living testimonies of His love so that others will seek to know Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for drawing us to Yourself through the exhibition of Your divine power throughout the ages. We exalt the name of Jesus as the most wondrous expression of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask that the Holy Spirit instruct us in knowing about You and lead us into a personal relationship with You through Your Son, Jesus. We pray that we will become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May the world know You through our obedience in following Your calling on our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the dunamis power of God, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is Preparing a Place for Us in His Father’s House

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.

The Continuous Praise of God Through the Way We Live

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

We are stirred up in our hearts to praise God. We are first moved to praise Him for the magnificence of His creation. We are inspired by the Holy Spirit to praise Him for His holiness and His love expressed through the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus. We learn to praise Him because of His power and His glory that we see expressed in our lives every day.

Let us praise God out of the faith that He has built in us through His Holy Spirit. Let us praise God as we are comforted by His goodness and His grace. Let us praise God with the joy of the expectation of life in His eternal kingdom. Let us praise God with the unshakeable confidence that the victory is ours through God’s greatest gift to us, His Son, Jesus.

Let us praise God with the love and delight that He alone has placed in our hearts. Let our every breath be filled with praise for Our Savior, Our Redeemer, Our King. Let us praise Him by allowing our lives to be living testimonies of the Son of God who has come to dwell within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we lift our voices toward You in high praise. We bring our thanksgiving for Your precious Lamb, Jesus. We proclaim His holiness and His righteousness. We give thanks for His presence in our lives. We pray Father that You open our eyes so that we may see the presence of Your Son in the tiny things in life as well as the large things. May our every breath praise Him as we come know just how dear He is to You and to us. We ask all these things in the name of the One whose steadfast love never ceases, Jesus Christ.