Heaven Is For Real

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea” (Revelation 21:1).

Too many of us do not realize that Heaven is God’s idea and not ours. We base so much from our humanness instead of God’s reasonableness. Satan has come to blaspheme God’s name and His dwelling place and those who live there (Rev. 13:6). He wants to skew God’s reality of a place called Heaven.

Do not allow Satan to cause you to think less than God desires for you. Heaven is God’s idea for you and for me. It is the place we should long for and desire more than anything. Really, we do desire this place called Heaven. Every desire to be fulfilled and satisfied is based on the desire to go to this place and dwell there.

Cyprian, the third century church father, said, “Let us greet the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which snatches us from this place and sets us free from the snares of the world, and restores us to paradise and the kingdom. Anyone who has been in foreign lands longs to return to his own native land…We regard paradise as our native land.”

God’s people are going to a tangible place, a real place, that is designed on God’s geographical map. It is not a place of disembodied spirits, for human beings are not suited for such a realm. What we are suited for–what we’ve been specifically designed for–it is a place like the one God made for us: Earth. God has never given up on his original plan for human beings to dwell on Earth. The climax of history will be the creation of new heavens and a New Earth, a resurrected universe inhabited by resurrected people living with the resurrected Jesus (Revelation 21:1-4).

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  • Are You “THERE”?

    “And the word of the Lord came unto him {Elijah}, saying, Get thee hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee THERE…” (I Kings 17:2-4).
    If Elijah had rambled here and around I do not believe that Elijah would have had God’s provision. “THERE” was the place of God’s will for Elijah. The ravens were sent to the brook Cherith, and no where else.

    God has a “THERE” for you and me. There is somewhere He wants us to be, something He wants us to do. True joy and happiness has to be where He wants you. We can not please God anywhere but “there.”

    We can do many lovely things and become a “success,” but always there will be the haunting sense of having chosen life’s second best. If we miss the approval of God, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, we shall feel at the close of the day the attitude of giving all of our earthly awards and crowns for the one we missed.

    “THERE” is the place of God’s abundant power and marvelous provision. Are we “THERE”?

  • Expectations: The Wise Men

    “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

     They (the wise men) came from a great distance, with difficulty, and even through the midst of danger, to find their Desire–the Lord Jesus. They knew that all of life was found in that Child, the Desire of nations.

     To superimpose selfish expectations onto the Bible and our own personal relationships with God is to short-circuit that which God desires. We should understand that God is anxious to “make me” rather than for Him to “give me.”

     God is the One that we must seek, the God who is, not as the God I want. Our expectations toward God is to change the desires of my heart to fit into His desires for me. To delight in the Lord is “to be soft or pliable.” We are to be soft clay in the Potter’s hands, to come before Him without any heavy demands that we want but to look to Him for who He is.

     Instead of telling God what my desires are, we are to come to understand and know Him. What is His character? What are His attributes? How can I worship and serve Him more acceptably? Then an amazing thing takes place: His desires become my desires! When I know Him I will desire what He desires and will pray and serve in that wonderful, freeing capacity.

     

  • Let Down. Look Up

    “Let Down. Look Up.”

    “Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket” (Acts 9:25).

    The greatest day of Paul’s life, beside his salvation, was the day he realized that God’s plan for him was far better than his plan for his own life.

    The chance of being let down by someone or something is 1 in 1.

    Paul wanted to preach to his own people, the Jews, and went to them but they rejected him because of his new found message of grace in Christ Jesus. He had to be let down in a basket through a window over a wall to escape the bounty which was upon his head.

    Paul wanted to go to the Jews but God said, “My plan is for you to go to the Gentiles, Paul.”

    ‘But my heart–‘protested Paul.

    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul,’ answered the Lord.

    ‘But my background—‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘But my training–‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘But, Lord–‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘But–‘
    ‘To the Gentiles, Paul.’

    ‘OK, Lord.’

    Some of you will make this decision today. You’ll finally choose to say, ‘OK, Lord.’ And when you do, you’ll at last will find rest in your soul.

  •     Always Faithful (Semper Fidelis)

     

    “…So David prepared abundantly before his death” (I Chronicles 22:5c).

       Did you run track in high school? Perhaps you ran the 95-yard dash, or the 215. I ran track for one year while in high school. I wasn’t the fastest or the best, but I enjoyed it. I was young, ambitious, and just wanted to do something. But one thing I do know, I never ran the 95 or the 215. My friends ran the 100-yard dash and the 220. I ran the longer distances.

         The point is this: In marriage, as well as the Christian life, it’s not how you start that really counts, though important, it’s how you finish. You can run for 95 yards and even lead the field, but if you stop five yards short, those 95 yards were an exercise in futility. There are too many Christians, too many fathers and mothers, who are running the 95-yard dash. They quit on God and stop on each other.

        We are losing our families to this culture. Our boys and girls need to see personal commitments from each of us (dad, mom, grandparents, teachers) to finish the race. It is a surrender each and every day to the new mercies and compassions of Almighty God. We must repent each day of our own desires and allow God’s ways to saturate and permeate our lives. There is a race to be run; there is a race to be won!

  • Deep Living

    “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm 1:1).

    Discouragement is the temporary loss of perspective. So many men for the sake of getting a living forget to live. Each day is to be significant as we seek those things which are deeper and not so much as wider.

    Each day must be seized with a renewal that maintains our perspective and minimizes the distractions that afflict us. When we lack direction and are bombarded by distractions we become discouraged.

    Shallow living leads to distractions that causes decay. Without proper care of the body we become ill. A marriage can become troubled after just a few episodes of unresolved anger and misunderstanding. An automobile can break down without proper maintenance. Without daily guidance and renewal in God’s presence we live in distracted modes.

    Don’t allow the busyness to the daily demands and orders of a noisy world, cause you to forget that God has a plan for you and for me. We are to win the battle which is so daily. Allow your roots to sink deep into the soil of God’s promises and allow His truth to be absorbed into the core of our soul.

     

     

     

     

  • Wrestling in Prayer

    “A man wrestled with him till daybreak” (Genesis 32:24).

    Who is doing the praying? Is it our determined hearts, or the Holy Spirit? If prayer originates with the Holy Spirit, then the wrestling can be beautiful and wonderful. But if we are the victims of our own overheated wants and desires, our praying can be as carnal as any other Christian act.

    God’s way is the best way. Our way is fraught with selfish intentions. We need to ask God to give us pure motives whenever we pray to Him. Jacob’s wrestling with God was carnal until he gave in to God’s will. After he was beaten upon, he cried, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” Only the Spirit can pray effectively. Let us depend upon Him.