Happiness in Heaven!

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Then Jesus told them this story:  If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it?  And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder  and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, "Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep."  Jesus said, "In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don't need to."

Luke 15: 3 - 7

Also in Matthew 25: 21b the Master in the parable says to his servant.

Come and share in my happiness!

Did you know that you can bring happiness to Heaven when you turn away from your sin and decide to follow Jesus?  Heaven is pleased with your example.  

You will also share in the Happiness of Heaven when you leave this world and enter into the joy of the Lord!  When a disciple of Christ leaves this earth to travel to their home in Heaven, humans mourn because we will see them no more on this earth.  But the Homecoming of arriving in Heaven to be with Jesus and with all those who have gone on before you must be truly amazing!  

The Bible says that Abraham died and was gathered to his people.  As a child of God, you will not only go to Heaven, but you will also be gathered to your people!  When you go to a 50th class reunion, you see those you knew well as young people, but now they are old. When you are gathered to your people in Heaven, you will see believers you knew on this earth, but they will there be eternally young, and you will be too! 

So, you will pass from this life and all it’s trouble, and receive a new body and a promise that you will never again experience pain, or suffering and death!  

If you know a fellow believer in Jesus who has recently passed from this life to the next, go ahead and weep, but not as those who have no hope!  Even though you are sad outwardly, let your heart rejoice for the great prize given to those who leave here as followers of Jesus!

And you can know for sure that there will be a gathering where you will be re-united with the one you love, and this time it will be forever!

“Lord Jesus, give me the great assurance to know that on the other side of death, for Your children is Eternal and complete Joy! And may You Jesus, be praised now and forever.  Amen.” 

Never as Good as a Kiss!

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We don't know everything, and our prophecies are not complete.  But what is perfect will someday appear, and what isn't perfect will then disappear.  When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do. But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways.  Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don't know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us.  For now there are faith, hope, and love. But of these three, the greatest is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 9 - 13

If you are experiencing this blog via the Internet, you are already aware of a thing called Facebook.  If you use Facebook, you can “post” messages and pictures about yourself and read and look at those of others.  And they are not communications from total strangers, but rather from your “friends.”  It is indeed addictive when someone “likes” your post or sends a message or request that you be their friend.  Even with all the back and forth information there is a personal connection that is not possible on Facebook.  Lonely and depressed people can do quite well on Facebook without anyone knowing that they are still lonely and quite depressed!  It is a substitute for real relationships.

Vital and alive relationships might start on Facebook, but they quickly become personal and face to face communion.

Are you simply a Facebook Christian?  Do you interact with the Father by reading His posts in the Bible and then craft prayers hoping He will “like” what you said?  The song “What a Friend We Have In Jesus” was not talking about a Facebook friend!  When Jesus is your friend you can ask Him anything.  You can find out what He thinks about even small things in your life.  Being a friend of Jesus means that you can sit quietly and say nothing to each other while you feel His presence all around you.  Jesus is a friend who never goes “off-line” and one who will never “de-friend” you.  

Certainly, reading the messages from God in the Bible is an important thing in your life as a Christian, but never forget that a love letter is never as good as a kiss!

“Lord Jesus, help me to experience You today as a real and living part of my life!  Thank You for sending Your Word as a Love Letter, but thank You as well for holding my life in Your arms!  And may You Jesus, be praised forever.  Amen.” 

Jesus Will Do Anything You Ask!

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Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need."   Jesus replied: Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don't you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father?  Don't you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn't said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things.  Have faith in me when I say that the Father is one with me and that I am one with the Father. Or else have faith in me simply because of the things I do. I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.

 Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father.  I will do whatever you ask me to do.

John 14: 8 - 14

For many years I have considered these verses and wondered what the really mean.  Can a person who has faith in Jesus do the same things that Jesus did?  And what about the statement Jesus made about doing greater things?  How can that be?

Then Jesus even made it more difficult to grasp when He said, “I will do whatever you ask me to do.”  Did Jesus really mean that He will do anything I ask?  

The next verse in John 14 makes it much easier to understand.  It says, “Jesus said to his disciples: If you love me, you will do as I command.”  

The only way to know what Jesus meant when He said He would do anything you ask is to truly love Him and obey His every command!  Then, you will be able to understand how to ask Him for something, . . . .anything!  

“Lord Jesus, I want to love You and obey You in everything.  Give me a heart and mind so turned to You, that I will only ask You for the things that You know I can have and that You desire to give me!  May You, Jesus be praised forever!  Amen.”

Consumed by Love!

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You are my God. I worship you. In my heart, I long for you, as I would long for a stream in a scorching desert.  I have seen your power and your glory in the place of worship.  Your love means more than life to me, and I praise you.   As long as I live, I will pray to you.  I will sing joyful praises and be filled with excitement like a guest at a banquet.   I think about you before I go to sleep, and my thoughts turn to you during the night.

Psalm 63: 1 - 6

These verses sound like a man in love!  The love that a man has for a woman is certainly, at least a shadow of the love that a man can have for God!  

Love is a lifelong commitment. Love does have a beginning, but an end of love is always a tragedy!   Love is greater than life itself, and a man in love is willing to give up his life for the one he loves!  Love is not about getting, it is always about giving!  

The one you love is always in your thoughts!  Your love is the last thought before you go to sleep and fills your dreams at night!  

A “good marriage” is an earthly picture of the love you can have with your Creator!  That’s why Satan wants so desperately to destroy and pervert marriage!

Remember this: It is totally appropriate for your love of Jesus Christ to consume your every waking thought and even your dreams at night!  Let your relationship with Him dominate everything you do every day!  Be ready to sacrifice even your life because of your love of Jesus!  If you do, you will be blessed forever with that same Eternal Love!

“Lord Jesus, thank You for letting me love You with everything that I am.  May this day be one of loving You and living to walk in Your Will.  Praise Your Holy Name forever.  Amen.”

Party in Your Heart!

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Fig trees may no longer bloom, or vineyards produce grapes; olive trees may be fruitless, and harvest time a failure; sheep pens may be empty, and cattle stalls vacant-- but I will still celebrate because the LORD God saves me.  The LORD gives me strength. He makes my feet as sure as those of a deer, and he helps me stand on the mountains.

Habakkuk 3: 17 - 19

We sometimes call it “Murphy’s Law.”  That is, a time when everything that can go wrong, does!  These verses in Habakkuk talk about a time when drought and famine and failure is everywhere you look!  

Even in the midst of a total meltdown of life itself a child of God can celebrate!  It is not the silly kind of celebration with a party and cake, but it is a celebration nonetheless!  Followers of Jesus can “party” in their hearts with the knowledge that they are destined for an Eternal Home with Jesus where all the troubles of this world will be left far behind!

Right behind the joy of meeting Jesus, face to face will be the joy of being “Gathered to Your People” like the Bible says Abraham was!  For Christians, death itself is only a temporary separation!  As you grow older, and feel life slipping away and the number of your remaining days on this earth dwindling down to only a few, if you love Jesus, you can celebrate that the time of you're leaving this earth is soon!

And oh yes, you will be able to thank Habakkuk for these encouraging words.

“Thank You Jesus, that I can celebrate on the most difficult days, because I know You will come to take me home with You forever!  Praise Your Holy Name!  Amen.”

   

Marching to the Drumbeat of Heaven!

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This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David's family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God's Holy Spirit.  Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.  While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, "Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her.  Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1: 18 - 21

The beauty of the birth of Jesus Christ was marred in the eyes of the world by the quite “obvious truth” that Mary became pregnant by someone other than Joseph.  And, if they didn’t think that Mary had been immoral, they at least thought Joseph had been intimate with Mary before they were married.  Either way, the most glorious and wonderful conception of a baby ever was seen as the result of someone’s sin!  

When you yield your heart to Jesus Christ and your life for the fulfillment of His will, how will those around you judge what they see?  As you embark on a life of living by the miraculous power of God instead of your own human strength, at the least you will look like a person who has lost his sanity.  And of course, like they did in the case of Mary, you may be judged to be a sinner!

Walking through your life on earth while marching to the drumbeat of Heaven is perhaps the greatest difficulty of following Jesus.  The standards and expectations of Eternity are not really compatible with the rules of humanity, established by the world around you!  As a child of God, walking in the light and being led by the Holy Spirit, you see those still caught in the world as extremely foolish.  And people who are not followers of Jesus see Christians the same way!  

It is only when the world sees the Power of God working in your life that they come to suspect that there may be truth and substance to what you believe!  Like Mary, the mother of Jesus you must look at what God is doing through you and not at what other people think of your life!  

“Lord Jesus, thank You for giving me the example of living a life that cannot be understood by the world around me.  May You Jesus be praised forever!  Amen.”

Easy Access to My Heart!

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Isaiah the prophet wrote about John when he said, "In the desert someone is shouting, 'Get the road ready for the Lord! Make a straight path for him.  Fill up every valley and level every mountain and hill. Straighten the crooked paths and smooth out the rough roads.  Then everyone will see the saving power of God.' "

Isaiah 40: 4 - 6

What was John the Baptist talking about when he declared that we should “Get the road ready for the Lord!” and “Make a straight path for him?” Frankly, I have never really thought about what John said and considered that it would apply to my life!  

There are many things, over which I have control that get in the way of God having His way with me!  If I am serious about wanting Jesus to be my Lord and Savior then I will do everything I can do to clear the path for Him to have His Way with me!  

What will happen when I “Fill up every valley and level every mountain and hill?”  What difference will it make when I “Straighten the crooked paths and smooth out the rough roads?”  Well, you see, then I and everyone else will see the saving power of God!  

Perhaps, another way of saying it would be this.  Give Jesus easy access to your heart and let Him be the captain of your ship!  When you do, you and everyone around you will be blessed!

“Lord Jesus, help me today to make it easy for You to get to my heart!  And may You, Jesus be praised forever.  Amen.”