LOVE WARRIOR

 

                    OUT OF LOVE AND FOR LOVE

LOVE WARRIOR

In the New Testament 99% or more of the time, when it speaks of loving one another, it is speaking of loving our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

The word also tells us we are to love everyone. To love all we must see others as God sees all. Because God loves all, He saw value in all life and so should we. God loves all of mankind that is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our substitute, our atonement for our sin. Jesus Christ loves us so much He was willing to come, He was willing to surrender to the Father's will, enduring the cross, He died and on the third day He arose, conquering death, hell and the grave, for everyone who receives His invitation to come and follow Him, accepting His gift of eternal life, receiving His forgiveness for our sins. In this we surrender to His Lordship in our lives. The invitation goes out to ALL but few accept it.

But this writing today is directed at loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. I saw some years ago that if we can't love our brothers and sisters in Christ, how can we love those in the highways and byways.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.

1John 3:16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up His life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

1Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud of rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice in injustice but rejoices whenever truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.

1Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up I put away childish things 

What is the one thing a child has in common and will throw a temper tantrum for? WANTING THEIR OWN WAY! Do we still want our own way? How badly? Look again at the verses 4-7 "Love does not demand its own way" so why do we?

                DON'T BE ONE WHO THROWS A TEMPER TANTRUM

This is what I see: lets say two people in the church both want their own way. Demanding our own way is selfish and  can become manipulating and controlling, then they will begin to enlist others to join their side, because they are convinced their way is right and the best. Yet, only one can get their way; so here is what I see as the result:

THE ONE WHO DID NOT GET THEIR WAY will produce (and probably more):

1. An offense 

2. Anger

3. Jealousy

4. A church divided

THE ONE WHO GOT THEIR WAY will produce (and probably more):

1. Pride

2. Boasting

3. Arrogance

4. A church divided

Remember in 1 John it says "we are to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters". That means we make a sacrifice of our wants, our ways etc, because our love for them is greater than our own wants and our own way.

A friend recently found two words written in her notes "LOVE WARRIOR", that spoke to me. To me it says, "I WILL FIGHT FOR GENUINE LOVE EVEN IF IT MEANS I SURRENDER MY WANT FOR WHAT YOU WANT"!

Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity!

That my friends is how I see a LOVE WARRIOR. We will fight the demonic work that attempts to enter in to destroy the love and unity in the church house.

The scriptures above are how loving the brethren looks like! At the moment of our salvation, we received the mind of Christ, we received His love for others, so isn't it time we put away the childish thoughts, reasoning, words and allow God to grow us to maturity. Nothing happens overnight it seems, but our part in our growth is to seek God in prayer, in His word renewing our mind, in fellowship together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and picking up our cross daily and following Him. Complete surrender to His will, His way. Then we will see how we surrender ourselves to one another, for God's kingdom purpose.

Be blessed you are loved!

A LOOK INTO HEAVEN "SEVEN"

 

PART SEVEN

WILL WE WORK IN HEAVEN

Before we begin, I need to clarify something. From Part Five until now it is speaking of after the catching away of the church. Until we receive our new glorified bodies, we are only in heaven in our spirit/soul form and nothing I have written in Part Six and in Part Seven would pertain to what we may be doing in heaven at this moment. Today we will finish this brief look into heaven. First we will look at our work in heaven, and then New Jerusalem our home in heaven.

Will we have jobs to do in heaven, the scripture does tell us we will have jobs to do here on earth during the thousand year reign. But what about in New Jerusalem?

Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

Who are His servants? In Revelation 22:8-9 John had fallen down to worship at the feet of the angel that was speaking to him. But the angel said for him not to do that "For I am your fellow servant". Angels were created to serve their Creator, at the moment of our salvation we were brought into the kingdom to serve our Creator, our Savior. Each of us were given a calling to serve and though we will not need pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles, evangelist, ambassadors in heaven our calling to serve is still going to be. What we will be doing we do not know, as our finite minds cannot comprehend heaven and all its glory. But it says the curse is no more, the curse of sin, death, pain, suffering and even the curse of the ground.

Genesis 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Edom to tend and keep it.

This was before sin. Adam was to cultivate and work the ground, yet it would not be a troublesome work. Then read these verses, after the fall of man:

Genesis 3:17-19 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, "You shall not eat of it", Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return".

Not many enjoy working today, oh perhaps a few, but most can find it a drudgery, just a means to be able to make it in this life. And the thought of having jobs in heaven doesn't sit well. What service we will do for Jesus in heaven I do not know, but I know we are not sitting around all day on fluffy white clouds doing little to nothing. If we are unwilling to serve in His kingdom here, will we desire to serve Him in heaven?

Worship in heaven will be loud and exciting, will we do it all together at certain times probably, maybe. I almost wrote morning, noon and night but those are not in heaven as we know it on earth. Because there will be no sun to give light nor moon and stars at night:

Revelation 21:23 The city had no need of the sun or if the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God will illuminated it. The Lamb is the light.

When God created the sun, moon and stars it is written He created for signs and seasons, to distinguish each day, a cycle that we know as time. But we are now in heaven and time as we know it no longer exist. One day will be forever and ever (eternity). In Revelation 5:9-10 and in Revelation 14:3 it speaks of a new song we will sing, known as the song of the redeemed, we will sing of His worthiness, His faithfulness, His goodness, we will praise Him with a pure heart and a beautiful voice. QUESTION: We will sing our praise to Him in heaven, so why should we not be singing it here, right now, in our homes, our quiet times, in times of our corporate worship. As I have read in the Revelation I noticed that when the angels sang we began to sing also. Let the redeemed worship today and for all eternity.

NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH

2 Peter 3: 10,13 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

The following is a description of New Jerusalem, as it descends from heaven, adorned like a bride, coming to the new earth. Adorned like a bride, announces the beauty of New Jerusalem. The description I am giving is found in Revelation chapters 21-22. Notice our home in heaven now is the same home New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven and rests on the new earth. So the description below is what we would see in heaven right now.

Father, let whatever I write be according to Your word, that I will not add to nor take away from. In Jesus name Amen

12 walls around the city, each wall has a foundation of precious stones. We will begin with the first foundation and go up:

    Jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, 

     Sardonyx, Sardis, chrysolite, beryl, topaz

     And amethyst.

12 gates each gate made of ONE PEARL.

Streets of pure gold like transparent glass, in one verse it is called a city of gold

A pure crystal river the river of life flowing from the throne of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.

Tree in the center and on its banks each bearing 12 fruits a month and the leaves are for the healing of the nations.

No temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple

No sun, moon or stars

The gates are never shut by day and there is no night. Notice we will be able to go out of the city.

NEW EARTH

Revelation 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more seas.

Genesis 1:31 Then God saw everything He has made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

In the beginning of earth's creation, all things were perfect, blessed by God. Man, beast, God lived in fellowship one with another. Then the first Adam listened to Eve who listened to Satan and sin entered the garden of Eden, sin entered mankind, sin entered into whole earth. Fellowship was broken, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came that that broken fellowship would be no more. He came to dwell in us and with us. In our earthly life we live in a fallen world, a world who is against the One True Living God, a world filled with sickness, and total depravity. But here in our New Earth living in New Jerusalem, it is as God always intended it to be. 

WHO IS NOT FOUND IN HEAVEN

Nothing that defiles or causes an abomination, or a lie, no cowardly, no unbelieving, abomination, murderers, sexual immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars. If their name is not found in the Lamb's Book of Life then they are not in heaven.

Revelation 22:12-13, 16,20  And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to His work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly". Amen Even so, come, Jesus.

Here is our hope for all that have had loved ones go on before us, because the tomb was empty, and our Lord lives, they will not return to us, but we will go to them. Our hope rests in only One, Jesus Christ, because we have placed our faith in Him alone, we have and will continue to overcome. We are just sojourners traveling through this old world but our names are written down in heaven and we are seated in heavenly places. So keep looking up, keep moving forward, God and Jesus are always working on our behalf. 

THE BEGINNING!

A LOOK INTO HEAVEN "SIX"

 

PART SIX

IS ANYBODY SLEEPING?

Man I sure do enjoy my sleep this side of heaven, my body gets tired and sometimes exhausted, I just need to lay down and rest. But will we need to do that in heaven?

In Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested from all His work which He had done.

Now we know that God needs no rest, He was before He began to create the earth, He was and always was and always will be. So what happened and why did God rest from all His work? God, knew all life that He had created would need to rest their physical bodies, so in that moment God created Rest, not for Himself but for mankind.

Multiple times in scripture it speaks of entering into His rest. That time we stop trying through our works and begin to trust in Jesus and His finished work.

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Will our incorruptible bodies require sleep probably not, for we are at rest in Christ forever and ever and ever. In the beginning God created both day and night for us a time to work and a time to rest. But in the new heaven and the new earth there will be neither, sun, moon or stars. We cannot know for certain if we will sleep, or just spend time resting, fellowshipping with our loved ones and the saints of old, worshipping our Savior. But we won't be floating around on fluffy clouds with halos, wings and playing harps. 

Heaven will not be boring, angels around, Jesus presence, God in all His authority sitting on His throne, the Holy Spirit present, the singing, the shouting, the dancing in heaven. The eating! WHAT! Will we eat in heaven? We'll see! 😁

EATING WHAT WILL WE EAT?

Oh like Jesus did after His Resurrection we will have a body like His, which is very capable of eating.

Luke 24:40-43 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. But while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, He said to them, "Have you any good here?" So they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.

It doesn't say that Jesus was actually hungry, or did He want to show them He was not a ghost but in fact the risen Savior.

Mark 14:25 Assuredly I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day I drink with I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Some scholars believe this could be speaking of the earthly millennial kingdom, but I must say perhaps it is speaking of the Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.

Revelation 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage supper of the Lamb, has come and His wife has made herself ready.

In Jewish customs The Marriage Supper lasted 7 days, it was the consummation of the bride and groom. Notice how suddenly the church has changed from being called the bride to being called His wife.

Look with me in Revelation 22:1-2 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for healing of the nations.

This fruit we will access to and eat from. Remember the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, had been forbidden to eat from, but now we are given the freedom to eat as we are now in our new eternal bodies which has been completely freed from sin and we will live forever and ever.

While talking to a friend about this subject we both thought that it will be as it was in the Garden of Eden before man's sin brought a curse on the land.

Genesis 1:29 And God said, "See I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be good".

Here is the list of the kinds of food that was eaten in Jesus day and in the Old Testament. If we are eating most likely it will not be the high sugar content we enjoy now, but rather the healthy meals as was eaten in Jesus day, also most likely no meat going back to the garden of Eden:

MEATS: goat, lamb, cows, small fowl, fish

BREADS: wheat grain made into a flat bread

FRUITS: fresh figs, melon, apricots, dates, dried fruits

OTHER: cheese and curdled milk (compared to liquid yogurt) made from sheep or goats milk

Olives, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, pine nuts, lentil stew, soups, garlic

HERBS & OIL: olive oil, cumin, black cumin, coriander, salt.

I sure didn't see my honey buns in that list 😁.

The truth is we cannot know the extent of our eating and what we will eat, nor how often we will eat. We do know that whatever we eat or not eat, being in the presence of Jesus is more important than food.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him as He is.

NEXT BLOG POST WILL FINISH THIS "A LOOK INTO HEAVEN."

We will look at what we will actually do in heaven. And we will look at the New Heaven and New Earth and who is not there.

A LOOK INTO HEAVEN "FIVE"

 

An invitation as gone out

PART FIVE

WHAT WILL WE WEAR?

In Matthew 22:1-14 Jesus told a parable about a king and a wedding feast. In verse one He compared it to the kingdom of heaven and goes on to tell how the marriage of His Son had come, yet those who first called (The Jews, His people) chose not to come and in fact murdered His servants He sent to invite them. Then He sent His servants to the highways and byways to invite ALL, here it is, our invite, to come and receive His invitation. The wedding garments were very important, when the king came in he saw one with no wedding garment on, and in the parable the king asked him how he got in without a wedding garment? The man was speechless and was then cast into hell. It is in verse 14 that Jesus says "Many are called but few are chosen". The meaning is simply this, the call to come and receive His invitation goes out to everyone, yet few chose to receive His call.

I don't know a lot, but in this parable I believe Jesus was saying that no one could enter into heaven nor come to the marriage supper of the Lamb without the proper wedding garment. So our garment is extremely important; therefore, we need a true biblical understanding of what our garment in heaven will be. I suggest you open your word and read the parable found in the scriptures above. So let's look at our wedding garment, least we be found naked. Found in Revelation 16:15.

Ephesians 5:26-27 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not have spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy without blemish.

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me in the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And a bride adorns herself with jewels.

Zechariah 3:4b ...... "Take away the filthy garments from him." And to him He said "See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes." 

Read Revelation 3:4-5 it speaks of those who walk with Him being clothed in white. White always represents purity.

Revelation 19:7-9 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!" And then he said to me "These are the true sayings of God."

So now stop and look around at the scene in heaven around us, what do you see? I see white, pure white garments worn by all present, the garment we wear represents our faith, our salvation the cleansing of the blood of Christ as we were washed in His blood and through His word. The robe we have on is a robe of righteousness, in and of ourselves we are as it is written in Isaiah 64:6, until our salvation we were wearing fifthly rags as garments. But we were given at the moment of our conversion His righteousness. In Ephesians 2:10 we are told we are His workmanship, created in Christ for good works. These good works are our righteous acts 

Our wedding garments, as we spent eternity in heaven, likewise are eternal. They never wear out, they never get dirty, torn nor will they be thrown off or thrown away. These garments are part of us, it identifies us as those who were called and received the gift of salvation through faith and repentance, offered by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. I could write and give many scriptures about our part here in this life we now live, to make ourselves ready and how to keep our garments without spot or blemish, but not in this blog.

WHEN WILL WE RECEIVE OUR HEAVENLY GARMENTS?

Listening to reliable pastors, I hear at the Judgment Seat/Bema Seat of Christ. Let's look at this very quickly.

Here are the Judgments of God:

1. SIN was judged at the cross

2. All believers must go before the JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST/BEMA SEAT. We are saved, but this is the time we will give answer for what did we do with Christ while in our life here. What was the motivation behind our good works to bring glory to ourselves or glory to God. Were we obedient to what Jesus asked us to do, or were we disobedient. Did we love the brethren, were we witnesses of His goodness. Here we will give an account of every idle word spoken and more. Here we will receive our rewards. I did a blog about that in May 2019, not going to go into it now.

3. THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS, will take place during the Great 7 year Tribulation. Every tongue, tribe and nation, people great and small will face the wrath of God, because they didn't accept His gift, His Son. ( Salvation will be available during this time)

4. GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT, takes place at the end of the 1,000 year reign when Satan is permanently cast into the Lake of Fire. Then all the unbelievers will rise up out of their graves and be changed into bodies designed for an eternity in Hell. They will come before God and the books of all their life will be opened and their name will not be found in the Lamb's Book of Life, they will be found guilty and cast into the Lake of Fire for all eternity.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which has been built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

We All Will Appear Before Christ

What is the fire mentioned above? John's vision of Jesus:

Revelation 1:14 His head and hair were white as wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a flame of fire

There is the fire, we will look into the very face and eyes of our Savior as we see all our actions played out before us, done with the wrong motive. 

It is here that we long to hear the words "Well Done Good and Faithful Servant"!

Help us Jesus that we will waste not one more moment of our life on trivial things and fail to be whom You have called us to be. Let us be obedient to You, to seek You, to be a continual witness of Your goodness. Let us use the gifts and talents You have given us for your kingdom purpose and not hide them away. In Jesus name Amen

We will lay our crowns down

A LOOK INTO HEAVEN "FOUR"

 

PART FOUR

HE PROMISED

Acts 1:11 who also said "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

John 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

In the chapters before this, Jesus had just told His disciples what was about to take place. And He knew their hearts were troubled by what He had said. Can we even comprehend what they were thinking, the Messiah they had been waiting for to free them from Roman rule, just said He was going to be betrayed by one of His own, and would be put to death, and rise again. How could they really comprehend what was soon coming. He encouraged them not to lose faith. "Father's home, many mansions"; when we think of mansions we think in the natural of what we have seen in photographs. Yet, the word "Mansions" in the Greek means "Rooms" "Dwelling Place". Basically He was saying there was plenty of rooms for everyone. How did Jesus prepare a place for us? To understand that we have to look at how God established the manner of what the High Priest would do on the Day of Atonement. The High Priest would take the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it over himself then as the blood was an atonement of the sins of the people, he would then sprinkle the blood over the mercy seat that the sins of the people would be forgiven. Jesus is our High Priest, once and for all, His blood cleanses us from our sins, most theologians say to fulfill the role as our High Priest, He would have had to take some of His own blood and sprinkle it on the mercy seat in heavens Throne Room. I suggest you read in God's word:

Hebrews chapters 8,9,10.

Why is there a delay from when He spoke this to His disciples, 2000 years ago? I will give you a couple of verses and add this: " you and me" the gospel continues today because God is long suffering and desires all to come to repentance. And there is coming a day when the last person will hear and receive the gospel message and God the Father will say "Son go get Your bride!"

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness , but is long suffering toward us, not willing any should perish but that all should come to repentance

Matthew 24:14 And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations.

The people and the disciples were expecting the end of Roman rule, but Jesus came to set up the kingdom of God first.

CORRUPTIBLE BECOMES INCORRUPTIBLE

The word corruptible biblically speaking means "Decay"

These bodies we are all in, age, get disease, they are known as corruptible. I suggest you read 1 Corinthians chapter 15 in it's entirety. Here are some verses:

1 Corinthians 15:50-54

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery; We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed----in a moment in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory".

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Notice "shall be caught up together with them", Reunion Day!!!! 

The event known as the Rapture will take place, and if you are one who follows the prophetic teaching in the scriptures, we know that this event could happen at anytime. All prophecy has been fulfilled. But what this does not mean is we sit down and wait, quiet the opposite we continue to walk with Jesus, we continue to be His witnesses, we in faith keep doing the last thing He told us to do. 

As we continue in this Look Into Heaven, we now will begin to look at what will take place in heaven as we unite with our saved loved ones, Oh behold the glory of heaven, what about the judgment seat, what will we be wearing, will we eat in heaven, will we sleep in heaven, will we have jobs to do in heaven. So much we have to look forward to, like the old song says "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be"!

Be blessed, Jesus loves you ❤️❤️

A LOOK INTO HEAVEN "THREE"

 

PART THREE

WHAT'S MISSING?

As we walk through heaven and we see Jesus, we see God the Father, we see His throne, we see His angels, we also see our loved ones who have gone on before us. At this time they are in spirit form, they will receive their incorruptible bodies as they rise from the grave and their new bodies unite with their spirit/soul, (We will begin to look a little closer to this great event next time).

I want to say right here that soul sleep and purgatory are not biblical doctrine. When the scriptures speak of "asleep in Christ", it speaks of their rest in death. Jesus said to the thief on the cross "Today you will be with Me in paradise". The thief had made a death bed confession of faith and in faith believed in Jesus as His Savior.

The scriptures say "It is given unto man to die once and after that the judgment". The decision to believe and follow Christ is made here in this life, after we die our family cannot pray us into heaven nor can we work our way into heaven. I will speak of the unbelievers in a later blog post.

Listen to the words of Paul the Apostle:

Philippians 1:21 For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain

Philippians 1:23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

What we look like in our spirit form, I do not know. Men have tried to paint a picture of what we look like in the spirit, but that is a picture only our finite minds can comprehend. But I do know this we will recognize one another no matter what form we are in and we will recognize other men and women of God even though we have never met them, example: at the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus' disciples with Him recognized Moses and Elijah and they had never met them. And they had no photos to see. 

But let's keep walking what do you not see in heaven?

These things are not found in heaven:

1. Sin

2. Disease

3. Sickness

4. Sorrow

5. Pain

6. Grief

7. Anger

8. Hate

9. Fear

10. Worry

11. Tears

12. Unbelievers

Heaven our hope, our future, to finally see our Lord, our Savior, to once more reunite with our loved ones. It is written that when we received the Holy Spirit, we each one received His joy, and His peace. Right now we only know in part but then we will know in completion, that joy, that peace will be complete.

Next time we will look at John 14:1-3 and look at our dwelling place. And next great event coming, the catching away of the bride of Christ. 

Be blessed, I hope you find comfort and see hope in what we will see in heaven.