Heaven is our Home

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)

Remember the hymn, "There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God."  Maybe that place could be called Heaven.

Heaven IS a place.   According to the Bible, heaven is an actual place – not an idea, or a feeling.  It is the place where God is and His presence is made known.

In Matthew 6:9 we find Jesus telling his disciples how to pray.  He begins the prayer with “Our Father who art in Heaven” – sounds like a place to me.

In 1 Kings 8:46 Solomon is pleading with God for the Children of Israel, He prays, and asks God, "then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people."  

We also find that it is God who has prepared Heaven for us. 

Jesus speaks of heaven as the kingdom which has been prepared for us from before the creation of the world. Again, then, we see it is a literal place where God is intent on blessing us.

Matthew 25 tells us “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”

And in Hebrews 11:16 we read, “Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

We learn that Heaven will be our home

Jesus prepared a room for us in God’s home.  Remember when Jesus told his disciples. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  John 14:1-3

This is really interesting, especially if we look at it from the culture that Jesus was a part of.  In those days, in Jewish culture, families lived in a sort of compound together and when a young man became engaged he would add a room on to his family house – his father’s house.  He worked on it until it was ready and then would go and get his bride and bring her back to her “new” home.  Jesus was looking at believers as His bride.  When Jesus ascended into heaven, He was going to prepare a home for us – His bride.  

Another aspect of heaven is that it will be a celebration – there will be a great banquet – a dinner – a feast.

Consider your memories, when you were young, do you remember how you prepared, when company was coming to dinner?  If we were celebrating something special – Easter, a birthday, a baptism, it was even more memorable. Mom had the house looking extra beautiful.  We all had to work hard.  Cleaned house, set up tables, ironed tablecloth, set out good china, took silverware out of special box, cooked all day.  How about you?  

God has prepared a banquet for us!  He’s done all of the work.  All we have to do is accept the invitation and put on the right clothes. 

I remember again that everyone in my family had to dress up for that special dinner, didn’t you?  Do you remember your mother telling you that you had to wash your face or, in my case, put on shoes? 

In the Bible there is a parable about the person who tries to come to a banquet of the King without the correct clothes.  It was an interesting analogy to me.  We are clothed in the blood of Jesus.  Jesus died and washed our robes.  He took the stain of sin away.  We can’t come to the feast in heaven unless our lives are washed clean by His blood, unless we are His disciples.  

Galatians 3:27 “ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

“I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”

Isn’t that beautiful?  Many will come and take their places at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.  That includes people from every nation. 

There's a picture in our dining room.  It’s there to help us remember that God has invited us to dinner.  He has invited us to come home and eat with Him.  The artist really put a lot of thought into this picture and although it’s just one person’s imagination of what our heavenly feast will be like, it’s meaningful. The table goes on and on for miles, signifying that many are invited.  He also shows that only the best is good enough for this dinner – He depicts elegant gold plates and silverware. 

But the seats around the table are empty – the heavenly feast is waiting until the trumpet blows and all of God’s people come home.

And if all this isn’t exciting enough – do you know that the guest of honor will be Jesus – the one who died to make it all possible.  Jesus will eat and drink with us.  At the last supper He said, "I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Heaven is a place – a place God has prepared for us – and a place where we’ll celebrate with Jesus at a huge banquet table. And best of all, Heaven is our home.

Prayer Changes things

Pray – talk to your Father.

Pray - and work for the good.

Pray – You’ll find that it profits.

Pray – You’ll be understood.

If we talk to our maker we’ll find comfort there,

and strength and resilience, as those burdens we bear.

When corruption engulfs us, and the evils wage war,

the Father who hears us will even the score.

Work and pray for God’s people.

God will work by your side.

He will build up your muscles and lengthen your stride.

He will multiply effort.

He will magnify strength.

He’ll make greater your forces, and enable restraint.

If we pray, we will act.  If we trust our Father to help us, we won’t be afraid to act.  Prayer changes things – not through the words we say, but through our connection with the only one who can change things. 

Thank you Father.

God's Fire and Gentleness

Do you know much about Elijah – God’s prophet?  He was the one who would show Israel God’s displeasure about their idol worship.  Elijah told the king of Israel at that time, Ahab, that there would be a drought until God decided to end it.  Elijah ran away from Ahab then and God provided for him. 

After three years God called Elijah to go to Ahab and show him God’s power.  He planned to help the Children of Israel return to the worship of the one true God.

God’s instructions were that Ahab was to bring the prophets of Baal and Ashtheroth to Mount Carmel. This is where it gets exciting.  Elijah had the Israelites get two bulls and let Baal’s prophets choose the one they wanted, cut it into pieces and put it on an alter with wood, ready for a sacrifice.  But he said not to set fire to it. Elijah would do the same to the other bull.

He told the prophets of Baal to call upon their god to produce the fire. Elijah said he would call upon his God to do the same thing.  And the god that answered would prove he was the true God.

The prophets of Baal called out to him. But there was no response.  This went on all day.  They cut themselves, danced and cried out – but no response.

Then Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord, and dug a trench around it, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he had the people fill four large jars with water and pour it on the bull and on the wood three different times. 

Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.   Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.  Can you just picture that? 

The true God had spoken. 

Elijah climbed to the top of the mountain and prayed.  When Elijah’s servant saw a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea, Elijah sent him to tell Ahab to hitch up his chariot and go down before the rain stopped him. 

The Bible says, “Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.  The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.” 

Quite a guy huh? 

Well, he was good at running - and when Jezebel found that Elijah had had all her prophets killed, she threatened to kill him.  He was afraid and ran for his life again.

Do you wonder how many times God had to prove His strength and power and His care before Elijah stopped running?

God told Elijah that he would provide, and He did.  God told Elijah that He would cause a drought, and He did.  God told Elijah that He would send the rain, and He did - but Elijah still ran away from Jezebel.

Are we any different from this man?   Elijah was afraid of Ahab and spent a good deal of time worrying about whether Ahab and Jezebel would hunt him down and kill him even after God showed His care for Elijah and his power. 

How many times have we basked in God’s care and provision and still worried about tomorrow?  Is that any different?

 

When we think about God’s power and His care for His people, don’t you think we should give up worrying? 

Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?...

1 Peter 5: 6-7 

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.

I love that last part – ”casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.”

I know that it’s not always easy to give Him all of our cares, but when we look back on our lives and see the times He has provided for us, the times that His power has conquered the evil in our lives, and the times He has carried us, we will be able to stop worrying about what is around the corner of this day because He cares for you!

His arms are strong enough.

They can hold you up when you weaken.

They will carry you when your strength is gone.

But He’s so gentle that you may not even know when it’s His strength that takes over.  You’ll just feel the burden less as life goes on.

You’ll be able to smile a little when you greet tomorrow’s dawn.   

As we go along this path of life, we may learn to recognize His strength in our trials.  We may learn to recognize His touch and see His footprints as He carries us.  Sometimes it’s just an “I wonder if that was God?” moment, or sometimes we know with all of our heart that it was His touch.

He carried Elijah; He proved His strength and power.

He’ll carry us.

It's a New Year

Another Christmas has come and gone

Let us talk of what we’ve seen. 

The angels sang of Jesus birth

announcing peace to all the earth.

The shepherd bowed then at the sight.

They found the child that wondrous night.

He came to earth as Mary’s son, the promised, long awaited one.

We hear of Jesus wondrous birth 

and sing of glorious peace on earth.

We praise the baby in the hay, and pause to celebrate the day 

and then we pack it all away

 

The trees and lights and treasures fair, 

we put the crèche with Jesus there.

For one more year we put away the trappings of that special day.

But

If we take God from His manger bed and see the holy life He led

and watch the Son of God and see Him die upon that cursed tree.

Christmas might be just the start

of Jesus living in your heart.

This is the last poem in the book, "These My Christmas Dreams." It’s the very last page – it’s the end.  Have you come to the end of Christmas?  Should Christmas have an end?  As we put our decorations away, as you get things back to normal, try to think of what normal should really be.

Should we leave the decorations out all year?  I’m tempted to do that. 

Should we try to duplicate that Christmas feeling?  Sometimes we can have the joy of Christmas at other times of the year. 

Should Christ have a more prominent place in our day-to-day lives?  Will He?

Today I sat by the wood stove and thought about the visits with our family – We have a lot of fun with silly gifts like the kazoos we gave all the grandkids, and the package of 4 mousetraps that Ron received in his stocking.  But the best gifts were the love and acceptance from friends and family. 

But now the house was quiet and I had time to think deeply.

I thought about the gift that God has given us – all of us.  A savior was born 2000 years ago.  God’s gift of salvation came wrapped as a tiny baby.  I wondered just how I would use what I’d been given this Christmas.  What would this life of mine involve now – or better yet, who that life would involve now. 

There’s another Christmas gift that God promised us. John 10:10 says, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." 

Abundant Life - what does that gift look like?  The dictionary defines abundant as:  marked by great plenty, ample, or bounteous. 

Jesus’ Christmas gift to us is abundant Life.  Would that be “a great deal of  money, many years on earth, lots of friends, excellent eyesight, or perfect health?” 

I think we’ll find that it’s really none of those things.  

You probably know about Joni Erickson Tada, who was injured when she was 17 in a swimming accident that left her a quadriplegic for life.  She had asked Jesus how she could have a closer walk with Him and He showed her.  She surrendered her will to God, and for the past 30 years, Joni has had a world-wide ministry helping other quadriplegics, and she’s ministered to those of us with sound bodies as well.  I love listening to her sing.  I love listening to her upbeat way of looking at life.  God has blessed her ministry and her life – with abundance.

I have some friends who have lived a long life.  They are in their 90s and above.  Is that an abundant life – plenty of years?  It is a certainly abundant in time, but compared to eternity – maybe not.

What about money?  Do you think that those with a bounty of things and money automatically have an abundant life?  Some people spend way to much time thinking about how rich other folks are and envying them.  All I have to do is think about my warm bed and dry place to live and food to eat – and I definitely see abundance – but is that what Jesus meant?

Let’s look at another person – we sing the song, "Blessed Assurance" written by Fannie Crosby.  The music was written by Phoebe Knapp.  Fannie was blind and very poor.  Phoebe was rich but they were apparently good friends.

Fanny was visiting her friend Phoebe, who played a new melody she had just composed. "What do you think the tune says?" she asked.

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine", answered Fanny Crosby – and it was.

Phoebe’s life was abundant, not because of her wealth, but because she used her talent to minister to all of us with that beautiful music.

Fannie’s life was abundant, even though she had neither wealth nor sight.

One of the verses in this song says, “Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight.” She who had no sight could yet see the visions of rapture in her imagination.  And she gave us the words.

What makes an abundant life, then? Is it Jesus himself? He came to bring us abundant life, but sometimes we think in terms of the material or the physical, but it’s our spiritual life that becomes abundant with Jesus running things.  Our spiritual life, our prayer life, our minds and hearts belong to God if we believe on Him.  They are the most important parts of living.

I pray that this year I will use well His gift of abundant life. 

Tomorrow, when I start to “undecorate” my house, I will not be putting Jesus away for another year.  He will not be living in a box in the attic; he will be living in my heart.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

(Galatians 2:20)

Christmas Peace

If you've read "These My Christmas Dreams" you'll recognize this, but I felt it was so appropriate this year, so I'm putting it in the blog - hope you don't mind the reprint.

Was there peace in Bethlehem 2000 years ago?

When the Christ, the holy Son of God, was born – did stillness flow?

Were the streets of Bethlehem peaceful and serene,

with quiet steps and whispered words -

a special Christmas scene?

People will tell you there was no peace in the city there -

with soldiers marching,

merchants selling,

beggars pleading,

voices yelling – no peace found anywhere.

But deep in my heart, I picture instead

peace for the Child

in his rough manger bed.

I believe that 

In the stable God harbored our Savior with peace.

He protected and watched Him that night

In the sheepfold, He proclaimed to the shepherds his peace,

As Bethlehem’s sky burned with light

In her heart, I believe, God gave Mary his peace,

though trials surrounded Christ’s birth

And I believe that He came to bless us with the peace

that transcends what we see here on earth.

Our world sounds a little like the town of Bethlehem when Christ was born, with soldiers marching, merchants selling, beggars pleading, voices yelling – no peace found anywhere.  We have politics and wars and unrest in the world.  Considering the way the world celebrates the Christmas season our lives get busier and busier.  We shop and cook and entertain, we plan and worry about the cost and then we sometimes wonder where the peace can be in all of this.

Do you think that possibly we’re looking in the wrong places?  Do you think that possibly we’re expecting the wrong type of peace?  Christ talked of HIS peace.

He said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, I do not give you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 14:27

It would sometimes be so nice to shut out the world, to be unable to hear the clamor and the noise.  Sometimes we can do that for a time, but the world continues to intrude.  Where can we go to get away from the feelings of unrest – only to God. 

As I sit by my woodstove on a cold, wintry night I see snow covering the windows.  The wind is howling and whipping the trees.  It rattles the fire, and sparks fly up in the stove.  All around me a white blizzard whirls, just like the snow globe you had as a child.  But with this blizzard comes a small picture of the peace Christ gives.  I’m warm and comfortable in front of my stove.  It warms my bones.  It warms my heart.  It’s beautiful to see and it continues in spite of the wild world outside.  God’s peace is a peace in the midst of the storm.  It’s not dependent on what’s going on outside my heart. 

In Luke 24, the writer tells us about the time when Jesus was sleeping in the boat when the storm came up.  The disciples were frightened – they thought they were going to drown.  They woke him and He calmed the storm. God was in charge of the storm.  He’s in charge of the storms in your life, too.  Go to Him.  Ask his help.  He’ll calm your heart if you accept his peace. 

 “ I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble, but take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

Ministry

I was speaking at one of the assisted living facilities in town the other day.  We were talking about paths and roads.  

The faces on those lovely people were a study in what happens when God touches lives.  Some were radiant with joy – some tender and caring – some interested and thinking deeply; but almost every one of them reflected God’s work in the lives of His children.

   

As we read verses from the Bible that were sometimes familiar, I saw lips moving with a remembered verse – always with such a strength of understanding that it made tears come to my eyes. 

Heads nodded when the Word told of God’s direction and care.  When asked to recite along with the reading of the 23^rd Psalm, almost every one of these beautiful people knew every single word – in the King James Version.  (It’s my choice for memorization as well.)

When we sang beautiful hymns of the faith, many of them didn’t even need to look at the words – they knew them.  They knew them because they had lived them.  They knew that the straight paths, the narrow paths, the paths lightened by God’s righteousness, were the paths that they had traveled over many years. 

The smiles on their faces as we talked about Jesus being the only path, the only way to the Father - to our eternal home, showed me that they knew everything I’d been talking about.  But the smiles and nods also told me that they appreciated being reminded.

A ministry?  Oh yes!  But they were ministering to me.  These beautiful faces drew me closer to the one who had sustained them for years.  These friends helped me to see that the closer you get to “home,” the more you’re aware of what home really means.

Beautiful!

Mining Silver

I was thinking about silver the other day when I saw the beautiful silver edge on the clouds.  God’s creation captures my imagination more than anything else.  So I decided it would be fun to talk about silver, and what the Bible has to say about it.

Through the ages silver has been used for many things including coins, jewelry, mirrors and medicine and electronics.  Silver is a bit pricy these days – not as costly as gold, but if you own a bunch of silver you’ve made a good investment. 

There are references to silver in the Bible - from Genesis through Revelation.  Genesis starts out by telling us that Abram had it in abundance and that people were using silver as money, even when Joseph was in Egypt. See Genesis 42:25.

And later silver was used in the tabernacle and in the temple. 

Silver when used generously is something good and when it is used to glorify God it pleases Him.  But as costly and beautiful as silver is, David tells us that God’s laws (instructions) are more precious than silver and gold.  He says, “The law from your mouth (God) is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.” Psalm 119:72

And Godly wisdom, we are told, is more profitable than silver.  Solomon, the wisest King wrote in Proverbs 3:13-14 

Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she (WISDOM) is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.

Silver, can be used in an evil way.  The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil.  When we use silver in a way that does not please God it can become tarnished – maybe you remember polishing the silverware when you were young.  There was that black stuff that came off on the polishing cloth.  Our lives can become tarnished and unlovely, but with the work of the Holy Spirit they can be made as bright as a freshly polished silver spoon.

1 John 1:7 tells us, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

 An interesting way that the Bible used Silver is by comparing the person who is lost with a missing silver coin in Luke 15.  

"Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.  Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and sys, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

What a touching view of our God – comparing himself to a women who sweeps her house and searches diligently to find her lost coin.  God searches for us and then there is rejoicing in heaven when we repent.

The Bible has a lot to say about silver, about how we use it, God warns us about its misuse.  He compares it with wisdom and his law, and he uses it as a symbol of a lost sinner.

I wonder if God thinks it’s as beautiful as we do?  Some of the most beautiful silver is found in things that God made for our enjoyment. 

The dew on the flowers shines like silver in the morning light. 

When you look at the silvery moon, do you see God’s hand molding it? 

When you see the silver lining on a cloud, do you think of Christ’s coming return - on the clouds – I do.

And some of the most beautiful silver I see is on the heads of the people I see around me.  Silver in a person’s hair is a sign of wisdom and remember that God knows the count of the hairs on the heads of his people. 

Proverbs 16:31 tell us that, “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness.”

Proverbs 20:29 says that, “The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair the splendor of the old.

Here’s a little poem I wrote for my friends with silver hair. 

Silver - God’s handiwork!  God’s gifts to us.

The daylight fades as the clock unwinds

and the moon paints the night with a silvery hue. 

Then the sun awakes

and dips the leaves

of flowers and trees with silvery dew.

Silver silhouettes the cottony clouds,

as it streaks through the sky, cutting heaven in two,

and you hold your breath,

as you watch and learn

that the silver shows God’s love for you.

Then you pass by a mirror and you smile hello,

the face in the silver-backed mirror smiles too.  

It shows the years

and the silvery hair,

a crown of respect God has given to you.

In God’s world, in His children, the moon and the dew,

the silver God mines shows He cares about you.

It’s a blessing, a wonder, and a gift from God’s hand

like a goblet of silver or a bright wedding band.

God gives to His children extravagantly,

these gifts full of love, abundant and free.

Diane Gruchow October 2012