Tag Archives: knowing God

What is life like in heaven?

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How do you imagine life in heaven? Old people in flowing white robes, sitting on puffy clouds, playing harps. Maybe you’d prefer endless days of golf or parties every night. Does beauty of nature fully restored speak to you? Or reunions with loved ones and famours bible characters? Endless worship? We’ll probably be surprised to find heaven is more than we imagine! But we don’t have to imagine heaven as an extension of our desires.  We can envision it based on what God reveals about heaven in scripture. Randy Alcorn’s book on Heaven surmises 21 things we can expect in heaven based on just three verses from John’s revelation of heaven. We’ll look at some of these today and the others in the next blog post, giving each of us time to read for ourselves and ponder our heavenly goal.

 
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. (Revelation 6:9-11)

 

1. When people die they go to heaven. This is the vision God gave John.

2. These people died for their faith. They were “the righteous made perfect.” (Hebrews 12:23)

3. People in heaven are remembered for their lives on earth. Do you wonder how your life will be remembered in heaven?!

4. They express themselves in heaven as we do on earth.

5. They raise their voices, indicating the ability to communicate with reason and passion as we do on earth.

6. They speak out in a unified voices. Unlike on earth, there will be a sense of solidarity and unity among people in heaven.

7. People in heaven are aware of each other, God, and the situation on earth.

8. People in the Present Heaven ask God to intervene on earth with his judgment over evil. “How long” until you judge? You and I have the same question as it sometimes seems that evil is triumphing over good and we await the answers to our prayers. Apparently, not all these questions will be answered immediately.

9. Being able to ask questions of God means they have access to him and they want to understand. God is big enough to handle any question you have of him. He longs for us to seek understanding as a greatly valued treasure.

10. They know what’s happening on earth; they’re aware that there are those not yet judged.

11. They have a concern for justice, just like we do.

12. They remember their lives on earth – that they were murdered!

13. They pray for judgment on their persecutors. It might seem on earth that the wicked get away with their evil deeds unpunished and that their earthly punishment is just not enough for the harm they’ve done. We’re called to pray for our enemies and their redemption, but also for God’s will be done, that those who are “hell bent” on wreaking evil, will be judged for their deeds. Be assured, what doesn’t seem fair now will one day be made right.

14. People in heaven knowledge God for who he is. It’s popular to say that God is love. And he is. Only he is so much more than that. He is sovereign, holy, and true. Being sovereign means he is in control even when it doesn’t seem so. His holiness means he cannot tolerate sin and demands an accounting. If it weren’t for the forgiving grace of Jesus, who could stand? Not me for sure!

 

As we prepare for our lives in heaven we are encouraged to get to know who God is now on earth: holy, just, worthy, sovereign, loving, forgiving, patient and forbearing, jealous of our idols. God is everlasting, all powerful, all knowing, ever present. His mercy and compassions are new every morning. He is God Almighty, the only one worthy of the name “awesome.” He is our provider and our protector. His Spirit gives us real power. He is the banner over our life and our shepherd when we are lost. He is our deliverer, healer, anointer, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the beginning and the end, the ruler, our rock and refuge, our creator and Abba Father, the Prince of Peace. He is the Breath of Life who empowers us and the Bread of Life who sustains us, our Lord and Savior, the light of the world.

 

Oh that we would devote ourselves to knowing him more here on earth as we will in heaven!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who is your God?

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When I was little I thought God was a wise looking old man with a long white beard and wearing a flowing white robe. Over the years my view of God has matured as I came to see him through the bible. A.W. Tower said:

“What comes to mind when we think of God is the most important thing about us.”

 

Why do you think Tozer would say the most important thing about us is what we think about God? After all, what we think about God doesn’t change who he is.

BUT, what we think God about changes us.

 

If you believe God is a myth, you’ll ignore him. If you think he’s a “nice guy in the sky – the man upstairs, maybe you’ll go to him when you run into trouble. But you won’t really get to know him. If you think God is a distant God who isn’t interested in you, you’ve built a wall that keeps you away from him. Maybe you think God is indeed God and you devote a certain part of each week to him in prayer, going to church, giving money etc. But really getting to know God is quite similar to getting to know a good friend. You spend time with them, learn their interests, their ambitions, and come to appreciate who they are.

 

We can learn about God by reading his Word, the bible. After all, that’s how he reveals himself and his plan for mankind. As you meditate on God’s Word you come to know God is a spirit being who lives for eternity. He doesn’t have birthday parties because he has no beginning or end. He is unchangeable. He doesn’t lie. That means his promises are always true. Often we go to God because he is full of power and wisdom. You think Google is pretty impressive? Not when you come to know God on a personal basis. God’s justice is pure because he is holy.

 

Personally, I’m always amazed at God’s compassions which are renewed every-single-day. His mercy is overflowing, his love is unending. He is the perfect model for how we should love one another. (See 1 Corinthians 13:4-13.)

 

Think about how God’s attributes have influenced your life. Maybe you’ll remember when you first received his forgiveness. Perhaps you’ve experienced his mercy and grace in a difficult situation, his comforting peace that replaced your anxiety, his calm assurance that melted your fear. I can trust my best friends because I know their heart. I can depend on them to be true in their counsel and care for me. True also to correct me if I get off base.  I have one friend who always ushers in peace when he walks through the door.  God is like that.

 

The more we know our loving, peace-giving, merciful God, the more we can trust him and depend on him. We can praise God for who he is, not just for what he’s done. We learn to come to him because we enjoy being his presence. We come to seek the Healer, not just the healing.

 

I wonder if there is an area of your life where you are having a hard time trusting God. Or maybe something you’re trying to hide from God. Maybe you keep clinging to old habits of worry, anxiety, fear, feeling of low worth. You’ve turned these over to God many times, but you still keep taking them back and behaving in harmful ways. Isn’t it time to stop those and start acting like God’s Word is true? Frustrated? Tell him and also ask him to draw you close and calm your heart.  Worried and anxious? Tell him about it and come to him, thanking him for his goodness and asking for his peace. Upset with other people? Ask God to see them through his eyes.

 

God wants you to know him and to enjoy his presence. Oh how he enjoys being with you!

 

 

 

 

By faith…

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“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2)

 

If God were to commend you, what would most catch His attention? Would it be your courage, your goodness, your knowledge of the bible, your ability to amass riches? Maybe, you might think of your abilities and achievements, your good deeds, even your service in His name. As desirable as some of these might be, they are not the subject of God’s most ardent attention. What is it that captures God’s heart? The author of Hebrews devotes an entire chapter to the one attribute He desires from us: faith.

 

Over a dozen examples are given, citing lives lived “by faith.” Not by being clever, intellectual pursuits, or logical analysis. Not by effectiveness in education, in science, in caring for others, in preaching or writing. Certainly not by judging or controlling others, by manipulative planning, or fancies of our own opinions.

 

God’s commendation is for living by faith. Faithfulness matters to God. Our God is always faithful and desires to see this in His children who are created in His own image. God desires a faith that guides our actions, not just our beliefs. It is by faith that we understand and relate to the world around us (v 3). By faith, we please God (v 6), obey what God tells us, not what we imagine to please us (v 7-12).

 

It is a hard teaching but by faith, we live and we die, sometimes without receiving – in this life – everything promised. By faith we live as aliens and strangers to this world, not possessed by it (v 13).

 

By faith, we endure tests of the most difficult kinds (v 17). By faith, we look to the future (v 20). It is by faith, we endure mistreatment and hardship (v 24). By faith, we regard earthly treasures as inferior to knowing God (v 26). By faith we persevere and flee that which seeks to hold us in bondage (v 27,29). By faith, we find victory over our enemies, true justice in an unjust world, protection from the evil one; we find strength in weakness, perseverance, freedom from fear, and purpose in suffering (v 30-38). By faith, we believe that even if we don’t receive what we are promised while on earth, that God has something better planned for us (v 39).

 

Let’s pause for a moment in stillness before God, and ask Him to evaluate the activities of our life and the motives of our heart. Ask Him to reveal the areas of our life where we shrink back and consider what is right in our eyes, rather than His. The one thing God desires of you is to live by faith, in and through whatever difficult situation confronting and perplexing you. Let’s determine our lives be marked…by faith.