Category: Heaven

Scripture for Friday, October 27 (10/27)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, Life of Christ, Saved from hell, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 27 (10/27), is Mark 10:27 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God: All things are possible with God.’ “

Can we be perfect? God let mankind try for many centuries to be perfect.

To one group of people he gave over 600 laws and said, “If you keep these, you will be perfect.” But, as hard as the Jews tried, no one could keep the Law of Moses perfectly.

To the rest of the world, he basically said, “Try to figure out for yourselves how to be perfect.” So, they tried all kinds of religions, but with all of them, they could not be perfect.

Finally, mankind was ready for Jesus. He came to earth and lived that perfect life that is impossible for us to live. He became the perfect Lamb of God, and sacrificed his life for us, for Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death.” He collected the wage for us.

So now, according to Romans 6:3-4, just as Jesus died on the cross, we too can die to our sinful nature ~ the part of us that sins and doesn’t care. Then, just as Jesus was buried in his tomb, we too can be buried in a watery tomb of baptism. And finally, just as Jesus was raised up out of his tomb the Savior, we rise up out of our watery tomb the saved.

Then God considers us perfect too. God cannot associate with sinners in his heaven. He can only have perfect people in his heavenly home. Impossible for us to live there with him someday? Yes. But, God sent Jesus to fix that problem. With God, nothing is impossible.

 

 

 

Scripture for Wednesday, October 25 (10/25)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn church, Death of Jesus Christ, Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hell, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 25 (10/25), is Hebrews 10:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another ~ and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Some people declare, “I can walk through nature ~ the temple of God ~ and feel God is closer there than in a church building.” Well, do they really do it? How often? The purpose of the church meeting is not so much to encourage ourselves as to encourage others along with worshiping God.

Look at the context. Verse 23 says “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” and verse 24 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” How do we do these things? A lot of it is done during our congregation’s worship and encouragement service.

And what comes after our verse for today? Verse 26 says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” Meeting together with other congregational members is one of the major things that keeps us from falling.

Should we meet once a week? This scripture says to meet “all the more as you see the Day [of Judgment] approaching. Many say, “But that’s too inconvenient.”

It was inconvenient for Jesus to leave a perfect heaven for an imperfect earth. It was inconvenient for him to leave the company of angels for the company of sinners. It was inconvenient for him to do this for 33 long years. Inconvenient taking the blame for our sins, and then taking our punishment. Inconvenient experiencing agonizing spiritual death when God left him on the cross, and then that agonizing physical death.

Do we really know inconvenience?

 

Scripture for Sunday, October 22 (10/22)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hell, Thanksgiving, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 22, is Hebrews 10:22 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

The previous verse said that Jesus is the great (high) priest over the house of God (the church). Therefore, the sprinkling refers to the sprinkling of blood the high priests did on the Day of Atonement once a year. (See Leviticus 16 in the Old Testament.) Now our hearts (which we cannot see or touch) are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus.

And how are we to be cleansed from that guilty conscience with our bodies (which we can see and touch) being washed? I Peter 3:21 says, “Even so does baptism now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God.”

We do not have to guess whether we were sincere enough when we gave our heart to the Lord. Our conscience never has to wonder if we did it right. For God gave us something we can actually do to give us a good and clear conscience toward him.

From henceforth, we can draw near to God in full assurance. Full! Not partial. Not wondering. Not with ups and downs of faith. But full! God thinks of everything!

 

Scripture for Friday, October 20 (10/20)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Heaven, Inspirational, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 20 (10/20), is Deuteronomy 10:20 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 5-FloodGates-Cover-Medium-New“Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him.”

In the Hebrew, “fear” is yirah. It means to revere. Psalm 111:9 (KJV) says, “Holy and reverend is His name.” The Bible does not tell us that anyone else’s name is reverend or that anyone else can wear that name as a title ~ only God. Some say, “Well, I’m honoring God when I add ‘Reverend’ to my name.” Actually, no.

We are told to hold fast to God. Who do we hold fast to? Our denomination? Our religious friends? Our self-help Christian books? Our religious leaders? God says, “Hold fast to me.” How is that done? By reading his words for ourselves and obeying it, regardless of what our non-religious or religious friends tell us; by putting God on a pedestal, not a person.

Hold fast to Reverend God, and he will hold fast to you. And so, we worship him.  

Scripture for Sunday, October 8 (10/8)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn good works, Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hellLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 8 (10/8), is Romans 10:8f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Indeed, the word is in our mouth through confession of our faith in Jesus, and in our heart for truly believing it and not just saying it.

Some say we are not saved by works, and it is true in the sense that we cannot go around doing so many good works that God will feel obligated to take us into his home. We can never be good enough because we still sin and those sins need to be washed away.

In the sense that we do not have to do anything to be saved, it is not true. Jesus took care of that impossible part. But for our part, he said faith is a work: “Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent’ ” (John 6:29).

To many faithful Christians, there are times in our life that faith is indeed hard work. We are beset with so many problems that we begin to wonder, “Does Jesus really care, as he claimed?”.

Let us continue to work at our faith. We will have our ups and our downs. Sometimes our faith will be strong and sometimes weak. But remember, even when we doubt God, God never doubts us.

Scripture for Tuesday, October 3 (10/3)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, judging, Saved from hell, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 3 (10/3), is John 10:3ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 8-ComeFlyWithMe-Cover-Medium-New“The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out….I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”

First of all, we use the term saved/salvation so loosely, we tend to forget what we are being saved from. We are being saved from hell! This is not a minuscule matter.

Second, how do we avoid hell? Through Jesus! This is the only way.

How many of us have been to funerals where the deceased was preached into heaven? So many people believe they are “good enough” or “not too bad” and so God would be horrible to not let them into heaven. Such people will climb in through windows so to speak into heaven as the “thieves and robbers” Jesus referred to.

But heaven is God’s home, not ours. He has a gate into it, just like we have doors on our house. Just like we are not obligated to open the gate or door into our home to just anyone, God is not obligated to open his gate to just anyone. Our door and God’s gate are there for a reason.  Let us enter heaven through the gate ~ Jesus.

Then God will smile and say, “Welcome home.”

Scripture for Monday, October 2 (10/2)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Heaven, Inspirational, power, prayer, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 2 (10/2), is Daniel 10:2ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-REV-Cover-No Logo-KINDLE-medium” ‘At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks…On the twenty-fourth day of the first month…I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude….Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there with the king of Persia.’ “

The description of the speaker indicates he is an angel, possibly Gabriel. Michael is another known angel. In Daniel 12:1 he is called “Michael, the great prince who protects your people.” Jude 9 refers to Michael as an archangel who disputed with Satan over the body of Moses.

Revelation 12:7-9 says, “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down ~ that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.”

Now, let us look back at Daniel 10. Daniel prayed for 21 days. The un-named angel (Gabriel?) appeared to him on the 24th day and said Daniel’s prayers had been heard the first day, but God’s angel could not break away to help because of fighting Satan’s angels.

Now look at Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Does our persistence in prayer give strength to the angels?  Something to think about….

 

Scripture for Thursday, September 28 (9/28)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, Heaven, Inspirational, prayer, Saved from hell, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 28 (9/28), is Hebrews 9:28 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

campbell-cover-kindle-lg-medium“So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Waiting is hard to do. We wait for relatives to arrive at our house for a visit. We wait for our next promotion. We wait for babies to be born. We wait for enough money to buy new clothes.

But what about waiting for something that we have never seen? Waiting for something we believe in by faith? Waiting an entire lifetime?

All the more reason to keep our eyes on the Word, our activities in good works, and our hearts on our Creator and Savior. It’s a long spiritual walk. But just keep walking, and keep walking, and keep walking until some day in the distant future you walk right through the gates of heaven.

Then, when you look back from eternity, you will say, “The wait wasn’t so long after all.”

Scripture for Tuesday, September 26 (9/26)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, Life of Christ, Satan, Saved from hell, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 26 (9/26), is Hebrews 9:26f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment.”

According to the Old Law of Moses, sacrificing the body of perfect animals had to be done to temporarily collect the wage of death for people’s sins. (Remember, the wages of sin is death ~ Romans 6:23.) But it had to be done on a regular basis. Then Jesus became the perfect Lamb of God. In a sense, he laid his body down on the altar of the world and died our body death for our sins. One of the last things he said was, “It is fulfilled”. He had fulfilled the Law of Moses ~ every jot and tittle ~ by living it perfectly and never sinning (Hebrews 4:15). Thereby, he freed us from slavery to the Law, including animal sacrifices.

Therefore, just as Jesus’ body died once, our body dies once. Then our judgment. No second chances. No being bought out of punishment. No reincarnations.  No going back and trying to be perfect again and failing again. Jesus released us from all of our failures at being perfect.

We marvel at all he did for us to save us from hell. How amazing God’s plan for us! We fall at his wounded feet and worship.

 

Scripture for Sunday, September 24 (9/24)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hell, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 24 9?24), is Luke 9:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”

Romans 6 explains this phenomenon best. We are to put our old self to death ~ to crucify that part of us that sins and doesn’t care, that part of us that puts ourselves first (verse 7) ~ in imitation of Jesus dying. Once we decide to put that part of ourselves to death, we are buried, just like Jesus was buried (verse 3 & 4a).

And then, “just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (verse 4b). Why? “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (verse 5). Having been “brought from death to life” (verse 13) through baptism, we have been born again!

Jesus’ physical death on a physical cross had a spiritual meaning of a spiritual death. We understand that. Our watery death has a spiritual meaning of a spiritual death also. There is another spiritual death called the second death in Revelation 21:8. If we go through the first spiritual death at baptism, we will not have to go through the second spiritual death in hell. We will have lost our life of sin and in the process saved our souls.

Only a spiritual mind understands this. And how amazing it is.