I Corinthians 15:58 - Resurrection

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Chapter 15 talks about resurrection. As a Christian, we have no fear of death. We may not fully understand what will happen after death, but we do know we will be with God. The sting of death is sin, with Christ as my salvation, there is no sting of death. In fact, death is something to look forward to because we can not be with God for eternity while in human form. So, as the verse above states, while we are here on earth, we must do the work of the Lord, knowing this is the only work that matters into eternity.

Lord, thank you for the hope of resurrection. Please help us to be useful to the kingdom while here on earth. Amen.

Psalm 122:1 - Jerusalem

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
     “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

This Psalm is all about Jerusalem, I've talked a lot about the difference between the old and new testaments, which is basically the difference between Judaism and Christianity.  For the Jews, Jerusalem was a holy city. That is where the temple was built and was the only true place of worship. Later synagogues came about which were a local place of worship. Many things in Judaism are foreshadowing of things to come. As Christians, we do not have a holy city on earth. Our Jerusalem is heaven. This is the city we long to go to, the house of the Lord.

Lord, thank you for your holy city. Please let us long to be with you in heaven and sing of it's glory. Amen.

Psalm 119:50 - Hope and comfort

My comfort in my suffering is this:
     Your promise preserves my life.

This section of Psalm 119 is about the hope and comfort found in the law. As Christians, we also find hope and comfort in the word. Primarily this comes from the knowledge that no matter what we suffer on this earth, as a follower we know our final destination is with God in heaven.

Lord, thank you for the comfort and hope you give us. Please help us to live every day with salvation in our hearts. Amen.

Psalm 107:14 - Chains

He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
     and broke away their chains.

We all have chains. Chains of addiction, sorrow, pain or trouble. But when we allow God to bring us out of the darkness and into his glorious light, he also helps us break our chains. Chains don't always break overnight and if you are like me, you have a tendency to go back and put the chains back on, but with the hope of heaven in our sight, we know that these chains are not our master and one day we will be made perfect and chain free when we are with God.

Lord, thank you for bringing us out of the slavery of sin, Please help us to continually rely on you to remove our chains. Amen.

Psalm 101:2 - Blameless

I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
     when will you come to me?
I will conduct the affairs of my house
     with a blameless heart.

Those who claim to be Christians are working toward this goal: we want to be blameless. We want to lead a blameless life and have a blameless heart. Perfection is a goal we won't achieve until we are with God in heaven, we are all sinners, but hopefully every day we are making progress in our obedience to God.

Lord, thank you for your promise of being with you in heaven. Until that time, please help me to live a blameless life. Amen.

Psalm 87:6 - Register of the peoples

The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
     “This one was born in Zion.”

At the time this verse was written, "one born in Zion" meant an Israelite. Genealogies were very important because they established citizenship in the Israelite nation. As Christians, we have spiritual birth in Zion. Heaven is our spiritual home. We are written in the "book of life/register of the peoples."

Lord, thank you for offering us spiritual citizenship in your kingdom. Please help us to live as members of your family. Amen.

Psalm 84:2 - My new favorite psalm

My soul yearns, even faints,

     for the courts of the Lord; 

my heart and my flesh cry out

     for the living God.
What a beautiful psalm! I believe this is my new favorite psalm. Psalm 84 focuses on heaven. Verse 5 calls our journey to Zion a pilgrimage. Verse 7 says we go from "strength to strength" on this journey. And I love verse 10: "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." Maybe I should have just printed out the whole psalm...or you could read it.

Lord, thank you for the promise of heaven, it keeps us going each day. Please help us to keep this heavenly focus at all times. Amen.

Psalm 61:4 - Home

I long to dwell in your tent forever
     and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

I want to go home. It is a phrase which means so many things. Sometimes home means an actual place. Other times it means family or a comfortable feeling. Home is something we all long for. Our true home is in heaven. There is nowhere on this earth which can compare. "This world is not my home, I just am passing through."

Lord, thank you for giving us a taste of home here on earth so we know what to look forward to in heaven. Please help us to always remember our true home is with you. Amen.

Psalm 49:16 - You can't take it with you

Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
     when the splendor of their houses increases;

Verse 17 completes the thought above "for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them." (I just saw the word "descend", hmmm) Sometimes I have trouble with jealousy. By the standards of the world, I am rich. By the standards of America, lower middle class. For a while I felt rich, we were out of debt and even had a pretty big emergency fund. Now we are back in debt again, Yuck. It is hard to not be overawed and jealous of those with more than you, but we have to remember, this earth is temporary. It will all go away. It is our relationship with God, not our possessions which will determine our eternal destination.

Lord, thank you for reminding us of the temporary nature of this world. Please help us to not be overawed when others grow rich. Amen.

Psalm 48:8 - Security in the city of God

As we have heard,
     so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty,
     in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
     forever.

Psalm 48 describes heaven. It describes heaven as Zion, the city of God, and remarks mainly on the security and strength of the city. This vision of heaven is a powerful one for anyone who does not feels safe and secure in this world.

Lord, thank you for the assurance of safety and security in your city. Please help us to follow your will and come to know you so we can rest in that security. Amen.

Psalm 27:4 - Eternity now

One thing I ask from the Lord,
     this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
     all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
     and to seek him in his temple.

A reoccurring theme in my life currently is the idea that as a follower of God, I am in heaven right now, My eternal life has begun. Heaven is dwelling in the house of the Lord, and I do. I can talk to him any time I want to and I can hear and understand the answers he gives to me. I can gaze upon the beauty of his creation and because he is everywhere, I do not have to seek too hard to find him. He even lives inside of me!

Lord, thank you for allowing us to be with you now. Help us to realize that our eternity with you has begun and to feel the joy and peace this brings. Amen.

Philippians 3:20-21 - The pursuit of perfection

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Ultimately, we know that we will sin. While our goal is perfection, this physical body limits that perfection. Without sin we would not need God. Without God there is only death, but with God and his Spirit living inside us and salvation through his Son, there is life. This passage offers even greater hope: one day we will no longer live in these physical bodies, but will be at home with the Lord. We will be completely free of our physical, sinful selves.

Lord, thank you for the hope of heaven we have in you. Please help us to constantly seek your perfection while here on earth. Amen.

Revelation 21:4-5a - The ultimate renewal

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

This is what we have to look forward to. This is the ultimate renewal, when all of our earthly cares and desires will be gone. We bring glory to God to say thank you for this amazing gift.

Lord, thank you for the hope of heaven. Please help us to live now as the new creation we will be. Amen.

Romans 8:18 - The best is yet to come

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

I need to remember...this world is temporary. Our struggles with the flesh and trials in this world are nothing compared to eternity with God in heaven. We might call it delayed gratification. There are so many thing to occupy our brains and bodies here on this earth. If we allow them to, they can at best overshadow our soul's main focus and at worst lead us to the path of destruction and eternal suffering.

Lord, thank you for the hope of  heaven and an eternity with you. Please help us focus on the larger picture and appropriately react to our present sufferings. Amen.

Genesis 46:30 - Are you ready to die?

 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”

This phrase reminds me of my mother-in-law. She was so happy to see her son getting married, she said she could now die. Are we ready to die? For Joseph and my mother-in-law this may have just been an expression, but it's a good thing to think about. Are there things our life which are unsettled? Is there something we can to to settle them? Maybe we need to forgive someone or reunite with a family member. As a Christian, I hope to always be ready to die, to go home to my father. 

Lord, thank you for giving us hope of eternity with you. Please help us to be ready to die. Amen.

Zephaniah 3:20

At that time I will gather you;
   at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
   amongst all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes
   before your very eyes,"
                                            says the Lord.

This is a Sunday morning. I don't normally do my Bible study and blog on a Sunday morning, but for some reason I had lots of extra time this morning, so I guess that God had something to tell me. There were only three verses left in the book I was studying, Zephaniah. And this is the last verse have that book.

This morning I was thinking about money. Financially, we are doing so much better than we have in the past, but there are so many people who have so much more than us. Sometimes I wonder why God has not blessed us with more. Then I read a verse like this and realize that true honor, praise and fortunes do not lie on the earth, they live with God in heaven. As long as I am assured of this inheritance, it doesn't matter how much or little I have on this earth.

Lord, thank you for your asurance of heaven. Lord, please give me the strength, energy and desire to work for the money we need. Help me to be content with what we have. Amen.