John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Thank you for stopping by my blog today friend. Did you ever stop to realize how much Jesus loves you? The Lord loves us so much that He wanted us to be together, in the same place. In John 14:1-3 the Lord promised the apostle Peter (and every believer) that He is going to prepare a place for us in Heaven. There are many mansions in Heaven! Don't you tell me that a wicked whoremongering unsaved man like Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS, will have a bigger mansion in Heaven that I will, when I spend morning, noon and night laboring online to get people saved and preach the truth! Take a look at Gene Simmons $22,000,000 mansion where he has lived in California for the past 36 years...
I heard a Baptist preacher critique the King James Bible translators for using the word “mansions” in John 14:2, but I love that word and think it is correct. Don't you tell me that Christians who pray, work and suffer in service for Christ will live in apartments in Heaven, while the Devil's children in Hollywood live in 8,000 square foot mansions. We are promised by God in 1st Corinthians 3:7-8 that He will reward every believer according to our own labors.
The Lord wants us to be where He is (John 14:1-3), have the same body He has (Philippians 3:21), think the way He thinks (Philippians 2:4-5), enjoy the same blessings He enjoys (Romans 8:32) and even live in our body and soul (John 14:23). I can understand that! Have you ever loved somebody so much, that you want to share every aspect of life with them? I have, but none of the women whom I fell in love with felt the same. Rejection hurts! When you love someone, you want to be a part of them. A part of a healthy relationship is actually planning to spend quality time AWAY from each other. That makes a couple more interesting to each other, creating mystique. So even though a part of me wants to be with that special lover all the time, at the same time I understand the need for maintaining a healthy distance.
I am 54 years old and I've never had a true love in my life. One of my favorite secular songs is by the band Wings called: 'Silly Little Love Songs' (1976). I loved that song as a boy. I was born in 1967. The lyrics say: “Love doesn't come in a minute, sometimes it doesn't come at all.” The latter is my case. I've never been married to someone that I really wanted to be married to. I was 20 years old and married for the wrong reason, not for love. When she divorced me in 2006 I was devastated, but ultimately glad to see her go! I felt exactly like the preacher John Wesley (1703-1791), who when asked about his wife divorcing him replied: “I did not dismiss her. I did not abandon her. I will not recall her.” Ditto! I've never found true love, and probably never will, sadly. But thankfully, Jesus is the love of my life, and He is 100% real.
Our wonderful Savior wanted to be so close to every believer that He decided to live inside our very body, soul and spirit (1st Corinthians 3:16-17; Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). That is so awesome! Dear friend, perhaps you are single and lonely like me in this earthly life, but Jesus is the lover of our soul. I am learning more and more as the years pass by that all I need is Jesus. I'd love to be married, if I can find a quality woman who wants me, but if not I will keep serving the Lord faithfully. This world is a mess! These are strange, ungodly and perilous times.
It warms my heart to know that Jesus went back to Heaven to prepare a home for me there. When Lazarus died in Luke 16:19-32, two angels were sent by God to escort him home. I think it is safe to assume that every believer will see angels when they die, who will escort us to Heaven. That is what happened to Lazarus. I see no reason why we shouldn't except the same as believers. Carefully notice that the rich man who died in his sins went straight to Hell. No one met him when he died. No one was waiting to greet him to Hell.
The rich man died along, went to Hell alone, and existed in Hell alone. There are many people in Hell, but we don't know if they are able to communicate. I marvel that so many people dismiss Hell as folklore and fiction. The Bible is verifiable! History validates the Bible. Archaeology validates the Bible. Human nature validates the Bible. Are you willing to risk burning in the fires of Hell forever, by rejecting the Word of God?
The Wonderful Indwelling Holy Spirit
God loves you dear reader. I love you too, with God's love, because He lives in me. Romans 5:5, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” The only sure evidence of being saved is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only an individual can know. The Epistle of 1st John is written to the individual, not a group. I cannot examine your life outwardly and determine if you are saved or lost. But you can examine yourself and know if you have the Holy Spirit. Please don't misunderstand, if you have to look at your life to prove that you're saved, it just proves that you're not. I'm talking about the Holy Spirit!
I was saved at age 13. I don't remember the title of the sermon that Sunday morning. I just remember what the Baptist preacher said that convinced me I was lost. He said, “If you can sin and don't have the Holy Spirit inside convicting you about sin, you are not saved.” I immediately knew that I wasn't saved. For the first time in my life I realized that I was a sinner. From my pew in the back of the church, at invitation time, I gripped the back of the pew in front of me. My face turned red and I was nervous.
An elderly helpful woman in the front pew asked me if I was saved, and because I was shy and nervous I instinctively said that I was just to make her go away. But God was working 100 m.p.h. in my soul. I was convicted. I wanted to be saved. The best I new how, for the first time in my life, I silently cried out to Jesus Christ and asked Him to save me, knowing that I was believing in a risen Savior, and He did save me. The point I want you to learn here is that the thing that showed me I needed to be saved, was that I didn't have the Holy Spirit.
John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” What a beautiful truth! The Godhead has lived inside my body, soul and spirit since I got saved 41 years ago at age 13. THANK YOU LORD!!!
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