Monday, March 28, 2016
Good morning, my Friends and welcome to my Monday Blog!!
It’s my hope that you all were blessed in special ways on Easter Sunday and that you were able to feel the incredible LOVE that Jesus lived by and witnessed to the multitudes while He was here on Earth. What a price He had to pay for the entire world—and that includes us!
When you think about it, it’s amazing how Jesus, a living, breathing human being, loved His heavenly Father so deeply, that He obeyed God’s instructions without fail, all the way to the Cross, and ultimately His own death. What love, trust, and faith Jesus placed in His Father!
Knowing Jesus’ sacrifice, I wonder why we human beings have such a dilemma choosing GOD over Satan— Good over evil, Eternal life after death over a one-way trip to hell…what’s our problem?
“You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” —Matthew 8:26
Is life after death in Heaven just too good to be true?
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Excerpts from “Nearing Home”, by Rev. Billy Graham
Chapter 10 – Then and Now—Don’t Live Without Hope
We were not meant for this world alone. We were meant for Heaven, our final home. Heaven is our destiny, and Heaven is our joyous hope. In reality not everyone agrees with this. “You are free to have your own opinion,” a young man wrote me recently, “but as far as I’m concerned once you are dead, that’s it. When we die we’re no different from an animal lying by the side of the road. The only life we’ll ever experience is the one we’re living right now. Life after death is just a myth.”
My reply came from the bottom of my heart. “Your letter deeply saddened me,” I wrote, “because it means you are living without hope—hope for this life, and hope for the life to come. Have you honestly faced how empty and meaningless this will make your life?” I then urged him to turn to Jesus Christ and put his life into His hands, for He alone can give us hope for the future. What would our lives be like without any hope of life beyond the grave? At one specific time point in time, the body you have inhabited your entire life will cease functioning and begin to disintegrate, and the words spoken to Adam will become true of you also: “For dust you are and to dust you will return” (“Genesis 3:19). No wonder the Bible calls death “the last enemy” (Corinthians 15:26).
But is death really the end? Was the young man right when he said life after death is just a myth? No—absolutely not. The Bible tells us that although our bodies will die, our souls or spirits will live on—either in Heaven with God or in that place of endless loneliness and despair the Bible calls Hell, totally separated from God and His blessings forever. Jesus warned, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
The final proof of Heaven’s reality, however, comes from Jesus Christ. Repeatedly He told His disciples not only that Heaven exists, but that someday they would go there. To Lazarus’s sisters He declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and who ever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). He promised His disciples. “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you…that you also may be where I am (John 14:2-3). The best-known place in all the Bible underlines this truth: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
More than that, however, Jesus’ death and resurrection tell us that sin and death have been defeated forever. We do not need to fear the grave because by His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ opened Heaven’s door for us. The Bible says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter1:3-4). These words, penned by the apostle Peter near the end of his life, are God’s promise to you and to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Yes, Heaven is real!
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I believe in Heaven. I believe in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for me. I choose Him and Life after death with Him in Heaven for Eternity. I love Jesus and the way He loves me and all of YOU!
Do you believe in Heaven?
GOD is Great! GOD is Good!!
I love you,
Margaret
Note: The difference between an opportunity and an obstacle is your attitude. Your FAITH has to be greater than your fear.
“There is no fear in Love, but perfect love casts out fear.” -Neil Warren
