4 posts tagged “christianity”
I was thinking about an except from the book "Driven by Eternity", where the author describes their interpretation of Heaven. As I was thinking about that, a picture/thought of heaven came to mind: In heaven, are all God's people still active in contributing to the society of heaven? After all, we are citizens of heaven according to the New Testament. Why would God have his people still actively contributing in Heaven? Wouldn't everything be 'automatically' taken care of? Perhaps this assumption is a product of our finite ability to imagine all that God has in store for his Children.
Part of my previously contrived view of Heaven is God sitting on his throne and simply being there for all of us to adore him and worship him. My worldly concept of a ruler on his seat of power tends to be of one who has everything else being done for him while he sits like a fat-cat enjoying the pleasures his country can afford him. So, how does this relate to us all being productive in Heaven while He sits there? Let me throw this disclaimer out: these thoughts aren't a attempt to show contempt at an inactive God that makes His people 'work' in Heaven after we'd been given the perception that we'd be in Paradise, because I know Him better than that. But, what if God isn't JUST sitting there?
I remember hearing from a friend who heard a preached message from a widely-known pastor (can't remember his name right now) who had actually received a vision of Heaven and had been caught up in the spirit to see Heaven. One of the things he reported was that he saw the throne of Heaven with God the Father and God the son, Jesus... but not the Holy Spirit. When he asked "Where's the Holy Spirit?" the answer he received was, "On EARTH of course!" Of course! The Holy Spirit is actively at work every moment on behalf of God's Children who were bought by his own Blood through Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross. Even Jesus is still at work to this day... interceding on our behalf to God the Father.
So... it would seem to me that if we are in fact destined to be productive contributors in Heaven, then it is consistent with God's character: Taking the initiative. He is NOT, nor has He EVER been idle! He created the earth and the heavens through His own power, and holds it all together for our sake. Not to mention His involvement with mankind through all these years. Jesus came and preached a hard message to some hard-headed people, then accepted the betrayal, scorn, sentence, torture, and execution of a criminal (completely undeserved), all for our sake. The Holy Spirit is actively working on our behalf each and every day and moves in incredible ways, few of which we are even aware of, all for our sake. The Holy Trinity of God is at all times actively concerned with our well-being. He gives us the example of being others-minded and being productive for the sake of others.
God is ALWAYS working. What case could we ever build that He would sit idle in Heaven and watch us "work in paradise". And... I would guess that whatever 'work' we have to do in heaven is more fulfilling than any vacation we could ever hope to have here on Earth. If God takes pleasure in all that He has created, then I'm sure that our contributions will be unimaginably fulfilling. Our earthly 'work' could never compare to this reality.
And here's another thought to tack onto that... most of God's work in the regard of helping Mankind has been a response to the crisis of sin. He loves us too much to let us perish with no hope of rescue. But, ultimately It's just an emergency response, like a city's fire department, police department, etc. In contrast, think of the wonderful things a society produces when they're not having to simply respond to an emergency. Think of all of our impressive buildings and master-planned parks and natural resource conservation efforts. Imagine all of the beautiful classical architecture in Europe. All of those 'works' are for the sake of enriching earthly society.
Now... imagine what goes on in Heaven for the sake of enriching Heaven!!!
I'm excited now!
As I sit here listening to the "Namarie" excerpt from the Fellowship of the Ring movie (The heavenly elvish music as the Fellowship leaves Lothlorien with the gifts of Galadriel), I was reminded of how much the elvish language from the story (as well as the beautiful music it's paired with in the movies) makes me think of the power of the Spoken Word. One of the things that I love about Tolkien's Middle-earth is the focus on the power of words. Without going into TOO much of a melancholy trail with how I feel about all that, I will skip my current emotions and share what these feelings led me to.
Our incredible Creator used words to fashion the entire universe we live in. When I was introduced to "The Lord of the Rings" when the movies came out a few years back, I became increasingly drawn to what the Bible says about the power of words. Language and Speech are so central to the story. I thank God for my musings and delights in the story of Middle-earth, and the truths that it caused me to consider about our own world and our very real part of the story we're all in. From those musings, I began to realize the importance of our prayer life, our daily words to one another, and our understanding of God's Word. Let it be known that it was out of my facination with Elvish that finally began to internalize the participation of SPEAKING IN TONGUES. Like in the movies when Gandalf or the Elves would speak forth power, using ancient Elvish, I realized... that is essentially what our prayer life is... invoking the power and purposes of God in our world and lives. And, by using the gift of tongues, we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work through our prayers to accomplish what God wills. Isn't that amazing????
Ok, so back to the title of my post! I felt led to look up the different meanings of the names of God. I know that many Christians are way ahead of me on this... but I felt that if there are any words that could be regarded as high-importance, I felt that the names of God would be those words. I want to know God for Who He is, and Who He has revealed himself to be. After doing a quick little search on Google, I found the following:
I don't want to spoil it here, or take credit, so click on the above link and check it out. May you draw nearer to God, and grasp more of His purpose in your life today!
Wow. What an incredible time of worship and prayer. The "One Thing" conference was held in Sacramento at Capital Christian Center in Sacramento, CA this weekend. The event is sponsored by the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri. Our local Roseville House of Prayer (RHOP) hosted the One Thing team. If you want to learn more about those organizations, just click on the links.
But, boy where do I begin. I will start by telling you all that this has been a life-changing event for Charlotte and I. We feel that we are called to live a life of daily receiving revelation from the Lord in prayer. Ha! I just found out that there's even a One Thing Blog. It shows some stuff of what happened at the Sacramento conference.
Anyway... the whole point of One Thing is to evangelize the mission of what's happening at IHOP. Mike Bickle is the director of IHOP, and has a series of writings on what they're about and what the Lord is doing in this current age, in the Spirit. Prophetic ministry, receiving fresh revelations of who Jesus is, intercessory prayer, Spirit-focused worship... I am only at the tip of the iceburg myself. For me, this conference was a taste of what God can do in ALL of our lives when we throw ourselves into prayer and worship. But for the meeting, we had some incredible preaching by Duane Roberts, Corey Russell and Jennifer Roberts. Misty Edwards and Merchant Band did all of the worship for the weekend, and I think that was some of the BEST WORSHIP I've ever participated in. You can just tell that these folks spend time getting reeeeeal close to God in their prayer life and then it just overflows doing the worship sets. Wow. Charlotte and I couldn't help but get down to the front and just 'enter in' with the crowd on the last day. The worship is intense, but you just feel so at home and at ease with the Lord.
Anyway, we feel that we've got some new directions and purpose for our prayer life and how it will drive the rest of what we do as a married couple, as parents, as leaders at our church, in career, ministry, and all dreams and endeavors. We feel we've received a breath from Heaven about how to live and how to breathe that kind of prayer life day in and day out. The feeling is more than exciting... it's tangibly invigorating! I can imagine sending our sons (when they're old enough, of course) to the internship program at IHOP. But for now, we feel a redoubled purpose for jumping in at our local Roseville House of Prayer. Praise God... this feels like LIFE ANEW!
Want. What a word! What do you think of when you hear the word "Want"? Do you think of your basic needs? Material items? Good? Bad? How does that word impact you?
Ok, enough of the enigmatic questions.
"Want" is a situation that shows up in the Bible, obviously. If you have a good Bible Concordance, or if you have Bible software, like QuickVerse, or E-Sword, look up "want" and see what you come up with. I did that, using the New English Translation on my E-Sword program. I was actually looking for a particular passage I had heard about in one of John Eldredge's books. It was either "Journey of Desire," or "Waking the Dead." Both books are fantastic, and I would highly recommend them. Before each chapter, John prefaces with a few quotes, either from songs, poets, the Bible, philosophers, or something. At the beginning of one chapter, he put the following quote:
"What do you want?" - Jesus. (check out Matthew 20:29-34)
In my little word journey, I found this passage in Luke 5:12-13:
"One day Jesus was in the city where there was a man covered with a serious skin disease. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground. He begged Jesus, "Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean." (I love this part...) Jesus reached out, touched him, and said, "I want to. So be clean!" Immediately, his skin disease went away.
Jesus wanted to. The man approached Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, and made his request known, in his wretched state, knowing that someone greater than he was passing by. Jesus seems to make no hesitation and replied directly to the heart of this precious man, whom other people have cast aside. Jesus WANTED to.
So, give it some time, and let that one sink in ... I'm sure I'll come back to this topic again! :)
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