Heaven | Kristi's Morning Devotional

April 20, 2021April 20, 2021

Red Carpet Treatment

How many of you have seen those celebratory events where the red carpet is rolled out in honor of a special occasion?

It seems every sport, association, organization and political group has their own red carpet event honoring the best of the best.

Just last weekend there was another awards show on television and every news outlet and society page has carried a story about who attended, what they were wearing, how they performed and who the big winner was.

It’s like a fairy tale. A dream come true. Being recognized by the world for your accomplishments. Most of us will never walk a red carpet and have an adoring public calling our name.

However, those of us who know Christ have a much greater celebration awaiting us!

Remember yesterday’s verses? We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. Our Father has given us an amazingly, incomprehensible inheritance. We will do more than walk a red carpet for just a few hours. We will walk on streets of gold for all eternity!

“The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. ¹⁹The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.” Revelation 21:18-21 NLT

The Apostle John gives us the above description of heaven. It sounds beautiful, absolutely heavenly. But that’s just part of it. There won’t be a golden award to place on a mantel. What we receive is so much greater. We will receive a new body – no pain, no sickness, no tears, no heartache or death. Our minds will be new – no senility, no tormenting thoughts, no emotional distress, no deficiencies; peaceful, strong minds.

“I heard a loud voice coming from heaven. It said, “See! God’s home is with men. He will live with them. They will be His people. God Himself will be with them. He will be their God. ⁴God will take away all their tears. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All the old things have passed away.” ⁵Then the One sitting on the throne said, “See! I am making all things new. Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Revelation 21:3-5 NLV

And we will be in the presence of God Almighty. We will see Jesus face to face and we will hear Him say “I am making all thngs new”.

I can truthfully say that I do not crave any earthly red carpet treatment. My desire is to live in glory with the King of Kings and walk the streets of gold!

November 9, 2019November 9, 2019

Happy Endings

I am one of those people who like happy endings. You know, the kind that come in the last ten minutes of Hallmark movies, Chick Flicks and musicals. The music softens, broken hearts are mended, true love reveals what was held secret and the kiss…awww.

As I read my Bible this morning I realized I was coming to a happy ending of my own. I know I told you that I am following one of those “Read through your Bible in a year” plans. About a month ago I marked off how much I have read and separated out how many more pages I will read to complete the year. This morning I counted and there are only one hundred seventy-nine pages to go to finish the year. Amazing.

However, that doesn’t mean I’m done, it just means that starting on January 1 I will begin again and discover new truths that I have overlooked or forgotten about. The Bible is the living word of God. It never changes; God never changes but as we grow spiritually we understand more and the truths become more profound.

Happy Endings.

God is the author of happy endings. He has made wonderful promises to all of us who love Him. He created heaven for our enjoyment. These are His words in the next to the last chapter of Revelation, the last book in the Bible.

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

⁵And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” ⁶And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ⁷All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.” Revelation 21:3-7 NLT

Happy Endings.

There’s another happy ending that I read about this morning. It is the account of the blessings we received when Jesus life on earth was ended. The circumstances around His death were horrendous but the final result was glorious.

“What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. ¹⁰God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.

¹¹So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. ¹²For he said to God, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.”

¹³He also said, “I will put my trust in him,” that is, “I and the children God has given me.” ¹⁴Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. ¹⁵Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

¹⁶We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. ¹⁸Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.” Hebrews 2:9-18 NLV

You might need to re-read that. Take it all in – talk about your happy ending, this is it!

Jesus became flesh and blood like us, he died for us breaking the power of the devil over our lives and presented us to the Father as his brothers and sisters. He gave his life so that we could live a life in right relationship with God. He is able to help us each day of our lives, helping us when we are suffering and going through testing.

I love that Jesus has provided a happy ending!

October 15, 2019October 15, 2019

Home Again

Dave and I travel quite a bit. Last night we returned Home Again. This time we were in the Phoenix area and we were only gone 6 days; we had a wonderful time. We saw our oldest daughter and her husband, spoke at a friend’s church, and then spent the remainder of our time with our youngest daughter, her husband and two grandchildren. Before we left our newest grandchild was born and we were able to love on her too.

As much as we enjoy going – visiting family and friends, it’s always nice to come home again.

Last night we were sitting on the couch watching an English program on television. Some of the characters were involved in a play of the Wizard of Oz. One of the most famous lines came at the end when Dorothy clicked her heels together and said “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”. That’s how I felt.

Home again.

And then as I was waking up this morning, later than normal, I heard those words again and thought of Jesus. He left his home, came to earth; some loved and accepted him but others rejected and hated Him. He knew when He left heaven what life would be like on earth and yet He came anyway.

“Now Jesus turned to the people again and told them this story: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years. ¹⁰At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. ¹¹So the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away.

¹³“‘What will I do?’ the owner asked himself. ‘I know! I’ll send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him.’

¹⁴“But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ ¹⁵So they dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him.

“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?” Jesus asked. ¹⁶“I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”

“How terrible that such a thing should ever happen,” his listeners protested. ¹⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this Scripture mean?

‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’

¹⁸Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”

¹⁹The teachers of religious law and the leading priests wanted to arrest Jesus immediately because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the people’s reaction.” Luke 20:9-19 NLT

Jesus knew. He knew what was in the hearts of those around Him. He knew. But His heart was filled with so much love that He was willing to face the consequences of hate filled and evil men to rescue us from a life of sin and separation from the Father.

“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” II Corinthians 5:21 NLT

He was willing to go through it all because He was looking ahead and could see that there was coming a time when He would return to heaven but this time He would be making it possible for us to be with Him.

“Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. ²There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. ³After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together.” John 14:1-3 CEV

Home Again.

God, the Father, in his great love has made a place for us in heaven. He has adopted us and He is overseeing the preparations of our home. As much as I love my earthly home I can hardly wait to get to heaven, see my Father and my heavenly home!