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“I HAVE FOUND MY HAPPY PLACE” - HEAVEN
By Pastor Mark Taylor
A "Happy Place" can be a place where your mind takes you before you actually get there. It can be a pleasant memory of a place you remember. One of my fondest memories as a child through the time I was an adult was a pond on my grandparent's land that I often went to pray and think during difficult times in my life. It was a happy place where I could feel God's presence and His peace.
Heaven is a "Happy Place" I think about when I am troubled about all the problems that are going on in this world. It is a place where my heart and mind goes to think about my great future with God and the Lord Jesus. I think about being reunited with many people I love who have already left Earth to begin their new life in a wonderful place. It is a place that has caused me to live my life in a way God's Word has showed me to please Him.
A FOX News poll finds that more than nine in 10 Americans (91 percent) believe in God and almost as many believe in heaven (87 percent). In addition, 84 percent say they believe in miracles and 79 percent in angels. We repeat every Sunday in the Apostles Creed that we "believe in the resurrection of the body and in life everlasting".
Why is Heaven such an important subject? For Christians it is one of the central themes of our faith. That we will be rewarded for a life of following the two greatest commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27).
Heaven is a real place. It is a place that God gives us because He loves us. It is a place worth your time and service to Him and others while you are on His Earth. It is worth you living a Holy life. When you find yourself getting discouraged, look ahead for a future in God's home - Heaven. My goal today is to help you to "set your affections on things above and not on things here on Earth" (Colossians 3:2)
We are looking forward to being with our God, and our Savior, "You shall be My people, and I will be your God" (Jeremiah 30:22). In addition to being with our Lord Jesus. ,we are looking forward to seeing our loved ones that have left us here on Earth. We are looking forward to a new body that will not experience sickness or death ever again: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2)
There are many things we do not know about what heaven will be like, because it is beyond our ability to comprehend. But one thing we can be sure of is that it will fulfill our greatest longings, it will dazzle us with its beauty, it will obliterate our greatest problems with its power and splendor, it will be greater than anything we could imagine or dream, it will be a place where love and joy will reign unspoiled. God has prepared all of this for us. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Hm” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
First of all God promises us a new body. We cannot be sure exactly what it will look like, but it will be much better than the best human body on Earth. It will not experience physical or emotional pain or death ever again. We will not be just a spirit floating around, but shall be known as we are known on Earth without remembering our failures We will given responsibilities and be active beings. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:." (2 Timothy 2:12). "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." Revelation 20:6
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was the first person who had been in Heaven to give us a testimony and documentation that their was life after death. Some have said if I could prove that their was a “Heaven”, then I would believe the Bible and commit myself to a relationship with God. but Jesus said: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16: 31). But some have heard and believed and look forward to Heaven without fear. Our Lord told His disciples and tells us today: “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you...I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am there you will be also.” (John 14:1-3).
Heaven is real. Heaven will not be some existence where we float about as spirits without bodies. Why would God take the trouble to create a new earth if there was not going to be anyone to live on it? Why would we be given new bodies if we were not going to live in a material world? Jesus rose from the dead in His glorified body. He could pass thru walls, but yet he could touch people, sit down and eat.
If we make preparations for our grandchildren’s visit or guests coming to our home for a meal, how much more does a God of love prepare for the time His children will come to His eternal home. The Bible says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11). Jesus said, “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3). If this fallen world in all of its brokenness can be so wonderful, what must heaven be like? Abraham and many of our Spiritual forefathers believed in Heaven. (Romans 4:20-21)
Heaven is the residence of God. The greatest reward of heaven will be God Himself. Nothing we see or experience will be greater than the fact that we are with God and see him face to face. Christians can be certain of their future in Heaven because Jesus prays for us. “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” (John 17: 9-11).
Christians can be certain of their future in heaven because God is for us and not against us. We can be certain that He will bring His work to a fulfillment. God is not investing in a losing cause! He proved His love for us on Calvary so we can be certain that nothing, absolutely nothing will keep him from completing His loving plans. Even when you struggle and fail, God still loves you and is still for you.
Christians can be certain of their future in heaven because there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38-39).
There is nothing in this world worth missing Heaven for. There are many things we do not know about Heaven because it is so much better than Earth, that there are no human words to explain how great it is. We will be reunited with our loved ones who loved God and accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior. We will be rewarded for all of our service and sacrifices in our service for God to meet the needs of others. Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12).
I would encourage all of those who have not decided to accept the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior to make that decision and give their lives to Him so that you might receive the gift of eternal life. “Jesus said to him: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). Heaven is a real place that has been prepared for those that Love God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (John 14: 1-3).
