Our Heavenly Prize

You caused the attachment to YOU! Through our hardships, you have used each for your good, your thoughts are of peace, not evil, to give a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11, NKJV). You have taken our difficulty and you have handled and resolved with special care and love, for we are YOUR workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which YOU prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

What does the Bible tell us about your plan? You have rescued, redeemed, and restored your people. We are no longer living in the flesh but walking in the Spirit. We praise you, Almighty God, for we are reconciled back to our Heavenly Father, no longer slave to sin Romans (6:6), but children of God (John 1:12). Glory to each upon their last breath on this earth. We are destined to stand before you, all those who believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ, are complete, glorified, and perfect; not by our doing but all by yours! Thank you, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for the work you have done!

Yes, along the way to our eternal reward, our Heavenly Prize awaits (Philippians 3:14, NLT), the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14, NKJV), we will struggle because this is the way to GLORY! In our trials, we are refined, to the likeness of Jesus! It is by your holy, gracious, loving, kind, good, and faithful hand that we are made new. New creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

What do we do as we wait upon you, while we are here in these bodies, walking this world, and navigating daily through life’s sorrows and joys? We are to always be praising, seeking, loving, and growing by spending time in your inspired Word, meditating on the Truths you share with us, practicing in each one in all that we do, praying, constant fellowship with you throughout each day, and service to you and to all those you put before us: family, friends, and strangers. We are to consistently share your love with all we meet, be kind and compassionate to all people, reflecting your LIGHT, accepting, and pleasing so that you are revealed in this world, so that all will come to know of Jesus Christ, so none should perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Our expectations can be grandiose; we desire to do great things in honor of you. We must be aware that our extremely limited human understanding may mislead us into false arenas. We may aim at the wrong targets, strive to accomplish, and carry out what we think to be good. We will find ourselves off-putting and wrong by your gracious correction. Our ill-intentions can cause grief and disappointment, but you are always right there with us, guiding us in the way we should go (Psalm 32:8), not in the way that we think we should go. Your direction is natural, peaceful, and easy. Our way is forced, uncomfortable, aggravating, and confined. You know the care needed to bring us back into your will. How wonderful you are!

You reveal where we have gone astray and you shed your wisdom and understanding into the decision so we are able to comprehend where we are and how we arrived, leading us into confession and repentance. We begin anew with great faith, by the Truth of your Word, that we are forgiven (Ephesians 4:32) and our offenses forgotten (Hebrews 8:12). All past, present, and future sins paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:10-14, NKJV), our substitute. The wrath we so deserve was placed upon Christ so that we can live free of sin and death. Thank you!

Oh, Father, may all receive the gift of Jesus Christ, saved by the death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son. It is by your grace and our faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) that we are spared from an eternal life of terror, eternally separated from you. No going back! The decision is made here on this earth and it is carried forth when we meet with you. We cannot change our minds when our physical bodies give out and quit. It will be too late!  

Psalm 119:49-50 (NKJV)

“Remember your word to Your servant, upon which you have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for your word has given me life.”

Father, it is only you who puts eternal hope in the human heart. We do not put it there and in my experience, I did not even ask for this kind of hope because I did not realize it existed. I was blind to the fact that your kind of hope is so full of promise and strength, there is no fear of destroying divine hope. It cannot be manipulated by human hands nor by the powers of hell; it is immovable. It is done, available, and reachable. I did not know this hope at all. I have never had this kind of hope, ever, and if I did, it certainly was not of the same caliber. Like opening a birthday present, hopeful of the contents, but as soon as the gift was opened, and time was spent in its company, the hope went, the excitement no longer available, gone! Your hope never grows familiar, routine, worn out, and old. It never leaves us searching for another kind of hope. The hope you give is constant, driving, and life-changing. We thrive in your hope! It sits in our heart, reigning over all that comes against it. It is Jesus Christ. He is our only hope, and He is not going anywhere!! Praise God!

Romans 8:16-19 from the Matthew Henry App:

“As the accomplishments of the saints’ present hopes and expectations: As the saints are suffering for it, so they are waiting for it. Heaven is therefore sure for God by his Spirit would not raise and encourage those hopes only to defeat and disappoint them. He will establish that word unto his servants on which he has caused them to hope (Psalm 119:49), and heaven is therefore sweet for, if hope deferred makes the heart sick, surely when the desire comes it will be a tree of life, Proverbs 13:12. Now he observes an expectation of this glory…”

“The kingdom of God is within you and will be so to eternity.”

“The sufferings are small and short and concern the body only, but the glory is rich and great, and concerns the soul, and it’s eternal.”

“There is nothing like a believing view of glory which shall be revealed to support and bear up the spirit under all the suffering of this present time.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us praise the LORD! Oh, let us give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 106:1, NKJV)!

Hallelujah and God bless you!

*****

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