Take Root and Write

Are YOU Ready for His Return?

We wait for so many things throughout the duration of our lives. We await dinner.  We wait for an answer.  We wait for a task to be completed. We wait for a loved one to return. We wait and wait and wait some more. How many of us wait with a true longing for the return of our precious Savior? Have you thought of His return today? This awesome event is described for us in many places throughout Scripture.

As we continue to study the Word of God, it's interesting to note that we are admonished many times to "stay awake," "remain alert," and "take guard" that no one deceives us! Are we vigilant in guarding our hearts and our faith as we continue to reach out to a dying world? If we are to remain firmly rooted and grounded, we must make every effort to stay wide awake!

Closer Than You Realize!

 Our Heavenly Father, He is our source of delight. The Almighty is our true source for  everything.  Do you really consider carefully how close He is to you this day?  I believe in my heart of hearts that a major portion of our tears, (that He Himself will wipe away), will have derived as a result of  our coming to realize just how closely involved in our earthly affairs He (the Lord Himself), has always  been. 

Imagine for a moment if you will a day filled with turmoil and trial.  We have grappled and groped trying to find answers and solutions to our problems. Do you believe that the King of Kings is right in your midst?  Do you believe that the Lord will calm your storms if you trust in Him?  He will you know. Do you truly believe this?  He cares for His children and is always working on our behalf as we are His own. 

Now let us imagine as we stand before Him one day with our memories fully intact as our loving Savior rewinds a few episodes from our past earthly trials.  Would not the tears flow as we clearly see the involvement that our God had, even more than we could comprehend?  If He chose to show me them all, chances are I would never cease to cry until His gentle touch would tenderly wipe all of my tears away as I fall before His beautiful feet.

Jesus Christ is THE source. The TRUE source of everything that we find good and lovely! 

A Lesson from the Leaves

It's that time of the year once again, the seasons are changing and so are the colors of the leaves. If you happen to live in an area where like me, you can enjoy the stroke of the Creator’s paintbrush upon the landscape, you will find that it’s near impossible to ignore the beauty.  I wonder how many see this awesome display but still miss the miracle as our loving Heavenly Father seeks to draw our attention to  Himself.  Even if you can’t see this beautiful array of colors, the change in seasons alone is yet again another reminder that we must take into account what the Lord of creation wants to convey to us and how we can learn some very important lessons.  We witness many amazing attributes of our mighty God through nature and we are told in the Word of God that we are without excuse when the end of our days arrive; For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky.

"Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God."  (Romans 1:20, NLT)

With that in mind, if creation alone bears testimony to His power, sovereignty, and might, how much more can He use it to teach those of us who already know Him and are walking with the Savior? Let’s take a look at what we can learn from the changing seasons. Changes occur all of the time.  Some changes affect our lives significantly while other changes we may barely notice, but none the less, things are always changing whether we want them to or not. 

Some changes are comfortable, in fact some are welcomed with open arms!  But what about those changes that are closely related to trials and they bring many uncomfortable circumstances.  Take the simple shot in the arm from the doctors office.  As unpleasant as many of us find shots, we know that for the most part it will produce positive results in the end. For the Christian, those who are walking daily with Christ, changes can take us by surprise and we can sometimes be shaken, but when we are firmly rooted and grounded in Christ, we are never moved from upon the rock. We see that our Lord will allow these changes (or again, trials if you will), in order to grow us up and perfect our faith in Him. 

Set Your Mind on Things Above!

We sleep. We wake up. We go to work. We come home. We relax. We attend church.  This is the norm for most of us.  The daily grind and routines of life have become a habit so to speak.  We perform our daily rituals with barely a thought as to the whys.  Most everything we do is for the benefit of our lives in the  here and now.  Heaven and those things of God are unknown areas that we  neatly pack away onto our shelves to ponder when old age arrives.  Is this how we are to live for Christ?  Is this as good as it gets here on earth?  We miss out on all of the amazing blessings our Heavenly Father longs to bestow on us by neglecting to set our minds on things above. Today, let’s take a closer look at those things above!

What a sad state of affairs to find one day when we stand before the throne of the Almighty God that we have ignored Him for the larger portion of our lives.  Most often we pray because we are told to pray, and that is our duty as a Christian.  But think about the act of praying for a moment.  What is it?  Taking our needs before our Heavenly Father and trusting Him to meet them?  Yes, this is part of it, but we need to grasp and lay hold of the depths of a healthy prayer life.  The Lord longs to be involved in EVERY area and aspect of our lives.  Bible study is an important part of learning about the Lord, but how did the church survive before the Word became available to the laymen?  They prayed and they fellow shipped with one another.  Prayer is communion with God.  Most of us are aware of this, but I believe a reminder is due. No matter where you are or what situation that you find yourself in, you can talk to the Lord and seek to hear from Him at all times.  Now with that on the table, lets take another step into the area of things above. 

It's Only Goodbye for a Season, There's Joy in Heaven!

Don’t you just love how we can ask our Heavenly Father anything? It can be difficult if not impossible to say goodbye to dying friends and loved ones.  But do we really have to say goodbye? It eases the pain to seek out answers about how our loved ones are now. It eases the pain of having to let go for just a season. In columns past we’ve looked at reasons why an intact and working memory plays an integral part of who we are when we arrive in heaven.  Many aspects of heaven, the judgment seat of Christ for the believers, the joyful reunion, and the distribution of the rewards all require that we have a memory.  For what good is a reward if we know not why we are receiving it? And why anticipate a reunion with loved ones if we  know not who they are?  As we continue to study God’s word researching the scriptures, we will begin to see how the many beautiful pieces fit together.  Many of us long to know what our loved ones are doing now in heaven. Most contemplate an eternity of singing, constantly, or floating aimlessly without meaning or purpose!  Is it any wonder why we are not more excited about our final destination as Christians?

Please allow me  to begin today’s column with a brief introduction as I share with you what has ignited my interest in finding out more about heaven.  You see, it’s not that the Bible is silent on the topic of heaven, for there is much in the word of God to be found, it’s that we the body of Christ have sorely neglected this all too important topic.  Could it be that many of our seminaries and schools of theology have courses that only lightly brush over the topic of heaven? Could this be the reason why we don’t hear more on the specifics of heaven in our churches and places of corporate worship?  

What Will We Know in Heaven?

Have you ever found yourself in a discussion with other brothers and sisters in Christ on the topic of what the saints are doing in heaven now? Typically these talks tend to end very quickly as we all assume that upon arrival in heaven the saints will experience complete and total memory outages. Think about this, we all grow old and through the years, all of us to one degree or another experience some sort of memory loss. Incorrect memory function is part of the curse as our bodies deteriorate. Shall our perfected bodies in heaven lack a fully functioning and renewed mind and brain? So far heaven is not very appealing to us with the exception of seeing our Savior face to face. But is that all? We feel guilty as the longing for a clearer understanding grows within us. We feel guilty because longing for Christ should be enough for us, shouldn't it? A topic of this magnitude should be invigorating and exciting to explore!  Is it wrong to consider what we will know in heaven? The answer is a resounding "NO!"

May I impart to you the common mistake that we often make as we become students on the study of heaven? We use our present lives the way we see them now as the standard of measurement. We can't fathom utilizing a mind greater than our own, an understanding or perspective beyond our present comprehension.  We  must remember that God alone is omniscient.  He knows everything; he is God of the universe.  So many of us wrongly assume the minute that we die we will immediately know everything there is to know and that is that. Scripture in no way indicates this false assumption.  For even the angels long to learn and know more as they observe these present happenings in both the heavens and here on earth. They are without flaw but again they, like ourselves are finite and created beings limited in their knowledge.  First Peter refers to the prophets wanting to know more about the salvation they had prophesied about. It is here we find a reference to the angels finite knowledge;

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. (1 Peter 1:12 NIV)

So Heavenly Minded that We ARE of Earthly Good!

 

How much time do you spend pondering about what heaven is like? Do you shy away from the subject in your mind because of what you’ve learned in the past? Do you think that you can’t possibly come to a correct understanding of such a deep topic? There is never anything or any question that is out of range to ask of our Heavenly Father. As a matter of fact He wants us to seek Him and ask those difficult questions! As we acquire a proper perspective of our eternal home we will begin to live very differently here on this present earth. We will truly come to understand the meaning of taking on our Savior's yoke, for His burden is light. We can then say we are, “So Heavenly Minded that We are of Earthly Good.”

I believe that most of us have heard the loosely coined phrase, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”  This quote originated from a man by the name of Oliver Wendell Holmes.  It is a very poor and overstated claim often used to collectively describe a people of heavenly mindedness, that they in effect are useless people here on the earth. Upon a closer look at the Body of Christ these days, we are actually more often not heavenly minded enough to make a real difference here on earth! In fact, the Bible instructs us in this way;

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2).

Our faith will increase and we will grow stronger in our Christian walks as we seek to learn more about our heavenly abode.  Just imagine for a moment the confidence we will glean in doing so! 

He Shall Wipe Away Every Tear

Have you ever been in one of those places in your life when it seems that a large number of close friends or family members are battling an illness? Have you attended more funerals than you care to recall in the last several years? Have you been hiding your tears? There is a God who is intimately aware of every single tear that you’ve every cried and one day He will wipe them all away!

 Sometimes in the midst of our sorrows, it’s hard to believe that the Lord Himself will personally wipe away our tears. Surely He cannot be aware of all my sadness, maybe only those times that I've knowingly cried out to Him. Could the God of the Bible really be that intimately involved in my daily life that He hears every single cry of my heart? Please allow me to illustrate with a simple word picture. Does not a loving parent go out of their way to comfort and console a crying child? Do we not wrap them in our arms until the pain subsides? Are we above and better than our creator at Godly parenting? Why, of course not! He is the supreme model of a loving, righteous, and perfect Father. 

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (Psalm 56:8  NLT)

In some middle eastern countries there is a tradition where the person who mourns literally cries into a bottle and the tears are then saved. It is also recorded that these bottled tears would then be buried along with the deceased if the tears were produced from losing a loved one. Trusting that God knows best can be a challenge for the believer. The helpless feeling as we witness the suffering of a loved one causes us to reluctantly turn to Him for help. It seems that all we can do is shed our tears for those who suffer when all other efforts have failed. Upon arriving at this place of recognition, we must and can truly place it all in His hands. He can then begin the work of walking us through the darkest of times into a bright and hopeful future!

Holding Fast to Hope - Daily

In the past several years I've had many opportunities to speak with people from various backgrounds and walks of life.  It's becoming easier to discern the difference between those who are filled with hope and those who are not.  When a person has hope it can be seen in several ways.  There is most often a noticeable difference in the eyes and smiles of a hope filled person, and usually the overall tone of our conversations are covered in a peace from above no matter the topic.  Since hope and joy go hand in hand,  a person may not necessarily be happy at every moment.  The smile of a wise saint may reveal a  joy that is held at much more greater depth along side of hope within the human heart.  When truly understood and grasped, these virtues cannot be penetrated by the superficial aspects we often encounter on a daily basis.

Do YOU have hope?  What is it and how do we hold fast to this particular virtue?  There are countless references found in God's Holy Word, the Bible, when seeking to gain a better understanding of what it means to have hope.   It helps put things into proper perspective when we truly begin to understand that when we are without Christ we're without any hope whatsoever.

...remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.   (Ephesians 2:12)

Intro: Just Heavenly

Where We Find the Throne Room of Jesus, the King of Kings, That's Where Heaven Can Be Found.

In His presence, we are in heaven. We can get so carried away with our earthly trials that we forget what awaits us! We have every reason to rejoice because the BEST is YET to come! Remember; "We are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior." Philippians 3:20 NLT. So dry your tears and cast all your worries aside, for the words within this column will be "Just Heavenly"

By, Cathy Nagle

Column Posted Every First Friday of each Month

Can we REALLY know more about Heaven?

What do we know about heaven? Should we be setting aside a designated time in our busy schedules to learn more about heaven? Can we really know more about this place called heaven? The answer is;

~*~YES, WE CAN!~*~

Scores of authors and theologians have pondered and written on the topic of heaven throughout centuries past. This age old question has been asked over and over again; "Where is heaven and how can I get there?" Everyone seems to have an opinion about their version of what heaven is like and how to get there. We need to be careful as we seek for answers so that we are not led in the wrong direction. Shouldn't we seek the answer to the question above from the ultimate source? Who knows better than one who resides there?  Lets begin our quest for a better understanding on this topic by going to God's Holy Word, the Bible. 

If you have been on a lifelong search for truth YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Close to two thousand years ago, men by the names of Philip, Thomas and Peter had been questioning a man by the name of Jesus.  Maybe you know this man named Jesus and maybe you don't.  He's MORE than a mere mortal. He is the only begotten Son of God.  He accumulated quite a number of followers, more than just these men.  Jesus not only spoke the truth, HE IS TRUTH!  His followers recognized the voice of the their Shepherd immediately, though they had much to learn, and had many, many questions about their lives AND everlasting life. For the sake of those readers who may not know who Jesus is, please allow me a short paragraph for an introduction, and for the sake of building the "Just Heavenly" column upon the firm foundation of the Chief Cornerstone................

You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple.  He was rejected by people,  but he was chosen by God for great honor.   1 Peter 2 NLT