Current topic: Pray with us for the Church. Remember you can still pray for Families.
Good morning.
Why did we ask the question: How do you picture yourself in heaven?
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God,” (Colossians 3:1-3).
Our life is hidden with Christ in God, so in Christ we are with God in heaven. What then do we have to do with the things of this earth? On top of the question that we’ve asked in our previous message, I want to ask how we picture our friends, family, colleagues and people we meet along the way in heaven. Are we looking forward to see them when we get to heaven? Are we worried that we’re not going to see them? Aren’t we worried that we’re not worried?
How do we look at people we see around us? **Do we look lustfully at girls, disparagingly at the poor and other races, critically at the rich, the obvious sinners, the politicians and even the church leaders, or do we picture them in heaven and as a result pray for them and share the truth? Do we ever picture these people in hell? Can we form an idea what it’s going to be like for them in hell? Think of someone you know and picture the person in hell... Now picture the person in heaven.
Set your minds and hearts on things above... The word used is ‘set’, which is an active verb – something we must consciously do. It will not happen automatically. “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want,” (Galatians 5:16, 17). The sinful nature is attached to earthly things and the Spirit with things above – heavenly things. Therefore we have to consciously and wilfully resist the desire and temptation to live by the promptings of the sinful nature and set our minds and hearts on things above – living by the Spirit.
Our sinful nature encourages us to look at people as mentioned after the ** above and at the same time the Holy Spirit prompts us to think about these people’s salvation and picture them in heaven. Whose promptings are we following? What is going to influence us the most – what the Bible tells us, or what we hear through the media and the gossip media? When a bad person dies, do we think ‘yes!’ or do we picture him with sadness in hell, wishing we had an opportunity to share the gospel with him?
Do we pray fervently for those we can’t reach ourselves? Some years ago Madonna was offered the opportunity to follow Jesus when the Holy Spirit arranged a wonderful divine appointment for her with a Christian (see the book ‘Divine Appointments’).
Apart from seeing people saved, we’d also like to see people holy, wouldn’t we. We’d like to see the Lord pleased with those we love. What do we do to equip others for holiness? Do we teach one another – praying for others?
Dear friend, we have no time to waste on the pleasures of the sinful nature anymore. If we want to make a difference in the eternal destiny of people around us we need to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus (Mark8:34 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+8:34&version=NIV1984).
Lord, please help me to make the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:15-17 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5:15-17&version=NIV1984 and Colossians 4:5, 6 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%204:5-6&version=NIV1984).
If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter or forward the e-mail reminder to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please pray as well for its distribution to those who need it and feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.
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