Heaven on Earth

Impossible you say? I for one serve a God who is excellent in the area of accomplishing the impossible and in doing so improving my human faith. NO, the title heaven on earth is more about where our hearts are with God. I am not implying that we never have bad days or that nothing ever gets us down...because trust me my friends, I have seen and felt some not so peachy things lately and yet, and yet...God is here with me.

This comes on the wings of another very long day of feeling sick, and also getting some news from friends of more heartache, and feeling the grime of another day, here on a sinful earth. Depressing you say? It may be if I did not have the Lord...and there in lies my secret. He is my eternal life for when I head to heaven, but he is also my eternal life on earth, and I will tell you what that means to me. It builds of course on my last post about having abundant life...it's about saying this to Lord..."Lord, I know that all the joy, love and peace that is available to the Son, is also available me, which in turn, frees me to feel peace in pain. Abundant life. And all the joy that comes with the knowledge of eternal life."

I make the choice to hand Him my heart, my woes and fears and say, "Lord these are yours..and I know I can live free right now.. eternal joy and life is not just for when I die and go to heaven."

When I say, when I claim that truth as mine, and confess that it's only by that, that I will have life on earth, then there is peace and also a release of my trying, my doing and my working to make this life good all on my own...because I'm fooling myself if I think I can.

"Most of us read the words eternal life as though they only apply to heaven in the future. Everlasting life, we call it, life that never ends. That is not inaccurate. Eternal life is life that never ends, but the essential factor about eternal life is not quantity, but quality. What John is speaking of here is not merely something we are going to get in heaven someday, but it is something we can experience and enjoy now. It is fullness of life, the full quality of divine life lived out in your situation, right now, and increasing in fullness of enjoyment forever. In other words, eternal life is the daily adventure of experiencing God's solution to every problem instead of your own. It is the discovery of God's program for every opportunity, instead of yours."

Ray Stedman

Now, don't you feel as though if you can give that over, release that, and accept His gift that all of life will seem a bit lighter? Well, it will. Not because all your problems will go away, but because the Lord will be your strong tower, He will be your sustainer, He will give you life.

Now this process is not all the difficult for the person who knows He's all they've got. Which I really do know...not that I count myself special, I count myself fortunate to know that I need Him this much. It's sometimes the hard things in life, that knock you around a bit that make you recognize your need for Him and once you recognize your need for Him you count yourself blessed to have that knowledge for now, every difficult circumstance (or good) becomes less about your ability to make it through and more about your reliance on God and His helping you to make it through.

Life is not always about hardships, but a large portion of it is somewhat difficult, and I am so thankful to have recognized my need for Him when I did, so that I can have this life He offers right now...He is the peace in the storm. He is our life.

I hope you resonate with this tonight friends, I pray you never have to face hardship, but if you do, know this, the sooner we run to Him, the sooner we can walk on the water in the wind, as opposed to sink through...

The truth is, we drown without His life, His life is a gift, His life is our everything, here, and eternally. And it's that knowledge and acceptance that saves our very lives.