WHERE IS HEAVEN?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“And I confer on you a kingdom,
just as my Father conferred one on me.”
(Luke 22:29)

MEDITATION:
A lot of people wonder where heaven is. We cannot find its
location by reading the Bible. One question we may ask is,
    “Is heaven a literal place?”
Yes, Heaven is a real place that is awaiting those who have put
their faith in the Lord and have committed to following Jesus.

We can be assured that heaven exists because Jesus told
us that He was going to prepare a place for us.
    My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so,
    would I have told you that 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)

When we arrive in Heaven, we will be blessed beyond
anything we could imagine while living here on earth.
But, until then, we need to realize that we can have a
piece of heaven now, when we obey God’s commands.

Have you ever seen the excitement a dog has when he
sees someone he hasn’t seen for a long time? I imagine
we could have that same type of excitement whenever
we arrive at our Heavenly home, for eternity!

When we give the Lord more and more control of our
lives, we can experience many blessings that He has
for those who love Him.
    Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there
    may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the
    Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the
    floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing
    that there will not be room enough to store it.
    (Malachi 3:10)

We need to remember that His definition of blessings is not
the same as the world’s definition. The world wants people
to believe that blessings are things like wealth, fame, etc. But
think about how blessed we are whenever we have peace, joy,
good relationships with others, etc.

However, we can inhibit receiving any of His additional blessings 
if we refuse to obey His commands. For instance, the scriptures
tell us in no uncertain terms that we should…
    “bring our whole tithe into the storehouse”

It is a command, and not just a suggestion from the Lord.
If we decide that we will bring a portion of our tithe to Him,
then we are being disobedient and consequently, we shouldn’t
expect to receive the “pouring out” of His blessings.

It can be an indication that we have listened to Satan’s lies,
instead of believing God’s promises. Satan will plant thoughts
in our minds like,
    “God is happy with whatever amount you give,
      so you don’t really have to give a ‘whole’ tithe”.

    “God wants you to provide for our family, so do
      that first, and tithe on whatever you have left”.

    “Since the money you receive after taxes is the ‘real’
      amount of your salary, you should tithe on the net
      and not the gross amount of your salary”.

    “You are tithing on your salary so you don’t need
      to be concerned about giving a tithe of your time”.

If we listen to, and become obedient to Satan’s lies, then we are
being disobedient to God’s command, so why should we expect
to see God do the following for us?
    “throw open the floodgates of heaven
      and pour out so much blessings”

If we continue to fall into temptations that lead to sin, God may
withhold the blessings He has ready for us. If we fail to love
others as He has told us to (when we read God’s Word, we can
see that Jesus has shown us how to love), then we are not being
obedient, and we can be forfeiting some of the blessings He has
for us.

God has made everything very simple:
    If we love and obey Him then we can open the door
    to receive many of His blessings and have a piece of
    Heaven while we live our life on earth.
    But, if we are disobedient, then our door to any of His
    additional blessings will remain closed.
The bottom line is, we have some responsibilities if we expect
to receive additional blessings from the Lord. We can unlock
many additional blessings from Him through our obedience.

The world attempts to lure us away from God’s blessings by
offering us temporary pleasures which do not last, and can
end up creating disappointment in our lives. What kind of
disappointments? Chasing worldly pleasures can cause us
to miss out on what God has for us.

Satan (aka the world) is clever in how he deceptively offers us
things to entice us. However, when we chase the pleasures of
the world, we find that we are always left wanting more. As a
result, we become restless, and try many other things offered
by the world as we continue to pursue pleasure and happiness.

Of course, the more we are lured by the world, the more we
will distance ourselves from God and His blessings. Resisting
all of the world’s temptations is not easy; it requires a lot of
prayer and self-discipline from us, if we expect to have any
level of success. It also requires our dependence on the Holy
Spirit’s presence in our lives. When we were saved, God sent
the Holy Spirit to us as our Advocate to help us in many ways.

ACTION:
Without prayer, we are in a battle by ourselves, but through
prayer we enlist the help of the Lord and He is much more
qualified to defeat whatever Satan throws at us. When we
ask for His help, we are expressing our faith and admitting
that we are dependent on God (we need to remember that He
wants us to be dependent, and not independent).

Do you feel that you are missing out on some of God’s blessings?
Does it seem that others are being blessed more than you? Are
there areas of your life that you are holding on to; things that
you have not given to the Lord? Are there some specific areas
where you are being disobedient to the Lord? Do you believe
God has given you a capacity and desire to love others as He
has commanded?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank you for the many blessings
You have already given me. I fear that I could be
missing out on some of Your additional blessings due
to my selfishness or disobedience. Make me aware of
any areas of my life that are displeasing to You and
help me to make the changes I need to make so I can
give You more control of my life. Knowing that You
have prepared a place for me in heaven brings comfort
to me and delights my soul.”

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