Hey all!
This week's post is a little scary to me because I have been going through it with this thought: Am I praising and worshiping because I love God or because I am scared of hell? If you are feeling the same way, hopefully this helps.
In our day to day lives, from Christians or non Christians, we hear horror stories of Hell. So, it is natural that to some extent we have a greater understanding of Hell than we do of Heaven. Hell is an eternal flame, eternal punishment, eternal separation from God. We see descriptions of Hell in the Bible in verses such as Matthew 13: 50 "and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." or Mark 9:48 "Where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched." and Revelation 14:10 "they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb." (the beginning of verse 11 says " And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever")
Even non Christian sources such as Dante's Inferno, which is wildly accessible and taught in Humanities classes in schools, give an example of what Hell is supposed to be. So, its quite evident that Hell is a scary place and we do not want to be there.
But how much do we know about Heaven? How much is it talked about on a daily basis? We have to be wise to the schemes of the devil. He has desensitized the world to hell and its contents so much, that it does not seem as scary, causing to people curse themselves or others to Hell (i.e the phrase "go to hell" or "I'm going to hell anyway" or "I will walk through hell with you"). We need to ask ourselves, why has the world made it so easy to talk about/ fantasize Hell but not Heaven? This is a distraction that the devil has poured into the world. Well, today I am going to talk about Heaven and Praise.
What is Heaven?
In church today, we learned that Heaven is another Dimension. It is a place void of Death. Yes we die on earth but that is just our physical body, we are very much alive in Heaven. All the way back to Noah and Moses.
In the Bible Heaven is:
Eternal life
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Void of pain and sorrow
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Prepared for Us
John 14:2
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
Void of Darkness
Revelation 22:3-5
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
A place where Righteousness Dwells
2 Peter 3:13
But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
BEAUTIFUL
Revelation 21
What do we do in Heaven?
In Heaven we will praise and worship God. We will be in the presence of God, angels and our fellow Christians.
Revelation 22:3
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
Revelation 5:13-14
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Why do we praise?
Even with this knowledge, I still have the question am I praising for the right reasons. As I was doing research for this blog post. I came across Revelation 22:12-13 ( "Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.") and something just touched me. The glory of God is so awesome, so beautiful. It gives me the chills, I could not explain it, even if I tried. God has complete control over everything and the love that he has for me and you is so wild. His word said it best,
"We love him, because he loved us first" 1 John 4:19. That is why I praise. I won't tell you that there is a right reason to praise, you have to dig deep and look into yourself and your worship to find it.
Sometimes, especially when low in faith or covered in sin and shame, it feels more like I fear hell more than I do God and so I begin scrambling to pray and read my bible. Doing that is wrong. Why would I fear the creation more than I do the creator? If I am not worshipping out of the love and reverence in my heart, is my worship true? To be a living sacrifice, our worship has to be true. Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship."
If this is something you struggle with, I hope this helped in some way. I also hope that you enjoyed reading. Till next time!
Stay Blessed,
Jaeden x
Comments