Tag: Heaven

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DEGREE OF UNDERSTANDING

FEBRUARY 28

MATTHEW 5:19_shall break one…

Laws can be broken. Once again, it is not dependent upon your belief system as to whether laws can be broken or not. Neither are the laws which govern your physical existence dependent upon your belief.

Ask your local state patrol what will happen when you violate the traffic laws which you think shouldn’t be laws. They will be glad to tell you. They are glad because they want you to be safe. They don’t want to send the body bags to pick up your pieces because you saw no value in the law and violated it. 

What’s the difference? The degree of understanding. Law officers are both trained in the laws and experienced firsthand in their results—when laws are kept or when laws are violated. The law officers’ greater understanding of the law comes from their role in life. A life-role to which they are dedicated.

Officers enforce the law not just as a job, but to protect you. Not only you, but everyone traveling the same road at the same time as you.

YOU WILL RECEIVE ANOTHER DEVOTIONAL THIS AFTERNOON SINCE THIS IS NOT A LEAP YEAR

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, I know Your creation principles of life are for my good. Please give me a clear understanding of how to cooperate with them. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ’s creation principles protect me—Thank You, Jesus!

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Minuteness Gives Emphasis

FEBRUARY 25

MATTHEW 5:18_one jot or one tittle shall in no wise…

Okay, so we have a couple of odd words in this verse. What in the world is a jot, or a tittle? 

A jot is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. A very tiny symbol. It looks rather similar to our comma.

A tittle is just a stroke used in the Hebrew alphabet to distinguish between the letters. In the Greek, it may have been considered as something like an accent mark.

The minuteness of these symbols is Jesus’ way of placing emphasis on the importance of the Law. Think about His emphasis. Even the tiniest strokes of a pen made in the writing of the laws will stand as long as the heaven and the earth.

The laws were written for instruction.

The coming of Jesus to the earth did not destroy the importance, or the power, of the Law. His earthly presence gave purpose to the Law as it gave purpose to all life as we know it. We have previously mentioned there are portions of the Law which Jesus’ earthly presence caused to become irrelevant.

Best of all, Jesus’ earthly presence gave purpose for a life yet to come, a new heaven and a new earth.  

PRAYER

Holy Jesus, I don’t want to miss one jot or one tittle of Your teachings. I want to gain all the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge You offer me in this life. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ knows what endures for eternity—My life!

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An End

FEBRUARY 24

MATTHEW 5:18_Till heaven and earth pass…

Do you believe there will be an end to the world? Does that mean an end of time? If the world ends, will time continue? If time does not continue, can there be an eternity?

The apostle John brings an end to the present heaven and earth in his book, The Revelation, the final book in the Bible.  In it he refers to a new heaven and a new earth.

Revelation 21:1 (KJV), “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

When there is no more earth, the sea shall also have passed away. It may seem easier to understand the destruction of the earth than the heaven, but this is not the heaven of heavens (1 Kings 8:27 KJV).

Jesus made His statement in this verse long before John wrote The Revelation. Jesus knew the current world as we know it would have an end.

The laws God gave to Moses belong to this life. Jesus has already declared He will not destroy the laws, but be their fulfillment. What Jesus says next makes it clear that the Law is not going anywhere as long as we are living in this life.  

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, Thank You that You will bring a new heaven and a new earth. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen. 

Christ knows this life will cease—He offers me new life!

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What Do You See?

FEBRUARY 5

MATTHEW 5:12_for great is your reward in heaven… 

Here is what Jesus knew was in store: great is your reward in heaven. Awesome!

He didn’t keep this a mystery to be revealed after your death, but said it plainly.

Jesus-followers have something to ponder: Do you believe in heavenly rewards? If you do believe, you have another question to ponder: Do you believe this life can result in heavenly rewards?

Go to a Bible reference and see how many times heavenly rewards are mentioned. If you are only interested in the rewards of this life, which you can also find reference to in the Bible; make a change in your thought pattern. 

Compare your time on earth, even if you live a hundred years, to time in eternity. Now compare a hundred years of earthly rewards to an eternity of heavenly rewards. Read that last sentence again. What do you see?  

Don’t overlook Jesus’ description of your reward—great!

 PRAYER

God of promises, I want to know all the truths You teach in the Bible. I know my earthly life is very short in comparison to eternity, and I know I can’t make myself good or clean or righteous, but I know You can do it all. I praise Your name! In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.              

Christ holds heaven’s rewards—For eternity!

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Jesus Feels our Pain

JANUARY 11

MATTHEW 5:4_Blessed are they that mourn…

Join me in saying, “Thank You, Jesus!” Jesus not only knows, hears, and understands my mourning—He blesses me for it!  How awesome is that? 

How beautiful to know there is One who cares when my heart breaks. One who saves all my tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8 KJV). Jesus comes to me in the midst of my pain. He takes the very thing which causes me deep sorrow and with time uses it to bless me! 

That seems impossible—especially when I am in the midst of my pain.

But He is the God of the Impossible.

Always has been.

Always is.

Always will be.

That in itself eases some of the pain.

If I have no sorrow, I live in Heaven—the eternal Heaven. That time has not come for me, or you.  Presently, I live in a fallen world where the devil and his powers of darkness are continually at work. And I mourn.   

It is up to me to allow Jesus to minister to me in my mourning, or to shut Him out.

There are sunny days in life for me to grasp. Holding Jesus’ hand helps me grasp them.

PRAYER

Merciful God, Praise You for feeling my pain, for feeling my hurts, for understanding my mourning. Praise You that I am never alone in my sorrow for You are always with me. In the powerful name of Jesus, Amen.                    

Christ hears my cries—He saves all my tears!