Heaven
Psalm 145:1-2 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise Your name forever and ever.
I have recently been leading our Friday morning study on the subject of heaven. I have gained a great deal of insight from Randy Alcorn’s book called Heaven. It is the most complete treatise on the subject of heaven I have ever read.
As Alcorn was talking about worship in heaven, I was struck by this short statement. “All that we do will be an act of worship.” Wow! Isn’t that what we want to do today? Don’t we desire all our activities, all our thoughts, all our conversations to be an act of worship to our great God?
On this earth we do it imperfectly. On this earth we battle the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the world and Satan. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can still use our minds, our hearts and our bodies to please the Father.
Bailey Marks had the opportunity to be with Dr. Bill Bright the day of his death. Bailey asked him if there was anything he could do for him. He said “Yes, let’s pray together”. Dr. Bright prayed “Lord help me be a suit of clothes for you today”. Even though Dr. Bright was fighting for his last breath and was confined to a wheelchair that was his prayer. What a model of worship!
How about us? How about me? I can get so consumed with my problems, my health, my family, my football team — you fill in the blank — and forget that my life is to be an act of worship for my God. That is my desire with all my heart.
In Revelation 19:7-8 it says Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Randy Alcorn points out that we expect the Scripture to say is that the fine linen is the righteous deeds of our Savior. But what it says is the righteous deeds of the saints. I want to sew some threads on that wedding gown. Don’t you?
As I looked over last year’s letter for November I talked about my great health other than my back, shoulder impingement problems and a bum knee. I didn’t realize how grateful I should’ve been at that time. This summer I had knee replacement, two heart ablations and almost ripped my finger off. So I want to take the time in this Thanksgiving letter to thank God that now I’m just on baby aspirin; my knee is doing well; and I’m trying restore my finger to full mobility.
I also thank God for you. Paul told the churches often he thanked God for them. That is exactly how I feel about you who pray, participate, and support this ministry.
I hope you have a blessed Christmas season with family and friends. May we see many ushered into his kingdom by the end of 2014. And let us praise our God! We will be praising Him for all eternity – for all we do will be an act of worship!
Worshiping with you,
Phil