"Heavenly Bound"

"Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their strength." (Psalms 115:11)

 I know it might not seem to make much sense, but there is only one thing we need to fear. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 10:26-28 and in Luke 12:4-5, that we should not fear him who can destroy our bodies, but rather we should fear Him which is able to destroy both our soul and our body in hell. Some of our greatest fears are things that actually are not even there, they are the things that we imagine in our own minds; but there is nothing more real than judgment and the eternal flames of hell. After Jesus spoke of this, He said that we need to fear not, if we are His, saying, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." So in this sense, it is a two way street, fear and trust go hand in hand. There really is nothing that we can do to earn our way into heaven, if we could, then Jesus wouldn't have had to come down and give His life in our place. We are given eternal life by believing in the sacrifice given by the Father, His Son. It was the Father's sacrifice, spoken of Abraham in Genesis 22:8, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." This he said to answer his son about where the sacrifice was they were going to offer, but as it turns out, some say that was the place where Jesus was crucified, 1900 years later! The most popular verse in the Bible tells it just like it is: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." That word perish is the word that means damnation, the word that Jesus was speaking about when He was saying whom we should fear; not because God wants to throw us into the fires of hell, because He wants everyone to be saved from where they are headed if they do not accept His free offer of salvation. What is so hard to decide about that? Just believe and be saved. I look forward to seeing you all in heaven; where I will see my mother, grandfather, brother-in-laws, and my son...

"After this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting, "Praise the LORD! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. His judgments are true and just. He has punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the murder of his servants." And again their voices rang out: "Praise the LORD! The smoke from that city ascends forever and ever." Then the twenty-four elders and the four living beings fell down and worshipped God, who was sitting on the throne. They cried out, "Amen! Praise the LORD!" And from the throne came a voice that said, "Praise our God, all his servants, all who fear him, from the least to the greatest."" (Revelation 19:1-5) NLT