October 2, 2006

John 14:2. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. NASB

Do you ever take the time to wonder what Heaven is really like? Have you ever wondered what it will sound like, smell like, or look like? Sometimes I wonder what we will do up there all day, for all of eternity. I often think about certain details like, what we will eat, what will we wear, what music will we sing and play, or what our dwelling place will be like.

I know that most people do not spend too much time wondering about Heaven. To the average Christian the concept of an eternal heavenly home is far too remote from our daily lives to even give it a passing thought. But my friends, Heaven should not be some remote, obscure, or mystical concept. Heaven is a living, present reality and the blessed hope for all of us who trust in Christ. Heaven is a real place where we will dwell in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now allow me to take this idea of Heaven a step farther. As much as I am looking forward to my heavenly home, I believe that we can have a portion of that same glory here on the earth. I believe that the Church today should be a reflection of Heaven. I realize that I am comparing the natural realm to the spiritual realm, yet I still believe that this organism that we call “church” should be a reflection of Heaven.

When God’s people love Him and worship Him as we should, the Word of God declares that God comes and dwells among us in the praises of His people. When God arrives everything changes! When God is present in the house, His goodness, mercy, grace, blessing, healing, abundance, joy, power, and glory, is there for all to receive! When God is present in all His glory, the church becomes like a giant magnet drawing people into its warmth and light. When God is present, the people are healed and set free from addictions! When God is present marriages are restored! When God is present revival becomes a reality in the lives of God’s people!

I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot like heaven to me. I believe that it is Christ’s desire for His church to be a little taste of heaven on earth. Our churches should be so full of the presence and glory of God that people can’t wait to get there and then once there, they don’t want to leave.

May the Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Floyd

© 2006 Floyd Steverson

September 30, 2006

Luke 12:35 “Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. NASB

Recently while praying, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit of the certainty of Christ’s imminent return. Just as surely as Christ kept His promises concerning His death on the cross, and of His bodily resurrection, He will keep His promise to return to us. I believe that now more than ever we should heed the command of Christ found this passage of Scripture. 

Christ’s command here to us is twofold: First, He commands us to be ready. In other words, we are to live our lives as if we truly expect to meet the Lord at any moment. When Christ returns on clouds of glory, there will not be time for you to get your life in order. There will not be another opportunity at a later time to make things right with God through repentance. Those petty issues that you have been holding on to and refusing to surrender unto the Lord will only cause you much grief on the Day of His Return. The time to make things right is now while you still have a chance.

Second, for those who know Him, He commands us to keep our lamps lit. In other words, we must tend to the flame in order to make sure that it never goes out. We must be full of the Spirit of God and allow the light of God to burn brightly within us in order to light the pathway of salvation for those who are still trapped in darkness. It is not enough just to make sure we personally are ready to meet the Lord, but we have an obligation to the Lord to see to that as many as possible around us are ready to meet Him as well.

Be ready and burn brightly!

May the Grace and Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Floyd 

© 2006 Floyd Steverson

September 28, 2006

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, ” `YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38. “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39. “The second is like it, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’  NASB

When Jesus was pressed for an answer as to which commandments were the most important, without hesitation He instructed us to first love God and second to love people. Jesus taught us that these two commandments were so important, that the entire “Law and the Prophets”, or, to say it more clearly, that all the precepts of God, depend upon these two commandments.

Jesus teaches us that the most important thing we can do is to Love God completely. But what does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul and mind? It simply means that nothing in your life should be more important to you than your relationship with the Lord. We should have a burning desire to serve Him, and a dedication to obeying His will so that we might please Him with our lives. We must continuously nurture our relationship with the Lord through prayer and meditating on His Word.

If we are obeying the first commandment that Jesus taught, we will also obey His second commandment to love others. People are the most important thing to God. Nothing else even comes to close. God did not send His Son to save a building, or a denomination, or even some of our “sacred” programs. No, Christ died to save people like you and I. Christ died on the cross so that every person who ever lived or lives upon this earth would have an opportunity to be saved and to have a living relationship with our Heavenly Father. Therefore, if we want our churches to have a ministry of impact and permanence we must build it into the lives of people. We must always remember that the church is not the building it is people. How well we treat people, and how well we establish them in the Christian faith will determine our success as a church.

Let us always be faithful in these three things: Loving God through Christ, loving each other in Christ, and loving the lost that Christ died to save.

May the Grace and Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Floyd

© 2006 Floyd Steverson

September 27, 2006

Hebrews 10:24. and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25. not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. NASB

I have a confession to make to you all - I don’t like being around negative people. Negativism is the one thing that I really have never developed the patience to deal with. I believe that many of you feel the same way that I do. It is not a pleasant experience to get “cornered up” with someone who just rattles on with one negative comment after another. Before long you are affected by the stain of their negativism and feel like you need a bath to wash off all their “dirt”. And the worse thing about negativism is that it is contagious. If you listen to it and tolerate it long enough, you will eventually begin to speak and think in the same negative manner.

The author of Hebrews gives some wonderful instruction to the believer on how we should speak and act towards one another. He tells us that we ought to, “stimulate one another to love and good deeds”, and that we should be, “encouraging one another”, with both our words and our actions at all times.

We live in a world that is in many ways hostile to our Christian faith. We share a common enemy of our souls that would use any means possible to destroy our faith and even our very lives. We need to lift one another up within the Body of Christ constantly and always guard our tongue when we speak. As a Spirit-filled Christian, we must always be a positive “light” in a negative world, especially one to another within the body. May God help us to always use our tongues to glorify Christ and edify our fellow man.

May the Grace and Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Floyd

© 2006 Floyd Steverson

September 25, 2006

We love, because He first loved us.1st John 4:19 NASB

As I meditate on this passage of Scripture, I am reminded of the wonderful truth that is evident within these words. And that wonderful truth is that the God of the universe desires to have a living relationship with me. He is the initiator of this relationship. He openly invites us to have a relationship with Him through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

For too many years of my life I thought that serving God meant keeping a set of man-made rules. I thought that I had to constantly do something to merit God’s attention and favor. I labored under the misconception that my relationship with God was initiated by me. Often times, because I was ashamed of a less than perfect life, I would be reluctant to approach Him, even when I needed him the most.

But, one day the Holy Spirit revealed this wonderful truth to me. I am not, nor have I ever been, the initiator of this divine relationship between the Creator and His created ones. It is God who reaches out to me. What a powerful concept; God the creator fervently desires to have a living relationship with me. He is the One who initiated the work of salvation and called me to it. He is the One who desires for me to enjoy the abundant Christian life and makes provision for me. He is the One who calls me into an intimate conversation (prayer) with Him, where I can lay down my burdens and receive His power and divine wisdom into my life.

I think after all these years I am finally beginning to understand what grace (God’s unmerited favor) is and what it means to my life. No longer is serving God laborious. Because of grace serving God is no longer a matter of keeping man-made rules, but responding to God in joyful obedience and true holiness. No longer am I reluctant to enter into prayer, because now I know that it is God who has initiated the conversation.

Grace…what a wonderful thing it is indeed.

May the GRACE and the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Floyd

© 2006 Floyd Steverson