Believing in Heaven

Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. John 11:11 

Just as the buried grain of wheat brings forth a fruitful plant, so the old, sin-corrupted, aching body of human flesh, sown in the ground, will someday come forth “fashioned like unto his glorious body. Philippians 3:21 

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

Look around you, there may be those who think when you die, you are dead and that is it!

When my friend called me, crying, I listened carefully to her tears. She said, “My parents did not believe in Jesus or heaven. They felt when they died and left earth, they were just dead and that was it. I grew up with the same idea. The materials you are sending me let me know Christ has risen and is preparing a place for me.” The tears flowed again. She went on, “My father died three years ago, and I haven’t talked with my mother since then. It was so hard.”

I knew this friend was reading the Bible Study books I sent her. My Christmas devotion book full of devotions written for Eastridge was the latest item I sent her. She read it completely and then called me. The verses and stories in the devotions touched her and opened the thought of going to heaven someday. My heart was so happy. Her tears about her former beliefs were so real.

Here are words from “Days of Praise” that clarifies this truth.

When a believer’s soul and spirit leave the body and return to the Lord, it is

significant that the New Testament Scriptures speak of the body not as dead

but as sleeping.

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, help us to look around us and see those who need to know your love and the eternal life your Son Jesus bestows upon us when we reach out and confess our sins and state we believe He is our Lord and Savior. In Jesus name, Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck