day no. 13,247: the one thing you need in order to go to Heaven

The following thought was produced during a conversation with my two big kids before bed:

What do you need to go to Heaven?

Nothing.

The only thing you need is nothing and the faith that Jesus has everything.

The only thing some people don't have (read - refuse to have) is nothing.

And that is all you need if you want to go to Heaven.

day no. 13,246: zephaniah's closing comfort‏

Zephaniah 3:16-17

16  On that day it will be said to Jerusalem:

“Do not fear;

Zion, do not let your hands grow weak.

17  Yahweh your God is among you,

a warrior who saves.

He will rejoice over you with gladness.

He will bring you quietness with His love.

He will delight in you with shouts of joy.”

What a comfort to read these words the other morning.

"Do not fear."

I fear sometimes. I worry about the future. I worry that I'm not enough. I worry that I don't believe enough. I worry that Jesus saves some, but not people like me.

"Do not let your hands grow weak."

I am often tired. I feel worn out. My feeble hands cramp. They carry the weight for only so long. They can't do what I wish and they often do what I darkly, deeply desire.

"Yahweh, your God is among you."

This, in itself, is not particularly comforting.  Reflecting upon the sentiments above, you can see why a holy God's nearness would be terrifying rather than comforting.

However...

"A warrior who saves."

He saves weak, feeble, tired, grumpy, grouchy, worried, fearful, timid, pathetic people like me.

He is a warrior where I am a weakling.

He is a Savior where I am a captive.

He is merciful where I am a rebel.

"He will bring you quietness with His love."

My noisy thoughts need quieting.

His love brings peace and quiet.

The fact that we, who require so much work, are such a delight and joy to Him who works and wars on our behalf is startling.

It is unnerving.

It seems unreal.

Over the top.

Too much.

And it is.

But it is true.

It is Who He is.

Revelation 19:11

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness.

day no. 13,245: accidental virtue doesn't exist‏

"No man is virtuous because he cannot help it; virtue is acquired." ~ Oswald Chambers

Read this gem from Utmost the other morning.
For virtue to be in you, something has to happen.
Virtue is not present by birth, nature or by accident.
First, God did something.
If not for His initial move, virtue for us is forever fleeting.
But God did something.
By faith we are fully virtuous as Jesus was virtuous in life, death and resurrection.
By faith we are fully virtuous and growing in virtue at the same time, but in different ways.
2 Peter 1:3-11

3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.4 By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness,7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.

day no. 13,244: the revelation of Jesus fulfilling old revelations‏

Revelation 7:17

For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne
will shepherd them;
He will guide them to springs of living waters,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Again today we see John receiving a revelation of Jesus Christ that echoes all the way back to the Old Testament.

Psalm 23:1-2

1 The Lord is my shepherd;

there is nothing I lack.

2 He lets me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

God will guide us to living, quiet waters

Isaiah 25:8

He will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away the tears
from every face
and remove His people’s disgrace
from the whole earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

God will wipe every tear of sorrow, grief, sadness, sickness and sin from our eyes and remove our disgrace forever.

day no. 13,241: John was able to see Jesus as Isaiah once saw Him‏

Revelation 4:2

Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was set there in heaven. One was seated on the throne

John here sees something that Isaiah once saw hundreds of years earlier, yet reported very similarly.

Isaiah 6:1

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple.

Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne.

Isaiah 6:10

Dull the minds of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.

This is what Isaiah heard Him say then.

John 12:40-41

He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so that they would not see with their eyes
or understand with their hearts,
and be converted,
and I would heal them.

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke about Him.

The same was true of those in John's day.

John reports here in His Gospel that Isaiah saw Jesus all those years ago.

John himself, later while writing the book of Revelation referenced earlier, was granted eyes to see what Isaiah once saw: Jesus on the throne.

The Bible is awesome.

day no. 13,240: the Key of David

During the Christmas season it is not uncommon to hear the following:

O come, thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home;
make safe the way that leads on high,
and close the path to misery.

Its roots are deeply Biblical.

Revelation 3:7

“Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia:

“The Holy One, the True One, the One who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and closes and no one opens

Again, where does this language come from?

You guessed it, the Old Testament

Isaiah 22:22

I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

Jesus is the One with the key to the house of David and by faith in Him alone is the door opened or closed.

He is the Key.

He is the Door.
He is the only Way.

day no. 13,239: too often, the way taken is the wrong way

"Most of us hold the dream of becoming something better than we are, something larger, richer, in some way more important to the world and ourselves. Too often, the way taken is the wrong way, with too much emphasis on what we want to have, rather than what we wish to become." ~ Louis L'Amour

Too many want greatness without being great.
Too many desire wealth without being rich before God.
Too many want to be large in the view of others without growing.

Too often, the way taken is the wrong way.

The Gospel preaches the exact opposite.

We are free to become less, because we have found the One who is more.
We are free to become poor, because we have found the One who is worth everything.
We are free to become small, because we have found the One who is BIG.

We are free from the patterns and philosophies and worldly wisdoms of getting ahead here, because here no longer holds the same allure it once did before we met Him.