• If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

We live in a very materialistic world. It seems that importance is based on power, position and financial accumulation. Value is judged by where you live, what you drive and where you work. In the end, he who has the most toys wins.

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, Americans collectively hold $1.211 trillion in credit card debt, which is a record high. This represents a significant increase from the pre-pandemic record of $927 billion in Q4 2019, a rise of $284 billion. Last year, Americans spent $3.2 trillion on their credit cards.

Once, cash was king, but now it is credit, because you don’t have to pay for it immediately when you spend it. This allows people to spend beyond their means to get what they want. Only 16% of all transactions are paid for in cash.

The world largely operates on credit. People get dressed in clothes they haven’t paid for and drive cars that aren’t paid for, all to arrive at a job. They work to pay for those clothes and cars, yet their homes often sit vacant all day because they can’t genuinely afford to live in them – all often to impress others.

As I recently stood in line to check out a purchase, I saw the sign that said, “No Cash Accepted.”

Contrast all of that to the admission price to get into heaven.

If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, then you will be saved. No cash, power or position will get you in.

Heaven is a cashless place and credit cards aren’t accepted either.

Romans 10:9 outlines a two-part condition for salvation:

• a public confession of faith in Jesus as Lord and
• a genuine, heartfelt belief in the resurrection.

Confessing Jesus as Lord acknowledges his authority and divinity, while believing in the resurrection recognizes the central truth of the gospel.

The relationship is ultimately personal between you and God. It doesn’t matter who you were or what you had; what truly matters is whose you are, and for this admission, no cash is accepted.

by John Grant
used by permission

You Can Have it Too!
If you’re reading this and have yet to invite Jesus to be your Savior, there will never be a better day than today. There’s no magic in any particular words, but if God is speaking to you, don’t wait. Don’t harden your heart one more time.

If there’s unforgiveness in your heart, deal with it. Don’t wait. You can walk in freedom and it’s wonderful. Ask God to show you if there’s anything you need to deal with and then ask Him for the courage to deal with it. He’ll give it to you. He is always faithful.

FURTHER READING

• How to Know God Personally
• Forgiving Ourselves & Others
• Testimonials

The post No Cash Accepted appeared first on Thoughts About God.

‘What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him, and in seeing him, become like him‘  1 John 3:2, (The Message)

A good friend of mine recently died after a long bout with cancer and an extended stay in a care facility. Strange as it may seem, when I heard the news of her death, my first reaction was, ‘Heaven will be no surprise for her. She’s been living for years in the presence of Jesus.’

My last visit with Susan, just two weeks before her death, was just like all my other visits. Her first question was about what God was doing in my life. Her face, now thin from the ravages of disease, was lit with a brilliant smile. Susan’s work with international students through the years was continuing as she met twice weekly with one of the kitchen staff who wanted to improve her English. She spoke lovingly by phone every day with her mother whose confused mind was withering because of senile dementia. She asked if we could pray, not for herself but for her patient, tired and loving husband. ‘This is so hard for him,’ she said.

When Susan stopped breathing the air of earth, I know she swelled with love at the sight of her Savior. She had been becoming like Him for a long time. Heaven wasn’t really a surprise; she had lived its reality for years.

Father God, help me look longingly at you each day and live increasingly like you so that when I see you face to face, I will not be surprised, only overcome with joy.

by Marilyn Ehle
used by permission

FURTHER READING

• What Makes Heaven Heavenly
• The Conveyor Belt to Heaven
• Christmas in Heaven

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The post Am I Ready for Heaven? appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”  Revelation 8:3-4 (ESV)

I have been very ill recently and there is no doubt that God has been, and is, with me through this experience, traumatic as it has been.

I had become jaundiced and infected, very ill, and was admitted to hospital. The upshot was, as I got sicker, so my mental faculties left me; until eventually all was stripped away except God. There was no room for anything else because I was so ill. For a big baby like me who avoids hospitals, needles, and endless blood-sampling, it was great. I had no space for fear or apprehension. There was just God and me together.

Now you could put all this down to kind of euphoria from the state I was in. However, I had a picture given to me whilst in this state to explain what was happening. This is the picture:

As I looked into darkness I could see something like an assembly line of a tinned product. This was a single line of tins encased by four open sides of bright metal. Rather than going horizontally, this assembly line came up from the darkness and then turned at an angle into a horizontal fixed point on a transparent wall where light was shining. As the many tins rolled up and entered into the light of the expanse, they immediately burst forth into a shimmering gold dust that spread out and drifted gently downwards into the darkness towards me.

I understood these were the many prayers of the saints being sent up from earth into the heavenly realms. As they reached into heaven they were blessed by God, and returned to earth to accomplish their mission. It was these very prayers, as an act of God’s grace shown towards me, which I believe took away all my fears and anxieties.

PRAYER: LORD, thank you so much for Your peace which passes all understanding and the fellowship of prayer. Your desire for us to be intimately involved in Your purposes for us here on earth, through prayer and action. We thank you for the faithfulness of the saints and your desire to answer prayers.  Please forgive us when we doubt You hear our prayers, and enable us to trust in Your love for us, even when we cannot see it, to know that it is there. For which we rejoice and give You thanks and praise in Jesus’ name, amen.

by Rod Marshall
used by permission

FURTHER READING

•   Heaven on My Mind – by Katherine Kehler

•  How to Be Confident You Will Go to Heaven When You Die 

•  What Makes Heaven Heavenly – by Max Lucado

The post The Conveyor Belt to Heaven appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?�  1 Corinthians 15:55

Life is full of homecomings. I remember school homecomings and coming home from my honeymoon, carrying my wife into our new home. I recently spent the better part of three months away from home living at the state capitol and returning only on weekends. It was good to get back home. I have done that for 35 years, each legislative session and I always look forward to getting home. After cooking my own meals and living alone for all those weeks, I was really joyful to get back home.

The end of the legislative calendar is marked with “Sine Die,� which literally translated means “without day.� But in the common usage it means the permanent and final adjournment of the legislative session without any extensions or returns. It is over for good. There will be future ones, but this one is over forever.

 Life is like that. Each of is born with a sine die date, the date known only to God, but nonetheless a certainty for all who are born into life on this earth. Solomon said it when he said there is a time for all things, including a time to die. No one, regardless of wealth or worldly rank has been able to escape it. And human tendency is to regard it as a relentless and unyielding enemy. As soon as we are born, death becomes our destiny and though many have tried, no one has developed an antidote for it. It is the ultimate homecoming. The question, though is to which home does one go?

 But, for those who follow Christ and have trusted our life to Him, death is not an enemy, but a glorious destiny. Through the resurrection, death has been defeated and is no longer our enemy. As Christians, we need not fear death, for Christ has gone before us and will welcome us as we enter into eternity with him.

Death frees us to experience the glorious heavenly presence of God. No illness can defeat us. No disaster can rob us of eternal life. For Christians, death is not our enemy, but is nothing less than a vehicle that enables believers to experience God’s glory to the fullest.

I should not let death or the fear of it prevent me from experiencing a full and abundant life, because death cannot rob me of my inheritance as a child of God. With that assurance, I can enjoy my life in peace and earthly fulfillment, knowing that my future is secure and my eternity glorious.

I still have a lot I want and need to do here on earth, so I am not ready for that ultimate homecoming, but I can look forward to it and be sure of it, because my reservation is sure, having given my heart to Christ.

 Have you made sure your eternal room is reserved?
( a thought on life from John Grant )

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2009/06/18/jg_home/

The post Home at Last appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Those people who know they have great spiritual needs are happy, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.� Matthew 5:3 (NCV)

[God] promises [sacred delight]. And he promises it to an unlikely crowd:

    * “The poor in spirit.”  Beggars in God’s soup kitchen.
  
  * “Those who mourn.”  Sinners Anonymous bound together by the truth  of   their introduction: “Hi, I am me. I’m a sinner.”….
   
* “The merciful.”  Winners of the million-dollar lottery who share the prize with their enemies.
   
* “The pure in heart.”  Physicians who love lepers and escape infection.
   
* “The peacemakers.”  Architects who build bridges with wood from a Roman cross….
 
  * “The persecuted.”  Those who manage to keep an eye on heaven while walking through hell on earth.

It is to this band of pilgrims that God promises a special blessing. A heavenly joy. A sacred delight.

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2009/03/29/ml_delight/
Not to be reprinted without permission

**********************************************************************    
Max Lucado
From: The Applause of Heaven
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1990)
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://www.maxlucado.com/about/

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“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

It was a real learning experience when I learned the term. I can remember like it was yesterday. My mother said we were going to town to shop and purchase something. I can’t remember what it was but remember it was something we really wanted. We lived out in the country so going to town was an event and the only place to shop for other than groceries and animal feed.

We went downtown, got in the elevator and went to the top floor and proceeded to pick out our purchase. My mother placed the purchase on the counter and pulled out her charge plate, the aluminum store charge devise that was a precursor to modern day credit cards.

After settling up and getting my mother’s signature, the sales clerk gave her back her charge plate and proceeded to put the package under the counter. My mother turned and walked away without our long awaited purchase.

I asked her to explain and that’s when I learned the term. “Layaway� means that we can’t afford to pay now for what we have purchased, so the store neatly stores it away until it is paid for in full and then we can take it home. I think that probably anyone under forty years old is a stranger to the term.

It is so different now, as it is the exact opposite. I was reading through the advertising supplements of this week’s Sunday newspaper and saw page after page of “pay no interest for a year� and even one that said “no payments until 2010.� It would appear that now you can do the opposite of layaway. Instead of sheltering our object of need until it’s paid for, we take immediate possession of our object of greed and pay for it on a plan where it is designed to self destruct or become technologically obsolete with thirty days after you make the last payment.
 
No wonder people are spending more than they make and banks are in the financial soup.

But, the Bible gives us a better definition. Jesus told us to not doddle over what the earth calls treasures, but to lay away heavenly treasures….. those with real value. And He so aptly tells us that where our treasure is, our heart will be also. Now that’s the real definition of layaway.

Question: What are your treasures… the things of this world or the things of heaven? 
( a thought on life from John Grant )

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2009/02/28/jg_layaway/

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