When we receive Jesus Christ into our heart as Savior from
our sins and as Lord of our life, He literally comes inside us and dwells in our
heart. To be in heaven is to have Jesus living in you, to have God living inside
of you and thus be one with God. Jesus said recorded in John 17:17-21
"Sanctify them in the truth, Your word is truth, As You did
send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I
do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me
through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me,
and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You
did send Me."
Paul wrote:
"To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory." (Colossians 1:27)
"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine
yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus
Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Corinthians 13:5)
The Apostle John wrote:
"And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have the life." (1 John 5:11-12)
If God is in us and we are experiencing His nature, we are
already in heaven. Paul expresses it this way in Colossians 3:1-3,
"If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking
the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your
mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died
and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
The Bible also states that when a person believes on the
Gospel and receives Jesus as Savior and Lord that God adopts that person as His
son and daughter and that, that person is recreated into a new creation:
"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to
become children of God, to those who believe in His name." (John 1:12)
"He ordained-beforehand to adopt us as sons through Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will." (Ephesians 1:5)
"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."
(Galatians 3:26)
"For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to
fear again, but you have received a Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry
out, ‘Abba! Father!’ the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we
are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs
with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified
with Him." (Romans 8:15-17)
"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the
old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
You see John Christianity is not a religion. By religion I
mean working our way to heaven. Christianity is God having paid sins penalty for
us already on the cross so that we would return to Him to have a relationship
with Him. Christianity is relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is
having an intimate relationship with God right now, not when we get to heaven.
Heaven is just the full manifestation of God continuously all the time. In
heaven you experience God’s love, joy and peace continuously and unhindered 24
hours a day , 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. That is possible also on this side
of heaven, but only as we stay free of sin. Sin hinders our relationship with
God and is as quickly restored when we confess and repent of it. That is the
only time a Christian is not experiencing God’s love, joy and peace, when he or
she is allowing sin to reign in their lives at the moment. When I am not
experiencing the fruit of the Holy Spirit of love, joy & peace in my life, I
stop and ask God what my sin is. He tells me, I then confess it, thank Him for
His forgiveness according to 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful
and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness," ask Him to refill me with His Holy Spirit according to
Ephesians 5:18 "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be
filled with the Spirit" and then experience again the fruit of the Holy Spirit
of love, joy & peace and move on.
There is only one way the Bible tells us we can have heaven
in our heart, to know God’s Love, joy and peace and forgiveness: by coming to
know Jesus. The Apostle Peter stated in Acts 4:12 about Jesus "And there is
salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been
given among men, by which we must be saved." This is because Jesus is God in the
flesh. When Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:6 "I-AM the way, and the
truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." Philip said to
Jesus in response in John 14:8 "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for
us." Jesus said to Philip in John 14:9 "Have I been so long with you, and yet
you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father;
how do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’" So the way to salvation, John, from past
and present sins, is by coming to know God Himself through the person of Jesus
Christ. The way you do that is by responding to Jesus’ personal invitation in
Revelation 3:20. Jesus states:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My
voice and opens the door, I will come into him, and will dine with him, and he
with Me."
What you have to do is simply confess to Jesus that you are a
sinner and ask Him to come into your heart as Savior from Your sins and as Lord
of Your life. Pray like this:
Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and repent of
my known sins. I ask You now to come into my heart as Savior from my sins and as
Lord of my life. Heavenly Father, thank You for forgiving my sins through Your
Son’s death and shed blood on the cross and that I now have eternal life. Now
take control of my life, and through Your Holy Spirit lead me into your will and
plan for my life; in Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s name, amen.
If you pray this prayer and mean it, know then that Jesus is
in your heart and that you now have eternal life. Why? Because God testifies
that the only thing which determines whether or not you have eternal life is by
whether or not you have Jesus living inside of you. He states recorded by John:
"And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not
have the Son of God does not have the life." (1 John 5:11-12)
Jesus then promises us in Hebrews 13:5 "I will never never
desert you, nor will I ever, ever, ever forsake you." Since Jesus says that once
we invite Him in that He will not leave or forsake us and the Father states that
he who has the Son has Eternal Life, will there ever be a time in your life that
you are not saved and not going to heaven? No! Is that not a wonderful truth
It is that simple, and God’s word states plainly there is no
other way. That is because Jesus Christ is God and only through Him do we have
life, eternal life. This is why he had to be both fully God and fully man to
save us: fully Man to be the lamb of God to shed His blood for our sins; fully
God so that when we believed on Him and received Him we would have His life in
ourselves and thus eternal life, the very life of God. That is why to have the
Son is to have eternal life, it is to have the very life of God living in you.
That is also why Jesus Christ had to be fully God and fully Man to save us and
why God in addition to His Divine nature took on a full Human nature as well.
Sincerely in Jesus,
Dale P. Kruse
Pastor Evangelist
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Bible
Internet