The new church I’ve been going to talks a lot about prayer.
They talk about transformational prayer. Prayer that changes circumstances. That receives answers. They have seen real-life miracles. The kind of miracles that are supernatural and clearly beyond what anything or anyone on Earth could do. The kind of miracles that come only from God.
And, well, it’s got me thinking. It’s got me thinking about a post I wrote sometime back titled "God Doesn’t Owe Us Squat".
I still believe God doesn’t owe us anything as He already gave us everything. I still believe He doesn't promise us all good things or that all will go well for us if we follow him, as evidenced by the lives of the disciples and the apostle Paul.
God is not a giant Santa Claus or a prayer vending machine in the sky. He has His ways that are not our own.
But... I've been thinking.
I've been thinking about a sweet woman I once knew.
You know how every church has older men and women who may not officially be elders, but kind of serve in that role? They are wise and have lived a long time in the faith, and therefore have a tendency to make a difference for the younger generations and younger Christians.
Well, this woman was one of those.
At the time when I met her, she was already in her early 90s. I was told, not by her, but by someone close to her, that God had promised her she would see His return.
To be honest, I was a little put off by that, because while I fully believe Jesus will come back as He said, I don’t honestly expect to see it. Maybe I will, and that would be a nice surprise. I know many Christians are looking at things happening in the world right now and consider them signs the end is near. Of course, Christians also thought the end was near during the Dark Ages and the Cold War and the two World Wars and all kinds of other horrible times in history.
Some of which were our fault. But I digress...
The Bible says no one knows the day of Jesus' return. It'll be entirely unexpected. But we should be ready for it. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Anyway, since this lovely woman was already in her 90s, if she was going to live to see his return, then I could only assume that He would have to return within the next few years. That was the part which made me pause. Was His return truly that imminent?
But then, she passed away.
Which made me wonder. Had she misunderstood? Or, had the person who told me misunderstood what she said? Did God change His plan? Or had He reneged on His promise to her?
I was sitting in church again this past Sunday, and it occurred to me something out of the blue. The pastor wasn’t talking about anything related to God keeping His promises, or to death and the resurrection or anything even in the same wheelhouse as what came to me. Maybe it was just because this church invites God and you can feel him when you walk in the door. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a church that has such a palpable presence of God among His people as this one. It’s honestly one of the main reasons why I keep going back (the other being that my kids love it there, and they don’t love it anywhere).
Anyway, this woman came to mind again, and I realized something.
What if... we are the only ones who see two lives. One life here on earth, and one up in heaven. What if, God sees it all as one life. A life that begins when we are born, and which has no end. At some point, we will move from this earth to our eternal destination, but maybe it’s more of a transition than how we tend to think of it: as the end of one life and the beginning of another. What if, what we call the "afterlife" is really more of an on-going life. A continuation. A next step.
If that is the case, then, perhaps God answers more prayers than we think.
After all, after the transition to Heaven, people are healed, completely. Their pain is taken away forever. Their sadness is gone and they are full of joy. They have fully restored functioning. They are reunited with loved ones. They are close to God and know Him more fully. And, finally, one day, love, mercy, and justice will win for good.
Aren't these some of the main things people pray for?
I imagine, in that case, that God has saved a front row seat in Heaven for this wise woman of the church for when He does return. After all, He promised her.
Think of Moses in the Bible. God commanded Moses to lead His people out of Egypt - which he did. Through Moses, God told the people He would lead them into the Promised Land. A promise that had been made generations before to their ancestors. In Numbers 20:11,12 however, God forbids Moses himself to enter the Promised Land because of his disobedience. Yet Moses pleads with God to be able to at least see the land, which God allows (Deuteronomy 3:23-25). Then he dies.
We don't see Moses again for another 1600 years. When Jesus was on Earth, He was visited by two figures from the past - Moses and Elijah. They were real enough that Peter offered to put up shelters for them! They appeared with Jesus on Mt Tabor in Israel, near Nazareth. In order words, they appeared with Him within the Promised Land! What grace of God to allow Moses to stand on the Promised Land after all. Not in his earthly life, but during his heavenly one.
Sometimes skeptics state a belief in Heaven is a mere fantasy invented to combat the existential fear of death. I will not argue that death is not frightening. The unknown is always frightening. A psychologist friend of mine states that he thinks our fear of death is actually a fear of loss of control. Because we cannot control what happens to us after our bodies die.
But I wonder... if we truly understood the eternal, ever-lasting nature of God, His great love for us, and His promises, if we would fear death so much.
God has promised us eternity. And God is faithful. Or He would not be God.
I used to think that I would rather go out through life believing, even if it is a fantasy, as long as my belief moved me to do good in the world.
Now, understanding all the evil that has been done in the name of this so-called fantasy, I am unsure.
I think I would rather just be a good person, then believe in something that wasn’t true and could cause harm.
However, I am more and more convinced that it is true. Christianity. Heaven and Hell. The Bible. Jesus.
And that those who have used Christianity for evil have perverted the truth for their own gain.
They say after all that the devil cannot create, he can only twist what is good into something that is bad.
We have an enemy, but it is not each other.
We have an enemy, but it not others.
He may win a few battles, but he has already lost the war. And one day, in our earthly life or our continued one, we will see it.
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