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HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN
Choose To Focus On All That Is Good
Mark 14:38 'Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.'
Temptation is linked directly to what we think upon (Heb. 11:15). Temptation has to be entered into. We can avoid temptation by avoiding thoughts that generate temptation (Prov. 23:7). Since it is impossible to not think, we cannot just try to reject the negative thoughts in this world, but we must choose to think on the positive truths of God. This is where prayer comes in.
In prayer, we have our minds stayed upon God and therefore, are not receptive to thoughts that conceive temptation. Temptation or sin must be conceived (Jas. 1:14-15). In the physical realm, the easiest way to avoid an unwanted birth is to...
His Fathomless Pain
Luke 22:44 'And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.'
LUKE 22:43-44
It is interesting that Luke is the only one of the gospel writers to mention that Jesus' sweat was as great drops of blood. This is probably because Luke was a physician (Col. 4:14), and therefore, this had special significance to him.
There have been documented cases of people actually sweating drops of blood under extreme emotional pressure. This might explain why Luke is the only writer to mention the angel strengthening Jesus. Just as when Jesus encountered Satan during His forty days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness and the angels ministered...
YOU CAN DEPEND ON GOD'S WORD
He Is Our 'abba'
Mark 14:36 'And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.'
Although God was referred to as our Father in the Old Testament, Jesus' frequent use of this title brought a whole new understanding of our relationship with God. Jesus referred to God as His Father, and He spoke of God as being our Father as well. This infuriated the religious Jews of Jesus' day who considered it blasphemy to call God their Father, because they understood that to mean they were equal with God.
We are instructed to call God our Father, revealing the kind, gentle, loving nature of our God. The term 'Abba' is an affectionate term that a young child calls his father, which...
INCREASING YOUR FAITH
Seek The Will Of God
Luke 22:42 'Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.'
LUKE 22:41-42
Jesus knew it was the Father's will for Him to be made an offering for the sins of the world. This is true because He prophesied His death and resurrection many times before. However, because of His unique relationship with God, Jesus was asking God to accomplish His will some other way, but at the same time affirming His commitment to do His Father's will and not His own.
He was not at a loss to know God's will and therefore, left this time of prayer trusting that whatever the Father deemed best for Him would happen.
He knew, when He began praying what the Father's will...
Chosen Before Creation
John 17:24 'Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.'
God the Father had the plan of salvation worked out before He even created the world. Most of us would not have created the world and man if we knew the heartache and terrible sacrifice it would cost. But God is not man. In His judgment (which is the correct judgment) the prize was worth the cost.
We were chosen in Christ before the world began. The Lord did not choose us by our merit, but solely by our acceptance of Christ which His foreknowledge allowed Him to do before the foundation of the world. In the strictest sense, we were...
OUR REWARD IS IN HEAVEN