Death Connects Us to Eternity

When people die it helps us connect with eternity, especially when its someone we know, love and respect.  Experiencing the death of someone we care about causes  us to think about eternity.  

The Bible is the book most qualified to tell us about eternity.

What Happens When Someone Dies

There is a day on our calendar when we are appointed to die. The day is printed in invisible ink, but God can see it. God knows the day. He gives life and He takes life. We try to extend life with diets, exercise, and doctors, but life and death is in the hand of God.  The day of our birth and death is set by God, not me. The fact is that all of us are born, we die and we all pay taxes. None of us choose when we are born and when we die. Everybody faces God.  After death we all face God to determine eternity. Some for eternal rewards some for eternal punishment.Ok, So what happens when I die?  When we die, we at some point will face God to give an account for our life.

1. For the believer it is to inherit eternal life.
2. For the un-believer it is to receive eternal punishment.

Here are some verses from the Bible on death and what what happens after we die. As a main point and side point, the Bible is the book most qualified to tell us about eternity.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, to everlasting contempt.
John 3:36  He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
Psalms 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as hand- breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, even the high placed, is altogether vanity.

When we die, we at some point, will face God to give an account for our life.

1. For Believers, there is the Judgment Seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Romans 14:10 But thou, why judgest thou thy brother? or again, thou, why dost thou make little of thy brother? for we shall all be placed before the judgment- seat of God.

The judgment seat of Christ does not determine our eternal destiny; that issue is decided the moment we receive Christ. Knowing that in the future we will stand before Jesus Christ and face a personal review of our lives should always motivate us to love the Lord, grow in the Lord, obey the Lord, live righteously and live faithfully in the present.

2. For un-believers, there is the Great White Throne.

The “Great White Throne” judgment described in Rev. 20:11–15 is for unbelievers. This final exam for all un-believers is a picture of God’s holy rule and requirements.

20:15 Only God’s elect, those whose names are written in the Book of Life, will escape the lake of fire. To be written in the book of life is to believe on Jesus for eternal life.

When people die it helps us connect with eternity.  When someone we care about dies, this helps us connect with eternity.

Prayer as Branches with the Vine

Prayer as Branches with the Vine – Jesus’ Instructions on Prayer in John 15

Grape Vines in Washington State

Grape Vines in Washington State

Wow, look at prayer, with Jesus as the vine, and we as the branches in John 15, chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17.  In these four chapters, Jesus was trying to comfort His disciples and at the same time get them to just abide in Him.  So right in the middle of that, in chapter 15,  Jesus was talking about abiding. He was talking about how we need to be like branches on a vine. He was the true vine. Some people say this describes kind of an organic, living and real relationship between Jesus and us, or between us and the Father.  Without getting into the rest of the context, there,  John 15:7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” That seems kind of like a blank check where you can expect God to do anything you ask of Him. Some people look at that verse and they wonder why God doesn’t answer when they pray for something. There is a condition in this verse, though. It says, “If you abide in Me and My words aide in you”.  The “asking” is prayer.

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

Well, the first condition, there, is, “If you abide in Me… “ Without getting into the context,there, one way to abide is to stay in the Lord, to rest in the Lord, or to remain in the Lord.  So how does one abide in the Lord, it simply means to trust and rely on Him. I would even say it means to do the things God wants you to do, to obey the Lord.  He says, “If you abide in Me”.  Then He says, “And if My words abide in you”.  This passage in the book of John says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you”, you can ask whatever you will and I will do it. What words is He talking about when Jesus says, “And My words abide in you”? I believe He is specifically talking about the word He is speaking. Oh, and by the way, what ever Jesus says is the Word of God. I believe it also has to include the words of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

Grape Vines in Eastern Washington

The video this text is taken from is on  Drew’s YouTube channel.  This portion is at YouTube.

Following Jesus

Luke 5:5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

Luke 4:36 Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”

The theme is simple “Following Jesus”,   He, that is Jesus, has the power and He knows where the fish are.   So don’t follow someone or something else, just follow Jesus.

Reflection on the Spokane River

Reflection on the Spokane River

Why Man was Created by God

Sometimes it is hard to understand why God created man.

In the beginning there was the earth, plants, animals and there was man. What is all this for and why are we here?  These are some universal questions. In the beginning God had a purpose in mind for all things, but what is this purpose and what does this have to do with us? When we look at the beginning of the Bible, the first book of the Bible and the first chapter of the Bible the reason why God created man is laid out for us. It says, there, that God created man in His image and in His likeness, and He wanted man to have dominion over the fish, the cattle, the birds, over the whole earth and over the creeping things. In that passage the two key words are “image” and “dominion”. These two words describe the reason why God created you and created me—imagine and dominion.

God Created the Earth

God Created the Earth

Now what do these two words mean? An image is like a photograph. If I have a photograph of a tree, you see an image of the tree; you see the attributes of the tree. For instance, most trees are green, so you see green. You see the form of the branches, the shape of the leaves and so on. Well, in the same way, you and I were created in the image of God that we might express the attributes of God.  For instance, a tree is green, so a photograph of a tree expresses that attribute, the color green. You and I were created in the image of God. Now one attribute of God is love. Others include joy, peace, patience, honesty, telling the truth and so on.  These are all attributes of God.  When we express these attributes we express God’s nature, and this is why you and I were created.

So this is why God created man.

God Loves to Hear Prayer

God loves to hear prayer. He is a God who listens. Look at these verses on prayer in the Bible, God listens to every prayer.  Have this confidence that in every pray, whether it be small or large, whether it be well phrased, or just a bunch of broken words, God listens.  Sometimes what we think are the worst prayers, God just loves, since we are expressing our real feelings.

Psalms 66:19 But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Psalms 66:20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!

Reflection during Idaho Sunset

Reflection during Idaho Sunset


James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly…

This  last verse in James eventually refers to Elijah who in a very unique situation needed a prayer to bring God in to vindicate Himself.   Elijah did pray and God did come in.

So never feel that God does not hear, He does hear and answer.   p.s.  answers do not always come how and when we expect them.

Prayer Needs the Spirit

The Spirit helps us pray. Without the feelings and words from the Spirit it is really hard to pray. Where is an easy place to get Spirit words? The Bible is in-spirited by God. So the words in the Bible turned into prayer are wonderful prayer words. And those words from the Bible are full of Spirit.

Someone once said that Prayer is an impossible task without the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Idaho Sunset

Idaho Sunset