RCCG Open Heavens Devotional Monday 1 July 2013 HEAVENLY HOME-COMING By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

RCCG Open Heavens Devotional Monday 1 July 2013 

HEAVENLY HOME-COMING 

By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memorise: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 2Corinthians 5:8

Read: 2Kings 13:20

Bible in one year:  Psalm 25-27

Action point: Pray for prisoners on death row worldwide that they will have a contact with God that will make them to end up with God. You can also create the time to visit the prison and pray for them.

Death is a sure event that is bound to happen. It strikes with no regard to the status of its victim. The earlier we realise the certainty of death, the better for us as it brings us freedom. When a believer dies, people will be hit with sorrow, including ministers of God. Is this not ironical? Are we not the ones preaching that Heaven is far better than the earth? So why are we sorrowful when one of God’s beloved has gone home? Or how else will they go home? Are they going to ride a bicycle there? Oh, we want to go there by the rapture: fine, but do you know the exact date for the rapture? 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, 

“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 

Yet, we don’t want to be absent from the body through death but we want to be in the physical presence of the Lord. What an irony! If you take time to study Revelation 21, you will have a good picture of Heaven — golden streets, no night, no sunlight, the temperature is supernaturally regulated, everlasting joy, etc. If you truly want to get to Heaven, you should be prepared to know more about one method of passage into it - death. I lost my fear of death from my mother’s experience. Death separates the dead from the living and from other things they had been close to. 

Unfortunately, today, many people are still living in deception — still holding to old stereotypes about death and eternity. Some including highly educated people, still believe in reincarnation — that when they die, they will return to this world as a baby. Some believe if they commit suicide for a religious cause, that they will go to Heaven. But they will find themselves in hell. You have no right to stop the life you did not start. You are God’s property and if you dare take your life, you will end up in eternal hell. You cannot kill a human being like yourself in the name of religion and think you will ever get to Heaven. Which heaven? God’s judgment will take its full course. The sad news for suicide bombers is that while they terminate their lives and go to eternal hell, those who sent and paid them on that mission would still be living, and may give their lives to Christ and end up in Heaven.