“Heaven is a wonderful place. 

  Filled with glory and grace. 

  I want to see my Savior’s face. 

  Heaven is a beautiful place!”

Heaven is a place filled with the glory of God.  It is a place of splendor and beauty!  Heaven is a glorious place because God lives there. The Lord Jesus called it “My Father’s house”.  We as, God’s children, are going to be in our Heavenly Father’s house with Him and Lord Jesus. This will be joy we cannot imagine! Heaven also has multitudes of angels, all worshiping God, singing His praises, and serving Him day and night.  That will be a wonderfully amazing sight to see! God says there will be no sorrow or pain in heaven! God, Himself will wipe away all our tears!  After all our trials on earth, God will comfort us there. We will also see all our loved ones who put their trust in the Lord Jesus and who have died and gone before us. What a wonderful hope we Christians have of meeting our saved loved ones again in heaven!

The Bible tells us: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” I often imagine the scene when I go to heaven one day.  The Lord Jesus takes my hand and leads me to God.  As he presents me to God, he says with a glad smile: “Father here is your child.”  I have already experienced this love and joy in my heart. One day this will be a reality! The Lord Jesus is the only one who can take me to God the Father, in heaven! Does the thought bring great joy to your heart, my friend?

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, thank You for preparing a place for me in heaven with You. And for all the joys You have for me there. Amen”

“He came into the world to save sinners”, the Bible tells us. He told His disciples that He was going to die. His disciples were filled with sorrow to hear this. But He told them He will come alive again on the third day! The religious leaders were angry with him because He forgave peoples’ sins, showed love and compassion to sinners, and said God was His Father. So they wanted to kill him. They arrested him and their Roman leader decided to crucify Him – nail him to a cross – a cruel punishment given to murderers.

You see, no one could have arrested the Lord Jesus or crucified Him, because He was God. But he came to earth with one purpose – to die and pay our punishment for our sins. So He did not oppose or resist anyone. He willingly went to the cross for us. The Son of God who was the only human without any sin, who was kind and loving, who served everyone, who went about doing only good, was condemned to die like a criminal on a cross! 

He was beaten, mocked at, and humiliated. A crown made of thorns was placed on His head.  With all the torture He was very weak. He was made to carry His cross up a hill. There on a hill, He was nailed to a cross by his hands and feet. He suffered terrible pain, but He suffered in silence because He suffered for us. As the Lord Jesus hung on the cross, He bore your sins and my sins. He carried all our guilt, all our failures, and all our shame on that cross. Lord Jesus died that day on the cross. His heart-broken disciples watched as their Master’s body was wrapped in cloth and laid in a tomb in a garden. But a glorious surprise awaited them on the third day!!

Prayer: “Lord, who am I that You should suffer and die for me? I fall at Your feet and thank You for your awesome sacrifice to save a sinner like me.”

The book of Luke in the Bible tells us this marvelous story. All was quiet that night. Suddenly God sent an angelic choir to announce His Son’s birth!  To whom?  To humble shepherds in the field! The Bible says, “The glory of the Lord shone around them.” An angel told the shepherds: A Savior, who is Christ the Lord, had been born for you in a stable.”Then the choir of angels sang: “Glory to God on high and peace and goodwill to all people on earth.”The shepherds hurried to see the newborn Savior and told everyone about Him. God also placed a special star in the sky. The star guided some wise men from the east to Lord Jesus. They came looking for a King and followed the star many days.

They found the baby with his humble parents in an ordinary house, not in the palace of a king, as they expected.  But they did not doubt! They were filled with great joy and fell down and worshipped the baby. Then they gave Him costly gifts fit for a King! Christians all over the world celebrate the birthday of the Lord Jesus as Christmas. Today I wish to give King Jesus a costly gift too. I give Him my heart and my life. Will you give Him your heart and life too, my friend?

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, I humbly thank You for coming down to this sinful world as a baby for me!” 

God tells us in the Bible in John 1:12: “To all who received Lord Jesus, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. ”That includes you and me when we accept Lord Jesus as our Savior and get God’s forgiveness!  God wipes out our sins.  He makes us clean and accepts us as His children!

Now He welcomes us with open arms as we run to Him calling “Abba! My Father!”  He is delighted when we go to Him and talk to him and tell Him that we love Him. What joy to become part of God’s family and to have God Himself as our Heavenly Father!  We have been ‘born again’ into God’s family! God tells us in the Bible in John 3:16: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have eternal life.”

”Prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, I’m so grateful that I am Your child. Thank You for Your amazing love for me in sending Your Son to save me.” 

Why do I want to follow Lord Jesus? Because I have accepted Him as my Savior. A savior is a person who saves or rescues me from something. If I am drowning and someone saves me, he is my savior. Lord Jesus is my Savior because He has saved me from all my sins. I sin every time I break one of the moral laws given by God in the Bible. Such as: “Love God, honor your parents, do not lie, do not steal, do not want what others have, don’t be selfish but love others like yourself” and many more. These sins keep on adding. Soon I have a mountain of sins on me –sins against God. These sins separate me from a holy God.  I cannot go to Him and my prayers will not reach Him.  God will punish me for them.

 What am I to do? One day I hear the good news:

• That Lord Jesus Himself came down to earth from heaven to take my punishment!
• That He died on the cross in my place! I hear that He came alive again! 
• Three days after being killed and buried, Lord Jesus rose up alive again bodily!
• He is now in heaven. I hear that He is the Supreme Ruler of all the heavens and the earth!

The Bible says: “Believe in Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”  Acts 16:31, I believe this good news of Lord Jesus with all my heart! Do you believe also, my friend? Is Lord Jesus your Savior?

Prayer: “Lord Jesus, You are my Savior and my God.  I worship You.”