The Heaton File

Then you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:17)

The Illusion Of The Self-Made Man

The nation of Israel prepares to cross the Jordan River and take the land promised to their forefathers many years before. Moses speaks to the second generation of Hebrews who came out of Egypt, reminding them of the past forty years and exhorting them not to be like the generation before them. Because of rebellion, their parents had died in the wilderness. The land of Canaan stood before them to be given to them by the mighty hand of God. They would not need to build cities, plant crops, or gather herds together. God would provide all of that. The danger of blessings and prosperity is that when the heart of man becomes satisfied, he forgets the God who gave him all things.

Prosperity is a curse because it takes the heart away from the One who provides all things. The rain falls on the just and the unjust because the Creator determined the cycles of showers on the earth. Each morning, the Sun rises according to the will of God. Every human being has the breath of life through the power of the Lord who made man. Crops grow in abundance through the power of God. The bounty of the sea is harvested according to those things provided by God. There is nothing in the universe that does not come from the hand of God.

When a man fills his heart with pride, believing that by his power and his might, he has gained his prosperity, he is a fool. Job was a man who had incredible wealth that was taken away in one night. Jesus tells the parable of a man who had a fertile farm producing great crops. He was blessed beyond measure and decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to store all his crops and other goods. His heart believed only he had made his riches possible. The mistake he made was believing he also had control over his life when he thought he had many years left to live. He died that night. He was a fool because he thought more of himself than his relationship with the One who provided everything to him.

The danger of a prosperous world is the belief that all things come by the hand of man. God is forgotten and ignored. It is true that while God has promised to feed the birds of the air, He did not promise to bring it to the nest. The first thing God did for man in the garden was to put him to work tending Eden. That job became harder after the fall of man. God wants His people to be thankful for what they have, share the blessings that are given to them, and always acknowledge that wealth (at whatever level) is a blessing from Him. To arrogantly believe that by man’s power and might blessings come is a fool’s errand.

Thanksgiving is a heart that knows from whence all blessings come. Showers come through the power of God to provide the earth with sustenance. The breath of life is a blessing from God. Children are a heritage from God. Happy marriages are built upon the knowledge that God builds the home. Everything about life should be measured by a thankful heart to the God who provides all things necessary for the good of man. The challenge of the human heart is to acknowledge where those blessings come. That is the litmus test that separates believers in God and those who deny the power of God – where do the blessings come from? Be thankful, but make sure the thanksgiving is in God, not the self. There is no such thing as a self-made man. What man has today can be taken away in an instant.

My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. (Psalm 62:5-8)

The Blessings Of Knowing God

A man who walks without God is a man who is lost and does not know peace and happiness. There is nothing in life that will bring a level of understanding of how to navigate the currents of life filled with trials, suffering, and uncertainty. Man has no idea how to walk by himself. It is not possible that human wisdom can guide the heart to find true peace. History is filled with the attempts of human wisdom to solve the human equation, and how spectacular the failure is. Suffering can only be understood from the view of God. Trusting in the riches of the world has been found empty. Seeking a deeper understanding of life has never been answered by human reasoning. Man is made in the image of God, and only God can recreate the image of man, where peace, hope, and joy are found.

David knew three thousand years ago that the only source of comfort is in the Lord God. Nothing has changed in the last three thousand years, but man keeps trying to find the answers to life in himself. David says true peace is found when one allows God to work in their lives. The only rock or security that will give man comfort is in God. Strength and refuge come from the Lord because He is greater than the universe. Trusting in the world of the Lord brings happiness. Prayer is the communication from a needy creation to a benevolent Creator. Pouring out the heart before the Lord will give answers to life.

Every part of life must be based upon a relationship with God. David said he silently waited on God with an expectation of all blessings coming from the Divine. There is but one source of security, and David calls God his rock and his salvation. This is where complete trust in the word of God filters into life to embolden the spirit with courage. The only defense is found in God. Trusting in the Lord brings about the confidence that nothing can move the spirit from the blessings of the Father.

The soul must trust in the Lord. Without trusting fully in God, there can be no peace. God is a refuge to those who seek Him, and it requires seeking after Him. The Lord is an infinite source of blessings, but He will not bestow those blessings unless they are sought after. David shows in his psalm that making God his refuge and salvation was the product of his seeking after the Lord. David was steadfast in his faith in God through the deep personal relationship developed over the years as God worked in his life. The psalmist could easily see how often God had blessed him and cared for him. Now, David waits silently for God alone and finds peace, joy, and happiness.

The blessings of knowing the Lord are immeasurable. Spending more time in the word opens the heavenly vistas of God’s grace to see how much the Lord offers to His children. Prayer life should be a vibrant expression of trust that God works in the hearts of the faithful. When one trusts in the Lord completely, they have nothing to fear. Trials come, but faith endures. Heartaches will come, and joy is found in Christ. Come to know the God of the Bible. He is a Rock.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

Seeking The Wrong Things

Philip, king of Macedon, as he was wrestling at the Olympic games, fell down in the sand; and when he rose again, observing the print of his body in the sand, cried out, “O how little a parcel of earth will hold us, when we are dead, who are ambitiously seeking after the whole world while we are living.” The human frame does not occupy a significant amount of space in the grand scheme of things. Death reminds us how little value there is in the pursuits of life because there is nothing taken and everything left behind. A cemetery plot typically measures approximately 24 square feet, with varying depths. Some monuments are larger than the burial plot containing the little parcel of human remains. The point is clear – King Philip was right.

There is a misguided desire to pursue a world that can never be gained. If a man gained all the wealth in the world, what value would there be? Does wealth bring happiness and satisfaction? There is value in being as healthy as a person can be, but stopping death is impossible. Healthy people die. If a man gained as much wisdom as possible in a lifetime, he would die ignorant of so much more. The human mind is limited in what it can contain and process in a lifetime. Pleasure is the joy of life and is found more often in youth than in older age. The human body can be transformed into a living sculpture of beauty, only to fade with the approaching ravages of time. Everybody grows old, and everyone dies.

What man has failed to appreciate is that he is an eternal creature that will never cease to exist. The human body is a tent to be folded up one day and returned to the dust from whence it came. What will not cease to exist is the spiritual nature of man that God created on the sixth day. When God said He wanted to make man in His image, He made man in the image of an eternal creature that had a beginning but no end. Abel was the son of Adam and Eve. He is the first man to die (according to the Bible), and while his death was thousands of years ago, he still exists. Jesus calls Abel a righteous man. Angels carried Abel to Paradise. All the people on planet Earth who died in the flood still exist, as does Noah.

The human frame occupies little space as an imprint on the ground because God is trying to remind His creation of how small they are and how great He is. In that comparison, the Divine declares His love for that small creature He created. He sent His only Begotten Son to die for that small creature. God also gave us a book to learn who we are and why we were created. Reading the Bible helps us see how important we are to Him. Seek God and He will reward you. Learn how important you are in the eyes of the Lord God who made you. In this vast universe wherein we dwell as small particles of dust on an expanding canvas of darkness, God loved us enough to give His Son to die for us. He gave us light. That is the true worth of life.

For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:11-12)

Knees And Tongues

The world is filled with different kinds of people. There are young and old, short and tall, skinny and not skinny, rich and poor, famous and infamous. Ever since the Tower of Babel, nations have populated the earth with people of diverse skin colors, languages, and cultures. There is immense diversity in the human story, but a common factor is shared by all. Regardless of what a man is or what he attains in life, his knee will bow before the Creator of the world, and his tongue will confess to God. It is hard for the world to believe such a day will come. Pride lifts the spirit of man to believe he is his own god. He dies arrogant and full of his own self-worth. When he awakens in eternity, he realizes too late that he was wrong. There is one certainty of life that will never change – every knee will bow before the Lord God and every tongue will confess to God.

Most men refuse to bow to God. They worship themselves, believing all that is in life is all there is. The pursuit of pleasure, fame, and fortune drives their lives with no regard for worshiping God. Bowing in humility before a God they cannot see is ridiculous. Religion is reviled. If there is any god to worship, it is themselves. What is ironic is how prevalent death is, and no one can deny its certainty; yet men live in such a way that they believe death will never come. And then they die. It is here that the truth of life becomes a reality that cannot be changed. Those who refused to bow a knee to God in life are now bowing a knee to God in eternity.

The certainty of eternity is that all men will bow before God. It will not be a question of whether one will or will not. There have been those who, in arrogance, have defied God in life, but when they step into the eternal realm, they have no choice. They are not forced to kneel. It becomes a natural response to standing before their Creator. They realize they were wrong to deny God, and now, in torment, look to God for mercy who cannot give mercy. Their knees are bowing because they have come into the presence of God, and they know with certainty that the righteousness of the Lord is true.

Jesus said that most people refuse to confess the name of His Father. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Son of God said few would be saved. The majority of the eight billion souls inhabiting the Earth will not confess God as Lord. They either deny God exists or worship their false gods. There is an open rebellion against submitting to the word of God, demanding acknowledgement that there is only one God, one Lord, and one faith. The heart of man refuses to confess Christ as Lord and accept the rule of God in their hearts. Their lives will be filled with the selfish desires of a corrupted spirit. Death will change that.

A man may live in arrogance toward God in life, but death opens his lips. Everyone – without exception – will confess to God. No man will stand before God and not confess to Him because all men will be bowing before the Great I AM. There are no exceptions. No one gets special privileges. Every soul that refused to confess the Father in life will confess Him through the eyes of eternal torment. Those souls who lived for Christ, serving the will of the Father, will confess to God with joy. Every knee shall bow. All men will confess to God. You will bow before the Lord God, and you will confess to God. Eternity will depend on where you bend the knee and where you confess to God. If you are lost, it will be eternal torment. Dying in a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ will bring everlasting joy. Where is your knee? What are you confessing?

For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. (Romans 16:19-20a)

Innocent Toward Evil Things

The devil is a powerful foe. He is like a roaring lion seeking all those he can devour, consume, and destroy. Satan knows he is doomed to the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night forever and ever. That is certain. Evil abounds in the world. Satan tries to fill the minds of men with every evil intent of the heart. The wiles of the devil are the abomination of a cruel and merciless adversary who opposes everything that is righteous. There is little doubt about the ugliness and horrific nature of sin. As dark as sin must be viewed, one of the greatest tools to fight against the temptations of Satan is to remain innocent and pure concerning evil.

No one should be ignorant of sin, and caution should always be taken when dealing with the works of the flesh. Paul commends the saints in Rome for their faith and loyalty to the kingdom of God. Their example has become known to many of the brethren in the church as a bastion of faith and courage in the midst of a corrupt and wicked city – Rome. However, their faith was resilient enough to withstand the influence of the evil political machine that sought to discredit the nature of truth and righteousness. The apostle encourages Christians to demonstrate their faith through their actions and to be discerning in all things that are good. Truth stands on the premise of believing and holding fast to the purity of those things good in the sight of God.

Another way the Roman saints demonstrate their courage is by remaining harmless or innocent toward those things that are evil. Jesus illustrated this when He said that disciples must be like children. There is a pure innocence in a child’s heart that does not see prejudice, hatred, anger, and jealousy. A child’s heart is pure when it comes to the evils of the world. God designed the human spirit to begin with complete innocence, demonstrating the power of goodness and truth. All things are true to a young mind. Sadly, when a child becomes an adult, all the evils of the world become too clear.

Paul’s admonition to deal with evil was to have no plans to follow after wicked things. Staying as far away from evil was the best course to deal with the wiles of the devil. The Holy Spirit said of the man Job in the Old Testament that he turned away from evil, refused to allow evil things in his life, avoided evil, and stayed away from evil. The King James Version uses an interesting word: Job “eschewed evil.” The people of God need to be eschewing people! To be innocent of evil does not ignore evil but seeks to remain as far away from any form of evil as possible. Godliness is profitable in lessening the impact of sin.

If a man refuses to play with snakes, he is less likely to be bitten. Too many Christians play with the wiles of the garden serpent and are surprised when they get bitten. Sin will find its way into the lives of God’s people, but they should never invite the devil in either. Trying to live as close to the world and its evil influence and remaining pure in the eyes of God is playing a game that will end in disaster. God told Israel to stay as far away from the nations around them, and they refused. Israel was destroyed because it invited evil into its heart. Wisdom shows that when a man takes fire into his bosom, he will suffer terribly. When a man walks on hot coals, his feet will be burned. How do you crush Satan? Be simple concerning evil.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Genesis 8:20)

Noah Built An Altar

One of the fundamental characteristics of the human gene is the need to worship. Man is the only creature that worships because he is made in the image of his Creator. God formed man and woman as creatures that would glorify Him, but the devil changed that. What was not lost in the fall of man was the need for man to worship God. Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, understood the importance of worship. In the process of time, the sons of Adam brought offerings to the Lord for worship. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, and Abel sacrificed of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. Both sacrifices were prescribed by the Lord, although the text does not describe how Cain and Abel came to know the importance of sacrifice.

The evil heart of Cain shows that the first man knew the importance of true worship. God refused to accept the sacrifice of Cain because his heart was evil. Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice to God because he was righteous. The Lord accepted his offering, establishing worship as based upon doing the will of God and having a heart guided by truth and spirit. Worship has always been based upon the spirit and truth of the worshipper as he seeks the blessing of God. A man must worship God according to the will of God.

Noah lived in a world void of righteousness. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord because he was righteous and, along with his family, was saved in the ark. Noah obeyed the will of God when he built the ark. The ark had to be constructed according to everything required by the Lord – it was made of gopherwood, covered inside and outside with pitch, measuring 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with one window. Noah did according to all that God commanded him. Through his obedience, Noah was saved from the wrath of God. When the flood was over and Noah stood on dry land, Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took of every clean animal and every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

There were only eight people on Earth when Noah built an altar. Who told him to build an altar? Why did Noah build an altar after witnessing the deluge of a global flood killing every human being on the face of the planet? Noah understood the laws of worship, including offering burnt offerings to the Lord God. This event took place long before Moses received the law from God on Sinai. Noah acted as a man who knew God required worship and worship in spirit and truth. Many years later, Noah’s descendant Abraham would leave his mark throughout the world by the smoke of his altars as he obeyed the voice of the Lord.

Abraham rescued his nephew Lot from an invading army that had taken him captive. On the return home from the rescue mission, Abraham met Melchizedek, the king of Salem, who was also the priest of God Most High. Melchizedek predates Moses, yet he was a priest of the Lord. A priesthood establishes law, which includes worship. During the days of Abraham, there was “organized religion,” as Melchizedek proves that God has always required man to worship Him in spirit and truth. From righteous Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Melchizedek, God has patterned the nature of man to serve Him in accordance with His word.

The covenant God offers man today is found in worship through His Son, Jesus Christ. There is no other way to eternal life but Jesus Christ. Worship is vain if it is not founded on the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that His Father demands worship in spirit and truth. This is not a new idea, but one as old as the earth. Does it make a difference in how we worship? Ask Cain. Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron (nephews of Moses), learned what worship meant. Jesus rebuked the Jewish leaders of His day for corrupting the worship of God. Vain worship leads to failure. True worship leads to victory.

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38)

Incredible Faith

Nazareth was a quiet town in the region of Galilee. It was a town of carpenters where a young man named Joseph learned his craft like many young men of his day. Joseph was of the house and lineage of David and betrothed to a maiden named Mary. She was also of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David. Mary was also related to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, who was of the lineage of Aaron. Joseph and Mary were married according to Jewish custom, although they had not yet consummated their marriage. Mary was a virgin.

During the betrothal period, the angel Gabriel visited Mary to share some amazing news with her. Gabriel told Mary she would conceive in the womb and bring forth a Son. His name would be Jesus. He would be great and called the Son of the Highest. The Lord would give Jesus the throne of David, and He would reign over the house of Jacob forever. Mary, startled by the news, said to the angel that she couldn’t give birth to a son as she was a virgin. Gabriel assured her the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her. There was nothing impossible for God to perform, and a virgin giving birth to a son was possible for the God of creation.

Mary had no warning or prophecies, pointing out that she would be the one with whom the Messiah would come. Isaiah had prophesied a virgin would bring the Messiah into the world, but no one told her she would be the one. She was the wife of a carpenter in a poor town that was nondescript in the nation of Israel. The angel Gabriel tells her that she is highly favored by God, and through her, the Son of God will enter the world. While everything seemed impossible to believe, Mary accepted the word of Gabriel by faith and implored the Lord’s word to be fulfilled through her.

Faith is necessary to please God. Strong faith is found when the testing of courage shows itself in accepting something that is incredible, impossible, unbelievable, and implausible. No matter how far science advances in the mind of man, babies are born through the act of a man and a woman. There is no other way a child is conceived in the womb. Contrary to modern science suggesting men can have babies, a child will only come into the world through the womb of a woman. Virgins cannot have babies. That is an impossibility. Mary understood this. There was no doubt in her mind about how babies are born. Yet, Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, tells her she will have a Son, and she accepts the word of God because God’s word is true – even when it is impossible.

There is little to describe the kind of faith required to accept the word of God fully without reservation. Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering, and he acted without hesitation. He believed God could raise his son from the dead, and in a figure that is exactly what happened. Mary had the faith of Abraham, accepting the impossible, knowing that nothing was impossible with God. His word was true, His promises sure, and whatever the Lord asked Mary to do, she was willing to obey. Her faith was that strong.

God has not asked anyone to offer their children as burnt offerings. He will not come to anyone to declare that they will enjoy a miraculous birth. What God has done is to give the world a book which reveals His will, His word, His promises, and His Son. Too many people read the Bible and walk away, saying what God is asking is impossible. They deny His word. Their hearts are unwilling to accept what they cannot understand. They will be lost for lack of faith. Mary believed with all her heart she would bear a Son, and she did. It is wrong to worship Mary as anything more than a blessed woman given the opportunity to serve the Lord God. The early church never venerated Mary; they worshipped her Son.

What part of the Bible do you consider impossible? It is the part you refuse to obey. Mary leaves an example of incredible faith, measured by the trust and loyalty that God can do anything and that nothing is impossible for God. If God can raise the dead, what can He not do in your life? He raised Jesus from the dead two thousand years ago, and Jesus still lives. Impossible? Not with the will and power of God. Believe in the impossible.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:25)

Worry, Worry, Worry

The story has been told of Death walking toward a city. A man stopped Death and asked, “What are you going to do?” Death replied, “I’m going to kill 10,000 people.” “That’s horrible,” the man said. “That’s the way it is,” Death answered, “That’s what I do.” So, the day passed. That evening, the man met Death coming back, and he said, “You said you were going to kill 10,000 people, but I heard that 70,000 were killed.” Death said, “I only killed 10,000. Worry and fear killed the others.”

Jesus taught in the mountain sermon that worrying cannot add anything to life but fear and trepidation. The birds of the air do not worry because they know the Lord will care for them. They do not plant, harvest, or store food in barns to care for themselves and others. Birds trust that their Creator will care for them and live worry-free lives. The object lesson should be clear for those made in the image of God, but one of the greatest challenges of life is to allow our hearts to trust completely in God’s care. While God has promised to feed the birds, He never said anything about bringing the seed to the nest. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden and given responsibilities to look after the garden.

Worry and fear can and have destroyed lives because the focus is not on what is important. Life is filled with clothing, feeding, and protection. Provisions must be made to clothe a family. Food must be prepared daily to care for the body. There is a need for measures to be taken to keep a family safe. Letting the heart be overwhelmed with worry and fear destroys the blessings of life. God has provided what man needs – yet man believes he needs so much more to be happy, and in doing so, destroys his life with worry. Learning to keep life in focus on important things is where the difficulty comes.

The tragedy of worry can consume a life to the point where there is no joy. Working tirelessly will not bring happiness and fulfillment. Lost time can never be regained. Life is more than the physical things of life. The fear of disease and dying is very real, but it is a reality no one shall escape. Worry does not change reality. Trusting that God knows and understands gives the heart pause to enjoy life and treasure the most important moments. The Bible is a message from God to calm the nerves, focus the mind, and build trust in the Creator. Believing in the word of God will remove the fear and worry that consumes the world.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

Facing Death Is Letting Go Of Life

Death has always been the uninvited guest that crushes the soul and leaves a void desperate to be filled. The consequence of sin is not only the separation of God and man but the loss of the Tree of Life. God created Adam and Eve as mortal creatures and blessed them with the gift of eternal life by placing the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden. As a result of sin, God removed them from the garden, and death came to all men. Moses records the first story of death when Cain killed his brother, Abel. It is difficult to imagine how Adam and Eve processed death.

Methuselah lived to be 969 years, but the record says, “and he died.” Long life did not negate the reality of death, and while Methuselah lived longer than any known human being, he still died. Throughout the history of the human struggle, death was the reality that changed the course of how men viewed themselves and eternity. In the days of Noah, everyone on earth died in the flood, with only eight souls saved in the ark. The world viewed life as more important than death. Noah warned of the impending doom coming by the wrath of God, but the world did not listen because they saw only what was before their eyes.

When Job lost everything he owned, including the lives of his ten children, he remained resolute in his trust that God was a merciful Father. After losing his health, his wife implored him to curse God and die. Job faced death with a deeper view of life when he remembered that he came into the world naked from his mother’s womb, and he would die the same way. He knew God had blessed him with many good things in life and that adversity was a real part of life. What guided Job’s heart was facing death, knowing that all the things he had in life mattered little. He knew he was an eternal creature that would dwell in a world without end. All that he possessed in life would be taken away in death. He saw life for what it was – a vapor. What mattered to Job was what came with death – eternity.

The only way to face death is to let go of life. Jesus told the story about a rich man who was blessed with incredible bounty. He needed to build bigger barns to store his crops. Jesus called him a fool because he died that night and left all his possessions behind. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man left all his wealth. There are two ways to view death. First, it is with great fear and trepidation. Second, with a faithful resolve to embrace what death brings. The reason that most fear death is that they have attached themselves so permanently to the things of this world that they do not want to lose them. There are many blessings in life, and untold blessings God has given in this world. These blessings are intended to draw the soul to God, to worship Him. When the heart becomes so attached to the riches of this world, there is no desire to die, only fear.

Why does a man face death with joy? How can a child of God calmly embrace death with a quiet resolve? It comes from a heart that no longer looks at the frivolous things of life that will be taken away to accept an eternity that will never end. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the blessings of life, but it should never convince the soul to hold on to those things that will be lost in death. A man lies on his deathbed, and he looks forward to dying. How? Why? He has come to realize that the things of life are temporal, but the things of God are eternal. For those faithful who have sought the love of God and lived for the grace of a loving Father, death is only a step into a place that is greater, more magnificent, peaceful, and filled with the presence of the Divine.

Death is not to be feared. The process of dying can have its fears and mysteries. Embracing the reality of death is required because all men will die. No one will escape. The difference lies in looking at life and knowing that there is nothing that can be exchanged for a soul. If a man gained everything in life and died outside Christ, he dies a fool. All he gains in life, he leaves, and he finds himself with nothing in eternity. The object of life is to leave everything here and live for all that God has promised in eternity. Death is a door – that’s all. Walk through the door with hope. Find that promise in the covenant of Jesus Christ.

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:7-8)

He Knows What We Need

Prayer is the privilege of going to the Creator of the world and asking for supplications, needs, protection, and guidance. Few people can do that because this joy is afforded only to those who are children of God. When a person obeys the gospel of Jesus Christ, they become a child of God and a heir of the promises of God. The storehouse of spiritual blessings is open wide for the one who can now call upon the Creator of the world as Father. Whatever need the Christian has will be measured by a Father’s love. Children often ask for things they do not need, and God is no exception. He is not a vending machine dispensing endless bounty to spoiled children. The Father will say no to the wishes of children who ask for the wrong things. But He will bless His children with His glory, knowing what they need before they ask.

Jesus says the Heavenly Father knows what His children need before they ask. God is not an inattentive Father unaware of what is going on in the lives of His family. Earthly fathers can struggle to know and understand everything that impacts the lives of their children. A father can become so busy with life’s affairs that he fails to notice signs of trouble in his children’s lives or misses opportunities to help them. Earthly fathers are limited in the resources to care for every need of their child. This is not the case with the divine Father. God knows everything about His children, and He knows everything they need.

The care of the Heavenly Father is never ending. Out of the billions of souls that walk the face of the earth, God knows those who are His, their needs, their challenges, their hopes, their struggles – and He hears every one of their prayers. Nothing is missed. He forgets nothing. If a child of God is struggling to be faithful in China, God knows. When a Christian in Bulgaria is weeping over the death of a loved one, the Father loves and cares for His child. An aged saint is preparing to pass into eternity, and the Heavenly Father has angels waiting to carry her to the bosom of Abraham. A young man in America is struggling with addiction – the Father knows. When a family goes to worship on the first day of the week, the Heavenly Father tunes His heart to hear their voices.

God hears all the prayers of His children, and He knows what they need before they ask because, as a loving and caring Father, He watches over them. There is never a time when the Father does not see and know the needs of His children. His heart is broken when He sees one of His children drift away from His love. He is saddened for His children who return to the world and away from His grace. Like the prodigal, the Father waits patiently in the hopes the son will return; and when He does – rejoice with all the heavenly host. God knows what I need before I ask because He loves me and has given me great promises. When I fail, He will forgive me as I repent. He has promised that I can know that I will live with Him. What an incredible Father we serve.