We Will Not Be Lost In The Crowd

2019 April 15

Today I was reading through Matthew and finished the great Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5, 6, and 7.  Then I came to the start of chapter 8 and read this: Great multitudes followed Him. (Matthew 8:1)  Oh, I would, too.  I'm sure it was amazing!

But, alas, very few could get close to Him - while He was here on earth.

And this is the picture many (maybe most) have of a great multitude in heaven praising Him and worshiping Him around His Throne.  In that picture most of us see ourselves as so far back that we're just lost in the crowd.  Yes, this is a picture suggested in Revelation 5 verses 11 and 12.

11. Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
12. saying with a loud voice:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

Again, amazing!  But this picture is incomplete, IF we see it as though we can't get close to Him in heaven.

Hey, it's better than that NOW, because He went away and sent "The Comforter", the Holy Spirit, to live in each of us!  So we are never alone, if we have opened ourselves up to allow the Holy Spirit to come in. Therefore, we can personally and intimately commune with Him NOW.  We can let our requests be made known to Him and receive His embrace NOW.  We can also receive personal guidance and direction in how to live.  This is true NOW.  And it will be even better then.

It can't be better now than when we are in heaven!

How will it be possible to be intimate with our precious Jesus, yet part of a great multitude praising Him?  Well, Luke 18 verse 27 says, "What is impossible with man/people is possible with God."  He will make a way.  In fact, He is doing it NOW!

We will not be lost in the crowd in heaven.  Hallelujah!

Larry Carroll

Enhance, Amplify, Augment, Boost, Elevate, Enlarge, Heighten, Increase, Magnify, etc

In Matthew 6 we read:
1. When you do a charitable deed..., verses 2&3
2. When you pray..., verses 5,6&7
3. When you fast..., verses 16&17

"Surely" one can do charitable deeds without praying. And "surely" one can pray without fasting. BUT, fasting enhances our prayers, and praying enhances our charitable deeds.

What? These enhancements make the action more effective, and dare I say, likely much more anointed.

Oh, you don't really need these enhancements. (Don't quote me on that.) But life is much better, and your service to others is much better, when it is enhanced (etc.), and frankly, this enhancement, this anointing, could mean the difference between success and failure.

See Matthew chapter 6 for instructions on prayer and fasting.

Larry
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P.S. Another enhancement to our lives is mentioned in First Corinthians 14. In verse 4 it says that the person that prays in tongues, (a.k.a., in the spirit) builds himself or herself up. So there is benefit here. You don't have to, but it's better if you do.

See First Corinthians chapter 14 for instructions on using this grace called "praying in tongues".

Hey, God is for you! This life is not supposed to be hard, if your gaze is fixed on Jesus!