Appreciation – Stephen Trammell

Heaven: Your Home

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2 (NIV) Heaven is a place you can call home. When Jesus spoke these words of comfort to His disciples, He affirmed the reality of heaven and the specific rooms, mansions, or abodes in heaven. Jesus was not going to build what was already in heaven. Rather, Jesus was indicating that He was preparing a place for them and us in heaven by going to the cross to pay the penalty of their sin and our sin. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Heb 1:3 (NIV) “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Phil 3:20-21 (NIV) Jesus has prepared a place for you in heaven by becoming the atoning sacrifice for your sin. Jesus has purchased your salvation with His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. As a result, your citizenship is in heaven. You are an alien on this earth. God made you not for time, but for eternity. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t lose hope. Don’t get too enamored by this life on planet earth. You aren’t home yet. Heaven is your home! There’s no place like home… Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor (This devotional was originally posted in ’07 or ’08. I’m taking a break from writing for a season of personal renewal.) Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Her Children Arise

“Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’” Prov 31:28-29 (NIV) What a treasure to be surrounded by godly women: my wife, my mother, my mother-in-law, my mamaw, and my mawmaw! These five women in my immediate sphere of influence have modeled Jesus faithfully and served Him consistently. Their love for God permeates every relationship, every interaction, and every conversation. I see them in Scripture through the lives of Hannah, Eunice, Lydia, Lois, and Ruth. “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, ‘O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.’” 1 Sam 1:10-11 (NIV) “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” 2 Tim 1:5 (NIV) “One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.” Acts 16:14-15 (NIV) “But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.’” Ruth 1:16 (NIV) Spend some time in prayer thanking God for the godly women that He has placed in your life. Some of them may have already gone to heaven. It would still be proper to thank God for them and for their influence in your life that continues even after their departure. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor