Coffee With The Lord

I’ve had some pretty awe-producing (the word is “awesome!”) audio/visual experiences in my life (after all, I was raised near Glacier National Park – the “Alps of America” – see the pic)!  You’ve probably had some awe-inspiring experiences as well.  They leave you breathless!  You never forget them!  And if you’re a Christ-follower and God-believer you always experience a heightened sense of worship, praise, thanksgiving, faith and a determination to live your life for the glory of God!

Apostle John had such an experience!  He, assisted by the Holy Spirit, attempted to describe his experience and put it into words for us.  Get this: He was NOT located in one of the world’s favorite vacation spots at the time of this experience – He was on Patmos, which at that time was a very barren island in the Aegean Sea used to isolate and exile prisoners (Revelation 1:9).

That’s what makes John’s experience to significant and noteworthy!  It is as though God pulled back the heavenly drapes and allowed John to see, hear and experience a heavenly reality!  Don’t get me wrong… what John saw was REAL!  The language he used to describe it… Well there are really no adequate words for it – it was “out of this world” – but REAL!  In fact, the words he used to describe it really require your understanding it was REAL, but also your imagination!

Now here’s where I want to stop and challenge you… Pick up your Bible on this next to the last day of 2021 (a very challenging and difficult year) and read the passage I read this morning – Revelation 21:1 – 22:6.  Read it slowly… read it reflectively… read it with your “imagination on”… But read it like it’s REALITY!  Finally, read it like you’re right there with John on Patmos… Then do what I did, underline a few really significant things, jot a few reactions… And above all respond to the God behind that reality (worship, praise, thanksgiving, prayer and commitment)!

For what it’s worth, here are a few comments I jotted in the margin of my Bible this morning…

“Wow…  what a day that will be!!!  Beyond imagination!!!”

“Oh Lord, help me!  I want to be an “overcomer!”

“Imagine it… the curse of Genesis reversed (Genesis 1-3) – Eden restored (no, more than that – Eden on steroids!!!)”

Wow!! Bet it’s been a while since you heard the words to this old gospel song!!  I was reminded of them by my Bible reading during “coffee with the Lord” this morning… (see the Scripture reading below the words of the old gospel song).

“Lord, I care not for riches, neither silver nor gold;

 I would make sure of Heaven, I would enter the fold.

 In the book of Thy kingdom, with its pages so fair,

 Tell me, Jesus, my Savior, is my name written there?

Refrain

 “Is my name written there,

 On the page white and fair?

 In the book of Thy kingdom,

 Is my name written there?

“Lord, my sins they are many, like the sands of the sea,

 But Thy blood, O my Savior, is sufficient for me;

 For Thy promise is written, in bright letters that glow,

“Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them like snow.”

“Oh! that beautiful city, with its mansions of light,

 With its glorified beings, in pure garments of white;

 Where no evil thing cometh to despoil what is fair;

 Where the angels are watching, yes, my name’s written there!

And the Scripture I read this morning…

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it… And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. ANOTHER BOOK WAS OPENED, WHICH IS THE BOOK OF LIFE. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books… each person was judged according to what he had done… IF ANYONE’S NAME WAS NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE, HE WAS THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE.”  (from Revelation 20:11-15)

I want to be sure my name has been written “in THE BOOK OF LIFE!”

As we approach the end of a very challenging year on all fronts… physically, politically, economically, socially, spiritually and morally; there is a temptation to default to anxiety and despair!  Don’t do it!  If you are a follower of Jesus Christ there is HOPE!  Hope, not by the definition of the broader pagan culture, but hope by the Bible’s definition… “Confident expectation in God’s promises and character!”  Regardless of what the evening news (even the breaking news) reports God is in control!.

Glad I had “coffee with the Lord” this morning!  I read His report on the matter this morning in the last book of the Bible… and I wrote these words in the margin:  “TWO GREAT VERSES I NEVER WANT TO FORGET!  God’s great, monumental and universal victory over all!”

The two verses?  Here they are… Believe me, worth memorizing and displaying in your home….

“The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His  Christ, AND HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER!” (Revelation 11:15)

“The devil will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast [the antichrist] and the false prophet are.  AND THEY WILL BE TORMENTED DAY AND NIGHT FOREVER AND EVER!” Revelation 20:10

My response?  HALLELUJAH!!!