Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 1 May 2024 Message
TOPIC: The Reality of Heaven
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.” – Revelation 2:17
At present, abstract things like truth and goodness have no substance. Oh, we see these qualities manifested in others, but they are not concrete in themselves. In heaven, though, purity and goodness, righteousness and joy will have more substance than anything we ever touched, tasted, or smelled on earth. We are wrong in thinking heaven is wispy and vaporous. It is earth that is like withering grass, not heaven. In C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, the rock-solid reality of heaven is described this way:
“The earth shook under [the solid people’s] tread as their strong feet sank into the wet turf. A tiny haze and a sweet smell went up where they had crushed the grass and scattered the dew…Walking, for me, proved difficult. The grass, hard as diamonds to my unsubstantial feet, made me feel as if I were walking on wrinkled rock…A bird ran across in front of me and I envied it. It belonged to that country and was as real as the grass. It could bend the stalks and spatter itself with the dew…”
As today’s verse assures us, one day we will eat of the hidden manna. We will wear righteousness like light. We will shine like the stars in the universe. We shall eat from the Tree of Life. Hold the Morning Star like a scepter. Enter into the joy of the Lord. There is nothing vague or wispy about these verbs. Everything in heaven will have more substance than we ever dreamed. Today get ready for the real reality!
PRAYER: You, Lord, are the hidden manna that one day I shall eat. I experience this now, in a symbolic way, through Communion. But one day the symbol will become reality. One day I shall be completely in you, and you in me.
READ MORE TOPICS: OPEN HEAVENS, OUR DAILY BREAD, IN TOUCH, SEEDS OF DESTINY, STREAMS OF JOY, JOEL OSTEEN, MOUNTAIN TOP LIFE, DCLM DAILY MANNA, UCB WORD FOR TODAY