Maneuvers - No. 42
A Taste
of Heaven
Loss. Betrayal. Broken dreams. Our own sin. Even the overwhelming hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. They all remind us of an important truth:
This world isn’t our home.
We were made for so much more. God created us to enjoy perfection with him, in his presence, soaking up all his goodness and living free from all sin and grief.
Deep in our hearts, we know this is true. This world of ours, so full of pain and disappointment, makes us long for heaven, doesn’t it? We crave it intensely.
But it’s what we do with this longing that matters most.
We might respond in different ways. Maybe we…
• Try to make our lives here on earth as close to perfect as possible. (But when has that ever worked for us?)
• Let sadness rob our hearts of any enjoyment in the here and now.
•Try to ignore that longing altogether.
But what if we told you there was another way to respond? What if we could taste heaven right now?
Friend, God didn’t give us this longing for heaven to torture us. He gave it so he could satisfy us with his presence—in heaven, yes, but also here and now.
We don’t have to wait to experience his closeness. Holy Spirit is nearer to us than our own breath, and he loves to fellowship with us.
Would you like to enjoy a taste of heaven, friend? If so, will you join us for today’s Spirit-given message?
01.
The Message
“I know you feel it—how there is more available for you. More to see and hear and touch. Heaven makes you wistful. It makes you hungry, craving what is true. It makes you long for something true within you to come out of hiding—like there is something just out of your grasp, not quite available. And you long for it. You long for it more than anything.
“Don’t you?
“Sometimes this longing feels buried, though. While it is there, within you, it feels disguised somehow; you don’t recognize it easily. And so it is easy to forget that what you long for is available to you. You forget this truth: I have designed you to long for what is good, and my intentions are not to make you long for something good that I would never give.
“I am here. I want to give you all of me.
“Your living in this world makes the longing difficult sometimes—as well as the belief that I am distant from you, that my love is distant from you and you must chase down this longing on your own. But I am with you right now, child.
“Do not be troubled by the noise around you. Do not feel overwhelmed by the pain. Do not doubt my love for you. Do not fear that I can’t reach you in the chaos, in the confusion, in the pace of the world that aches to fill up in you what it says you lack. You don’t lack. You have everything you need.
“Close your eyes and feel my delight in you. Take a deep breath and feel my arm around your shoulders. Stay here with me. Let me help you access your true heart, the heart I have given you to experience abundant life. Let me help you taste this life. Let me help you hear it. Let me help you touch it. Heaven’s breath is in you now. Heaven’s song is your heart beat. Heaven’s address is your true home. In me. And even now you can access the key.
“Come, come home. Let your heart relax into me. I love you. Even now, as He comes down, let heaven be received.”
02.
Listen
As you read these words, what images came to your mind? Could you imagine sitting with Jesus, enjoying his nearness? Now, let’s get out our journals and respond to our heavenly Father with a written prayer.
03.
Think
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4, ESV).
1. What things in your life make you long for heaven? Let’s write them down.
2. How do you respond to that longing? Take some time to think about this. We don’t always immediately recognize our coping mechanisms.
3. How does God want you to respond? Instead of responding to this question generically, let’s make our answers personal and specific to us. Pause, reflect, and be still as you invite Holy Spirit speak to you on this.
04.
Trust
The holiday season is a joyful time of celebration, family, and delight. But for some of us, it’s also a painful reminder of things we’ve lost—loved ones, jobs, personal dreams… life’s imperfections that cause us to long for heaven.
Thankfully, though, we can experience heaven anytime, anywhere. We don’t have to wait for the next life. And we don’t have to wait for a special church service, either.
This Christmas season, we get to celebrate Immanual, which means “God with us.” Can you feel the weightiness of that name? The pure joy of unbroken fellowship with the God who created us?
Let’s close our eyes and imagine ourselves there in Bethlehem, when Jesus was born into our flawed, time-bound world.
The room is dimly lit and stinks of cattle and sheep. The dry hay crunches under our feet as we walk closer.
There he is, just a tiny baby, sleeping in a feeding trough. He looks just like you and I did when we were first born—red, wrinkly, soft.
Then Mary invites you to hold him. You cradle him in your arms. The God of the universe. The one who breathed the stars into existence and knows their names. The one who fashioned the laws of physics and time and space. He’s resting in your arms.
What does heaven feel like in this moment with Jesus? How does his presence affect our perspective of the hard things in our lives? How does his closeness give you hope?
Now, how do we experience this closeness with him day to day? Even in the storms and troubles? Let’s ask Holy Spirit to show us…
05.
Pray
Thank you, Jesus, for coming to be with us. Thank you for your presence!
I’m amazed at how you humbled yourself and stepped into the world you created. Show me how to have that same humility, a willingness to receive whatever you have to give me.
Help me choose your presence when I’m tempted to run away from life’s problems or to try to fix them myself. I confess where I’ve let my longing for heaven distract me from your closeness here and now.
I want to see you better, feel you better, hear you better. Will you show me how? Fill me with faith and hope—the kind that life’s troubles can’t take from me.
I love you, Lord. This Christmas, I choose to worship and rest in you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Waving the banner with you,
