GOD WANTS YOU IN HEAVEN.  By Patty Travis.

Have you ever been suddenly struck by a sudden bolt of WOW, straight to the heart by the Holy Spirit? I recently experienced this at church during worship. I’ve sung “What a Wonderful Name it Is” many times. It’s one of my favorite songs. Several weeks ago, we’re singing this beautiful song and as we were singing the following verse, it hit me.

… You didn’t want Heaven without us
So Jesus, You brought Heaven down
My sin was great, Your love was greater
What could separate us now?

Wait. Jesus didn’t want Heaven without me? The tears started to flow as I imagined how much He must love me if I’m that important to Him that He didn’t want Heaven without me. It brought a different perspective for me to think about. God doesn’t need us in Heaven because He doesn’t need anything but He wants us there because He loves us. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to bring Heaven down to die for our sins. As the lyrics say, “My sin was great, Your love was greater. What could separate us now?”

The lyrics “You didn’t want Heaven without us” are not taken directly from scripture but there are many scriptures that tell us how much God loves us and what He did for us so that we will be in Heaven with Him someday.

Ephesians 1:5 NLT says,

“God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.”

I John 4:9-10 (NLT)

“God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love — not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

Romans 5:8 (NLT)

“But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”  

Are you feeling His love? Do you believe that He loves you and that He wants you in Heaven with Him? I don’t know about you but I’ve struggled with feeling loved. Especially feeling loved unconditionally. It’s taken me many years to accept the fact that God loves me for me.

Many of the choices I have made in my life have been because I wanted to feel loved. I looked for love in the wrong places. The false love I found was not love that would last for eternity. That love is only found in Jesus.

Romans 5:5 NLT speaks clearly to how much God loves us.

“And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”

Listen to the Holy Spirit within you telling you how much God loves you. Believe it for it’s true!

My prayer for you is what Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus.  (Ephesians 3:14-19 NLT)

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Have you prepared a place in your heart for Him? He doesn’t want Heaven without you. He’s preparing a place for you now.

“There is more than enough room in my Father’s home, If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”  (John 14:2-4 NLT)

… What a wonderful Name it is, what a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ, my King
What a wonderful Name it is, nothing compares to this
What a wonderful Name it is, the Name of Jesus
What a wonderful Name it is, the Name of Jesus