Thirsty

My Church is awesome. I am learning so much from them. We have been studying Revelation over the last few months and this last one has stopped me in my tracks. I feel so incredibly real and loved while thinking through what the Lord has promised for His people.

We need a vision of Heaven. We have to be prepared for our future.

What we believe about the future determines how we live in the present. 
-because we can endure hard things and persevere through the present.

What is in Heaven?
1. A renewed creation
"I am making all things new" Things will be restored into what they were meant to be back in Eden, in Genesis 1 and 2.
-When Jesus comes back, we will have renewed bodies.
-New Jerusalem will come down to earth.
-Our future, our existence, it is so material > streets, walls, trees, leaves, fruit, feasts, people, nations, kings of all nations...
 -We will build houses and live in them
 -We will plant vineyards and eat from them
 -Animals will coexist

We will be surrounded by new things...without death, decay, sickness, violence, loss, disease, and the brokenness that defines this world.

We already know that there will be no tears from early in chapter 21. This is because He has restored all things so that there is no reason for tears. All things are restored to the state of being worthy of the presence of the Lord.

2. People Groups [will be in Heaven]
- God Himself will be with them and He will be their God
- great cultural creativity will be bringing their splendor of their culture to worship God...will architects build unimaginable buildings for us to experience, or will there be many more amazing Monet-artists and Motzart-musicians? What glories will the Lord command for us all to give and enjoy about Him?

Before sin and death entered the world, Adam and Eve walked with God. There was no brokenness.
We can see Him in the New Heaven and view Earth because we will have new bodies!
We will be restored. We will be changed.

A day is coming when the separation between us and God is not there. His name is written on our foreheads.
We will finally be who we were created to be.
We will be restored and made whole.
We shall be without sin, without brokenness, without shame.

Oh how I long for this day! When I see His face!

When we get to Heaven, we are going to be restored. We will be made whole. We will be free to walk, to run, to dance. Together. With Jesus, We will be made whole. This is a big deal.

Thats what we long for. We long to be made whole- to be redeemed. We long for this for ourselves, for our friends, for our family.

Am I thirsty fo the New Heaven and New Earth? Am I satisfied with Jesus? Do I long to be healed and be made whole more than I long for these fleeting pleasures of this broken earth?

Oh Father, make me thirsty. Make me long to be healed above all things. That I would have the courage and words to say come to Jesus...to the mirror and to my peers.