A MYSTERIOUS TALES Short Story.
ETHEREAL: Part Three | All Rights Reserved.
THE CATALYST | Change Was Needed.
What do you do when you break? No broken bones. Nothing too extreme. Just broken hearts and good ambiance. One Life Change after Change, you're left reeling. So much has changed, so much in fact; that you're not quite feeling yourself. Not quite sure how to proceed. Well, no need to rehash the last short story. We're here to start fresh. New Part, New Details.
Anywho. Bible Verses. Prayer. Spiritual Awakening. New Balance. Whatever you want to call it, everything felt new. Even when I didn’t know what to do or exactly how to proceed, scripture itself guided me forward.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on Earth.
My focus began to pivot. No longer encased in the normal worries your typical thirty-four year old was concerned with. Laser focused on a ceasefire with the heavenly realms. Lord knows they were kicking my rear. But how does one broker a peace deal with God? That’s quite the question, let’s be honest here. If such things are even possible. If you are not a person of study, the following set of syllables might not appease your appetite for entertainment. However, if you are a man or woman of wonder and adventure, you might half enjoy the tales I’ve got to share today. But of course, we’ll head straight to the source of my wisdom.
Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
There really is no escaping the heavens, no matter how hard we try. Time after time, scripture reminds us of that extremely important fact. Heaven? He’s there. Hell? He’s there. Just one of those things…
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
Scripture tells us to focus on heavenly things, lest our fixation of things and trinkets here on Earth. Something much easier said than done. Plus, you’d think that once the deed of “Christification” is done.. Lo & behold, you’re perfect for life; if only it was that simple.
Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
The process of Sanctification is not an absolute, nor is it instantaneous; but instead more like a continual process that requires daily consistency for success. Your path as a Christian might look different.. but for the most part the consensus among other Christian I’ve met are pretty standard; being a believer can sometimes bite the big one. We seem to struggle more with sin. Personally, I struggle with faithlessness a lot more than I care to admit.
You can't just fake certain things, even if you wanted to, you couldn’t. Faith is one of those things. And believing in his word is well.. it can feel like a stretch at times even for some believers, though the word always does redeem itself in significant ways.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
When it comes to the word of God, full transparency about your shortcomings (Coupled with a willingness to confront them) is extremely important. It can make or break your relationship with Christ, and finding heaven without Jesus & his guidance is quite the fool’s errand. I’ve never been the one to stick routines, I’ve always been a more spontaneous fella myself.
Finally, all of you, have a unity and of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
GETTING THERE | The Path There
What does heaven look like? It actually doesn't look much different than what you might already know. At least for me. My definition of heaven is being in God's perfect peace. It doesn't matter if I die and go to hell, or if I die and go to heaven; God will be there regardless of where we head.
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.”
Now who wouldn’t want to make their way up to the heavens. Everything I’ve learned tells me its gonna be a pretty sweet place; no more tears, no more pain, the former things have passed away. Could you imagine? A Brand New slate. So filled with this hope of things we have for certain in Jesus Christ, I decided to dig even deeper. What does heaven look like and… Can I go there now? Hmm. Answer unsure, so let’s take another dive in scripture and see what it says about this specific subject.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Hmm. All great points to keep stressing. God is always there for us. And our Earthly home is just a part of the blessings he has in store for us. Which was all fine and dandy, but I knew there was more out there. Some verses straight up made it sound like.. heaven was possible on Earth.
As things stood, God had fulfilled my every single need on this earth. Every. Single. One. By all intents and purposes, I realized that the perfect peace God brought me on this earth was almost tantamount with.. no it couldn’t be. And yet the thought persisted, on many occasions whether it be through hardships solved or miracles that occurred right before my eyes; God always came through for me here. There had to be more! There had to be an explanation, so deeper in the word I delved.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The confidence and security by which I lived my life, well.. it sure felt like heaven.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
By all standards, I had everything I needed in this life. We’re not bringing any of this stuff with us, so I didn’t much see a reason for glamorizing the things I own or becoming overly attached with them. It’s all temporary.
Believers aren't perfect, we're just as prone to falling back to the dark side just like normal people. In fact, believers may be more at risk of falling.
It is possible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Why? Because when there is a genuine believer, the more integral you are to the body of Christ the harder tye world will test you.
It's actually believers who have hurt me most in this life.. it kind of makes sense. We fight the most demons. We're big targets for the darkness in the world, bring too much light to the table for comfort.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Believers are far from perfect. Accepting who we are is important, and as Corrie Ten Boom liked to remind us;
There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans.
Does a believer always live within the realms of the God’s kingdom? Or do we occasionally fail God? Well, in my personal experience, a believer’s life is not the perfect one. Nor will it ever be, we live in a constant state of failure and rebirth. It’s weird.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
For living our lives as people who turn the other cheek will have some taking advantage of us, but that doesn't really matter; our job is still to make sure that we do right by all the way God would. Easier said than done, I know.
The biggest thing I've found as a believer? Life is like a constant failure in sin, while being born again with the strike of the clock every single morning. Sounds insane doesn’t it? Well, its actually kind of true.
You can't live your life based on the strength of your faith from YESTERDAY, gotta make sure your faith is strong TODAY. Again, continual improvement.
As he came from his mother's womb, he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.
Besides, we came here with nothing and we’re leaving with nothing. Kick, scream, cry, do whatever you want… that still won’t be changing.
"That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.”
So keep the faith. And though it might not seem like it at times. Trust God and you’ll see, the days of heaven upon the earth are JUST GETTING STARTED.
Don’t believe me? Start reading your Bible and you’ll see the truth. It’s crazy what you see once God opens your eyes.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of those who don’t have faith so they couldn’t see the light of the gospel that reveals Christ’s glory. Christ is the image of God.
That reminds me, I need new glasses. Funny story, turns out some of you might too (Proverbial ones of course).
J.J. Haro
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