“For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2 BSB)
“Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12 NLT)
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 NKJV)
This is the question that I have been most looking forward to answering. Having a rock solid conviction about what I expect to experience today, versus what I expect to experience in the future, has a huge impact on how I live. If my expectation is that I have to wait until after I die and go to Heaven to experience the benefits of eternal life then I will simply hold on, and hold out, for Heaven. If, however, I expect the benefits of eternal life to be present and active now, I will fight through anything that tries to stop me from experiencing the full manifestation of “Heaven on Earth” today.
If you have been following refiretoinspire.com then you already know that I am completely convinced that Jesus intends for the full manifestation of eternal life to be present in my life today. I am fully persuaded that the difference on this side of the grave is not intended to be what I experience, but rather how I experience it. There will be a day in which all obstacles, opposition, and oppression, will be removed. For today, I must fight the good fight of faith. I will need to do battle in order to experience what is already mine. That is why the Bible proclaims that the Kingdom suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
Let me be very clear, I am not fighting with the Father to get Him to release Heaven’s blessings to me. It is His great pleasure to give me the Kingdom. He has already blessed me with great and precious promises. He has given me everything that pertains to life and godliness. David in Psalm 103 charged me to never forget the Kingdom benefits that I already possess which include forgiveness of all sin and healing of all sickness plus much more. I am fighting against my enemy the devil, and all spiritual forces that desperately want to keep me from experiencing my eternal life this side of the grave.
Let me say again, the difference in eternal life before and after the grave is not in what I am able to experience, but in how I am able to experience it. Anything that was not present in the Garden of Eden, will not be present in the New Heaven and Earth after the New Jerusalem has come to Earth, and is not in Heaven, is not a part of the eternal life that I possess. That is why Jesus instructed me to pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” I am to “lay hold” of the “eternal life” which has been deposited within me to fight against anything from the Kingdom of Darkness that comes against me, and fight for the full manifestation of all that I possess in Christ.
On this side of the grave I expect my life to be a constant progression of moving from faith to faith, victory to victory, glory to glory, as I win battle after battle in preparation for eternity on the other side of the grave. I expect to win, now and forever!
This is just the tip of the iceberg with…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 172: “Eternal Life: Don’t leave home without it.” Part 4: What, if anything, should I expect to be different in my experience of “eternal life” before and after the grave?