Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Another example of an activation clause that the Holy Spirit highlighted comes from…

In Today’s scripture, John 12:25 (NLT), Jesus said…
[25] Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.

Consider…
There were a couple of different ways I could end the week of highlighting activation clauses to God’s promises.

For example, I thought of Joshua 1:8, and writing about activating success. But the Holy Spirit guided me to the most important promise of us, which is activating eternity with God.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT) says…
[11] Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Reading that makes me hear Detrick Haddon singing…

Just wanna make it to heaven
I just wanna make it in
I just wanna cross that river
I wanna be free from sin
I just want my name written (Oh Lord)
Written in the lambs Book of Life
When this life is over
I just wanna have eternal life
Oh wanna hear Him say

Well done, well done, well done
You can come on in.
Anybody wanna hear Him say? Yeah
Anybody wanna hear Him say? Yeah
Wave your hands where I can see ’em.

Anybody wanna see your loved ones
That you’ve lost along the way
I just wanna walk those streets of gold, yeah
They say the half has never, never been told
I don’t want my singing Lord
I don’t want it, to be in vain
Can I get a winner’s amen?

I just wanna cross that river of God
That’s why I’m living, day to day, just to hear him say

As the song fades, I hear Apostle Paul say in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 (NLT)…
[24] Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! [25] All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. [26] So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.

The reason we should be inspired to live for God here on earth, is because He placed the hope of eternity in our hearts.

Let’s be honest, often it feels like the old people used to say, ‘the world is going hell in a handbasket’. Thus, we hope and believe there has to be more to life than this.

1 John 2:17 (NLT) underscores this sentiment with…And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Notice the activation code at the end of the verse…
anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 7:21 (NLT)…“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

This begs the question, how do we know God’s will and what pleases Him? Fortunately, the Holy Spirit provides the answer in Romans 12:2 (NLT), which instructs…
[2] Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

The activation code to pleasing God, and spending eternity with Him, is letting Him change our thinking.

This is reiterated in Philippians 2:13 (NLT), which explains…For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

We can’t please God without letting Him change us!

As I get older, the hope of living forever becomes more relevant. Between the combination of seeing others die, and increasing aches and pains and medicine regiments, mortality is becoming increasingly real.

That’s why verses like 1 Corinthians 15:53 (NLT) are so precious. It encourages…For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

I don’t know about you, but I look forward to immortality transformation.

As I wrote that, I thought of a redeemed version of the Transformers theme song…

Transformers, more than meets the eye
Transformers, meet God in the sky

While the song was looping, I read 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NLT)…
[51] But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! [52] It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.

The Holy Spirit showed me a couple activation codes to God’s promised transformation. They can be found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT), which reads…
[16] That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. [17] For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! [18] So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

The two codes are:

• Never give up
• Focus on eternity

Along with those codes, the Holy Spirit guided me to Colossians 3:2-4 (NLT) which exhorts…
[2] Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. [3] For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

Notice, the Holy Spirit is emphasizing the way we think, and what we think about, is vital to living life in eternity.

You cannot live forever by focusing on living only for the here and now.

Jesus emphasizes this in Matthew 16:26 (NLT), where He said…
[26] And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

The Holy Spirit is telling us to stop living to satisfy our bodies and start focusing on our souls spending eternity with God!

This makes hear Patrick Love singing…

With a made up mind
With a made up mind
I’m willing to go all the way through
If it cost my life
I’m willing to pay the price
I’ve got heaven, I’ve got heaven
I’ve got heaven in my view

If it means that I have to walk alone
Or that my friends become few
I’m not gonna worry about
What others may say or do
I’ve got heaven, I’ve got heaven
I’ve got heaven in my view

Again, like Colossians 3:2 (NLT) says…
[2] Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

That’s why Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:19-21 (NLT)…
[19] “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. [21] Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

If you want to go to Heaven, you have a heavenly….

• Goal, for eternity
• Programmed, by God
• Soul, living forever

…by God.

2 Corinthians 5:1-7 (NLT) reminds us…
[1] For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. [2] We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. [3] For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. [4] While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. [5] God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. [6] So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. [7] For we live by believing and not by seeing.

We activate eternity by living by faith, not by what we see.

Lastly, the Holy Spirit showed some final activation codes, found in 1 Peter 2:9-12 (NLT)…
[9] But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. [10] “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” [11] Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. [12] Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

Within these verses we see additional activation codes of…

• Be different, because you’re chosen
• Show others God’s goodness
• Live properly and honorable to honor God

As you live the life has given you here on earth, keep focusing on Him, and activate the hope of spending eternity with Him!

Spending eternity with God begins with living for Christ, and eternity, here on earth.

Today’s song is…
Only Let Me Live For Christ

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)