M53 Q & A
Heaven is too “spiritual” and boring. How can you
be happy there if you do nothing but worship all day?
“Boredom” is simply another label
for the spiritual emptiness in people due to our alienation from God. When we
go to heaven, we will not be in our present earthly bodies. The spiritual
bodies we will have will be marvelously different. We cannot project our
fleshly limitations onto the glorious spiritual state in heaven. The joy of
being with the Lord in heaven is “far better” than anything we can experience
on earth (Phil 1:23). It’s no wonder Peter, who had only a glimpse of the
Christ in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-4), wanted to stay
there.
We may think that without earthly
pleasures, heaven will be dull. But what our flesh enjoys on earth will seem
childish when we are in our spiritual bodies in heaven. As adults, we don’t
even think about the toys we “couldn’t live without” when we were children.
Likewise, when we are in heaven, we will “put away childish things” (1 Cor 13:9-12). Perfect eternal joy will replace our
short-lived earthly joys.
Believers who have “tasted the
heavenly gift” and “become partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Heb 6:4) know from
personal experience that the joy of spiritual communion with the Lord far surpasses
any earthly pleasure. No wonder Paul would rather choose to be with Christ.
Even thought we have not fully experienced the joy of heaven, our foretaste of
God’s immense love through the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5; 2 Cor
1:21-22) tells us that heaven is anything but boring.
Is the purpose of prayer to get what we want?
Not exactly. We pray to glorify
God (Jn 12:28) and seek after God’s will (Lk 22:42). We can pray to God about everything, but we must
never pray against God’s will or His glory. God wants us to ask for His will
through prayer—to seek after Him. Like any love in life, we all want to seek
after our love and be sought after and loved ourselves. We cannot receive God’s
will unless we first ask Him for it. However, if we ask amiss, i.e. against God’s
will, we will not receive it even if we continue to
ask God for it (Jas 4:2-3). The Bible tells us of many things, relating to
God’s will, that we can pray for:
1.
Pray for the church:
·
Ask the Lord to send out workers (Mt 9:38)
·
Pray that God may open a door for the gospel, so
that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ (Col 4:3)
·
Pray for words to be given to us, that we may
fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel (Eph 6:19-20)
·
Pray that the message of the Lord may spread
rapidly and be honored (2 Thess 3:1)
·
Pray for God to renew our days (Lam 5:21)
·
Pray for the Lord to stretch out His hand and
perform miraculous signs and wonders (Acts 4:30)
·
Pray for believers that they may receive the
Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-15)
2.
Pray for our spiritual life:
·
Pray and ask for the Holy Spirit (Lk 11:13; Jn 4:10; 7:38-39)
·
Ask the Lord to teach us His way (Ps 86:11; Jn 14:26; 1 Cor 2:13)
·
Ask God to strengthen us, in our inner being,
with power through His Spirit (Eph 3:16)
·
Ask God for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
so we can know Him better (Eph 1:17; Jas 1:5)
·
Ask God to teach us to do His will (Ps 143:10;
Heb 13:21)
·
Pray that the Lord increases our love and faith
(1 Thess 3:10-12)
·
Pray in the Holy Spirit that we may be kept in
God’s love (Jude 20-21)
