Lent Devotions
Lent Week Three – for Catch up.
Week four started March 5,
and Week five starts March 11.
I’m so sorry for the delay – thank you for your patience with me as we prepare to move!

Lent Day Seventeen
In My Father’s House are many rooms
(some photos are from my trip to Germany, some from purchased photo sources.)

Music
I’ve got a mansion just over the hill top – Gaither & Jeanne Johnson
In my Father’s House – Elvis

Scripture

John 14:1-4 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Devotion
In my house there are many mansions

Continuing the Discussion in the upper room
The disciples were not really thrilled that Jesus was talking about leaving them. He had promised to send a comforter. They didn’t understand. We’ll talk about the comforter on another day. One of the things he says is that where he goes they cannot go, they cannot follow him and that he goes to prepare a place for us. He’ll come back and bring us home.

When he talks to the thief on the cross, he says today you will be with me in Paradise. So we can take from that that where Jesus is going is Paradise. He’s going there because his work here on Earth is done, yet He lets us know that he is going there to prepare a place for us.

Keith Green sings the song that talks about Jesus preparing a place for us and he’s been working on it for two thousand years.
I can’t wait to get to Heaven – Keith Green

What kind of place would you prepare for someone that you loved enough to die for and were looking forward to have come and live with you?

My story

In my married life, we have had houses that we have owned several times. One of the things that my husband has made sure of in every place was that he planted flowers. He planted flower gardens specifically so that I would have flowers as often as flowers would grow wherever we were living. One place I remember was the first time I had had gladiolas and they grew so tall and so pretty against the front porch. We’ve had irises and lilies and crocuses and snowdrops and tulips and daffodils and roses and so many other plants that every time I looked at them, I was touched my the love of my husband who had bought them and had prepared them for me.

Currently, our daughter and son-in-law have found a house for us that has part of the property that is right up against their property. Prior to this they had specified a room in their house specifically for me to come and be able to stay and visit without having to pay for a hotel room. It is so precious to my heart that they prepared a place for me in their new home. The next plan was that we would build a small little home for me and my husband to live on in their property, or remodel one of the outbuildings or something. The were preparing to have a home for me in case anything happened and I needed to move close to them, and so that I could be part of their life without having to stay in a hotel.

Just recently, this nearby house came on the market, and our son-in-law found it and suggested that we consider it. I actually believe that if they could do all the work to get the house prepared and ready and such like, they would. They have three small boys. Those three small boys are an extra perk for living close by as well! My point is, they have been looking for a place for me in case anything ever happened to my husband, so that they would take care of me and that I would not have to be concerned about living so far away. They have also been preparing a place for me because they want me to love close, to be close!

I have friends who have recently had houses built for themselves and the excitement of getting the house made just for themselves is palpable.

I’ve had friends move into rustic cabins in the woods that has been a dream home for them for years and their excitement of that was palpable.

I have fixed up rooms as guest rooms in the excitement of someone coming to stay with me and visit and I want the place to be special, comfortable, and warm for the person to visit.

How much more so, does Jesus love us and want to prepare a place for us?

Have you ever seen a palace? Really seen one up close, not just in a photograph? Have you gone to somewhere and some large city and walked toward some Grand Mansion thing with all of the intricate Woodwork and tile work and glass work? These were made by people for people that were very, very special.

The Taj mahal was built for a wife who died in childbirth…https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal

There are many examples…https://weburbanist.com/2010/02/10/architectural-love-story-10-castles-built-for-love/

Not of these are free of damaged, sadness, or trauma. They also fulfill the law of thermal Dynamics… All things tend towards disorder… Without constant up keep, the dissolve. Not very heavenly!

When you look at the description of the parts of the Tabernacle you see the elaborate detail that God required for his Tabernacle as made by human hands. When you read about the temples and all that was put into them again for God but made by human hands, exquisite! Still exposed to the 2nd law of thermal Dynamics!

Jesus has gone to heaven, to prepare a place for us, with his intimate knowing of our personality, our joys, and our desires. My husband just shared with me a thing from Billy Graham that said “if my happiness in heaven depends upon having my special dog there, God will make sure my dog is there.” If our joy is made full by being in the presence of God, then we have to believe that the place that Jesus is preparing for us will be a place that provides Utmost Joy completely separate from all the sorrows here on Earth.

This castle in Germany was ostentatious…I could not get all of it in one photo!  The description of Heaven has the streets paved with gold. The doors into the New Jerusalem the gates are actual slabs of precious gems. And… It’s eternal!

There is a verse that says no eye has seen nor ear heard nor can we comprehend the riches that God has for us.

1 Corinthians 2:9 King James Version (KJV)
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

And that doesn’t mean that we’re going to have piles of gold and piles of silver and such because it won’t mean anything. It will have no value because we will not need to buy and sell. Or, there value is so diminished in light of all the Holy richness of God! What it means the riches of God is our joy, peace, love, grace, and mercy against such there is no law(Galatians 5)! Whatever it takes to fill our hearts exceedingly, abundantly, above all we can ask or think(Ephesians 3:20-21), that is what our place will have and be.

Then again, we have Psalm 23 makes me lie down in Green Pastures and beside the Still Waters and he restores my soul. If our hearts are full of Jesus now, how much more being in his presence will fill us overflowing.

I don’t know what the place is, and I know that there are versions, some that say rooms. Some say mansions and some say a place. I don’t know.

What I do know is he has gone to prepare a place for us that we will dwell eternally in his presence in the presence of God in the fullness of joy and love that we cannot even comprehend. Will it be like the garden before Adam and Eve sinned? I don’t know! I know the tree of life will be there! I know that there will be living water there! And I know that everyone who has ever love God and believed on Jesus even before they knew his name, will be there I know that there are people that have gone on before me that I rejoice in there death in Christ because I know that I will see them again for eternity. I know that people I know down here when I move from one place to another that even if I never see them again on the face of this Earth, I will send I will spend eternity with them in the presence of God.

Sometimes I’m so full of love for Jesus and exuberant In Worship that I think all I need is a space right before the father to spend eternity singing his praises and Thanksgiving for all that he has done for me. If there is more than that, praise God. If that is all there is, that is all I need.

For some reason, Jesus told the disciples that he was going to a prepare a place for them, and that was part of his comfort to them as he was going to head off to the cross. Knowing that there is a place for us as our comfort when someone passes away. For those who have terminal illnesses that God has not chosen to heal, that is our comfort. As Billy Graham said we’re just changing our address.

HOME – Chris Tomlin

Do you know if Jesus is preparing a place for you?

If you don’t know, please go to these two links and make your eternal future secure.
Got Questions provides a detailed explanation of The Roman’s Road.
Billy Graham’s version of the Plan of salvation

Worship and Prayer
This world is not my home – Gaither
In My Father’s House – Mick Flavin

~~~~~~~

Hi!
My hope in the midst of despair and my joy in the face of depression is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not have one, or are not sure you will join him in heaven, please check out these links:

• Got Questions provides a detailed explanation of The Roman’s Road.
• Billy Graham’s version of the Plan of salvation.

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

M. Christine Wildman

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

Copyrights and Legal-eze
There are many organizations that support children and families. Here are ones that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

• Naomi’s Heart Ministries
• Obed’s House Ministries
• The son of a friend will be interning with CRU – previously known as Campus Crusades for Christ. If you’d like to support someone I can vouch for in this area, please consider going to Matthew Plant’s donation page.