“In Heaven"

 
 "When you pray, you are not
to be like the hypocrites; for
they love to stand and pray in
the synagogues and on the
street corners so that they
may be seen by men Truly I
say to you, they have their
reward in full.
6 "But you, when you pray, go
into your inner room, close
your door and pray to your
Father who is in secret, and
your Father who sees what is
done in secret will reward you.
7 "And when you are praying, do
not use meaningless repetition
as the Gentiles do, for they
suppose that they will be heard
for their many words. 8 "So do
not be like them; for your Father
knows what you need before you
ask Him.
9 "Pray, then, in this way:
Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 'Your kingdom come Your
will be done, On earth as it is
in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily
bread. 12 'And forgive us our
debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors. 13 'And do not lead
us into temptation, but deliver us
from evil. For Yours is the
kingdom and the power and the
glory forever. Amen.’
Scripture tells
us God lives in
Heaven
But it also calls
the physical
space above
us heaven.
In the beginning
God created the
heavens and the
earth.
Genesis 1:1
The first man in space
– Yuri Gagarin –
famously said, “I don't
see any God up here.”
Even a casual reading
of scripture tells us
that Heaven as the
place where God
dwells is not in this
physical reality.
"But will God indeed
dwell on the earth?
Behold, heaven and
the highest heaven
cannot contain You,
1 Kings 8:27
Heaven, where God
dwells, is in another
place outside of our
time/space reality.
The physical expanse
above us called
heaven is a symbol of
the majesty of His
dwelling place.
I find it interesting that
much of the prayer
Jesus taught us to
pray is not asking God
for things.
It is not even seeking
to tell God things that
He does not already
know.
It is almost like Jesus
is reminding us of
things he wants us to
remember every time
we pray the prayer.
Jesus knew we would
often forget them.
Understanding that
God is in Heaven has
several things to say
to us that we
desperately need to
remember.
1. Perspective
2. Supernatural
Knowledge
3. Comfort
4. Comforting others
5. Hope
For me the most
important one is
perspective.
PERSPECTIVE
If you have ever been in
a plane or on a very high
building watching those
below you might
understand what I am
saying here.
From a high vantage
point above you can
see things from a
much different
perspective.
You can see what is
ahead for some
unsuspecting driver
unaware of the train that
just stopped traffic on the
road they are on.
You can see the child a
mother is frantically
looking for as he
wandered away from her
unawares.
One of our sons was the
family escape artist. He
was extremely adept at
escaping from our and
other’s care.
One day as his grandfather
was supposedly keeping
guard over him after having
tucked him in for sleep, he
was brought to the door by
the police officer that lived
on the next street.
The officer said to
his Opa, “I believe
this belongs to
you!”
On another occasion
his mother had him in
the mall and for just a
second let go of his
hand.
Twenty minutes later
he was found heading
off to the parking lot.
The security guard
that found him asked
him to tell him his
name.
Being a properly trained
child he knew he was not to
give strangers sensitive
information. He told the
guard, “I don’t have to give
you my name, my mother
knows my name.
The guard took him to
the information kiosk for
safe keeping until his
terrified mother arrived.
When she got him he
told her that he did not
know they put little
children in jail.
While these are stories
that bring sweet
memories they could
have been very different.
For some these kinds of
incidences are a
permanent place of pain
as they were the last
moments of their child’s
life.
As time went by in not only his life
but in all our children’s lives and I
suspect for you who have
children, in their lives as well,
there were moments when we
needed to know that there was
Someone above the reality we
face that sees and knows
everything.
Because God sees
from the perspective
of Heaven He knows
everything.
He knew this child in my
sweetheart’s womb
before he first tickled her
inside.
In fact He knew
each of our and our
children’s names
from before the
world was created.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed
be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places in
Christ,
Ephesians 1:4 just as He
chose us in Him before
the foundation of the
world, that we would be
holy and blameless
before Him. . . .
Knowing that God is in
Heaven lets me know
that it is not just police
officers and security
guards that are caring for
my children and those I
love.
They are seen and cared
for by the most loving
and capable parent in the
universe.
The God who heaven
and earth cannot contain,
who dwells in another
place of never ending
light, will hear my prayers
for them and answer.
Revelation 22:5 And there will
no longer be any night; and
they will not have need of the
light of a lamp nor the light of
the sun, because the Lord God
will illumine them; and they will
reign forever and ever.
SUPERNATURAL
KNOWLEDGE
Because God sees from
Heaven’s perspective and
knows everything, as we pray
He can give us knowledge that
we could not gain through
normal means.
The most amazing things have
happened in my life as I have
gone to our Father who is in
Heaven and asked Him to
show me things I could not
know from my limited earthly
perspective.
The most important one for me
was when I was serving the
Charlemont Church near
Dresden.
On a Thursday morning Carie
called me at the church to
come home and help her
because she was feeling sick.
When I arrived I found her very
sick. I got her into a
comfortable place for her to
rest. I then prayed for her. As I
prayed I heard the words,
“tubal pregnancy.”
By that evening she seemed
much better and I thought I
was just had a vivid
imagination.
The next Sunday after I had
preached I stayed in the office
for a few minutes and she
went home across the parking
lot to the manse with the kids.
I got a call from her again and
she sounded very weak. By
the time I got to the house she
had passed out. I tried to get
her to bed but she passed out
again.
I again cried out to God to help
her and I again heard the
words, “tubal pregnancy.” I
called 911.
When the paramedics arrived
they could find no heartbeat or
pulse. In a characteristic
moment of being herself she
overheard them saying this
and gained enough strength to
say, “I’m not dead yet!”
But she was closer to death
than we knew.
When we arrived at the
hospital our family doctor met
us. He was a friend and a
Christian.
As we discussed her condition
he told me she was very
unstable and that they could
not find what was wrong with
her.
I told him about my prayer and
the words that I had felt were
spoken by God into my heart.
He said that they would check
this out. After a while he came
back and said she was
pregnant but the ultrasound
showed the baby to be in the
correct position.
He also said that they could
not get her stabilized and that
she was very sick. I read
between the lines of what he
said and realized I and the
children could lose her.
In desperation I prayed,
“Father I know that if Carie
dies she will be okay. She will
be with you in Heaven. But I
will so miss her. Please let her
stay with us.
Immediately I again heard the
words, “tubal pregnancy.” I
went back to the doctor and
told him what I had heard
again. He said that they had a
better imaging machine in the
operating room to check her
with and he would recheck her.
Four hours later he came out
of the operating room and told
me, “She had an ectopic
(tubal) pregnancy that had
burst one of her tubes last
week and had lost over half of
her blood through internal
bleeding.”
“He said, “If we had not found
the cause in another hour she
would have died.”
Our Father who is in Heaven
and knows everything about
us. He can share with us those
things we cannot know from
our limited earthly perspective
as we pray to Him.
COMFORT
This wonderful
understanding does not
mean that for us, God will
never let the horrible things
that happen to others in life
happen to us as well.
Quite the opposite, it means
that when they do happen
we can find solace in
knowing that because God
is in Heaven, He will do
what we cannot do even
when it seems all earthly
hope is lost.
On the night I held in my
hands one of my children
who would never be born
alive, I found comfort in
knowing that because God
was in Heaven, he knew all
about what was happening
and would care for our child.
I also knew He would care
for my grieving sweetheart
whose pain was even
greater than mine.
Most of all I knew that
though our child was no
longer in this dimension of
reality he was in the place
where God was. He was in
Heaven.
The world could no longer
harm him. God was caring for
him and one day – in Heaven -
I would meet him, no longer in
a frail body that was subject to
death but in an immortal body
more awesome than anything I
could imagine.
You see God promises that
He has an eternal place for
us who have put our trust in
His son Jesus to live.
That place is where He
dwells today - Heaven
COMFORTING OTHERS
Knowing Our Father is in
Heaven we can comfort
others as they walk through
the same valley of the
Shadow of Death we have
walked through.
It was only a few years after
Carie’s miscarriage that I sat
with a precious couple as
they too held a child that
would never live beyond the
day of his birth.
Nathaniel was born without
a brain. He lived for only
fours hours after his birth.
Because Carie and I had
walked through a very
similar experience we could
comfort them in a way no
one else could.
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies
and God of all comfort,

2 Corinthians 1:3
who comforts us in all our
affliction so that we will be
able to comfort those who
are in any affliction with the
comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by
God.
2 Corinthians 1:3
HOPE
Finally, knowing that our
Father is in heaven we find
great hope.
Finally, knowing that our
Father is in heaven we find
great hope. Our final destiny
is Heaven.
Behold, I tell you a mystery;
we will not all sleep, but we
will all be changed,

1 Corinthians 15:51
in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last
trumpet; for the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we
will be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:52
For this perishable must put
on the imperishable, and
this mortal must put on
immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:53
But when this perishable will have
put on the imperishable, and this
mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about
the saying that is written, "DEATH
IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:54
"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR
VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE
IS YOUR STING?“

1 Corinthians 15:55
For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of {the}
archangel and with the trumpet
of God, and the dead in Christ
will rise first.

1 Thessalonians 4:16
Then we who are alive and
remain will be caught up
together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the
air, and so we shall always be
with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:17
Therefore comfort one another
with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:17