Dear saints,
There are seven things you must do to build up materials, in order to build your heavenly home:
1. Worship and Praise to God
The first is your accumulation of worship and praise to God.
Scripture says you were created to praise the Lord (Isaiah 43:21), and you are commanded to praise Him (Ps 148:5). You are commanded to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). You are to do so at all times (Heb 13:5; Psalm 34:1), even with clapping and shouting (Ps 47:1). Another way the Scripture teaches us to praise Him is with the holy dance (Ex 15:20; 2 Sam 6:14, 16; 1 Chr 15:29; Psa 30:11; 149:3; 150:4). Whenever you do these things with love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1Ti 1:5), you accumulate building materials in heaven that are used to build your home there.
2. Reading the Bible
The second is your time spent reading the Bible.
Read the Word, meditate on it, and scrutinize it, so you won’t be deceived (Ps 1:2; Ps 119:11, 105; Mt 4:4; 2 Tim 3:16). This also results in building materials being sent up to heaven that are used to build your mansion.
3. Praying to God
Third, your time spent praying to God. (1 The 5:17; 1 Tim 2:8; Phil 4:6; Mt 7:7). According to E.M. Bounds, in his book on the power of prayer, the average pastor only prays about five minutes per day. That is called prayerlessness, which is a sin. It was the same way in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus prayed, and all His disciples were sleeping. But Jesus said, "Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour?" (Mt 26:40). He asks you that same question today, "Could you not spend one hour with Me in prayer?" This must be a priority for each of us, because prayer is our lifeline to God.
If you have been guilty of the sin of prayerlessness, the first step is to confess it to God, repent, and ask forgiveness. Do this, rather than simply trying harder or making a resolution to pray more, because we cannot reform ourselves. Once you repent and ask forgiveness, the Lord will set you free from that sin, and you will then be able to obey Him as you ought to.
As you pray, plead the blood of Jesus, put on the full armor of God, shout to the Lord, lift your hands straight up to God, attack the demons, and engage them in battle. Ask the Lord to give you true contrition for sin and tears of repentance. Seek His face (Jer 29:13; Ps 27:8). Pray in tongues (1 Cor 2:4-5; Jude 1:20; Eph 6:18). Pray that you may love with same love with which He loves you.
As you pray, building materials are being sent up to heaven that are used to build your mansion.
4. Evangelizing Those Who Don't Know Jesus
Fourth, your time spent evangelizing to people (Mt 28:18-20; Mk 13:10; 16:15). The reward you receive from the Lord for this does not depend on the response of the people with whom you share the gospel, but rather on your obedience to God in sharing with them. This is the Great Commission that the Lord has given to us. He who has all authority in heaven and on earth -- who gave his life on the cross for our sins and the sins of the whole world, who is not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance -- has commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. As you do so, whether it is across the street or around the world, building materials are being sent up to heaven for your mansion to be built.
5. Tithes to God
Fifth, your obedient tithes to God. The Lord commands us to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, and He promises that when we do, He will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we will not have room enough to receive (Mal 3:8-10). You can read more about this in my article on Christian tithing.
A man named Emmanuel Agyarko had a vision of hell, in which he said: “I saw four pastors in hell, who were there because they did not pay their tithes. One was called Albert and another was Daniel, a pastor of Church of Christ and this church does not believe in tithing. Daniel said he told his congregation not to pay tithes, as it was no longer necessary. He was in hell for basically two things: first of all, he was not paying tithes himself; and secondly, because he also stopped others from paying it. For Albert, his church believed in paying tithes, but he thought it was meant for only the congregation, and that pastors were excluded from paying it. He wished he could come back to earth to start over again and pay his tithes. The other two pastors also did not pay, and one of them, thought simply he did not think he had to pay it even though he knew he should be paying it, and the other thought ministering before God is not working, so he thought there was no need to pay any tithes.”
In Angelica Zambrano’s visit to hell, she said she saw a man who said, “I have stolen from God...At this very moment there are many people on Earth that are robbing the Lord like I did. When you return to Earth, tell all those people who don't want to give their tithes and offerings, not to steal from the Lord, otherwise, they’ll wind up in Hell, and no thief will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Another Korean pastor named Yong-Doo Kim says, “People who did not properly tithe are ending up in hell.”
When you give to God, do it with love, and give to the Lord with true love. As you do, building materials will be sent up to heaven for your home.
6. Offerings to the Lord
Sixth, your offerings to the Lord (Mt 6:19-21; Lk 6:38). We are not only to give our tithes to the Lord, which is the first ten percent, but also our offerings above and beyond that. While tithes are to be brought into the storehouse where you are fed and cared for spiritually, offerings can be given to the church, or they can be given to Christian ministries and missions, as well as anyone who is doing the Lord's work. He who sows generously will reap generously, and he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly (2 Cor 9:6). One man gives freely yet gains even more, another withholds unduly and comes to poverty. A generous man shall prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed (Prov 11:24-25). Offerings include our alms to the poor as well. He who is kind to the poor will be blessed, because he honors the Lord (Prov 19:17). Whenever you give offerings, you will be accumulating building materials in heaven for your home.
7. Serving the Body of Christ
Seventh, your time spent serving the church in any way (Mt 20:28; Gal 5:13; 6:10; 1 Pet 4:10). You should have a servant's heart and do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
The fruit God wants is your personal love, your personal help, and your personal concern. When you see an individual hurting and your own heart actually hurts with them, this is when you care! God's desire is that we be like Jesus, and we will always find Him moving in the areas of human need.
God desires for us to do good to all men, especially to the household of God (Gal 6:10). He wants us to represent Jesus and to be like Him. When you are helping people, you become a living word to them which says, "I care and God cares for you!" We become a word that is alive to them -- a living word.
Any Christian can accumulate building materials every day, because there are people who need help every day! When we care for them, we are bringing the heart of God to them in their place of need. When we do this for God, something goes into our storehouse in heaven!
Closing Words
This message is only for those who have been born again, and know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This message is not explaining how to get to heaven, because you cannot get to heaven by your own good works, rather you must be born again.
These are the deeds or works of obedience in which one who is saved accumulates materials for his Heavenly home. If one is lacking in these areas, he will have no materials to build his home. Whenever you do something with faith, whatever it is, Jesus will build your house bigger and higher.
Attributes: Most Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, all rights reserved, used by permission. Image may be subject to copyright, used per the Fair Use Act for educational and commentary purposes only.
Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Faith in Action, Run with Endurance, Faith Works, Walking by Faith, Obedient to the Heavenly Vision, The Four Tallest Homes in Heaven, Living on Earth as They Do in Heaven, Bearing Fruit in Every Good Work, Living a Life Worthy of the Lord, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.
Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe.
Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
______________________________________If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe.
Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International. He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.
