Hell is a place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.
Heaven is a place regarded in various religions as the abode of God (or the gods) and the angels, and of the good after death, often traditionally depicted as being above the sky.
I envision hell as a place without God and His attributes like love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, sincerity, peace, thankfulness, etc.
Hell is where the devil is and is and not God but characterized by all evil like hate, rasism, deceit, murder, pornography, lust, homosexuality, conceit, rape, child abuse, war, lonelyness, no purpose, etc.
Let’s see how we can steer away from being friends of hell to friends of heaven.
It does not matter if we try to ignore these two places because we will one day end up at one of them whether you believe it or not.
1. The Bible Scriptures:
13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. – Col 3:13
- Do you bear with your friends that have hurt you? Or do you ignore and avoid them like the plague?
- Do you forgive them if they have hurt you? Or do you talk behind their backs and slander them?
- It says that you should forgive as Jesus forgave you. It is really mercy hey? Don’t we all want that mercy to be guilt free?
- The definition of forgiveness is: You stop feeling angry or resentful towards (someone) for an offence, flaw, or mistake.
- There is a verse that says if you do not forgive other people’s sin, God will not forgive your sins. (Mat 6:14-15)
- So the question here is, are your sins forgiven because you have forgiven other people who have sinned against you? Or do you still harbour that bitter anger.
- Or is your sins not forgiven by God because you refuse to forgive someones sin?
- I don’t think you will go to heaven if your sins are not forgiven by God!!!
- So you determine if you go to hell by not by forgiving people their sin.
- What does someone look like that has forgiven someone elses sin?
- I think they will love them like Jesus loves us, meaning they will make every effort to be reconciled with them whatever it takes. They would love to spend time with them. That shows that you have a heart change.
2. Close
– John I think bearing with someone shows wisdom and understanding because you know that people has to bear with you as well.
– Forgiveness is sweet mercy. You do not have to walk around with that bitterness and disappointment being angry that someone did not treat you the way you thought they should treat you.
– The word grieve is synonymous with losing someone to physical death. Forgiveness is like you resurrect that one from the dead to be your best friend again. So in forgiveness you get your friend back.
– I think that is why God created forgiveness by creating through Himself the scapegoat to get us back to be His friend again because he loves us so much.
- Wow Francois that is so true. Don’t we love to get our loved ones back? When I go to the airport and I see the joy in people’s faces that shows to me love in emotions on faces.
- When someone hugs someone else and just stand there tears rolling down their faces, that is such a beautiful picture in time.
- That is how I image God waiting for us in heaven with His open arms waiting to hug us and welcome us back home.
- But sadly sometimes we refuse to forgive and rather embrace satan with our bad attitudes and resentment.
- Francois may you be the one that extends the handshake of forgiveness reconsiling your friendship to your friend and to God.
"Learn that living in the present moment will always heal you. Living in the past forces you to align with it, especially if there is pain. Living in the future forces you to be anxious - live here"
3. Prayer
– John can you pray for us?
- Let’s go, Francois.
- Good afternoon Father..
- As I write this prayer I am laying with my family in bed on the off day.
- Thank you Lord for family.
- I pray for my mom who is having a hip replacement this morning.
- I pray that everything goes well and that the Covid does not affect her adversely.
- I know that especially in a family it is hard for people to forgive each other.
- Help us Lord to quickly forgive and not keep a grudge that destroys our friendships and communication with our families and friends.
- Jesus help me to forgive like You Lord; it means completely and I forget what that other person has done to me and not treat him or her differently because of their sin against me.
- Lord I think bearing with someone means as well that the person that you need to bear with is not that fast to change as well. Lord I know that sometimes it takes some time for us to see where we are lacking in our relationship with You.
- Lord there is a guy I want to study the Bible with but he does not respond by seeing his need currently to do so, help me to be patient with him but keep innitiating with him untill that day that he is open to study the Bible.
- Lord I love you very much and pray that this will be an awesome day for Your Glory!
Amen
- If you would like to study the Bible and learn more, get a mentor, please feel free to contact me by whatsapp me +27 79 481 8989. Join our find your greatness meetup group. https://www.meetup.com/find-your-greatness/
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