Please, I Don’t Want to Leave!

  

Quotation

 

When I am swimming laps in the pool, I sometimes imagine I am a fetus, swimming within the amniotic fluid within my mother’s womb. An overwhelming sense of peace overcomes me – worldly thoughts, fears, pains, and temptations are gone, replaced by inexpressible joy. As I rhythmically glide through the water, I imagine the angels in Heaven appearing in the air bubbles caused by my hand entering the water, as the bubbles rise, quickly to the surface. I imagine Jesus at the transfiguration, as the light shimmers, and dances, moving through the depths of the pool. I sense being held in the arms of Jesus, as I glide gracefully through the water of life!

 

Barry Denzil Haney

 

Verse

 

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

 

John 7:38-39

 

 

Reflection

 

Use your imagination and listen to a fetus describe his world inside the mother’s womb.

 

Finally, after eleven weeks of development, I can control my appendages! I love pushing and kicking off the walls enveloping the fluid collection I find myself trapped in. Wow, this is so much fun. Now, I can feel the walls and I didn’t know I had that. – Well, it’s been eighteen weeks since I was conceived and things are sure changing. I now can taste what my mother is eating, and can hear all the strange sounds coming from beyond the walls of the cocoon I find myself trapped in. Wow, whose voice is that? Am I inside this person talking? I really like the voice, so soothing, time to sleep -- Twenty five weeks and counting! It sure is dark in here. I have these two balls on my head, with lids I can move up and down, but they don’t seem to have any use, so I wonder why these long, projections are now growing out of the lids. I have this overwhelming sense to suck on something. What’s that in my mouth! It’s some projection coming from the appendage I have been using to feel things inside this dark fluid collection. I don’t know what it is but I sure do like sucking on it! – Twenty eight weeks have now passed. These days I spend most of my time sleeping. Wow, I have sure grown a lot. And what’s this layer of squishy stuff enveloping my body! Oh, I can hear that pleasant voice and those pleasant sound waves coming from outside my prison. Oh well, back to sleep! – What’s that! Something violent is happening! The walls are closing in on me! The fluid is disappearing.! I am being propelled downward! Please, I Don’t Want To Leave!

 

What is the fluid surrounding a fetus during development. The fluid is called amniotic fluid. This fluid is produced by the amnion and is formed within the amniotic sac the first twelve days of conception. The amniotic fluid is a clear yellow fluid consisting of water from the mother’s body initially, but overtime is largely made up of the baby’s urine. Within the fluid are important nutrients, hormones, and antibodies to protect the growing fetus. In addition it provides a buffer to protect the fetus from bumps. The fluid has many other functions including temperature control, infection control, lung and digestive development, muscle and bone development, lubrication, and umbilical cord support.

 

Is this the living water the Bible speaks of? In John 5:3, Jesus tells Nicodemus in order to enter Heaven, a man must be born of water and of the spirit.

 

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

 

Scholars have debated for many years what Jesus means when he says born of water. Some of the more notable arguments think the water refers to physical birth through amniotic fluid and baptism with water. I invite the reader to read the Bible, meditate about God’s word and listen to what the Holy Spirit reveals to you. I plan to write a book about what I think this verse means after further instruction from the Holy Spirit.

 

Water appears to be very important to God.

 

According to Dwight Tucker the word water is referenced seven hundred twenty two times, more than faith, hope, prayer and worship. (Tucker).

 

St. John Damascene says this about water:

 

Water, then, is the most beautiful element and rich in usefulness, and purifies from all filth, and not only from the filth of the body but from that of the soul, if it should have received the grace of the Spirit. (Damascene)

 

In John 4:14, Jesus tells us this about water:

 

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

 

Thank you Jesus for the physical water that sustains the flesh while we are here on earth, but we also thank you for the living water that sustains the spirit as we undergo transformation to the new spirit man we will become when we get to Heaven.

 

Illustration

 

Years ago I was driving in Orlando, FL, listening to talk radio as I am likely to do. They were interviewing a man who claimed that he had met Ponce De Leon in a bar in Miami. Ponce, who would now be over five hundred years old, had in fact discovered the Fountain of Youth and was ready to make its life giving water available to the world, for a price. Investors could get in on the ground floor of marketing for a mere two thousand dollars per person.

I thought I'd heard everything until that night I was talking with the husband of one of our church members who had heard the same interview and asked me if I'd happened to copy down the guy's phone number because he was interested in investing.

Jesus spoke of a fountain of life-giving water, only His fountain is not a bogus myth or legend. Jesus' fountain is real, it's eternal and it's available. (Jones)

 

 

Prayer

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

Thank You for creating us in Your image!

Thank You for the physical water to sustain

Our bodies. More importantly thank you for

The living water You provide us to sustain our soul!

 

We are conceived in water, come into this

world in a gush of water, our physical bodies are

sustained by the water You created on earth,

water seems to be very important to You!

Thank You for the transformational power of

the living water you provide preparing our spirit

for an eternal relationship with You in Heaven!

 

In the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,

 

Amen!

 

Worship

 

Living Waters by Keith and Kristyn Getty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA9UfBEHciY

 

God Bless You,

Barry

 

 

Jones, Steve. “Living Water.” SermonSearch. Accessed April 29, 2021. https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/18727/living-water-2-of-4/. 

 

Damascene, Saint John. “An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.” An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith by St John Damascene - the Complete Text. Accessed April 29, 2021. http://www.orthodox.net/fathers/exactidx.html. 

 

When Are You Coming?

 

Quotation

 

I truly believe, once we have asked Jesus into our lives, once we have faith in Jesus, once we have turned complete control of our lives over to Him, then, and only then, we will begin to do His will for our lives. I feel at that moment, we begin to fulfill God's plan for our life. Thank you Lord Jesus, for leading me. I thank God for helping me to wake up each morning, trying to please Him. I know by pleasing Him, I will be fulfilling His plan for my life, in His grand plan of salvation for the world.

 

Barry Denzil Haney

 

Verse

 

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

 

John 14:1-3

 

 

Reflection

 

In the evening, when I was a small boy, I would spend hours with my face pressed against the front window, the window would fog with my breath, as I waited for the lights from my father’s truck. When I saw my Dad get out of the truck and begin walking toward the house, I would run to the front door as fast as I could. When the door finally opened, I would jump up into his arms and he would greet me warmly, wrestle me down to the floor, then begin tickling me, making me laugh until I couldn’t stop!

 

         This boyhood scene is what I imagine will happen when I see Jesus for the first time. Jesus will gather me into His arms, hug me, and tell me how much He loves me. I will be overwhelmed with inexpressible joy, like the joy I felt when my father tickled me!

 

         People have been asking the question, when is Jesus coming back since Jesus died on the cross. To many, the second coming of Jesus will mean the end of the world as we know it. Many have predicted this destructive event will happen through floods, fires, comets, you name it!

 

         Many failed doomsday predictions are on the record. I invite you to go onto the internet and search “failed doomsday predictions”. I will share with you the following – The Prophet Hen of Leeds:

 

In 1806, a domesticated hen in Leeds, England, appeared to lay eggs inscribed with the message “Christ is coming.” Great numbers of people reportedly visited the hen and began to despair of the coming Judgment Day. It was soon discovered, however, that the eggs were not in fact prophetic messages but the work of their owner, who had been writing on the eggs in corrosive ink and reinserting them into the poor hen’s body. (Cole)

 

Why are Christians so obsessed with the rapture? Simple answer, because it’s in the Bible. In the article, “Why Are So Many Christians Obsessed With Predicting The Rapture,” Laura Turner answers this question in this way:

 

There is another, final reason Christians may be so obsessed with the Rapture, and it isn’t high-minded or Biblical: It’s the simple truth that none of us know with absolute certainty what will happen to us when we die. We all want to be sure that something good will happen to us, or, at the very least, that nothing particularly bad will befall us once we’ve shuffled off this mortal coil. Maybe heaven is a story we tell ourselves in order to live.

 

In the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the 2021 Doomsday Clock Statement is as follows: It is 100 seconds to midnight. This is the closest the Doomsday Clock has been to the ultimate catastrophe since 1953.

 

The Bible tells us the old world will end but a new heaven and a new earth will come. The Bible does not say mankind will end. In second Peter 3:5-13, Peter describes the destruction of the old earth:

 

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

 

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

 

You need not be afraid and anxious like I was anticipating my father’s return home, if you know Jesus. When you repent from sin, ask God for forgiveness, confess belief in Jesus Christ, and accept Him as Lord and Savior, you begin a relationship with God.  You will spend an eternity with Him in the new heaven and new earth.

 

Illustration

 

The story is told of a generation ago when an old farmer brought his family to the big city for the very first time. They had never seen buildings so tall or sights so impressive. The farmer dropped his wife off at a department store and took his son with him to the bank—the tallest of all the buildings. As they walked into the lobby, they saw something else they had never seen before. Two steel doors opened. A rather large and elderly woman walked in, and the big doors closed behind her.         

 

The dial over the door swept to the right and then back to the left. The doors opened and a beautiful young lady came walking out. The farmer was amazed. He turned to his son and said, “You wait right here. I’m going to get your mother and run her through that thing.”

 

At the Rapture, we will be taken up. But we will be transformed and come back with resurrection bodies. (Green)

 

Prayer

 

Our Heavenly Father,

 

When are You coming? I can’t wait! I know

You have work for me to do still here on earth,

but I can’t wait to meet You in Heaven, to

receive a big Hug from You, and to stare into

Your beautiful eyes and say I love You!

 

Help me not to worry when I am exposed to the

chaos in today’s world. It seems like everything

is out of control! People all around me are hurting!

They are searching for anything to fill the emptiness

they are experiencing deep down in their soul.

If they could only discover, all they need is Jesus!

 

In the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,

 

Amen!

 

Worship

 

Are You Ready For His Coming?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f70kUDgbreI

 

God Bless You,

Barry

 

 

Cole, Rachel. “10 Failed Doomsday Predictions.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed April 29, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/list/10-failed-doomsday-predictions. 

 

Green, Michael P.  1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000. Print.