Don't just settle for other testimonies. No doubt these are great for strengthening our fellowship with one another, and even our faith but you must test what you hear against scripture. Find that promise for yourself in the great book - the Bible. Nothing is more confirming than your own experiences. Your experience is your ministry. God wants us all to love one another and depend on each other as a family because we will be together forever. Think about it this way, you are dealt the experiences you are to minister to someone else. See how they can affect someone else by what you have gone through and learned.
Why doesn't God show us all a glimpse of what is waiting for us? He does, in His Word. But the reason we don't all get the chance to visit this place is because God has a very specific plan. Things need to happen in his divine order. If we were shown our eternal resting place now, we would never want to come back and therefore His work would never get done, in teaching us to live in His image. Our life on earth is a conditioning session. We are learning and growing and walking toward our place of glory, but it wouldn't be so glorious if we didn't work for it. Just like when you win an award, you wouldn't feel so good about it if it was just given to you without effort. You would feel much better seeing your achievement and being handed that award because you worked so hard for it.
Sing from your heart! When you worship the Lord, He doesn't care if you are not the best singer in the world. He cares about your spirit connecting with Him. When we sing in worship our Spirit is allowed to make an intimate connection with God. This is what He desires most. Our love for Him. The same goes for prayer. When we pray, we should do it in the spirit. God loves it when we just talk to Him all throughout the day, but He craves our heart to heart talks with Him through prayer. When we pray we are setting aside all our other distractions and pouring out our hearts to Him. We tell Him what's on our mind, we thank Him, we ask Him our needs, and He delights in this. When we are not praying or worshiping or even talking to Him casually we can still keep Him in our hearts by doing our works as if we were doing it for Him. Jesus did this everyday of His life here on earth, even up until His death. All His works were dedicated by His father. His death was for us. We can do the same in life by giving our works to Him.
To overcome the trials set before us we shall be gracefully humble. When I think of grace, I think of the graceful dancing in ballet. This is how we might try to handle these trials. We can gracefully dance through them. They are only here to prepare us for the coming ballet. When we will dance our way into heaven. During the dance we should remain humble. We are not here to lead, nor follow but simply to dance. When we rest from our dance (conquer a trial) we can humbly move onto the next song or trial.
Endure is part of Endurance, which means strength to continue, stamina, lasting quality and continued existence. Our endurance is built up by what we endure. With Jesus at our side we have the strength to continue to the Promised Land. Our lasting quality is that given to us by Jesus Christ - our godliness. And our continued existence will be passing through the gates of heaven to reign with Jesus forever. Next time you are enduring something more than you think you can handle, remember Jesus is your strength and endurance and He's but a breath away.
Facing persecution from family or friends? The worst thing you can do is give up. Do not lose your faith because others do not agree with you. It is your job as a believer to inform others about Christ's return for His people, and if they are not His people what they are going to face. There are many who will not listen until a special something changes their mind. For others it will be too late when Jesus comes back. But we must do all we can to not let them perish. Even if they will not listen to you, you can always pray. There is always power in a prayer said in faith. Jesus even prayed while He was on earth. He's the one who said in Mark 11 if you tell a mountain to throw itself in the sea, in faith, it will be done. Act like the person you are praying for is that mountain. See that they are impossible to move. They will not shake their disbelief. Say that the sea is Jesus' love and forgiveness. If you pray in faith they can change. As long as you believe and do not doubt in God's power. He will see how much you care and how great your faith is, it will be traveled to the unbelieving person and they will suddenly be thrust into the sea.
As said before, there is power in prayer. Pray for an understanding heart to help people. When you are sincere they will hear. Pray and ask God what you can do to help someone. He has the power to through the Holy Spirit put thoughts on your heart and mind. As long as you can pray, God can do the rest. Share the Good News with others that don't know yet. What is the Good News? That Jesus is coming back!
Don't be overwhelmed with how you are going to get to heaven. All enter the Kingdom who accept the Lord Jesus Christ. Although there is more to that. When you accept Jesus, you are also accepting His truth. You are saying you are going to be honest and abide in Him. In a sense you will be Christ-like. This does take some work, but our hearts are known to the Lord and this is what matters. Hold on to what you have - your faith, and let it guide you. I guarantee you will notice those little changes one at a time as you journey toward Heaven. Believe that God is delighted as are you to notice this.
Remember gold is useful, but it makes a pretty heavy paper weight. Putting all your trust in the "god" with an "L" is going to hold you down. You may miss your chance to be lifted to the golden city. No doubt on earth it is a way of life, and is needed, but when you get to heaven you will see more of it than you could ever imagine. (And you can't take any of the gold you have now to heaven.) Just don't fall into the greed trap. Money isn't everything, God is. In fact, He's the one who was, who is, and who is to come. With this in mind, continue living sensible as life on earth requires but don't put God under that gold paper weight.
When someone tries to do something nice for you, let them. Our reaction is to deny ones help or gift. Simply accept their offer because it is their ministry. We naturally want to help people in need or to give encouraging advice to a hungering ear. Don't let your pride get in the way and think you don't need it, because after the fact you may realize that you did need that something they were trying to do or say and it may be too late. Be humble and let others fulfill their purpose.