[Monday's Devotional] A Glimpse of Heaven

 

Our bible readings this week, if you are following the plan, will be taking us through some of the miracles Jesus performed and the parables he told – the ways in which He made a difference and brought God's power to those in need.

 

"Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.  When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother."

Luke 7:11-16 [NIV]

 

Can you imagine the excitement, not only from the mother, but also from the crowd who gathered? How totally amazing – the boy was dead and now he was alive again!!  It is a wonderful biblical story, but can it really be true today?

 

I have recently read a book "90 Minutes in Heaven" by Don Piper, a Baptist minister. Don was killed in a car crash on January 18^th 1989. However, that was not where his life ended. Another Baptist minister who was passing the scene felt God tell him to go and pray for Don, and so he climbed into the wreckage alongside him, much to the amazement of the police officers at the scene, and he prayed for Don. And as he was being prayed for, Don found himself being taken away from the heaven he had glimpsed, from the inexplicable joy he felt there, and returning to his earthly life. He was dead for 90 minutes, his body totally crushed by the accident. Through the prompting of God, the ministers obedience, and the mercy of God Don was brought back to life. Although his body remained badly damaged, he went on to help many people as he spoke of his experience of heaven, of the joy he felt there, and of how God had helped him come to terms with his disability and subsequent suffering. 

 

God DOES still work miracles. He is still a God who restores life in the most hopeless of situations. He is a God who can bring people back from the dead. How amazing is our God!

 

Corinne Mason

 

Read the Bible in a year: Psalm 38:1-12, Numbers 24:1-26:11, Luke 7:11-35