Blog, Poetry

As summer ends and we roll back into fall activities, many of us are still relishing whatever vacation we were able to have. While my husband and I were blessed to spend some wonderful time along the sunny shores of Oceanside, an earlier planned vacation to Maui was postponed. My husband needed to heal from knee replacement surgery. “We’ll go a few months later,” we decided. 

By now I’m sure you know why that hasn’t happened. The recent and tragic firestorm that took at least 115 lives in Maui, still lays heavy on my heart. I can’t imagine the terror and panic those folks faced in the last moments of their lives or the insurmountable loss of homes and businesses to so many. It was reported that for reasons still not clear, the emergency warning alarm wasn’t sounded when the fire began. Some say it was because it would’ve driven people more inland rather than out to the ocean’s water since it is commonly used to signal the threat of a tsunami. Whatever the reason for not setting-off the alarm, it likely caused many people to perish that day.

As I was pondering the fact that the emergency warning signal wasn’t sounded, another kind of warning came to my heart—the very real threat of hell’s fire. As believers, we have God’s clear and certain warning in His word regarding heaven and hell. Yet we often shrink away from giving people the full message or warning about the peril they are in. We fear they might run the wrong direction—from faith rather than towards the living water of Jesus. 

When’s the last time you heard someone address the reality of Heaven and Hell that’s given in the Bible? When I was very young and still living in the South, it wasn’t unusual to hear a “Hell, fire, and brimstone” message from the pulpit once in a while. And though I don’t think yelling that message at folks, as some preachers do, achieves its’ godly goal, I do think the truth needs to be proclaimed. Especially in these precarious and evil times that we’re in today. 

I also know that whenever I feel God has given me a message, whether it’s a beautiful poem, a new book, or a warning of spiritual danger, He wants me to share it with others for their edification, spiritual growth, and/or their salvation. That’s why I’m offering one of my best poems to all of my New and Existing newsletter subscribers. The award winning and published poem is titled, “Footsteps of My Lord.” One portion of it says: “Sometimes I hear you on the path ahead, your footsteps leading upward bound, saying follow where I’ve led. Your footprints laid out before me, are written with your hand. Your scriptures impressed upon my heart, like feet upon wet sand. Are clear and true and lead me to eternal solid ground. Where beauty grows and true love shows life’s meaning can be found.”

The poem expresses how a life lived with Christ brings beauty and guidance to us and ultimately leads us to spend eternity with our Savior. If you would like to have this free printable poem that has been designed with one of my paintings framing it, you can register for it by going to:

https://mailchi.mp/iriscarignan.com/footstepspoem

Recently a relative, whom I love dearly, expressed that he felt he would go to heaven when he died, but he wasn’t sure. He said if he made it to heaven where his mother would likely be, that would be good. But if his father wasn’t in heaven too, he’d just go to “the other place” to see him as well. I tried desperately to warn against that faulty notion. In Luke 16: 19-17, (NIV) Jesus tells a parable that illustrates some of what hell and heaven will be like. He tells about “a great chasm fixed“ so that no one can cross over between heaven and hell. In Revelation 20:10-15 we read further: “And the devil…was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone…and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire…And anyone not found in the Book of Life was also cast into the lake of fire.” This tells us that some will not enter into heaven but will go into the fire of hell for eternity. 

Those are some harsh and hard words to accept, but eternity is a very long time. So, being informed about your choice is imperative. Nothing could be more important. And don’t miss the joyous solution—your name in the Book of Life. So how do we get our name into the “Book of Life?” Jesus also tell us in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” And John 3:3 (NKJ) says that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He goes on in John 3:15-16 to explain that He’s talking about being spiritually born and that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

And there’s MORE GOOD NEWS, when we also consider that in Ephesians 2:8-9 it says “For it is by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.” It’s saying the way we are saved isn’t by doing some good deeds or earning our way there. It comes through our faith in what Jesus did for us. And because He is the Son of God, He’s the only one perfect enough to pay the price for our sinfulness, we don’t have to burn in hell. Being “born again”, spiritually, happens when we believe in our hearts that Jesus is the messiah, the Christ, and that He died and rose again from the grave. That, my friend, is how we get our name written in God’s Book of Life. And anyone in the world, no matter what race or religion you were born into as a baby, that free gift of eternal life in Heaven is available to you by His grace when you are born again spiritually.

If you aren’t sure where you will go when you die, It’s my prayer you will accept God’s free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus. And if you would like my poem to inspire your daily steps of faith, I hope you will register and get my free gift of “Footsteps of My Lord” to hang in your home or office.

#Bornagain #Faith #Grace #Poetry #hell #heaven #eternal #God #spiritual #Maui #fire