THE WILL OF GOD

 I am sharing this devotion with you by Frances Taylor.  I will also be making comments of my own, in whether I agree with her or not.

THE WILL OF GOD

It is God's plan that all will be saved and share with him eternal life.  
Traditionally, this is the Feast of Souls. In Mexico it is the Day of the Dead. (my note: two very pagan celebrations that we should have no part of.)  The Day of the Dead families gather at the cemetery to celebrate the lives of those who have gone before. 

My grandmother died on November 2, and I have always thought that it meant she was with God. Yesterday was the "Feast of All Saints", and today "All Souls", and we are saints in training.  All three combine in what we call the "communion of saints".  (I take no part in either celebration. The Bible says learn not the way of the heathens. We are not to take part in celebrations that have pagan origins.) We say we believe in this when we pray the creed. (not me)  We really don't know what happens after death in any concrete way (I disagree) because eternity is a mystery and we can't solve it. (eternity isn't a mystery and it can be solved. We just don't know how the Kingdom of God will be and what exactly will happen. That is God's mystery, that we are not to know until God comes with HIS Kingdom to earth.)  

Is there an in between state from death to heaven? (YES)  Who knows? (God knows and told us in His scriptures what happens when we die. We do not go to heaven at any time.)  We believe that Jesus opened the gates of heaven when he sacrificed himself on the cross. What happened to all those saints who died before him? Where are they? (asleep in their graves)  Again, in the Apostle's Creed, we say that after his death, Jesus descended to the dead and then rose to judge the living and the dead. (Christ's will judge the living and the dead at his second coming.) This seems to infer that there is somewhere. (yes the graves, asleep in Jesus.)  We are encouraged to pray for the dead because of this unknown (it isn't unknown. We are not encouraged to pray for the dead. They will have their judgement when Christ returns.  Praying will not help them in any way to a better judgement.)  This is the day that has been chosen (by man) to remind us to do so. (not for me)

Her prayer: Loving God, we your children have so many questions that will never be answered in this life, but we believe that you are faithful and will take care of us both now and forever.  Amen.  (AMEN)


copy and written by Connie James November 2, 2022

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