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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jim Woodford
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June 23 - June 23, 2019
Jim’s is a story of looking Love in the eyes with resulting transformation. It is a story of the triumph of God’s grace through Christ and of Jim’s mission as a traveler.
No matter how many checks I wrote or how many business deals I cut, nothing filled the void. I was empty.
I never thought I was a bad person, but I certainly was not a good person.
It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
There was a hint of Heaven in that tapioca that I didn’t recognize at the time.
Also, my grandparents had relented and agreed I should go on the condition that I would fly low and slow. (Bless their hearts, they meant well, but that is probably the most dangerous thing a pilot can do!)
People tell me I’ve led a really interesting life, but to me I was just doing what I loved to do. If one is fortunate enough in this life to make a good living doing something you love to do every day, then you are truly blessed!
So, I had a seemingly interesting and fun life, but the last thing on my mind was God.
To be honest, I thought my sister-in-law, Shelly, was naïve when she spoke of trusting in Jesus for everything. She and her husband, David, were two of those people who saw the hand of God in everything. They were filled with joy. I reasoned that for intelligent people, some religious guy had done a real selling job on them.
Though I was surrounded by the goodness of God, I never saw it.
The longing in our hearts comes from the One who longs for us.
Read the words of Isaiah slowly to yourself. Therefore, the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.1
But in my arrogance I thought, It can’t be that bad. I’ll fix it. At that moment, I should have fallen down on my knees and prayed to God for help.
The psalmist goes on to say, “You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh. My heart beats wildly, my strength fails, and I am going blind.”3
These were the first three of six words that would carry me into the presence of God. But I raised my hand and I said, “God, forgive me.”
As I stood at the meridian between Heaven and Hell, I instinctively turned toward the right and into the light.
“God forgive me” in my pickup truck. I cried out, “God help me!” Six words filled with power.
The evil could not abide in the approaching light. Darkness and evil cannot exist in the light of God!
Sometimes we are in over our heads and need a rescue party to come looking for us.
Of all the attributes of God we need to remember that He is heroic—that He comes to our rescue. We
And then he spoke without words to my heart, saying, “Fear not, James, we are your constant friends.”
“James,” he said, “man was created by the very breath of God. The light of God’s essence is in you. That light becomes tarnished with sin and turning away from God. But the light is still in you and all of mankind. When we bow to you, we are honoring the light of God in you.”
The tall warrior angel described joy as living on the edge of a huge laugh motivated by a constant awareness of the presence of God.
I was told that these brooks fed into a larger central river that flowed beneath the sixth gate of joy into the city of Heaven.
“They smell so beautiful.” The angel said, “Yes, James, that is the scent of sanctity.”
God loves us with a sticky love! Love clung to me and hinted that it wanted to draw me back into itself. Love wanted me—to reclaim any part of me that was disjoined from it. It was a love that knew me better than I knew myself—a love that loved me more than I loved myself. I stood there as the light clung to my hand; looking at my hand; looking at the angel; looking at the elastic, sticky love of God. I
“James, those are the prayers of your family for your soul. They are coming up to Heaven before God even now.”
With a gentle look of reproach in those beautiful violet eyes, the angel told me that, sadly, mankind is losing the will to pray.
God hears our every petition, and in fact it is recorded and noted in the halls of knowledge. Our grandparents and ancestors knew the power, value, and importance of prayer. After a hard day’s labor, they would gather with the family at eventide to read the Bible, meditate on the Word of God, and in that restful time also pray.
If you want proof that prayer works, pray for someone else and watch what happens. God loves a selfless prayer. God loves “knee-mail.”
Prayer is always heard in Heaven—prayer is never forgotten.
Maybe you believe you have not done enough.
The buildings were used for different purposes. Among them were halls of great knowledge, halls of learning, halls of healing, and halls for music where all kinds of music could be heard—from what we would hear as classical, to very modern, to indescribable. This flow of music melded effortlessly with every sound in Heaven to become a melody reflecting the love of God, all flowing to a brilliant light that appeared to be the throne of God. As the golden streets grew nearer to the throne, their color became more transparent as some kind of crystal.
“What is this magnificent building?” He replied, “James, this is the hall of knowledge. It is the repository of all the prayers and petitions that mankind sends to Heaven and the throne of God.” I was reassured that nothing is ever lost to God. So the knowledge spoken of is God’s knowledge of the heart of man and his deepest longings, which are cataloged there. Along with prayers, there were accounts of the deeds of people both good and evil. Again, nothing is lost to God. The halls of knowledge are where the books of each of our lives are kept.
There are others who, throughout their earthly lives, found great joy in learning. These souls may wish to continue to grow and learn. There are libraries of amazing dimensions filled with knowledge from the beginnings of creation. The halls of learning also hold volumes of everything ever written about God and Jesus where these learners can go deeper into the incalculable mysteries of God.
“Are they all about the same age?” I would have guessed early 30s. The angel responded with a beautiful and astounding answer. He said, “Yes, James, God so loved Jesus and His sacrifice for mankind that He decreed that no one in Heaven would be any older than the age Jesus was when He died.” So, everyone in Heaven will appear to be in their early thirties. Some might wonder how we could identify a 95-year-old uncle or grandparent who passed on before us. Somehow, in the spirit, you will recognize them and they you. In Heaven, we are recognized more soul to soul than on the basis of age or
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“How and why would there be a nursery in Heaven?” I asked. The angel said, “This is the nursery for souls of aborted babies or other babies miscarried or lost in their innocence.”
The angel smiled and laughed, responding, “They are very much like children on earth. And Jesus loves these children.”
It’s not about physical development; it’s about growing in their purpose in Heaven.
If you have something that you loved dearly in life and it returned that love to you, it will greet you in Heaven.
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any area of your life that needs to be bathed in the love of God.
Seeing His face was the apex of my journey to Heaven. And what a face! This face was ruggedly handsome yet surprisingly human.
As Jesus began to read, the angel turned his face toward me, focusing those beautiful violet eyes on me. Then I heard his voice in my thoughts saying to me, “James, what did you do with the life my Master gave you?” Sadly, I had no answer.
Yet, Jesus never referred to the thinness of that book. He never looked down on me with shame or judged me. The shame and regret were mine, not His. I had judged and condemned myself.
Now Jesus fixed His total attention on me and spoke: “James…my son…this is not yet your time. Go back…and tell your brothers and sisters…of the wonders we have shown you.” While these words were brief, they were long on meaning for me. Though Jesus didn’t speak many words to me, they were powerful and transformational.
I was not some anonymous blob of humanity. I had a name and He was speaking it! As Jesus spoke my name, I sensed my value in His eyes.
Think, for a moment, of the Lord of Heaven and earth holding the book of your life filled with the acts and attitudes of your life on earth. What would He see in that book?
Live from now on as though you have nothing to lose.
Rather than do works for Jesus, let’s think of doing them with Him.
Some that I do not understand I will likely never share. There are eternal truths that I still try to understand with an earth-bound mind.
