Are you Listening?

Luke 8:18 “Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken that which he seemeth to have.”

Take heed how ye hear.
Now this is not just good advice, but it is a saying of Jesus.
He warns all who will hear Him, to take notice of what they are hearing.
They are not just nice sounding words to lull you to sleep. Or assure you that everything is O.K., if it is not.
His Words are not just to enter our ears, but our hearts; and bring forth fruit to Eternal Life.

Jesus had just finished the parable of the sower. Four types of ground.
There was the wayside ground: hard and not tilled.
There was the rocky ground: which sprang up, but withered.
There was the thorny ground: which choked the word.
And then there was the good ground: which brought forth fruit.

What was the differences between these grounds? The preparation of the ground, itself.
The wayside had no preparation. The Word was “walked upon, and devoured by the Adversary.” (Luke 8:12)
The rocky ground had too many things which needed to be removed to be useful; and so the Word of Christ just died in the life.
The thorny ground had been tilled but without removing the roots of bitterness, which spring up again and again, to choke the Word in the life. (Hebrews 12:15)
And the good ground prepared to hear. Heard, and obeyed (took heed how they heard), and brought forth fruit to Christ’s glory, and honor.

How do you take heed?
You listen as if you Eternal Soul was dependent on just how you heard!

Is your life hardened to the Gospel? Have you trodden down Christ’s Words to you?
The Adversary is waiting, to remove those Words that are given you; and leave you hardened, and dead. Will you prepare your heart to hear?

The reality of these verses is told by Jesus when He says:
“From him shall be taken that which he seemeth to have”!
They looked good; They probably said the right answers, but their hearts separated themselves from the impact of Christ’s Words, so they would not have to obey.

This one had heard the call of Christ, and answered it with all the right words, but it has been just that, An answer of “words”.
So what he “seemeth to have, he does not.

Christ requires not an answer of words; But an answer of a Life, open to, and receptive to Him.

Remember, when Christ saves a life, He also claims that life.
From that time on that saved one is bought with a Price, and no longer their own.

Jesus says, “Take heed how ye hear”. Prepare your ears to hear, and your heart to receive.

Are you an Overcomer?

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

Before you can become the overcomer of Revelation 3:21; you must open the door of your life to Christ.
He will not knock down the door and come in; nor will He force His way in some other way.
He calls to the individual that hears His voice, to open to Him. It is a Life, open to and receptive to Him, that counts.

This is not sinless perfection; but the desire to have the fellowship offered by the Lord, here.
He will not force us to have this fellowship which is suggested in the, “sup with him, and he with me”.
It all rests with our “want to”. You will never have the Reality of the love relationship that He intends, until the Holy Spirit has created within you this want to.

We can know and claim His love to us. All His children can. But before you can really say “I love you” to Christ; you must give up loving yourself so much.
Again, it is the want to .

Revelation 3:21 “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

And what do we overcome?
Everything which stands in the way of God’s Will for our lives. This is what Christ did while He was on earth, so must we.
We overcome fear, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and trust.
We overcome ourselves in every way, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and deny ourselves, and be obedient to Christ.
We overcome circumstances, in the power of the Holy Spirit, joy for sorrow, peace for chaos, patience for worry, and anger. He empowers. He gives grace (the unmerited favor of power)

To overcome anything is to yield to Christ’s Word, and the Holy Spirit within; and come out of your self life, and into Christ’s life for you.

We must always bear in mind, WHO it is that speaks to us. And What He is able to do; even within the most rebellious, or lazy, or selfish thoughts within us.
Christ is able, and has sent His Holy Spirit to us, to enable us in the very place, time, and circumstances, we are in.

Have you heard His voice to you? Is He knocking again for entrance to your life?
It is fellowship that He desires, do you so desire this fellowship, too?

Are you an overcomer? Will you overcome everything which stands in the way of Christ’s life for you?

Are you experiencing the Fruit of the Spirit?

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit enters our spirit and gives us new life.
But He also brings us faith: the ability to believe God, trust Him, and follow Him.
It requires us to use what He gives, but it is in our life, if we so choose.

The method of this is to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit within us.
When He says to wait, we wait. Patience is given and we can wait as long as He wants.
When He says to love, not hate. That love is given by the Holy Spirit within, and as we yield to Him, we can experience that, in place of the anger and bitterness, which would come in certain circumstances.
When He says to quiet yourself in peace. His peace can take over the maddening shouts, the chaos, and the fear in your soul, and quiet restful peace reigns in any circumstances.

We must also say: If we yield, it is so.

If we hesitate, hold out for our own way, or give in to self expressions of anger, bitterness, fear, or self glorification: We quench the Holy Spirit, and His power is withheld.
Then we stand in the precarious position of facing the circumstances, without God’s power.

Galatians 5:25-26 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”

When Paul says “we live in the Spirit”, he means that we are born again, alive to the newness of Christ’s life within us.

So he says we should walk in the Spirit; or experience that life of Christ’s in our everyday walk.
This is by yielding to the Spirit of God, in every aspect of your life’s circumstances.

Paul says that we should not be desirous of vain glory. To look out for #1. That is to desire that you will be noticed, appreciated, respected above others.
Is that so bad?
When the heart is full of myself, My place in society, my goals, my attainments; we are not full of the Holy Spirit.

We are not to provoke one another. Simply seek the peaceable things to talk about. Try not to start a fight. (There is defending the faith, but that is not contentious, but:
2 Timothy 2:24-26 “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient;
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
And that they may recover themselves out the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”)

And Paul says we are not to envy one another. Envy is often thought light of in this day; but to envy in the Greek means to shrivel away, or pine for something someone else has. To place yourself in the position, that the Adversary of our souls can tempt you to think harshly of God’s Will and Way for you.

Are you yielding to the Spirit of God within you? You can have all He wants to give, if you will.

To Count the Cost
Luke 14:28 “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?”

Luke 14:31 “Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?”

The Lord told His disciples that they were to count the cost of service, and following Him.
He gave two examples; and one of building, and one of warfare.
We are to do both.
If we follow Christ, we will be in a battle against the wiles of the Devil. The Adversary will seek to dissuade us, by fear. Or seek to destroy us, if we stand with Christ.

If we follow Christ, we are to build. First we are to build our house upon the Rock of Christ and His Word.
Then we are to add to the building of the Church. From the foundation to the roof, we are to build up His Church, by edification (teaching); exhortation (to wake up) and comfort.
1 Corinthians 3:10 “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”

We are to count the cost, because to stand with Jesus in this world, will cause you to be mocked, hated, ridiculed, and left out of, a lot of what the world has.

You sit down and count the cost. And He says to do it first.
To run after Christ emotionally, will play out. (Emotions do)
To run after Christ mentally, will lead you to reasons, and when reasons run out, so do you.
To run after Christ willfully, will lead you to count the cost for yourself, and choose.

Christ wants you to run after Him willfully; eyes wide open, to what is ahead.
He has a great life for all who follow Him; here: peace, and joy in Christ Jesus, even amid the trouble this life gives (and He always tells His disciples that there will be trouble). There: face to face with Christ; which makes heaven, heaven.
Luke 14:33 “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
“Forsaketh” here means to bid adieu, to depart from, to leave.

We are to count the cost of giving up all that we have, for the life Christ has for us.

This is not saying that He will require all things; He certainly will require you to give up sin, and anything which leads to it.
But, you need to count the cost, as He says.
That way you know, if there is something in “your” life that you will refuse to give up, even for Christ’s sake.

That is what counting the cost means. Christ requires of His servants, that they should obey Him, and His words to Him. It costs everyone the same amount: everything.

Jesus did not seek to persuade men to follow Him with false promises.
He spoke plainly, that to follow Him was the most costly of decisions.

Luke 14:25-26 “And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Multitudes were following Christ, but instead of encouraging them, He put a hurtle in front of them.
“To follow Me means that the emotions you feel for everything else, even yourself, will be like hatred in comparison to the love you have to Me.”

Are you a disciple of Christ Jesus?          Have you counted the cost?

Be Strong in the Lord

Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”

Paul tell these Ephesians that each one of them, which are seated in Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), and still walking in this world must now also take a stand against the wiles, the methods, or stratagems of the Devil.

In order to do that, Paul tells them that they must be empowered, or enabled in the force of His might.
The original word means to be constantly empowered.

Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Put on, Paul exhorts them, the whole armor of God.
While God has provided this, the individual Christian has the responsibility of putting it on.
We must consciously appropriate the power the Lord Jesus Christ makes available to us.
This armor is not so many imaginary pieces you put on; but it the truth of what that piece sets forth.
Ephesians 6:13 “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
Paul stresses this again; that we must put it on.

Ephesians 6:14 “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”
Paul says the Christians foundation piece to stand, is the Truth. It is the truth of our Salvation, first. Then a growing knowledge of the Scriptures and how they apply to life; our life.

God wants us to have defensive armor against the wiles of the Adversary.

A soldier does not put on his armor after going into battle, but in preparation for the battle.
The belt of truth must be secure, or everything else will fall off.
It is given to us, we must put it on; but it is God’s armor, it is not of ourselves.

Connected to it is the Breastplate of Righteousness. This is, of course, Christ’s Righteousness. We are covered with the very righteousness of Christ.
But there is a little more to it than that.
If you want the protection of the breastplate, over the heart, that you must live righteously. You must practice righteousness.
Your life must be clean, there must not be hidden sin, or unholy thinking tolerated.
They must be confessed and forsaken.

God wants to empower. He wants us to be protected by His Truth and Righteousness. And He wants us to live in that truth and in obedience to His righteous commands.
Then we will have the sure footing of peace.
Ephesians 6:15 “And your feet shod with the gospel of peace;”

There is a rest and peace of mind for every Christian. And we need it, for we are to walk, and resist our Adversary, the Devil.
He will knock us off balance and have us down before we know it, by worry, tension, and fear.
But the sure footing of the Gospel of Peace, given by the God of all peace, will keep us standing. He has given us His promises to use. We need to use them.
He wants to guard or garrison you about with His Peace (Philippians 4:7). It is by the Holy Spirit, that we are so kept, against the methods of the Devil, to make us fall.
As we stand, we will need the extra protection of the the Shield of Faith.

Ephesians 6:16 “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”
The Adversary is always trying to get inside our head, or heart with some accusation.
(Many of which are true.) But the fiery darts can be quenched or put out by lifting up our faith in God and His Word.
Did we sin? Yes, but it is confessed and I have forsaken it.
This is removing the ground of accusation.

(Some of the fiery darts are: “Why you big phony, you don’t really believe that!”
“You witness for Christ? Are you kidding? You’re the biggest sinner around!”
“You don’t want to deal with that person; they will make fun of you, or make trouble for you.”
“No really saved person would think such a thought as that.”)

Which leads us to the armor for our heads:
Ephesians 6:17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

If we have any doubt as to our Salvation, we will not have the confidence in God and His Word that we should. We need to think saved. Simply trust that the Holy Spirit, which has borne witness in our spirits that we are a child of God (Romans 8:16); does not make mistakes.
If we are saved, will wrong thoughts present themselves to our mind? Yes, but it is what we do with them that makes the difference.
If you allow wrong thoughts to stay in your mind, contemplate them, then they will have wrong effects upon your walk; and you will not be able to stand against the Adversary.
Confess the sin, and forsake it. Remove wrong thoughts as soon as possible, and seek that power of God to overcome them.

To stand against the wiles of the Devil, which is all defensive, so far; we must have an offensive weapon. And that is the Sword of the Spirit.
This is the Word of God. (This is not throwing the Bible at him.)
This is a “saying” of the Bible. Something given you as a promise, or right at the time when the Adversary is attacking you.
And this is by the Holy Spirit; and by saying it, in your mind, or out loud; the power of God, the Holy Spirit will be at work, right then.

Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereinto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
The Sword of the Spirit and prayer are a Christian’s offensive weapons.
As James said:
James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse ye hands ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”
Submit yourselves to God….Know you are saved, and confessed up to date
Resist the Devil….Stand against the wiles of the Devil by using the truth of the power He gives you, wherever the Adversary attacks: heart, head, or will.
Draw nigh unto God…use prayer; All-prayer…every kind of prayer to bring down the help you need, now.

The Called According to His Purpose

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

If I am one of the called, when did He call me? And for what purpose, did He call me?

2 Timothy 1:9 “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began;”
If you are born again: before anything that is, was; God saw you in Christ Jesus.

The. “Who” is most important. It is not according to our works, we are saved. He hath saved us.
Yes, now that we are born again we can say that.
But He could say that before times eternal, as the American Standard says.

It is a holy calling, not anything we earn. To be holy means to be separated unto the Lord.
He brought us into being; not to live to ourselves, or to do what we want.
We are God’s, bought with a price, and are not our own.

1 Peter 1:18-20 “For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, for your vain conversation received by tradition by your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ; as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who verily was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

It is His calling, His saving, His purpose and grace for us.

What is His purpose?
First, His purpose for us, is that we know Him, Whom to know aright is to have Eternal Life. (Eternal Life is that condition of Life, now, and for eternity. It is how are life is to be in Christ Jesus, Who is our Life.)
We are to come into a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and grow in that knowledge. He is life, and as we know Him more, we experience His life, within our life, more. His joy, His peace, His hope, His correction, and His satisfaction.
This is most important. He wants fellowship with His saved, loved ones.

Second, His purpose is for our conformity to His Will; for as He is life, His Word is Truth.
This is the cleansing we need to receive from Him all He has for us.
If there is unconfessed sin, that comes between He and us. Therefore we are to:

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
His purpose is that we should walk before Him, follow after Him, and walk as friends with Him.
Colossians 2:6-7 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

His purpose for us is, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
He purposed your place in Christ Jesus, before the world began;
Shall we not yield to His purpose for us, and honor His love for us?
It is to set yourself aside to Him. To yield to Him. He is our life, let us embrace it and Him.

Eben-ever, The stone of Help

1 Samuel 7:12 “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ever, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”

The story here is:
Israel had sinned, following strange gods. Because of this, Israel had been beaten by the Philistines, and were now in a state of fear.

Samuel then told Israel that it was their sin, which had caused this. But if they would put away these idols and “prepare their hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (1 Samuel 7:3)
So they put away their idols, and began to serve the Lord, only.

Samuel then gathered all Israel together to pray for them.
1 Samuel 7:6 “And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.”

An Awakening Meeting was going on! They were getting things right between themselves and God, and the rest of Israel.

Then the Philistines heard of the gathering, and came up to fight with Israel.
This caused Israel to be afraid, and so asked Samuel:
1 Samuel 7:8 “And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Because of their former sin, they were not only afraid of the Philistines, but also that the Lord would not hear their cry for help.
Samuel then offered a lamb for a whole burnt offering, and prayed to the Lord for Israel; “and the Lord heard him”.
1 Samuel 7:10 “And as Samuel was offering the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomforted them; and they were smitten before Israel.”

As the armies came together, the Lord thundered and caused fear among the Philistine ranks. And they were defeated, and chased out of Israel.

1 Samuel 7:12-13 “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ever, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.”
This stone was put there to remind all who would see, that the Lord is the greatest help, in all our troubles.

This story shows how the prayer of the righteous, is heard.
The sacrifice of the lamb as a whole burnt offering showing forth Christ; and that we are accepted in Him.

Psalm 34:17-18 “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Israel was beaten in the first place, not by the Philistines; but by their sin.
When they repented and worshipped God again; He heard the cry for help.
And He helped.

Are you Willing?

If any man will do His Will:

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples,   If any man will come after me,  let him deny himself,  take up his cross and follow me.”

The are two things we need to know about the will.

First:  It is the faculty of choice:   To choose is to will.

We choose to do either the Lord’ s  Will,  or to do self-will;  which, since the fall, has been motivated by the Devil, and sin.

Second:  The will is the real power of our life.  What we will,  we do.      (Think weight loss.  Something I have wanted to do.   So I want,  which is my heart’s affection for, chips, candy, or that burger that is a foot high.  If I go along with my “want to”,  I. will eat it.        If I “deny myself”,  and go along with the head’s  “want to”  to lose weight;  I will refuse it.)

The will, wills;  and then we act.

Now when we think of doing God’s  Will,  it is the same principle.

We will with God, because our hearts want to please our Lord Jesus;  or our minds know He knows the best course of action for us.

Or,   We will with self,  because we wanted to do something else more (heart). Or thought our idea was better that God’s (head).

Jesus says the anwer to will,  if you are a Christian, and want His Will, is to deny yourself.

When the Lord’s Will and your will cross purposes,  then you deny yourself–say “no” to yourself, through the mind, and hearts affections for Jesus, and do His Will

As Christians we have the Holy Spirit within us; and He will bring His force of holiness and peace to influence the will.        He will not make us do;  but He influences our hearts and minds to convince the will to say “no” to self, and do God’s Will.

This is to deny self, and pick up our cross, and follow Him.     Your cross is anything that God will’s  that “crosses” our will; or our will does not want to do.

We are called to bear our cross, till we come to the place where we no longer resist His Will in anything.   Then we are surrendered to God.    That does not mean sinless perfection;  but it does mean that we will stop arguing about what we want;  for we have come to want the Lord’s Will above everything else.  We are being obedient to His Words to us.

John 15:9-11 “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you:  continue ye in my love.         If ye keep my commandments,  ye shall abide in my love;  even as I have kept my Father’s commandments,  and abide in his love.         These things have I spoken unto you,  that my joy might remain in you,  and that your joy might be full.”

As we do His Will,  we abide in Him, and He gives His joy to us.    As He says,  “Continue ye in my love.”    The closer we are to Him,  the more peace and joy we have in our lives.

The Importunate Widow

Luke 18:2-7 “Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Yet because this widow trouble the me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?”

Here we hear the story of a widow, a Jewish widow before a Roman judge. (Jewish judges were usually in threes)

He would not care about her, for he thought she could do him no damage, for she had no money, or influence.
But she kept coming back, she was often in his court.
“Avenge me of my adversary”, is not a request for punishment of her enemy; but for a court appointed decree that would give her protection from her adversary.
To keep him from harming her, like a restraining order today.

Now he feared not God, nor regarded man; so anything he did, he did out of personal motives.
Her cry of, “Avenge me of my adversary”, he ignored, till he thought that she might ruin his reputation, because she was often in his court.

He, therefore, looked for a way to get rid of her; because she “weary me”. In the Greek, this means that she gives him a “black eye”. She will ruin his reputation, make him stand out to those in authority. She must be gotten rid of, before people get the wrong idea about this judge.

He cared for nothin but himself. Yet from purely self-involved motives he thought it best to give her the restraining order. Exactly what she asked for.

Jesus says that prayer is to be like this. We are to come to God our Father with the same importunate prayer as this widow came to this unjust judge.
For this parable was to teach his disciples about prayer.

Luke 18:1 “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”
We are not to give up on God, which is what “faint” means. After all the widow came to an unjust judge; but we come to our Heavenly Father, which for Christ’s sake hears our trouble and will “avenge his own elect.”

The Faithful and True Witness says of Us.

Revelation 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thy eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”

Consider this very carefully: All these things spoken of here, every Christian should have.
We should have the gold, which speaks of God in our lives; and how rich we are with Him in our lives!
We should have the white raiment of Christ’s righteousness, to cover us; and the righteous acts of our obedience to our Lord, to adorn His mercy to us.
We should have eyes that see, by faith; for darkness brings blindness. So Christ says to anoint our eyes ,by the Holy Spirit, using that honesty which removes the darkness, and brings us to the Light.
Yet the Faithful and True Witness says we lack these three essential things; and are not even aware of it.

How can this be?
It can only be if the letter of the promise is claimed; without the personal experience of that promise.

Christ promises Eternal Life to all who come and receive Him into their hearts and lives.
John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

It is receiving Him, not heaven, which gives us the power to be saved.
In Christ is Life. We open our lives to Him, as sinners in need of a Savior from our sin.
We do not come to Christ to receive heaven, He will not give us “pretend” life, but real life, in Him.

In Laodicea, the Church is seen as gathered in a place which does not have Christ in it. It is not that He does not have first place there; He does not have any place there.

He is out side the door of His own Church asking that each individual that hears His knock and voice, will open to Him.
It is not the Church door they open, but the door to their hearts and lives; for He offers communion and power to “any man” who will open to Him.

Revelation 3:20″Behold, I stand the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
This “sup” is communion, and fellowship.

And then He says that all who overcome will receive throne authority.
Revelation 3:21 “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

But what do we “overcome”?
We are to overcome anything which stands in the way of God’s Will for us. Just as Christ overcame everything which stood in the way of His Father’s Will for Him.