48103 I Believe I Can Be Good Enough for Heaven

You answered:

Yes, you believe that God exists, and
Yes, you believe you have broken God’s moral standards… But
No, you believe you can be good enough to earn my way into Heaven.

Heaven

Our good deeds and efforts should count for something, shouldn’t they?

If our good deeds outweigh all of our bad deeds, we should be good enough to earn our way into heaven.

It sounds reasonable, even fair, but…

Let’s first define heaven.

There are many versions and ideas of heaven. According to the Bible, heaven is God’s domain, a kingdom over which God rules and reigns as King. Since God is love, life, and life, the domain of His Kingdom is indeed a beautiful and wonderful place to be.

Because heaven is under God’s rule, He alone has the authority to decide who can enter it. We cannot choose how we enter His domain any more than we can enter someone else’s house and behave like it’s our own home.

If God had said, “You can enter my Kingdom if your good deeds outweigh your bad ones,” that would be the way to enter heaven. But Jesus tells us a very different story.

“Now this is eternal life —that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.” (John 17:3)

Jesus defines eternal life—life in heaven—as knowing God and Jesus.

Being good or good enough is not the way to heaven.

To enter heaven or God’s domain, we need to have a relationship with Him. But there is a problem—our sins.

What the Bible calls sin is far more than doing bad things. If you are not familiar with it, we recommend the article, “Sin That Has Destroyed Humanity” to continue your spiritual journey.

Because of our sins, our relationship with God is severed. We have turned our backs on God. We have disrespected our loving heavenly Father. We have rebelled against our King. We have made God our enemy!

As long as we remain God’s enemy, we will not be welcomed into His domain no matter how good we are.

Because God loves us, He has provided us with His solution in Jesus for this human dilemma. We invite you to start your day with Daily Inspiration on the dashboard. In Daily Inspiration, select “Glimpses of Jesus” (blue panel) and read more about Jesus.

48102 I Don’t Believe I Have Broken God’s Moral Standards

You answered:

Yes, you believe that God exists, but…
No, you don’t think you have broken God’s moral standards.

For Our Well-being

God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things visible and invisible. He reigns over all of His creation.

God created physical laws that govern our universe so that our physical world would function as designed. He also gave us rules for life to live by so that humanity might flourish and enjoy all that God provided for us.

His moral standards are like rules for sports. When people play a sport, they don’t insist on playing it by their own (different) rules. Nobody would be able to enjoy the game. In the same way, in life, the rules are set by the One who knows us the best — God who created us.

Upholding God’s moral standards is for both our individual and societal well-being.

God’s Love

God is the Good King and Lord who is to be revered, but at the same time, He is our loving Heavenly Father.

God loves us. God loves you.

Another reason why God has given us His moral standards is that we may get to know Him through His ways.

In other words, the purpose of keeping His moral standards is to know God.

Do you have a personal relationship with God? Do you know Him as a child knows his father and as a husband and a wife know each other?

If not, that may be the starting point of your spiritual journey. You may be interested in starting with this article, “Know God Personally.”

This JO App is about helping people grow in their relationships with God. We invite you to start your day with Daily Inspiration on the dashboard and explore various sections to learn more about God who loves you.

To learn more about God’s love, we recommend the following series:

48000 Your Spiritual Journey

Where are you on your spiritual journey?

A spiritual journey is perhaps one of the most important life-long journeys we take. It defines our worldviews and perspective on life. It gives us meaning and significance to what we do daily. It sets the direction for our life.

We want to assist you in your spiritual journey, more specifically, your journey with the God of the Bible.

We will take you to a starting point in this JO App.

Please Select the highest number statement to which you can answer “YES”

YES   1.   I believe there is a God.

YES   2.   I believe I have broken some of God’s moral standards.

YES   3.   I believe I cannot be good enough to earn my way into Heaven.

YES   4.   I believe Jesus died on the cross so I can have forgiveness for my sins.

YES   5.   I have invited Jesus into my life as my Savior and Lord.

YES   6.   I know how to be filled (empowered) by the Holy Spirit

YES   7.   I am growing in my relationship with Jesus.

YES   8.   I am helping others grow in their journey with God.

YES   9.   I regularly introduce others to Jesus.

YES  10.   I am a disciple-maker.

25401 Keys to Happy Family Living Overview

Keys to Happy Family Living by Dr. Henry Brandt is written for anyone who desires to be the best marriage partner and the best parent possible. Happy, successful parenthood is based upon a successful partnership, which in turn requires two individuals who themselves are happy, contented, and adequate. The course is divided into three parts: The Adequate Person, The Adequate Partner, and The Adequate Parent. Each part contains four lessons for a total of twelve in the complete course.

The following is a brief description of each section, so that you will have an overall understanding of the content.

Read the Instructions to make the most out of this study.

Section I: The Adequate Person

This section consists of four lessons that point the way to become such a person. Lessons 1 and 2 are entitled Personal Peace. Herein are included the factors that we believe are necessary for any person to have a sense of personal worth. These factors include proper speech, actions, desires, feelings, thoughts. Lesson 3 is entitled Peace with Man. Its theme suggests that, to be an adequate person, one must manifest proper outward behavior toward others as well as possess a wholesome inner reaction toward them. Lesson 4 is entitled Steps to Spiritual Strength. It contains a word map that points to the pathway which we believe you must take in order to find the inner resources that will lead you to find peace within.

1. Personal Peace (Part 1)

2. Personal Peace (Part 2)

3. Peace with Others

4. Steps to Spiritual Strength

Section II: The Adequate Partner

It consists of four lessons. Lesson 5 is entitled The Husband’s Responsibilities. Lesson 6 is entitled The Wife’s Responsibilities. These lessons contain broad principles for each partner to live by in order to make a successful partnership. Lesson 7, entitled Walking Together in Unity, describes the foundation for a sound partnership. Lesson 8, entitled Keeping in Step by Communication, gives the method for laying the foundation and building upon it the kind of marriage that is necessary for successful parenthood.

5. The Husband’s Responsibilities

6. The Wife’s Responsibilities

7. Walking Together in Unity

8. Keeping in Step by Communication

Section III: The Adequate Parent

It also consists of four lessons. It is written to parents who have set before them the goal of personal peace and a united partnership. Lesson 9 is entitled Training in Love. It stresses the importance of the proper attitude toward your child. Lesson 10, entitled Resistance to Training, stresses ways and means of dealing with the resistance of children. Lesson 11 is entitled Setting Limits; it stresses the vital importance of establishing limits. Lesson 12, entitled Supervision and Help, points out the continuous need for supervision of children and help for children if they are to stay within your limits. It also gives helps which enable you to approach your children properly.

9. Training in Love

10. Resistance to Training

11. Setting Limits

12. Supervision and Help

Appendices

66010 The Abiding Room (Book)

In The Abiding Room, you will learn how to experience the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit and encounter Jesus on a daily basis. Regardless of where you currently are in your spiritual journey, God desires for you to experience intimacy with him throughout each day. The abiding, Spirit-filled life is the abundant life Jesus promised and is ready to share with you as you enter into the Abiding Room with him.

Listen to The Abiding Room (audiobook)

 Go to the Bible study based on this book

Helping Others Experience the Abiding, Spirit-Filled Life

Chocolate Milk Demonstration

Website

AbidingRoom.com

Contents

Acknowledgments

Welcome to The Abiding Room

Part One: THE 3 LEVELS OF LIFE

1. The 3 Levels of Life in the Old Testament

2. The 3 Levels of Life in the New Testament

Part Two: THE HOLY SPIRIT

3. The Battle of the Spirit and the Flesh

4. Experiencing the Holy Spirit’s Joy and Peace

5. The Power of the Holy Spirit

6. Be Filled with the Spirit

Part Three: THE ABIDING LIFE

7. The Great 2 for 1

8. The Vine and the Branches

9. The Abiding Friendship

Part Four: SURRENDER

10. Surrender Your Will

11. Surrender Your Self-Effort

12. Surrender Your Worldliness

Part Five: HOLY LIVING

13. God Is Holy

14. Repentance

15. Forgiveness

Part Six: HOPE FOR THE WORLD

16. Faith

17. Church Unity and Revival

18. A Call to Action

APPENDIX

The Good News

Recommended Reading List

Compilation of Abiding Truths

Compilation of Suggested Songs

Suggested 12–Week Group Schedule

Notes

About The Author

At age 40, Kevin Seacat was in near despair that his anger was going to wreck his family and his life. But by God’s grace, the Holy Spirit intervened. Surprised by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, Kevin was set free from the anger that had nagged him his entire life.

Fueled by a desire to help others also experience this life-giving freedom, in 2002, Kevin began teaching classes at his local church about the powerful truths of being filled, led, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This book is an outgrowth of those classes taught over the past 20-plus years.

During that time, he has enjoyed meeting one-on-one with young men, teaching them to live similarly.

Kevin retired in 2023 after 40 years as a financial advisor. He and his wife, Juli, grew up and still reside in the Phoenix area. They have three grown children.

JO App Partner Ministry

See The Abiding Room Main Menu

37101 You Are Forever Loved

Do you ever feel like no one cares about you? 

Or maybe you feel unworthy of being loved because of the way that you are or something that you have done.

Good news! God loves you and wants a love relationship with you. You may ask, “Why would an eternal, holy God care about me?”

The answer: Because God is love. Love permeates His entire being. No person will ever love you more, be as committed to you, or make a greater sacrifice for you than God.

When you understand God’s incredible love for you, it fills your need for love. This revelation helps you rest in His love regardless of your circumstances. Human love from imperfect beings will often fail you, but God’s love is the solid truth that will last forever.

God’s Love is Unconditional

God loves you because of who He is, not because of what you have done or not done.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. —Romans 5:8, NKJV

God’s Love is Unstoppable

No matter what circumstance you find yourself in, you will never be separated from the love God has for you.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8:38-39, NKJV

God’s Love is Unfathomable

God’s love for you is so vast that it surpasses anything your mind can even imagine or dream of. But God created you to know, and come fully alive in, His love.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
—Ephesians 3:18-19, NLT

God invites you to enjoy a love relationship with Him.

Step 1. Choose God’s Love

The God who created the universe desires a relationship with you. His very nature is to love and He longs to share Himself with you. God wants you to know Him personally and receive His love, and the life it brings, as a free gift.

Do you desire to begin a personal relationship with the God of love? [Find out more…]

Step 2. See God’s Love

Cultivate your love relationship with God and experience His limitless, transforming love for you. Delight in God’s forever love for you and let it become your constant source of assurance in all you do.

Do you want to become more aware of God’s amazing love for you? [Find out more…]

Step 3. Radiate God’s Love

God created you to be a channel of His love. He desires that His nature of love become your nature and that you radiate that to the world. He wants His love in you to overflow to others.

Do you desire to touch and transform the people around you with God’s love? [Find out more…]

May God bless you in your journey as His Forever Loved.

37102 Accept God’s Love

Have you allowed God, who created the universe, to love you deeply?  He desires a personal love relationship with you.

How would your life change if you were convinced of God’s great love for you? Amazing as it sounds, God wants you to be with him and experience his love forever here on earth and in heaven.

God Sees You Through Eyes of Love

“God is love” (1 John 4:8), God doesn’t just give love. He is love. Unconditional, self-giving, other-centered love is the essence of God.

God loves you regardless of your position in life, your religion or your thoughts and behaviors. Even your sins—past, present and future—cannot stop God from loving you.

God longs to heal the hurting, strengthen the weak and cheer the discouraged. He never gives up on anyone.

Why? Because the Creator of the Universe custom-designed you and cherishes you. Job said, “You guided my conception and formed me in the womb. You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together. You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love” (Job 10:10-12, NLT).

God Designed You to Live in Harmony with Him

God created you in his image to live in a love relationship with him.

In the beginning, God walked with Adam. God and the man he had created were in perfect unity. God gave; Adam received. God loved; Adam trusted.

Satan hated that unity. He knew that if he could sever the relationship, he would destroy Adam and all of mankind after him.

So Satan tempted Adam and Eve. They disobeyed God and that broke the connection. Every person since that day is now born with a sin nature and separated from God with a sin nature.

Mankind is sinful and sin deserves death. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23, BSB). God is holy and full of all life. What could bridge this vast gulf?

Religion is mankind’s way of trying to become good enough to earn a restored relationship with God. But our own “good”, religious efforts will never be sufficient. We cannot free ourselves from past sins nor can we change our sin nature.

“With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible …” (Matthew 19:26, BSB).

God Wants You to Live with Him Forever

Because God loves us, he paid the price for our sins. “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8, NLT).

Through God’s plan of forgiveness, it’s possible to connect with him. God’s plan has nothing to do with religion; it has everything to do with having a personal, love relationship with the living God.

By dying on the cross, Jesus, God’s holy and perfect Son, paid the penalty for our sin so we could be reunited with God in eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV).

If you believe in Jesus and invite him into your life, eternal life with God is yours! When you leave this earth, you will go to heaven to live with him forever.

The promise of eternal life is yours by faith in what Jesus did for you on the cross.

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.…” —Ephesians 2:8-9, BSB

Jesus is the only way to heaven. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, NLT).

God Wants to Love Others Through You

Jesus came to free us from past sins and give us eternal life. And he also came to replace our sin nature with his nature of love so we can live on earth as God designed.

God designed you to know his love and to share that love with others. Loving others marks you as a follower of Jesus.

Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34, 35, NIV).

God created you to live life on earth like Jesus did—in union with his Father.

Jesus encourages, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me… As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:4, 9, NIV).

By surrendering to his will, we let Jesus live his life of love through us. God created you to live in unity with him so that you radiate Jesus’ life of unconditional, self-giving, other-centered love.

God Gives You the Freedom to Choose

You can have a relationship with God that begins now and stretches throughout eternity. God wants you to know and enjoy him forever. He longs to embrace you and call you his own.

Jesus cried out, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me” (Matthew 23:37, NLT).

Hear the love in his words. Today he is calling you.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (Revelation 3:20, NLT).

Jesus knocks on the door of your heart. Will you invite him in?

If you desire to open the door and ask Jesus into your life, sincerely say these words to him:

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for your love for me. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. You have bridged the gulf that separated us.

By faith I receive you as my Savior. Thank you for giving me eternal life.

Lord Jesus, make me into the person you want me to be. Be the Lord of my life and live your life in and through me. Replace my sinful nature with your nature so that I love others as you first loved me.

Thank you Jesus.