The ONLY way to begin to live in paradise (a very beautiful, pleasant, or peaceful place; a state of complete happiness) is to make JESUS the Lord of your life.  HE is The WAY, The TRUTH and The LIFE!   When you call upon the Name of the Lord, SURELY you will be saved.

As one of the criminals hanged at the cross beside Jesus at the crucifixion said ..”LORD, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42), with such INSTANCY and without HESITANCY, Jesus replied to him, “ASSUREDLY, I say to you, TODAY you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Our minds tilt when the incomprehensible God speaks the truth which can only be possibly received by the fertile ground of our hearts.  We used to always think that heaven can only be experienced after death but when SALVATION was SPOKEN by Jesus when He said to the criminal, “TODAY …”, it could also mean another possibility that heaven has invaded earth in the life of that prisoner who acknowledged HIM as Lord.

Haven’t you noticed the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples …”Your kingdom come, Your will be done, ON earth AS IT IS in heaven” (Matthew 6:10)?  That could only mean that heaven is a model of what earth is to be like when God becomes Our Father.  Heaven is for REAL on earth.  This doesn’t mean that we no longer have challenges in life but Jesus said …”IN ME YOU MAY HAVE PEACE.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Wholeness comes when we make Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  PEACE, a nothing-missing, nothing-broken life is due us!  It’s the stillness in our hearts no matter what’s going on around us simply because Jesus, our Prince of Peace, lives inside of us.  As we draw near to Him and He will draw near to us.  We call upon Him and He’ll run towards us just like the father in the parable of the lost son, “that when the son was still A GREAT WAY OFF, his father SAW him and had compassion, and RAN and FELL in his neck and KISSED him.” (Luke 15:20)  The father restored him completely in just a moment. “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals in his feet. (Luke 15:22).  There was no sermon needed!  His son’s ignorance how to live a good life may have caused him to suffer and lose his inheritance but the moment he came to his senses and decided to go back never knowing how much his father longed for his return, it must have taken him by surprise!

How much more our Daddy God Who longs and yearns for you and me?  How much He desires to commune with us, walk and talk with us in a cool of the day just as He originally designed our relationship with Him to be.  Surely an array of wonderful surprises await the very moment we acknowledge Him.  He is the Father Who lavishes on us His love and Who He truly is, our Abba .. Daddy God!

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And THAT IS WHAT WE ARE!” (1 John 3:1 NIV)