Don't All Paths Lead to Heaven?

Don't all paths lead to heaven?  That's the question being asked in countless classrooms and break rooms around the globe.  Our world is under the impression that every faith and religion that exists is equually effective in saving one's soul.  It doesn't matter if someone is a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, or whatever else.  What they believe doesn't really matter.  All that truly matters is their sincerity about what they believe...right?

No!  Jesus indirectly, but definitively, answered this for us in Matthew 26:39.  On the night before He was crucified, Christ cried out to His Father, "if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me."  What was He saying here?

The "cup" refers to His Father's wrath toward sin, which Jesus would taste on our behalf on the cross.  Notice that Christ asked to be spared this experience "if it is possible."  In other words, Jesus was saying.  "Father, if there's any other way to satisfy your wrath toward sin, if there's any other way out there for man to be saved, if there's any other path that leads to heaven...then please spare Me the horrors of the cross."

But the Father didn't grant this prayer, He didn't allow the cup of His wrath to pass from Jesus, because He knew there was no other way to satisfy His wrath toward our sin.  There was no other way for man to be saved.  There was no other path that would lead us to heaven, if there were, then the cross would not have been necessary.

Don't all paths lead to heave?  the answer is no...and the cross declares this by virtue of its very existence.  The only way to heaven is through the blood of Jesus Christ!

On Mission for God

Wow, God is Awesome!!  When i realized I was going to be going to India & Nepal back in June, I never expected to be so blessed, I never expected to miss it so much.  But, let me back up a little.  I had been praying about going on this trip and felt that I was supposed to go but the money just wasn't coming in.  A good friend told me that maybe this wasn't the trip for me and that maybe God had just wanted me to be obedient and say "yes Lord I will go" but for some reason I felt that I was supposed to go and just didn't understand why the money wasn't coming in.

The rest of the team had ordered their plane tickets about a month in advance and I didn't have enough money for my plane tickets.  I remember calling Amanda (she was leading the trip) on a Wednesday morning just upset about not being able to go and she said she was going to see what she could do to see if I could still get on the same flights.  She called our missions director and he called the travel agents and was able to get me on all the same flights, the only catch, I had to have $2,000 by Wednesday night.  I felt so defeated, I was thinking there was no way I could raise $2,000 in only a few hours, well you know what??  I raised about $200 that night.  I remember going home and crying and praying and just so confused because I really thought this was the trip I was supposed to go on.  Well the more I cried and prayed, the more God revealed to me that He can do anything He wants if we have faith in HIM.  I immediately started doubting that God could provide $2,000 in one night and that doubt stood in the way of my faith that HE could have provided $3,000 in one night if he wanted to.  I remember praying and thanking God for all that HE had taught me through all of this and praying that HE would prepare me for the next trip that HE would have me to go on.

About a week later I told my boss that I wasn't going to need all those days off anymore because I didn't raise enough money in time to buy my plane tickets.  She asked me how much I still needed and I told her I wasn't sure because it was probably too late to even get the plane tickets.  She offered to give me the remaining amount if it wasn't too late.  I called Amanda just to check to see and she was great through the whole thing, she called the missions director again and he called all the travel agents and in a few hours she called me back.  She said that they could get me on all the same flights with the rest of the team at no extra cost, tell me that isn't GOD :)!!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am terrified of flying, and had only flown once in my life and it was an hour flight.  This trip would put me on three 8-10 hour flights.  I prayed before each flight and had such a peace, I wasn't even nervous :). 

God is awesome, and HE taught me so much through this trip!!  When you start praying for God to use you, make sure you are ready for how and where HE wants to use you.  Don't pray to be used by God if you aren't willing to be used how HE wants to use you!!

I will post more about my trip including pictures in a separate post.