Revelation 21.7 describes, the one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

At the end of God’s Word, the Bible, where He describes the new heavens and the new earth, He says those who will live with Him forever are not those who believe, nor those who prayed a prayer, but those who conquered. What did these, who are acceptable to God, conquer?

They did not conquer men with sword or weapon like the Muslims, who think they can kill people to earn their way into heaven. God is not the god of death but is the Author of Life. So what do those who gain heaven conquer?

Those who live with God forever have, like Him when He lived with us as one of us in Jesus the Savior, conquered their sinful pride and their love for approval from men. First, we must conquer our sinful pride, that is, we must admit before God that we need a Savior, a pardon, mercy, in order to live with Him forever. We cannot earn our way into heaven by good works for we are incapable of living a life of good works.

We can certainly do some good, but our every thought, our every word and our every deed is not pleasing to God. Too much of our life is spent in rebellion against God’s ways. If we truly know Who God is, then we see clearly how much we must resist our own way if we are truly going to live God’s way.

Second, we must conquer our love for the approval of men. We were born to please God but sin has distorted our chief end. Now we fear what people think more than what God thinks. Those who conquer are not afraid to identify with Jesus even though they suffer for such identification. Those who are ashamed of God in this life will not live with God forever in the next life. We must make the doing of the will of God as an unashamed child of God the most important objective no matter the cost.

Those who do these things are truly conquerors and will find themselves receiving a warm welcome from God our Savior on that day when they meet Him face to face.