Stephen stood before the council, his face shining like the face of an angel. The men who sat in judgment stopped their ears. They gnashed their teeth, rushed in one accord, but Stephen looked up.<\/p>\n
He looked and saw something men do not see. He said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God<\/strong>.”<\/em> (Acts 7:56)<\/em><\/p>\n They cast him out of the city.<\/p>\n The executioners laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As stones flew, Stephen knelt and prayed “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p>\n The cross still speaks redemption. The old rugged cross still stands. Stephen saw heaven opened and saw the Son of man standing.<\/p>\n The faithful saw home.<\/p>\n Jacob<\/strong> experienced this. While in the wilderness, his head on a stone, fleeing a brother. As he dreamt that night, a ladder stood on the earth, top reaching heaven<\/strong>. Angels ascending and descending upon it.<\/p>\n Jacob awoke and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.”<\/em> (Genesis 28:16)<\/em><\/p>\n In the wilderness, in the place of his exile, in the moment of his deepest loneliness, Jacob found that heaven was nearer than he had ever known.<\/p>\n The psalmist wrote, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth<\/strong>.”<\/em> (Psalm 121:1-2)<\/em><\/p>\n From the LORD who sits above all comes help<\/em>. Neither from the north nor south, east nor west, but from above<\/strong>. From heaven, from the right hand of the Father, from the throne of grace, from where mercy flows.<\/p>\n Though the faithful may see the sickness, the troubles<\/strong>, the broken relationships, the unfinished business, the unanswered prayers.<\/p>\n The whisper of an effectual fervent prayer<\/em> goes up to heaven. The Lord is near.<\/p>\n “Our conversation is in heaven<\/strong>; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”<\/em> (Philippians 3:20)<\/em><\/p>\n “Conversation” could <\/em>mean citizenship. <\/strong>Citizens of heaven with streets made of gold, sons and daughters of the kingdom, heirs of the Father.<\/p>\n Behold, the\u00a0Lord<\/span>‘s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear<\/strong>. (Isaiah 59:1)<\/em><\/p>\n Heaven is no distant planet. I do not know what tomorrow holds but l know the one that knows.<\/p>\n Stephen saw heaven open when stones flew. Jacob saw the ladder as he lay on the ground with nothing. John saw the open door when he was exiled on the island of Patmos<\/strong>. In moments troubled on every side, heaven came nearer.<\/p>\n Heaven watches over all. The Lord God watches over the faithful. He hears and He heals.<\/p>\n Father, thank You for You are near.<\/p>\n In Jesus’ name, Amen!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stephen saw the heavens open while stones flew. Heaven is near, the Lord watches over the faithful. He watches over all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[794],"tags":[829,834,832,831,836,830,833,835,828],"class_list":["post-2947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional","tag-acts-7","tag-biblical-wisdom","tag-divine-presence","tag-heaven","tag-hope-in-trials","tag-jacobs-ladder","tag-martyrdom","tag-spiritual-vision","tag-stephen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2947"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2971,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2947\/revisions\/2971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nLet Us Pray<\/h2>\n