Who or What Has Your Heart? The Importance of Storing Up Treasures in Heaven

In today's episode, we will discuss the importance of storing up treasures in heaven. I will be pairing this with scripture and prayer.

First, I want to say a quick prayer: "LORD, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please open up their eyes to see the truth. Help them to know exactly what it is that you want them to do, LORD. I pray that you just guide us and protect us through every aspect of our lives. Use us as a vessel for your work, LORD. Please help us to see the truth, know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth. LORD, I pray that whatever each person is supposed to receive from this episode, they receive it and implement it in their daily lives. I love You with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Now let's get into some scripture:

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." -Matthew 6:19-21

In this materialistic world, it can be so easy for us to try and store up things on this earth. It can be so easy for us to want to save as much money as we possibly can, have the nicest things, and have materialistic things. Whatever your thing is, it can be so easy for us to get caught up in trying to store up treasures on this earth because that is exactly what the enemy wants you to do. The enemy wants to kill, steal, and destroy. The enemy wants to keep you consumed and occupied on storing up treasures here on earth, so you're not looking towards the prize of heaven. He wants to make sure you're not worried about the treasures in heaven, you're not worried about loving and serving others and doing good and all of the things that come with treasures in heaven, but you're just consumed with earthly materialistic things that are not going to ever go with you to heaven. It is so important for us to make sure that we are not being conformed to this world. Just like it says in the book of Romans chapter 12 verse 2, "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."

Now, when it talks about treasures, what are treasures in heaven? When it talks about treasures in heaven, it's not talking about materialistic physical treasures like gold, things like that. The treasure that it's talking about in heaven is spiritual treasures. Whenever we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, do everything for the glory of God, and love and serve others, we're implementing the teachings of Jesus Christ and seeking to live with a heart like Jesus; we will have treasures in heaven. Those treasures in heaven are never going to be taken away from us. Whenever Jesus saves us and we have the fruit of the Spirit, we have eternal life in heaven with Jesus and God the Father. Our place in heaven with God and Jesus can never be taken away from us once the blood of Jesus Christ seals us.

Greed is a big thing in this world. It is something that can destroy a person, and that is what the devil loves to use is greed. Greed and pride are the two big ones. In this world, people will tell you you need more things, you have to have more money, you need to save, and you have to reach a certain level to be successful. They'll tell you all of these lies, but none of that stuff matters if you don't have Jesus Christ. If you're not saved by Jesus, no materialistic thing in this world can ever save you. No materialistic thing in this world could ever make you go to heaven. Jesus Christ is everything that we need. He saves us, he redeems us. He is the way, the truth, and the life. We have to keep our eyes fixed on heaven, and we can't be consumed with worldly and materialistic things and try and store up treasures here on earth. Whenever we're fixating on materialistic things and we're trying to do more and have more and be more in this world, we're taking our eyes off of Jesus, and our heart is no longer on Jesus. The prince of this world is the devil, and he is out to kill, steal, and destroy. We have to make sure that we're keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and we're pressing towards the prize of eternal life.

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." -Matthew 6:24

We can't love both God and money. Now, money is not a bad thing, but the love of money, putting money before God, that is something that we should never do because, as it says here, "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also." We have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, store up treasures in heaven, and not be so consumed with worldly and materialistic things that we get our eyes fixed off of Jesus and our love for money overrides everything. That is exactly what the enemy wants. He wants you to love money over everything because when someone loves money and they're full of greed, that is the way the enemy will destroy them.

"I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus" -Philippians 3:14

"Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." -Philippians 4:8-9

"He then told them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’ “That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” -Luke 12:15-21

So in this parable we see that this rich man was storing up treasures in the world and he wanted to store up all these things and thinking, "Oh, once I get all of this, I'm going to have everything that I need and then I'm going to be able to eat, drink, and be happy and not have to worry for a long time." Then God said, "Your life is going to end tonight." That passage right there is so humbling because it makes me really just sit back and realize that we are on borrowed time. None of us knows when our last breath is going to be. The only one that knows that is God. We can spend our whole life trying to store up treasures in this world. We can spend our whole life trying to do more and have more because we think it's going to make our life easier, or because we think our kids are going to be able to have it, or whatever the case may be. We can spend our lives doing that, but really, what good is that going to do for us? Whenever we go to heaven, we can't take anything with us. It's just going to be us seeing God, our Savior. Once we see God and we are in his presence, nothing else is going to matter. Nothing in the world that we stored up for ourselves has any value in heaven, and they're not going to go to heaven with us. We can have everything we ever wanted in this world, but if we don't have God, if we don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, if we're not saved by Jesus Christ, then nothing in this world matters. No treasure, no amount of money matters, and when you sit and think about that, trying to store up things in this world is just worthless.

Now, I'm not saying that you can't have nice things, but that shouldn't be our focus. Our focus should always be on Jesus. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. We have to deny our flesh, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus every single day. We have to seek to live and have a heart like Jesus. We have to love and serve others and ask the Holy Spirit to consume us and move us to do the will of God the Father. Whenever we do go home to our true home in heaven, and we've been storing up treasures in heaven and we've been living our life for Jesus and all for the glory of God, we will be able to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." That is worth more than a million rubies, that's worth more than all the money in the world.

"Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life."

-1 Timothy 6:17-19

So being rich in life has nothing to do with money. Being rich in life is rich in the Spirit and rich in doing good works. We cannot work our way into heaven, but whenever we are seeking to live and have a heart like Jesus, then we're automatically going to have good works because Jesus Christ is perfect and all of His ways are good. So when we're seeking to live and have a heart like Him, we're going to do good things. Our good foundation is Jesus Christ. He is our rock. He is our firm foundation. We have to build our lives on Jesus. We have to look towards Him, keep our eyes fixed on Him, and see the way that he lived his life. We can see it all throughout the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We have to seek to live and have a heart like Him every day.

We cannot focus on materialistic things in this world. We cannot focus on the treasures that we have in this world because they do not matter, and we cannot take them with us. That will not mean anything whenever we go see our heavenly Father. Us having treasure in this world, but not being rich in Spirit, us having treasure in this world, but not loving our neighbors, not serving others in need, not portraying the fruit of the Spirit to others, not letting our light shine through, not denying our flesh and picking up our cross and following Jesus daily, if we're not doing those things and we're just storing up useless things in this world, that is not going to mean anything in heaven.

"Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; because you know better, stop!" -Proverbs 23:4

I love how straightforward and blunt this verse is. This verse says it all.

"Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days." -James 5:1-3

Now these verses are not just saying that because you're rich, all this stuff is will happen. This is a warning to people who are so fixed on the love of money and just storing up things in this world, just living their life for money, living their life for greed, pride, and wanting more. These people are full of greed, pride, and their heart is filled with a love of money, and it doesn't have a love for God. Those people are going to perish. We have to make sure that we're keeping our hearts and our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is our savior, he is our fortress, He is our rock. He is everything. He's the way, He's the truth. He's the life. We cannot enter heaven without Jesus.

I know someone listening to this right now has been very consumed with just wanting more, wanting to have more, wanting to be more, trying to store up treasures in this world. I want to let you know right now that God loves you so much that He gave His only Son to die on the cross to forgive you of your sins, so that whoever believes in Jesus Christ shall not perish but have eternal life. I want you to know that money, materialistic things, employment status, work status, whatever it is that you're striving towards, none of that matters if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We cannot focus on the wrong things, you guys. We have to wake up, and we have to repent. We have to seek every single day to live and have a heart like Jesus. We have to deny our flesh, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus every single day, and implement his teachings. Storing up treasures in heaven is so much better than ever trying to store up any treasure in this world. Treasure in this world is useless. We don't know if we have tomorrow. We don't know if we have a few more hours. We have no idea when our last breath is going to be, and why would we want to waste it on storing up things that mean nothing?

So today I want you to really just take some time to reflect, where is your heart? What is the most important thing in your heart right now? If you really dig deep and you think, "What am I fixating on all the time? What is consuming my mind? What do I want more than anything? What do I love more than anything?" I want you to reflect on that today. If the answer is not God, Jesus Christ, and entering the kingdom of heaven, then it's not too late, but you've got to pray. You've got to repent for that, and you've got to pray and ask God to search your heart, to reveal to you what it is that you are putting above him. Maybe you don't know. Pray and ask God to reveal to you what it is that you're putting above Him. Ask Him to reveal to you what the treasures of your heart are. He will reveal that to you and also ask Him to remove that and to fill you with His Holy Spirit.

If you're not saved by Jesus Christ, I pray that you get saved by Jesus Christ. That is the greatest gift that you will ever receive. Just ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get into heaven is through him. Repent of your sins and ask Him to come into your heart and forgive you, and He will forgive you. The Holy Spirit will show you the truth. He will guide you into all truth, and He will show you exactly what it is that you need to do through every aspect of your life. He'll give you strength and He will give you everything that you need.

So I hope this episode helped you guys to realize the importance of storing up treasures in heaven and not on this earth. I hope it helped you to realize that no amount of money or materialistic things could ever amount to the treasure that we are going to receive in heaven. Whenever we see God, the Father and Jesus Christ, the gift of eternal life is the prize that we're pressing towards. While we're on this earth, we have to store up treasures in heaven. We have to love and serve others. We have to be kind to others. We have to spread our light to others and share the good news of Jesus Christ so that others may have treasures in heaven as well, and they may have eternal life. The only way we can receive eternal life is through Jesus Christ. So that is it for today's episode. Next week, we're going to go into the grace of God, so make sure you stay tuned for that.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

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Scripture taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.