What Happens When We Die?

[This is part 6 of a vision described in lessons 6 to 12]

"Teresa, this is close to where your vision is going to end."

I was so surprised and a bit disappointed. I really wanted Him to judge me and to perfect me. It felt safe to let Him do that and I really wanted to be perfect before Him.

Again He answered my unspoken question. "Sweetheart, the truth is that you are not really dead yet, you are just in a vision. You still have a physical body and a carnal nature, and you must be returned to it for a season. It is not the time for you to be perfected yet, but I promise you that time will come."

He was smiling at me as He said that. I spent some time just worshipping Him, hoping He would let me stay in His presence just a little longer. In fact, I would have sort of liked it if He would have just turned it into a permanent stay in Heaven instead of sending me back. But I knew He wasn't going to do that because He still had things He wanted me to do for Him on earth.

Suddenly I was reminded of how I had read "The Vision" by Rick Joyner and it talked about inviting Jesus to judge us in this life so we could get some things fixed before we were before Him for the final judgment. That book had changed my perspective and I frequently found myself inviting Jesus to judge me now so can get it fixed before the final judgment. I began to remember several times that He had done that for me. One time I had this bad attitude towards the leader of a ministry, and Jesus judged me for that attitude and helped me to correct it.

"Those memories are coming from Me," Jesus said. "I am reminding you of them. If you would like, I will judge you here in this vision about one thing that I would otherwise judge you on before you died. That will give you a small taste of what it is like to experience My judgment."

Yes, I would like! I was going to tell the Lord that, but I realized that He had already heard my thoughts.

"I am not going to do a rewards judgment at this time, because there is still much that I have for you to do for Me. But I promise you that there are many rewards that I have for you."

"Lord, I don't really deserve any rewards. All I did was to obey You when You commanded me. I didn't even do the works in my own ability, the Holy Spirit did them through me. If anyone should get a reward, He should."

"Teresa, have you not read how I only did what I saw My Father doing and I only spoke His words? I did not do anything on My own. I even laid aside My own power and authority and allowed the Holy Spirit to work through Me, making Myself totally dependent on Him for the ability to do the works that the Father gave Me to do."

"Yes Lord."

"Did My Father reward Me for that?"

I thought the answer was "yes," but I was not quite sure. So I did not answer His question.

"Here, let Me help you with that answer." Suddenly the passage from Philippians 2:5-11 came flooding into my mind. I think the Lord was quoting it for me:

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That made it easy to answer, "Yes, He did."

"Then doesn't it make sense that your God will reward you for doing the same?" I can't tell you the delight that flooded my soul when He spoke that to me. He continued, "Yes, you already have much to look forward to. And I have given you even more tasks to do with Me that will yield even more rewards as you submit to Me and obey Me. But we are not going to touch on those rewards at this time."

He paused. Then He asked, "Would you like Me to judge you on one thing before I send you back?"

"Yes, Lord." I don't know how I knew it, but I knew that if I received His judgment now, I would not be judged on this thing later when I died for real and came back before His judgment throne again. Somehow His judgment was going to fix the very problem that needed judging in the first place. I wondered what area of my life He was going to touch. But I did not have to wonder for long.

"Ok, Teresa, let Me introduce you to someone." I turned to my right and this lady who had died a few years ago was standing next to me. She just stood there, looking perfectly at peace and she did not say a word. We had a long history together and she had done a lot of things to hurt me. Since she had died and was not a part of my life anymore, I thought I'd forgiven her. But when our eyes met and she smiled at me, I felt myself stiffen up. Obviously I had not fully forgiven her and now the Lord was holding me accountable for that lack of forgiveness.