The Eternal Riches of Heaven

By Maria Fontaine

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We have received a lot of prophecies from the Lord about how if we’ll look ahead more, if we’ll step back and see the big picture more, if we’ll keep our eyes on heaven more, we’ll have an easier time with the difficulties of today.

It’s about perspective. If you’re only looking at what’s happening around you right now, things can seem pretty rough. That’s true for everyone. It took Thomas Edison more than a thousand experiments before he produced a practical, functioning light bulb. All those failures must have been very frustrating and rough, to say the least. But what if he had gotten his eyes off the goal when he was on failure number 998 and quit? He wouldn’t have developed the light bulb after all and would have just wasted a lot of money, time, and effort.

Paul said something that we’d do well to take note of: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”1 In other words, we have to look beyond what we’re going through today to the long term: the rewards, the happiness, the surcease from life’s battles. We have to look to the time when we will be victorious, and that will give us the strength to keep going. All of that is part of keeping the heavenly vision.

We have so much to look forward to, and we can really have a good time anticipating it! And as we do, the little day-to-day bumps in the road will be easier to bear.



Jesus says:

Keeping the heavenly vision means stepping back from the small, day-to-day tasks and to-dos and remembering the big picture of why you’re on earth. It’s remembering that you are on earth for a very short time, and that soon you will come to the place where all the struggles, difficulties, and problems won’t matter anymore, and only the eternal and lasting things will come with you.

Keeping the heavenly vision is also remembering Me, remembering My promises of love and comfort to you, and how much I have in store for you when this life is over. It’s what I was trying to impart to My first disciples when I encouraged them about the many mansions in My Father’s house, and that although I had to go away, soon they would be where I am and we would be together again.2

It is so important that you keep this perspective. Don’t lose the heavenly vision by becoming too wrapped up in the cares and trials of earth. Your present existence is such a fleeting thing; your life is but a vapor. Soon, so many of the things that seem so difficult for you are going to be wiped away, and in their place you will receive a crown of life and everlasting rewards for having bravely stayed the course and kept the faith.

But when you forget all of that, life can seem discouraging and difficult at times. I can even start to seem far away, pushed to the back of your mind, and the promise that I’m going to return again and gather you to Myself seems very distant.

When you forget the big picture, I seem small and irrelevant, and all the things of the world seem so important. That’s why you must keep your eyes on heaven and on Me. That’s why you have to remember that compared to all of the happy eternity that you will spend with Me, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in you and to you.3

You have to remember that there is a reason, a plan, and a purpose for everything that’s happening to you. I allow it all, so that when you come to My realm, you will have gained valuable lessons, skills, and insight that you couldn’t have gotten any other way.

No one, while they were alive, had the whole picture and understood the full meaning of their existence and why they were on earth, or even why there was an earth in the first place. Although many people had some understanding, still, as My Word says, “You see through a glass darkly” right now.4 You won’t understand the larger concepts in full till the end of your time on earth, when I finally reveal it all and make My plans plain. But until then there is a lot that you do know—certainly enough to make good choices and base good decisions on.

With the information you have right now, you know that it’s important to Me that while you’re on earth you love Me and keep My commandments, that you love your neighbor as yourself and learn lessons of love, that you win others to My kingdom, and that you give your children positive training that will last for eternity. These things will last forever.

So you must stop from time to time and look at what you’re doing in relation to Me and eternity. Ask yourself if it’s eternally sound, if it’s something that you can take with you when you leave earth, or if it’s something that’s going to pass away and be lost. You’ll be happy when you discover that what you’re investing your life in is eternal and lasting, and is not only fulfilling My will, but is reaping you benefits in the world beyond that will last forever.

If you are working for that which does not fade away, that which has eternal value, you should feel happy about this! Let this fact encourage your heart that you’re using your time wisely.

You can be certain that when this life is over, you have a happy heaven full of rewards and blessings awaiting you for your faithfulness. You can know that I love you, and that as you’re working for Me and pleasing Me, and manifesting your faith that isn’t dependent upon sight or understanding—you’re learning important lessons, and it’s going to pay off in the life hereafter.

You can know that in My kingdom there is no sorrow or loneliness or hardship or sickness or worry or death or lack of love or any of the things that can be so hard on you now. With that in mind, you can more happily brave your current sorrows or troubles, knowing that soon they’ll be gone. And in the meantime, I have promised that My grace is sufficient for you, and you can determine not to let the things of earth hold you back from gaining and gleaning from your time there the things that will last.

That’s the heavenly vision—knowing that there is a much bigger world full of love, rewards, meaning, and happiness just beyond this earthly one. When you look at the heavenly vision you’re reminded of and motivated by what’s really important and what’s worth living for and caring about.

Things tend to snap into perspective when weighed against eternity. And, oh, the comfort it can bring to your heart when you remember that no matter how tough a battle may seem, your life on earth is just the tip of the iceberg in eternity.

You need to pause sometimes and think about these things. It’s so good for you to take a few minutes to stop what you’re doing and ask Me to help you to get the heavenly vision again.

Think about the things that are difficult for you and remember that one day they’ll all be gone, and in their place will be a reward for your faith. Think about whether what you’re doing in life is working toward something eternal that will still matter once you’re gone from this earth. Think about the things you love or that matter to you right now—are they going to come with you into the world beyond? Or are they temporal things of this world that are going to pass away?

As you think about this, you may find yourself wanting to change the way you live, or make adjustments to the things that are important to you, based on Me and eternity.

When you’re not keeping the heavenly vision, self becomes so much more important to you—your own happiness, your own comfort, your own fame and wealth and pride. But when you live for heaven, I become the most important one, and you remember just how fleeting it is to chase your own satisfaction in the short time that you have on earth.

In the next life, you’re truly going to be glad that you lived for Me. You’re going to shine as the stars if you’ve been wise and turned many to righteousness.5 You’re going to be eternally glad for all the times that you laid down your own will and said yes to Me. You’re going to someday count the things of this earth as dung compared to the eternal riches of heaven.6

Originally published 2006. Updated and republished May 2013.
Read by Bethany Kelly.


1 1 Corinthians 15:19.

2 John 14:2–3.

3 Romans 8:18.

4 1 Corinthians 13:12.

5 Daniel 12:3.

6 Philippians 3:8.