Sometimes I think am obsessed with the rewards faithful Christians are going to receive in heaven because when I study the end times and the Second Coming of Jesus, I cannot but see rewards being presented to the servants of God.
Almost all believers agree that there will be a rapture. The only contention is on when it will take place in relation to the Tribulation. Because Jesus said what He meant and meant what He said, we should believe that the rapture is after the Tribulation. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days . . . the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven . . . they will see the Son of Man coming . . . He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect" (Matthew 24:29-31). Paul also taught that at the last trumpet sound, our mortal bodies will be changed to immortal ones, then we shall be caught up (raptured) to the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).
Now this is where my obsession with eternal rewards comes in: At the blowing of the last trumpet, Paul saw what would happen on earth to the saints - the transforming of their bodies. However, John saw what was happening in heaven at the sound of that same trumpet: "Then the seventh angel sounded . . . the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: ‘. . . Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great'" (Revelation 11:15-18).
Heaven will be filled with excitement at the rapture because thereafter, you and I, the servants of God, are going to be judged so we can be rewarded. This makes me so happy. In fact, this hope of receiving rewards should enable us to endure the preceding great tribulation to the end, as we use Jesus as our example, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2).
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). This event will happen after the rapture. We should prepare for it by doing, with Godly motives, what the Lord instructs us. The thought of rewards is what makes me say and do many things that I do not enjoy, some of which actually work against me - for now. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).
On that judgement day, after the tribulation and rapture, everything we did as Christians will be exposed for what it really was. The things we do now that appear good to men but are of evil and selfish intent will ‘burn away'; they will not be rewarded, though we shall not be sent to hell for them. Only the true good works will remain on that day.
"Each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).
We can prepare for that judgment day by studying Rick Joyner's book, The Final Quest. About two years ago, God told me that if I want to be great in heaven, I should master and live by The Final Quest. The good and bad that we are going to face on that day is all in that book. I give you that same advice: study, master and live by The Final Quest. You will be greatly rewarded.
God bless you.