This Easter I was impressed with the newness that the Risen Christ brings to our lives. Being reminded of how His death conquered all that drags us down truly brings us back to the roots of our faith and our freedom. The “stuff of life” can easily distract and pull us away from the life changing truth that is ours on a daily basis.

With renewed commitment today I want to take to heart the words of Hebrews 12.

“… let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.’ Hebrews 12:1-2

1 Peter 1:13 tells us exactly how to do this in very practical terms:

– Prepare your mind. Keep scripture fresh in your thoughts.
– Be self-controlled. Pay attention to where your focus lies.
– Set your hope fully on the grace to be give you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Let’s receive the grace offered to us on a daily basis,  knowing that the trials of life are not the enemy. Rather the enemy is the choice of becoming lost in the trail and failing to grasp the grace held out to us daily to sustain us through the trial.

So let’s run with the grace given to us for today, and trust God with the tomorrows of our lives. His grace will meet us when we get to tomorrow.

Christ is risen indeed! May we walk in the power and grace of the risen Christ.

By Gail Rodgers
Used by Permission

Further Reading

• The Easter Story – the story of Christ’s death and resurrection

•   I Want to Know Him! Christ and his Resurrection Power

•  Salvation Explained

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“Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”  Luke 23:56

Only Luke, a New Testament author known to include minute details, offers a glimpse into life on the day after Jesus’ crucifixion and the day before His resurrection. I have often thought that the weather on the Saturday before Easter should always be gray and gloomy, atmospheric conditions matching what must have been the emotions of Jesus’ friends and family. In addition to grief, they obviously were bewildered because Luke also records a conversation two had as they walked away from Jerusalem, away from the scene of broken hearts: “…we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel…”

I, too, have known the heavy weight of grief, a weight that causes the body to slump into mindless sleep only to awaken in the dark hours, in those first moments, denying the reality of death, then almost immediately becoming aware of all that has happened. But I also have discovered the comfort of “obedience to the commandment”… By faith in the One who loves me, I laid my anxiety at His feet, I thanked Him for His sovereignty and presence, I prayed for myself and the weeping others, and then…

“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding…”

put a guard on my heart and mind so that I could go about the dailyness of life. The women prepared spices and perfumes; I prepared meals and made beds. In a few short hours those women would experience the joy of the resurrection. One day I, too, will fully experience that joy.

It’s not always easy to go about the daily rituals when the heart is heavy, Lord, but I thank you for the balm those rituals bring to sorrowing souls. Thank you for being a God of the daily. I love you.

by Marilyn Ehle
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  The Easter Story – the story of Christ’s death and resurrection

•  Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact or Fiction?  Resurrection evidences made clear and simple.

•  Who’s Got the Body?   A short, documented examination of evidences for Jesus’ resurrection.  By Rusty Wright

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“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself…encourage you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16 (NCV)

Are you still in love with Jesus? Before you remember anything, remember him. If you forget anything, don’t forget him.

Oh, but how quickly we forget. So much happens through the years. So many changes within. So many alterations without. And, somewhere, back there, we leave him. We don’t turn away from him…we just don’t take him with us. Assignments come. Promotions come. Budgets are made. Kids are born, and the Christ…the Christ is forgotten.

Has it been a while since you stared at the heavens in speechless amazement? Has it been a while since you realized God’s divinity and your carnality?

If it has, then you need to know something. He is still there. He hasn’t left.

by Max Lucado
used by permission
From: Six Hours One Friday
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2003)

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://www.maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

The Cross by Max Lucado

In Prison sentenced to Death – by Mike Woodard

I Want to Know Him! Christ and his Resurrection Power

The Tomb

The post Don’t Forget appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him” Philippians 3:10

I have been thinking about Jerry McGrath. He was a marvelous singer and performed at many of our staff conferences. He had been in the secular entertainment industry when he was struck down with leukemia and was longer able to sing. He yielded his life to the Lord, and the Lord touched and healed him. After that he used his marvelous voice to serve God.

During every performance, he told the story of his miraculous healing and then would sing,

“Lord, I want to know You. Deep within my soul, I want to know You more.”

After that song, there was not a dry eye in the audience.

Jerry had experienced the power of Christ’s resurrection, but he had also experienced suffering. I wonder, sometimes, why we so often pray and sing for the Lord’s power, but abhor the suffering? We need both to make us like Jesus.

Father, You know what cowards we are. We want the soft and easy road. Enable us not to be surprised when troubles come our way. After all, Jesus did say that in this would we would have troubles. How quickly we forget, Lord!   

by Katherine Kehler
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

At the Foot of the Cross

A Trampled Rose

The Light of the World

Poem: When I say… “I am a Christian”

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We read the word “forgiven” and yet because we often cannot see through the darkness of our own past we really fail to grasp the full implications of what the word imparts.  We sometimes find it easier to forgive others than to forgive ourselves.  Many feelings of guilt through our actions in the past blind our eyes to see the truth – that we are indeed forgiven, and loved, and cherished by a God who gave up his only son so that we would not perish.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel that if other people could look inside and see the real me, I would be found wanting.  We dwell on our mistakes, on the way we behave, or on anything that we see as flaws in our own being.  How often do we only see the ugly and not the beauty that God sees in us?  He delights in us and calls us his sons and daughters.  We need to see this beauty inside each one of us before we can truly see the beauty in others.  It is only as we come to know the true meaning of forgiveness can we show God’s unconditional love to the world.  We hear this text from Matthew during our communion services but how often do we reflect on what it actually means?

Matthew 26:27-29
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying

“Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Personal Prayer:
Beloved Christ, I come before you now carrying so many burdens of guilt and shame, things that I dwell on that stops me from becoming the person that you wish me to be.  Open my eyes to see that I am forgiven and loved.  “Just as I am, I come.”  Amen

by Terry Stead
Used by Permssion

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“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,  if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Philippians 3:7-11

The truth of the risen Savior is ever so precious.

The resurrection is the cornerstone which supports the entire building of Christianity. It is the keystone in the arch of our salvation. It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But to know that He has risen, and to have fellowship with Him by possessing a risen life, this is even still more precious.

Because He left his tomb, we are able to leave the tomb of worldliness ourselves. The truth of the resurrection is the basis of the experience, but as the flower is more lovely than the root, so is the experience of fellowship with the risen Savior more lovely than the bare fact itself.

I encourage you to trust wholeheartedly that Christ rose from the dead, so much so as to be moved to sing about it and to derive all consolation from it. But I urge you, don’t merely rest contented there. Although you can’t see Him visibly like the disciples did, you should seek to see Jesus through spiritual eyes. And though like Mary Magdalene you may not “touch” Him, you are still privileged to converse with Him, and to know that because He is risen, you too both are and will be risen to new life in Him.

While it’s truly wonderful to know crucified Savior who died for my sins, but to know a risen Savior who has given me new life is incomparable. Short of this knowledge of the head and heart there can be no ultimate satisfaction of our deepest longings. May you today know Him and the power of His resurrection. Rise, for the Lord is risen!

Question: Where do you see head knowledge of Jesus’ resurrection overlapping with your daily heart life?

by Charles H. Spurgeon
Used by Permission
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.

If you are not absolutely sure that Christ is in your life, that you would go straight to heaven if you died today, you can be sure right now.

By faith, respond to the invitation of Jesus and open the door of your life to Him. Why not make this your prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I need You. I know You are the Son of God, the Savior of all men. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Enable me to live a supernatural life beginning today. Amen.”

Further Reading

•   Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact or Fiction?

•   Who’s Got the Body?   A short, documented examination of evidences for Jesus’ resurrection.  By Rusty Wright

•   Why Do Christians Celebrate Easter by Dr. James L. Wilson

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“Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ.”   Ephesians 2:4-6

Easter Sunday as a joyous event celebrating the resurrection of Jesus is forever etched in my memory.

In Austria we lived in the shadow of a large church with an enormous bell tower (at least it looked like that to my childish eyes.) The bells rang faithfully morning and evening and on special occasions. But there was one day the bells did not ring.

That was on Good Friday when the priest used an instrument which made a rasping, sad sound. It was to remind us of Christ’s suffering and put us into a mood of mourning.

When Easter Sunday morning came, all the bells rang in a glorious symphony. The joyous sound floated across roof tops, hills and valleys carrying the good news, “Jesus has risen from the dead.”

But when I arrived at the church, I was disappointed to see the life-sized crucifix of Jesus’ body on the Cross was still there. If Jesus has risen from the dead, why is he still hanging on the cross? I wondered.

Don’t we do this too?

We go through the motions of celebrating that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. We accept it as part of our religion, but what difference does it really make to our lives today?

Is Jesus alive in your heart? Is he active in your life today?

The risen Lord Jesus Christ is not just up in heaven preparing a place for us, but he is presently down here on earth wanting to make His home in us and do His work through us.

How? We must die to our selfish ways and surrender to Christ on a daily basis. He has to become our very life from moment to moment. It will be “Christ in us working through us.” We depend on him to be our sufficiency for each new challenge. Then we can stop trying so hard and trusting more. What freedom comes with this realization!

Jesus, I depend on your strength and your life in me today. I want to do your will and your work today. What is it you want us to do today?

by Helen Lescheid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  At the Foot of the Cross – Powerful Poem

•  A Trampled Rose

•  Touched by the Risen Lord

•  Salvation Explained

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“Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’” John 2:19 (KJV)

A missionary in Turkey sought to teach the truth of the resurrection of Christ to a group of people.

“I am travelling, and I have reached a place where the road branches off in two ways,” he said. “I look for a guide, and find two men – one dead, and the other alive. Which of the two must I ask for direction – the dead or the living?”

“Oh, the living!” cried the people.

“Then,” said the missionary, “why send me to Mohammad, who is dead, instead of to Christ, who is alive?”

Jesus is the only person who has ever accurately predicted his own resurrection.

He said He would be raised from the dead on the third day after dying on the cross for our sins, and He was!

Further, He was seen on many different occasions after His resurrection – once by as many as 500 people. He still lives today in the hearts of all who have placed their faith in Him, demonstrating His life of love and forgiveness through them.

Whenever men meet the living Christ, they are changed. The whole course of history has been changed because of Him.

“The gospel not only converts the individual, but it also changes society,” historian Philip Schaff wrote. “Everywhere the gospel has been preached, dramatic change has resulted. It has established standards of hygiene and purity, promoted industry, elevated womanhood, restrained antisocial customs, abolished human sacrifices, organized famine relief, checked tribal wars and changed the social structure of society.

“Born in a manger and crucified as a malefactor, He now controls the destinies of the civilized world and rules a spiritual empire which embraces one-third of the inhabitants of the globe.”

Bible Reading: John 2:20-25

I will reflect often today on the fact that the risen Christ of history is the same loving Savior who now lives within me, offering me His love, His peace, His comfort, His wisdom, His strength. I will claim by faith His resurrection life to enable me to live supernaturally each moment of every day.

By Dr. Bill Bright
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

• Eternal Love
• Fully Surrender to the Lord

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

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‘The Son of Man will be handed over to people, and they will kill him.  After three days, he will rise from the dead.”
Mark 9:31

Trace the path of this Savior, the God who swapped heavenly royalty for earthly poverty.  His bed became, at best, a borrowed pallet – and usually the hard earth.  He was dependent on handouts for his income.  He was sometimes so hungry he would eat raw grain or pick fruit off a tree.  He knew what it meant to have no home.

He was ridiculed. His neighbors tried to lynch him. Some called him a lunatic.  His family tried to confine him to their house.  His friends weren’t always faithful to him.

He was accused of a crime he never committed.  Witnesses were hired to lie.  The jury was rigged.  A judge swayed by politics handed down the death penalty.

They killed him.

And why?  Because of the gift that only He could give.

By Max Lucado
From: The Applause of Heaven
Used by Permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:    
https://maxlucado.com/about/

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“When Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end.” Romans 6:5-6 (MSG)

Don’t you love that sentence? “It was the signal of the end of death-as-the-end.”

The resurrection is an exploding flare announcing to all sincere seekers that it is safe to believe. Safe to believe in ultimate justice. Safe to believe in eternal bodies. Safe to believe in heaven as our estate and the earth as its porch. Safe to believe in a time when questions won’t keep us awake, and pain won’t keep us down. Safe to believe in open graves and endless days and genuine praise.

Because we can accept the resurrection story, it is safe to accept the rest of the story.

by Max Lucado
Used by permission
To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://www.maxlucado.com/about/

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