He Reigns
Amidst all the drama of my life, I am struck and must write about this time of year. My life would be nothing if it were not for the gracious and living love of my Lord and Saviour.
"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34
"With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God." Mark 15: 37-39
To celebrate the resurrection of Christ, you have to slip back and revisit his crucifixion. Christ died for every man who believes in Him. It was not an easy death. It was a prophesied death. It was a necessary death. It was the most important death of all time. It was a very painful death.
Christ knew he would die. He was deity made man... and yet he implored God to let this cup pass from him. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, "he said to them. Stay here and keep watch." "Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. "Abba, Father, " he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Mark 14: 34-36
He was Jesus. He was Christ. He was God's son. And yet he is facing the most horrible thing and he has done NOTHING to deserve. And to top it all off, He is doing it for people who are spitting at him, mocking him, stabbing him, and rejecting him. Can you even try and imagine?
"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24: 5
This is the most beautiful picture of God bringing beauty from ashes. Christ is risen and salvation is made possible. True relationship that was lost with the fall of Adam and Eve is made available again. Eternal life is offered. Can you not keep from raising your hands and praising His almighty name!?
"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Glory in His Holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength; seek his face always." Psalm 105: 1, 3,4
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show his incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:7
When we become a believer and are buried in baptism with Christ, we are raised up out of that water and raised from the dead... just as Christ rose from the dead. We were walking dead in our sins and are raised into new life with Christ. The symbolism here is one of the most beautiful in Christianity!
Yet, it does not stop there. We are called to die daily to ourselves and to live for Him. THAT is the biggest spiritual battles we face each and every day. "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life." Romans 6: 3, 4
And that is what brings me to this post. I try not to be preachy. But I DO strive to live my life for the Lord and I pray that He is glorified and that others can see Him alive in my life and want the same in theirs. I walk through sufferings, challenges and trials with the Lord by my side... with Him carrying me at some points, and I pray that anyone who knows me can know that this very same and one and only God can and wants to do the same for them.
I have my good days. I have my bad days. I have days where my faith is strong and my soul is energized with the strength of the Lord but I also have days when I am depleted and I fall to the ground and beg the Lord to stop. I am only human.
But the beautiful thing is the Lord loves me on the good days and he so loves me on the bad days. The Lord is there for me on the good days and he is so there for me on the bad days. How lucky I am, we are, to have a God who loves us as a Father loves his young child.
So I was a bit preachy today... and I don't apologize. I wrote this as a reminder to myself what this holiday is really about. As I continue to walk this challenging path, I am humbled that God's son walked one harder than mine... for me.
I pray you can fall onto your knees today and rejoice in a God who sent His son to die for us. I pray you can rejoice in the fact that Christ is ALIVE and so very active in our lives today. And I pray that you are reminded that HE REIGNS!
Happy Easter my dear and precious friends. I LOVE your comments. I makes me feel that our blog friendship is a two way friendship. I give in the posts and you give in the comments. They make me smile. They make me feel loved. The comments from people I have never even met, yet God has brought here, hold a very special place in my heart (Jill, Donna, Colleen) and many more.
Love and hugs to you all!
Amidst all the drama of my life, I am struck and must write about this time of year. My life would be nothing if it were not for the gracious and living love of my Lord and Saviour.
"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34
"With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God." Mark 15: 37-39
To celebrate the resurrection of Christ, you have to slip back and revisit his crucifixion. Christ died for every man who believes in Him. It was not an easy death. It was a prophesied death. It was a necessary death. It was the most important death of all time. It was a very painful death.
Christ knew he would die. He was deity made man... and yet he implored God to let this cup pass from him. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, "he said to them. Stay here and keep watch." "Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. "Abba, Father, " he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Mark 14: 34-36
He was Jesus. He was Christ. He was God's son. And yet he is facing the most horrible thing and he has done NOTHING to deserve. And to top it all off, He is doing it for people who are spitting at him, mocking him, stabbing him, and rejecting him. Can you even try and imagine?
"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24: 5
This is the most beautiful picture of God bringing beauty from ashes. Christ is risen and salvation is made possible. True relationship that was lost with the fall of Adam and Eve is made available again. Eternal life is offered. Can you not keep from raising your hands and praising His almighty name!?
"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Glory in His Holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength; seek his face always." Psalm 105: 1, 3,4
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show his incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:7
When we become a believer and are buried in baptism with Christ, we are raised up out of that water and raised from the dead... just as Christ rose from the dead. We were walking dead in our sins and are raised into new life with Christ. The symbolism here is one of the most beautiful in Christianity!
Yet, it does not stop there. We are called to die daily to ourselves and to live for Him. THAT is the biggest spiritual battles we face each and every day. "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life." Romans 6: 3, 4
And that is what brings me to this post. I try not to be preachy. But I DO strive to live my life for the Lord and I pray that He is glorified and that others can see Him alive in my life and want the same in theirs. I walk through sufferings, challenges and trials with the Lord by my side... with Him carrying me at some points, and I pray that anyone who knows me can know that this very same and one and only God can and wants to do the same for them.
I have my good days. I have my bad days. I have days where my faith is strong and my soul is energized with the strength of the Lord but I also have days when I am depleted and I fall to the ground and beg the Lord to stop. I am only human.
But the beautiful thing is the Lord loves me on the good days and he so loves me on the bad days. The Lord is there for me on the good days and he is so there for me on the bad days. How lucky I am, we are, to have a God who loves us as a Father loves his young child.
So I was a bit preachy today... and I don't apologize. I wrote this as a reminder to myself what this holiday is really about. As I continue to walk this challenging path, I am humbled that God's son walked one harder than mine... for me.
I pray you can fall onto your knees today and rejoice in a God who sent His son to die for us. I pray you can rejoice in the fact that Christ is ALIVE and so very active in our lives today. And I pray that you are reminded that HE REIGNS!
Happy Easter my dear and precious friends. I LOVE your comments. I makes me feel that our blog friendship is a two way friendship. I give in the posts and you give in the comments. They make me smile. They make me feel loved. The comments from people I have never even met, yet God has brought here, hold a very special place in my heart (Jill, Donna, Colleen) and many more.
Love and hugs to you all!
photo by http://www.musecatcher.etsy.com
Beautiful post! May you have a blessed Easter!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post! Happy Easter to you all..We looked for your man this past week as we flew his airline for the 1st time..instead we had this mono-toned speaking pilot with a bit of Mr. Rogers thrown in to make him sound very strange..even my kids noticed how he sounded and mimicked him the whole way home! chris
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