The Reason

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” Rom.8:11 [emphasis added]

Jesus is coming again! For those of us that have our faith in Jesus, this is what keeps us going. The fact that Jesus is coming again and this physical body will be changed. I do not know about you but I want to be raptured. I want to experience rapture. I want to be alive so that when the trumpet sounds, I will know how it feels to just… That would be awesome! Paul says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” 1 Cor.15:19. In other words, if all we live for is for Fridays and Saturdays then we are in trouble. But thank God there is a Sunday.

The reason Easter is repeated year after year is to remind you and I that He will not leave us in the grave. He will not leave you and me in the grave. So you may be feeling the press, the pressure and the pain but God is doing something in you so that He can do something through you. You may be wondering why you are going through so much pain, and so much press, and so much pressure. The good news is, God is doing something in you so that He can do something through you. Your press is required for your oil to flow. Your press is required for your wine to flow. And for the juice of your life to flow, your press is required. It is not palatable but it is required.

So when someone sees how anointed you are and the person says you are just lucky, just smile because the person has no clue about the scars, the pressure, and the pain, but you know. So remind yourself consistently that the press is working out something for you.

Madeleine L’Engle says, “Easter is always the answer to ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!’ So many people are going through the season of ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!’ The good news is Easter is the answer! And the answer is, when you go through Friday you are going to experience Sunday. I can tell you stories of seasons of Friday in my life, seasons when I could not see any hope and I thought life was just going to be Friday. Listen, the same way you did not control how you got to Friday, the same way it is not in your power to control your resurrection. But it is going to happen in Jesus Name.

Prayer [hymn]: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ Blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. Amen!