MVLC Member Sam Jones’ devotion, “We Are an Easter People,” for Monday, May 11.
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We are an EASTER PEOPLE, who have walked in JESUS (Col. 2:6). We are an EASTER PEOPLE who can testify of JESUS CHRIST and HIS Righteousness. WE are an EASTER PEOPLE, who are known by the works that result from an active organic relationship with JESUS and the Paraclete, aka HOLY SPIRIT… We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us… We do not have a SPIRIT of FEAR, but of LOVE, POWER and a Sound Mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
As we are reminded in 1 Peter 1:3: “BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time…” WE are an Easter People…
Further, as Acts 4:8-13 testifies: untrained men preached with authority to the bewilderment and forbiddance of the Sanhedrin. YET, WHEN THEY REALIZED THAT THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS, they simply marveled! We, all of us who believe, are an Easter People…
I urge you my fellow believers consider… do I know JESUS? Like Lazarus,… called out of the tomb, coming to HIS LORD, unbound and loosed from earthly constraints… can you believe or does it seem mystical or unreal to consider such…? Can you conceive of the Spirit of the living GOD indwelling your Heart, even now, such that you can be instructed and guided because you have this treasure in this earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7)… because you belong to HIM (Romans 8:9)…? Remember the disciples pondering the perplexing events of the crucifixion… It was solely the appearance and presence of Jesus who arrested all earthly anxiety. They encountered the RISEN Lord and KNEW the living hope, according to His abundant mercy… TONGUES OF FIRE are on the way… GET READY… JESUS is NOW! COVID19 is surely a sign and our response as believers for the HOPE that is within US is on CENTER STAGE, for He promises that “If My people who are called by My Name will humble themselves, pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways… He will heal our land” (2 Chron. 7:14)… Do we believe, truly believe: to live is CHRIST… is everything on Earth… and to die is GAIN? Is this our consuming fire…? Are we an Easter People or caught, as the SANHEDRIN… determined to terminate inevitable change, or wandering the road to Emmaus… perplexed and wondering… I wonder… I wonder.
Prayer
Dear Father, help me live as part of the Easter people. Help me live unbound and loosed from earthly constraints… Help me embrace the indwelling of Your Spirit within my heart… Help me cherish this treasure I have in this earthen vessel… Help me know I belong to You, and You alone, now and forever more. Amen.
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Image: Photograph of stained glass by JF Martin, unsplash.com/photos/kZjBucSSj2s. Public domain via Unsplash.