Was it a morning like this?

Live like He is alive!

Resurrection Morning! We all celebrated that historical fact last Sunday. He is risen! He is risen indeed! We relive that morning in our minds and churches hoping to recreate the joy and hope in our hearts that Mary Magdalene had after she saw Jesus alive. Here we are four days later, what in your life has been different because Jesus is alive? When someone we love dies we feel that incredible ache of separation. “If only we could speak one more time, I wish I could say.... if I could ask one more question.... I would express my love more....” When Jesus died those who loved him grieved; but then He rose from the dead and they talked with Him, they hung on every word He said and they loved Him. It is four days since we celebrated the resurrection. Have you gotten up early to talk to him one more time and found Him waiting for you? Have you hung on His every word not even hearing the distractions in the background? Have you loved Him with all your heart and mind and every fiber of your being? If not you might be living as if He is dead. You say you have faith, but faith without action is dead. You say you have love but love without evidence is what? Dead. Our perspective is different than His. Look at the perspective of the Israelites waiting at the bottom of Mt. Sinai for Moses to come back from his face to face meeting with Almighty God. Exodus 32:1-8 In verse 1 the people complain because Moses has been gone 's-o l-o-n-g'. Eight verses later God’s description of the exact same time period is 'how quick’ they are to turn away. Moses is talking with God on a glory covered mountain and they think he has been gone too long so they build a golden calf to worship and call it their god. How long would we want to stay in the tangible presence of God? Obviously God has a whole different perspective on time. Would you describe your time with Him as, 'so long' or 'how quick'? We celebrated His resurrection four days ago, has the impact of that earthshaking, veil ripping, grave opening, soldier slinging, eternity changing moment continued to change your day or was that too long ago to make a difference? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the LIFE!" John 10:6 The bread of LIFE! The LIVING water! The river of LIFE! What part of your week needs new life? Needs resuscitation? How do we take the dead parts of our day, our life, and breath life into them? How do we get those dead parts to have the life, life abundant and to the full, that He promised us in John 10:10? He gives us a clue, “He who believes in Me,…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." John 7:38 Believe in Him and believe Him. When you read His Word listen with your head and your heart. It might be a thought, a little voice in your heart, or the words on the page of the Bible that He uses to speak to you. Listen and believe Him! Then go and do what he tells you. Watch to see the life come back into your relationships, your job, your home, your life!

Father I pray that the risen Jesus will show Himself alive and active in my life today. Thank you that you promised that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and active in me. Pour that life-giving power into the thoughts I think, the words I speak and the things that I do. I give you all the lifeless parts of my life and ask you to fill them to overflowing with the rivers of your life. Thank you, Jesus, for destroying the power of death. Amen

Hidden Treasures

I have never been one to go crazy over Easter eggs. I did not grow up looking for them and the connection between bunnies, eggs, chocolate (although I do love chocolate) and the empty tomb has been lost on me. This week I found a new appreciation for Easter eggs. I love reading and studying the Bible and finding truth that is new to me, buried there in God's Word. Hidden treasures tucked away on a page of His Word that I have read many times, but suddenly the truth jumps out at me as if it was just put there at that moment! Why does He hide it? So that only those who are really looking for it will see it. Just like Easter eggs, He hides truth for us, not from us. That is our loving Heavenly Father looking for the joy of discovery to cross our faces when we find what He has put there for us. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings." (Prov 25:2) What is your mind preoccupied with today? Where are you looking for secret treasures and those special moments? God has nuggets of truth tucked away eggsactly where you will find them when you seek for them with all your heart. And when you look for them, you will find Him there. So go hunting in His Word today and discover the treasures He has hidden there for you and hide His Word in your heart so you won't sin against Him. (Ps 119:11) A good place to start is in Psalm 1

Thank you Father, for the treasures you have put in your Word. Increase my desire to seek them and find them and apply them to my life. Teach me your ways and i will walk in them. Thank you that your promises are not empty but that the tomb is! Release your resurrection power in me that I may walk in newness of life. All because of Jesus, Amen.