Surprise!

So, as I reflect on this past week, I am still in awe of what we celebrate every Easter. For the Christian faith, it is the ESSENTIAL and most important part of the story. Jesus is alive! This is not some renaissance, cool idea, but it is all about this thought here: God's power went ballistic in the tomb, reconnecting Jesus' body with the Holy Spirit, taking His corpse and put life back into it. If there is a time to use the word EPIC- this would be your cue! (Insert here) As you read through the gospels you will see different accounts. When put in order chronologically it makes complete sense. The guards sealed the tomb per Pilate's request. The women proceeded to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. As you read this passage, an earthquake takes place. This earthquake was simultaneous to the resurrection. It did not happen as the women came upon the tomb. The word used to describe the earthquake in the Gk is idou. It carries the same connotation of our use of "wow, amazing, & wonder." Matthew writes this years after the event, yet is still throwing this word in because of the impact and experience he still remembers.
As the women enter the tomb, they are perplexed. As if they lost their way is how the wording is interpreted.
This is the point, when you have an encounter with the living God, Jesus, you may have a hard time understanding what happened, because God works in the supernatural, not the natural. You may even babble or have a hard time communicating like the women did upon finding the tomb empty. Bu God, through His Holy Spirit, speaks through us when we tell people of this Jesus. So, don't lose heart, and don't think you are speaking gibberish-When God gives you the opportunity to tell someone of Jesus-the words coming out of your mouth will be clear and precise, so that more can hear about this great story of Resurrection.
Jesus surprised a lot of people by raising from the dead, even though He gave them every indication He would. So what is Jesus telling you, that you may be missing.

Don't Stop Short

I have been reading out of the book of Joshua recently. He is definitely one of my fave Bible characters. In Joshua 5 & 6 there is a great story that many of us have heard of. It is the FALL OF JERICHO. As I read this story for the millionth time-something really hit me this past time. First, I thought about that crazy feat: A wall built 50 ft tall & 6 ft thick and the Lord said to Joshua, "I will deliver Jericho into your hands." Think with me if you will about this. How would you feel if you are in Joshua's army and he communicates with God and told you to take it down. These are soldiers who have prepped for battle, and have the skills. But God tells Joshua to march around it. WHAT? No battering ram, flaming arrows, sword skills! Just marching feet and a few days to make it happen, but then the trumpet players in the marching band get some credit here too. I think the army was pretty upset about not using their training and fighting skills. But it got me thinking, what if they would have stopped short of the 7th time around, on the 7th day? They would have missed out on God's blessing and promise. How many times in our lives have we stopped short of something and missed out on God's blessing. Maybe it was not a march around Jericho, or maybe it wasn't a wall that seemed impenetrable, but I'm sure each of us have our Wall of Jericho that we have had to circle. Here is my thought-if God has given you a Jericho, don't stop marching. The Lord gave Jericho into the hands of Joshua as promised-no premature war cries or victory dances. It was a simple message followed to the exact directions given to Joshua. After the march of a few circles each day, when Joshua gave the order to SHOUT on the 7th day, the wall collapsed. SAY WHAT? Don't stop marching, God has something for you and if He has revealed what that may be and the orders to go forward are there-then by all means march and don't stop short. For the full story check out Joshua 5:13-6.