Awakening

Praise Jesus for Easter Sunday!  Oh, what a joyous day it is.  This year in our house we have made some major changes to our past "Easter" celebrations, and, as a result, the Gospel of Jesus and the power of Jesus' resurrection has been revealed to me (and then passed on to my children) in a different way than ever before. 

First of all, let me explain some God spoken changes that we made this year...as a family, we participated in NO easter egg hunts, did not purchase Easter gifts or baskets, and, of course, made sure that our children knew the truth about the Easter bunny. (For a side note, if you don't know the truth about the Easter bunny, you should google it's origin and you will find very disturbing information about how he first represented a pagan celebration of the goddess of dawn.  For this reason and many more, our family will have no part of celebrations of little "g" gods...we know the one and only living, powerful capital "G" God and He's all we need.)  

We read the Word of God in our house often but this year we made sure to read the scriptures from the Bible (Luke - Chapter 23) that describe Jesus' crucifixion.  We also included Ephesians 4:8-9 which tells us what Jesus was doing during the time that His flesh was still in the tomb.  Then, this morning, Kate and I took a sunrise walk.  We played our Jesus songs and watched the sunrise over our neighborhood as we worshiped Jesus - the reason for our celebration on this day.  I look forward to also reading Luke Chapter 24 (the scriptures that tell us about Jesus' resurrection) when Luke wakes up this morning.

Through these changes of focusing on Jesus alone (and trying our best to shut out the world's eggs and bunnies), Jesus revealed this very simple revelation to me (and with the children)....

Did you know that on that first Easter day your identity changed?  Luke 24:36 says this, "Now while they were talking about this (the witnessing of seeing Jesus' alive on the road to Emmaus), Jesus Himself took His stand among them and said to them, 'Peace (freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin) be to you!'"

Did you catch that?  Jesus Himself was reminding the disciples and other witnesses that they no longer had to identify with sin and the bondage/stress/guilt that comes with it. Jesus reminded them to identify with peace. On that day (on this day), Jesus' resurrection had defeated sin and replaced it with peace.  And...also on that day (on this day), Jesus' resurrection had defeated death and replaced it with eternal life.  So, praise Jesus - from that day forward, we no longer have to identify with sin, with guilt, with stress, with worry, with doubt - but we only identify with peace, with eternal life, and with the love and thankfulness of what Jesus has done for us.  

On that day of Jesus' resurrection, we became a son/daughter of God.  Our pathway - communication - relationship - with God, the Father, was restored.  All of the blessings of Heaven and the good treasures that God wants to give us became available.  The Kingdom of Heaven had come! And, of course, it's still here.  The Kingdom of Heaven is right here, right now - when we turn our sin over to Jesus and accept Him as our personal savior. 

Today, in churches all over the world, the Gospel of Jesus will be taught.  Today, many people who usually don't go to church will find a church and enter the doors.  I talked to God this morning and prayed that the Holy Spirit would go forth and bring people to Jesus today.  Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."  

Oh, friends, if you don't know Jesus as your personal savior today, call out to Him. Or, if you know Jesus and you are trusting Him as your savior from sins but you are still identifying with guilt from your past or you are struggling to overcome the temptations of this world, call out to Jesus today. Ask Jesus to reveal His identity to you.  Remember, Romans 8:10 says, "If Christ is IN you, the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness."  Jesus has made you righteous in God's eyes (as soon as you accept Him). God doesn't see your dirty past but only your clean Spirit (that is one with Jesus).  So, now, ask God to help you begin to see yourself as He does - pure, clean, righteous. Tell yourself that you are a son/daughter of our loving heavenly Father.  Tell the enemy that those guilty "feelings" and reminders of your past are a LIE.  Don't let your mind identify with those dead things. You are NEW in Jesus and today is the day that represents that first Easter day that changed our identify forever. Oh, thank you Jesus!

This morning, as Kate and I watched the sun rise, we heard the song by Chris Tomlin called, "Awakening."  Some of the words said this..."Like the rising sun that shines from the darkness comes a light, I hear Your voice and this is my awakening."  

Just as the sun rises and overtakes the darkness, Jesus' power in you will overtake sin, stress, worry, and doubt as you let Him.  There is no darkness too powerful for Jesus. God proved that when He raised His Son from the dead...and, now this same power is IN us...Ephesians 1:19-20 says, "His incomparably great power for us who believe, that power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms." 

With God's power in us, we can overcome all evil things in this simple way - identify with Jesus.  

Happy, happy Easter! Happy, happy resurrection day!!! Happy, happy identity changing day!!! Let the awakening (and revelation of our new identify) overwhelm us today and everyday!

Love,
Toddy

New Life

For the last few days, my morning drive to work has slowly become more colorful. With every new touch of color that I see, I smile and feel such a warmth in my Spirit as I think about the new life that spring brings.  Even as I sit here right now (thinking about the pretty purple flowers that began to bloom in my own yard yesterday afternoon), my heart is full of what spring means to me and I pray that the Holy Spirit help me put it into words that will grow your heart as well. 

Maybe the best place to start is winter....think about what happens in winter....the old leaves, the old blooms - they die.  The leaves fall to the ground and then we have to pick them up and get rid of them - our goal is to take these leaves away where we never have to worry about them again. Did you know that is exactly what Jesus did to our sins?  

Jesus bore our sin in His body on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus had no sin. His flesh and His Spirit remained pure.  But, God still designed it that Jesus would be beaten and crucified on the cross for our sins. Because of Jesus (and when we identify with Him), we become righteous in the eyes of God. Oh, how God has loved us all along - to put such a perfect plan in place! 

When we are sinners (not born again/haven’t received salvation), we identify with Adam.  We see ourselves as flesh (which is corruptible seed).  We identify with sin and sickness BUT after we are born again and receive Jesus, we identify with Jesus.  Romans 8:10 says "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

When we are born AGAIN, we are born of Jesus.  Our first birth is a natural one – we are born of the flesh (the likeness of Adam was reproduced).  Our second birth is a spiritual one – we are born of the Spirit (the likeness and power of Jesus was reproduced).  When you are baptized, you go under the water as FLESH, you come out of the water as SPIRIT.  Your identity changes. 

John 3:1-7 says, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 

With Jesus IN us, we see ourselves as Spirit – no longer ruled by the flesh. When we receive Jesus, the flesh dies…it loses its power – the power of the Spirit of Jesus inside of us takes over.  We no longer have to worry about dying (our flesh perishing) because we don’t even identify with that part anymore – we identify with our Spirit – which is eternal.  And…because we identify with the Spirit of Jesus, we know that we are WHOLE. Jesus isn’t sick – He isn’t carrying around feelings of guilt – dread, fear.  Jesus is ALIVE, He’s WHOLE, He’s at peace, and He has authority over all fear through His Power. When we identify with the Spirit of Jesus, we KNOW we have all these things as well and this is where our confidence comes from.  

So....let's get back to those trees and dead leaves.  Remember, that after the leaves die and fall to the ground, our goal is to get rid of them.  We don't want those DEAD leaves cluttering our lawns and gutters.  Just like the leaves, Jesus got rid of our sins.  During the three days between Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus was in a place that we will never have to go - the lower parts of the Earth. What did Jesus accomplish there?  He took our sins far, far away and left them in the darkness - never to be returned to us.  Ephesians 4:8-10 says, "When He (Jesus) ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.  Now, this expression, He ASCENDED what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the Earth?"  These scriptures teach us that Jesus freed those men of God from the Old Testament (Abraham, Noah, Jacob and many more). These men had righteousness "on credit" and after Jesus' death on the cross, He freed them from the lower parts of the Earth (those were the captives referenced in these scriptures) AND Jesus left our sins there - in the lower parts of earth - as far as the east is from the west.  

So...when you have those days, when the enemy wants to remind you of the sins of your past. Please think about those leaves of fall that you raked up and threw away. That's exactly what Jesus did for your sins (if you have faith in what He accomplished). He took your sins away - FOREVER and does not want you to be reminded of them anymore. Thank you, Jesus!  

Now...back to those seasons.... :) 

Just like it takes some time for the dead of winter to change to the life of spring - it also takes some time for us to bloom and produce evidence of Jesus in us. After we are born again, we begin to put the Word of God in us, to ask Jesus to baptize us with the Holy Spirit, to pray in the Holy Spirit, to spend time with Jesus daily and as a result, our blooms (our characteristics of Jesus become evident) and in a beautiful way.   

As we "bloom" in Jesus, it’s so very important to build our confidence by understanding WHO we are IN God…we are not Adam…we are Jesus.  We are not flesh, we are SPIRIT. We are not sick, we are WHOLE. We are not guilty, we are FORGIVEN. We are not slaves, we are SONS/DAUGHTERS. All because of…..Jesus! 

NOW, when I see the colors of spring - all the different types of blooms and new life around me....I begin to think about all the fruits of Jesus' Spirit that I now identify with. 

The leaves of.... guilt, sickness, fear, sinner, slave, anger, bondage, selfish, doubt, powerless, perish ...have died....and now the beautiful, fragrant, colorful blooms of spring....forgiveness, whole, peace, righteous, daughter/son, patience, love, freedom, selfLESS, powerFUL, confidence, eternal....are my new identity. 

So, as I often do, I challenge you....during this beautiful season that I know that God designed for such reasons as He has shown me, I challenge you to see Jesus in the new life of Spring. I challenge you to identify with Him.  And....here's a hard one (especially for my generation), instead of talking to your kids about the Easter bunny and egg hunts....tell them about the new life that spring represents.  Read God's Word about the new life they have when they accept Jesus as their savior.  Tell them how Jesus took their place on that cross and how He took their sins away forever - permanently.  Easter is NOT about bunnies, eggs, and candy - but it's about the hope that we have in our only way to God the Father - through His precious Son, Jesus.  Oh, thank you, Jesus, for my new life. I identify with you!  

Part II of another celebration (and glory to God) that spring always brings for our family coming soon! :) Stay tuned...