 It seems everything is in bloom to celebrate our risen Lord! Even my rose arbor peaked for Easter week this year! I love Easter Sunday. The music, the message, the hope, the beauty, the victory. Yet so often, it seems after we've had our Sunday services and eaten our Easter feasts we go back to our lives as usual. I'm praying that this Easter celebration will make a significant difference in my life and yours. This year let's purpose to live differently, to live in the power and hope of the Resurrected Life. Our Savior died on the cross for our sin, but He ROSE from the dead. The tomb is EMPTY!! We don't have to live in defeat. The victory is won! 1 Corinthians 15:57 (NIV) But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 - In the Message…. "But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!"  Painting by Simon Bisley Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins and bring glory to God, the Father. His death made a way for us to have freedom and victory in this life. But we must choose to live in the freedom, to live in the victory. So often we live as though the battle has not been won. What would it look like for you to live in freedom today? What is the sin, or guilt that has imprisoned your life? It could be bitterness. Maybe you just can't let it go. Maybe it's the poison of unforgiveness. Choose today to walk in freedom and experience the victory that Jesus died and rose for. As a believer your sins have been forgiven by the Savior. Embrace the life He offers you. Walk in forgiveness. Maybe it's unfulfilled dreams, anxiety, failure, betrayal, unmet needs and expectations, the pain of your life and circumstances…. What is keeping you from living the life God intended when He sacrificed His one and only beloved Son for you? It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 Consider what Jesus brought to the Cross - "With scarred hands he offered forgiveness. Through torn skin he promised acceptance. He took the path to take us home. He wore our garment to give us His own." Max Lucado The cross - We can study it, analyze it, pray to it, sing about it. But until we choose to respond to it, embrace it and all it stands for, we will never live in the freedom that God intended. We have to choose to leave something at the cross. What is the thing - the sin, the guilt, the death, the ____________ that is keeping you from walking in the freedom and power of the resurrected life? “We have to keep letting go, and slowly and surely the great full life of God will invade us in every part, and men will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus.” ― Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest 1 John 1:9 (NIV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Leave it at the cross, because we can't live in victory as long as we keep holding on to the things that are holding our hearts captive. Choose freedom. It's the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ! “God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up. He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having. life with Himself. It is a question of loosening the bonds that hinder the life...” ― Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest This beloved verse tells us what the captivating love of Jesus within us looks like. 1 Corinthians 13:5 (AMP) It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].1 Corinthians 13:5 (AMP) Before Jesus went to the cross He spoke of many things to His disciples in the upper room and in the garden of Gethsemane. In His final words He told them how to live, how to love and He offered the hope of eternal life. Our Savior knew that His death on the cross was not the end of the story. Sunday was coming!! Jesus rose from the dead!!!! "He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24 The story doesn't end at the cross for Jesus and it doesn't end there for you or me. For Jesus reigns in heaven and one day as believers we will live and reign there with Him. There is a song on our cd of choir anthems for the Easter season that I keep playing over and over. My friend and I were discussing the power and beauty of it's message just last night. Every time we listen we end up in tears. Not because it is sad, but because it is truth that offers hope in our fallen world. Hope through the cross, hope in the resurrection and hope for an eternal, heavenly home. Please take a moment and listen to the words of this wonderful gospel song written by Jennie Lee Riddle and Crystal Yates.   When Love Was Slain This world is not my home, Oh, this world is not my home, My home's been made at Heaven's throne, This world is not my home. This life is not my own, Oh, this life is not my own, I am His and His alone, This life is not my own.  I was bought when love was slain. What high cost to pay death's wage. Now ransomed I am freedom's slave, My Jesus raised me from the grave. Come now and walk with me, Oh, come now and walk with me, Together we our Lord shall meet, Come now and walk with me. I was bought when love was slain. What high cost to pay death's wage. Now ransomed I am freedom's slave. My Jesus raised me from the grave.  Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe, Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. I was bought when love was slain. What high cost to pay death's wage. Now ransomed I am freedom's slave, My Jesus raised me from the grave. Now ransomed I am freedom's slave, My Jesus raised me from the grave.  Soon Lord, oh very soon, Oh, soon Lord, oh very soon, You'll come take me to be with You. Soon Lord, very soon, Soon Lord, oh very soon. Won't you come and walk with Jesus on this journey to your heavenly home. We can walk together in freedom and victory because the price for our sin has been paid. Love was slain for you and me and Jesus is risen from the grave! "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3  Grateful for my Risen Lord,
I am His and His alone, Kathy If you would like to receive the "Monday Musings" RESTORE blog each week via email, please sign up and enter your email address in the upper right hand corner. Instantly a box will appear for you to type in the security letters as you see them and press "submit." It will tell you that you need to go to your email inbox and click the link to verify/activate. YOU MUST COMPLETE THE NEXT STEP TO RECEIVE THE BLOG!
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