Happy Easter!! Christ is Risen!
Our team just had the most relaxing Easter day I could ever think up. We went to church this morning with Arthur and Natasha (our contacts). After church there was a huge potluck lunch. Then, we went home and changed and went to a beautiful pond where we just laid out in the springtime sun and relaxed.
It’s amazing how God truly knows what we need. Our team has been tired from relocating 3 times this month, and having full ministry schedules. Our Father took care of us, and gave us a gorgeous sunny afternoon to rest and enjoy the day. It was the perfect temperature, and there weren’t even any bugs!! He is good…
Part of our ministry this week has been to go into the schools and remind the kids what the real reason for Easter is. In the Orthodox church there are many traditions, icons, and superstitions. We wanted to just talk with the kids, and show them how simple the truth of Easter is; that Jesus was crucified for our sins, and three days later He rose from the dead and later ascended into Heaven. This fact is the central evidence for our eternal hope, and Jesus is the only one to be celebrated on that day.
I think it is so easy for us to get stuck, when God intends for us to go so much further with Him. We get stuck in religious attitudes, living as if it is the law rather than the condition of the heart that will get us to Heaven. But, we can also get stuck in thinking that what happened in the Bible is just history, and now we have nothing but to bide our time until death or rapture. This is the very bondage that Christ came to free us from!! “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
Jesus came to give us new life. Yes, for eternity in Heaven, but also today, right now, on earth. We do not have to live without true purpose, and we do not have to live as if He is distant any longer. Jesus wants to role back the tombstones in our lives, just as He did on the first Easter Sunday. He wants to open up the dead places, so that new life can walk forth. All of the things that keep us stagnant, and hold us back…He wants to set us free from those things. He has the power. All we have to do is be open and willing to His movement in our hearts and lives.
There is sacrifice and there is diligence involved, but the benefit is intimacy with the Lord, and walking in new purpose, new life, and new authority in His name.
Happy Easter!
