He Is Risen!

I am so excited to start this new plan from She Reads Truth. 

I can hardly wait. :) 

I hope you join us. :)

Miumiu Cat

I know it's shallow, but today I got a Miumiu Cat phone pluggy. It's soooo cute and it makes me happy. Plus it looks like our cat Mien Mien. See for yourself. :)

Day 8: Alive!

Text: Luke 24:1-12; 1 Corinthians 15; Isaiah 25:6-9; Matthew 28

I am so excited that I do not know exactly where to start. Participating in this Holy Week plan for the lenten season by She Reads Truth has been very meaningful to me. The texts from the Bible in this plan are not new to me and yet, in some amazing and awesome way, they are. I just feel that the Holy Spirit is with me in this, teaching me new things, bringing to light truths that I have taken for granted. I have been guilty of not finishing plans, but I am so happy that I stuck with this. And it isn't really something so hard to do. I feel the love that the SRT community has. I feel welcome, even though I don't comment often. And I learned a lot. Thank you, sisters.

I have been waiting for Easter to come! The devotionals each day for this week has been leading to today - the climax! He is risen! He is alive! My heart is overwhelmed with so much joy that we are a witness of this event, this truth. The gospel is true!

We need not be afraid of death anymore. Our faith has meaning because He lives! 

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! (1 Corinthians 15:51-57 MSG)

 You can stop searching the graveyard for the hope, the love, the life you long for. HE IS ALIVE.

Resurrection Sunday is more than the miracle of a man coming back to life.
It is the fulfillment of a promise.
It is the irremovable seal on God’s vow of love to His children.
It is the resurrection of hope.
It is the definitive declaration that the Love we long for is not dead. ~ She Reads Truth

Day 7: Silence

                                   For if we have been united with him in a death like his, 

                             we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 

                                                               - Romans 6:5, ESV

Day 6: Finished

Text: Isaiah 53:4-11, John 19:16b-37, John 3:16

In a sham of a trial with an unjust verdict, He shows us that this is how God intended for His only Son to be sentenced. What they meant for evil, God meant for good. John shows us God – working out His purposes in this poor, fallen world. In a situation where God seems to be completely absent, He has been present for ages. 

And when Christ breathes His final words before His death, “It is finished,” He not only indicates that the worst ordeal – bearing the wrath of God against sin in the place of His people (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34) – is literally over, He has also completed the work of salvation for His people. ~ She Reads Truth

He did it all. It is finished. Paid in full. He has delivered us. We are set free. For whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Unimaginable. For my King to die for me, a sinner, to ransom me. I can't begin to fathom this. I can't understand why He would do such a thing for me.How great is His love for you and me. Lord, I am ever so grateful.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law (Matthew 5:17). He is the answer to what we are looking for.

It is the worst and best of all human deaths. For on this tree he bears our sins in his body (1 Peter 2:24), “the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). And now it is finished. ~ Desiring God

Day 5: Denial

Text: Mark 14:26-31, Luke 22:54-62, John 18:10, John 21:17

Like Peter, I fall short. It is only by God's grace that I can stand. Still He calls me friend, daughter. There is nothing like His love, there is none like Him.

The same Peter who denied Christ three times is the one God used to help establish the early Church. 

As you seek the Lord in the coming days in preparation for Easter Sunday, remember God’s great love for Peter. He was a disciple – a great friend to Christ – and yet he fell short. Very short. And Christ loved him still – and called him to do great work for His Kingdom! 

Isn’t God good to show us over and over again, even amidst the trial of His Son, that He loves us? 

When we are weak, He is strong. And He wants to use us in the great outworking of His plan for His glory! ~ She Reads Truth

Day 4: The Betrayal

Text: Psalm 41:9, Matthew 26:47-56

Judas betrayed Jesus, and yet Jesus called him friend. It is just like our Lord to teach us to respond in love even in His darkest hour. This truth humbles me. This is a lesson I find so hard to learn and to practice. I often feel that I need to be justified whenever I feel that I an wronged. I seldom respond in love when I am irked. I often respond in impatience, sometimes in anger.

I forget that I too have my Judas moments. 

It's remarkable to point out that the price for which Judas betrayed Jesus was 30 pieces of silver, about a month's wage. How many times have I chosen work over Jesus? How many times have I pushed Him aside and chose myself?

Still He calls me friend...

And in His love He honored His Father, just as He had promised through sweaty, bloody tears in Gethsemane. Christ’s submission to the Father’s omnipotent hand was unwavering.

In His love – not just for Judas and not only for the Father, but for us – He was led to His trial. And He was sentenced to death.

Your betrayals and mine – His blood covers it all. And He calls us “friend.” ~ She Reads Truth