This is the second part of my speech at women's Easter
celebration in Suzhou on March 25.
Jesus
died for our sins, and while it is crucial to accept it and we need to
appreciate it, I think it is so important to also go ahead and use what He paid
for and live in the fullness of life He provided. I feel we need to move beyond
His crucifixion to His resurrection and to embrace all He wants to give to us.
While we will often see the image of the cross with Christ on it, we live at a
time when Jesus is not hanging at the cross anymore: “He was crucified in
weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, by God’s power we will
live with him.” (2.Corinthians13, 3-4) In
real time right now, He is risen and at the right hand of the Father. All power
and glory is given to Him. And if we believe in Him, He lives in us through His
Holy Spirit. How do you see Jesus? Is He weak in your eyes, the one still
hanging on the cross? Or is He the One who has power - power to change your
life?
After
we have accepted Him, we have everything necessary to walk in the newness of
life. “We were buried therefore with him by
baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, we
too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6,4) His resurrection shows we do
not need to be afraid of death any more, as He promises to resurrect us too and
prepare a mansion in heaven for us. Knowing this can transform the way we live
and help us overcome any obstacles we are facing. For fear of death is at the
root of all fears we have in life: “Since the children have
flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death
he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the
devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery
by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15) Isn’t it wonderful to be freed
from the mother of all fears, fear of death? Through Jesus, we are liberated to
walk in the newness of life, where the power of darkness, fear, and death has
been overcome. "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has
said, rivers
of living water will flow from
within them." (John 7, 38) “I
have come so that they may have life and have it in
abundance.” (John 10, 10) As in the song, we can then say - because He lives,
we can face tomorrow and all our fear is gone. Is all darkness is your life
overcome by the light of His resurrection moment? Or is something still hidden
in the dark and holds you in fear?
I
want to turn your attention now back to the beautiful backdrop that we have.
Here the stone has been rolled away from the entrance and one is free to see
the beautiful view and to go out of the dark cave. I want to ask you – is there
a stone pressing heavily on your heart today? Maybe you have tried to remove it
by yourself, but it has not been successful? Jesus
was lying in the tomb for three days and then rose again. As we know from the
events described in the Bible, God
sent angels to earth to remove the stone from the entrance of the tomb. It took a supernatural power of God to remove the stone from the
entrance of Jesus’ tomb. Do not struggle in your own strength with that which
suppresses you. This one most likely is too big to handle by yourself.
Surrender it to the Lord today and He will help you to get out from heaviness you
are under.
Have
you been in a place where you even got tired to pray about certain matter? Is
there something that has been pressing you for years? I have had this
experience. However, pretty recently as I came with that before the Lord, like
– here we go again… - He took me by surprise. In my spirit, I suddenly saw
myself riding on a horse in great freedom and laughing - laughing for joy. I
realized I can have great joy and freedom in Him and that is what I have been
created for, instead of being suppressed under unresolved issues.
Once
after a difficult talk with a family member, it was late at night and I knew I
will not be able to sleep right away. I needed some comfort, so I decided to
watch some uplifting youtube videos. I came across one with a song –“There is
life” from Disney’s Bambi 2. It showed how under the thick cover of snow, there
is vegetation coming up even before you see it. I come from Latvia and have
lived in Finland for a long time, and there is a lot of snow, so for me it was
a powerful analogy. Let me share the lyrics, as I feel they also have great
relevance for our topic today:
“Under
the snow, beneath the frozen streams, there is life /You'll have to know when nature
sleeps she dreams, there is life / And the colder the winter, the warmer
the spring, the deeper the sorrow / the more our hearts sing / Even
when you can't see it inside everything, there is life/ And all that we dream of awaits
patently, there is life.”
God
used this song to give me hope that there is life in that person’s spirit and
our relationship even if from surface I could not see that in this
conversation. Right now you may feel your dreams are dead, or a certain
relationship is dead. But there is potential of life there. When Jesus raised
up girl from the dead, He was saying: “Have faith. Believe. She is only
sleeping.” He brought peace and joy to a home where fear, desperation, and
grief reigned. Jesus is ready to provide for you, wherever in your life you
need hope for the newness of life. He can resurrect your dead dream or dead
relationship.
Is
there a hope for newness of life through Jesus awakening in your heart right
now?
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