God’s Love and His Power

Easter fits right in with the series on our God’s character as it shows us both his incredible love for us and his power to overcome having been murdered on a cross. 

On what we call Good Friday, Jesus was forced to carry a rugged, wooden cross on his back to the top of a hill, where men mocked and scorned him, spat on him, and nailed his hands and feet to a cross where he succumbed to death.  God loved us so much he had his son die for us.  Can you imagine doing the same? I can’t.

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But that wasn’t the end.  God’s incredible power shows up three days later when his friends went to his tomb, only to find it empty!


Photo courtesy of bigbible.org.uk

They’d seen his body lain in there, so they believed someone had stolen it and began to cry.

Later that day he appeared to them, blowing their minds. He was alive! Unbelievable.  Something only God has the power to do.
 



Photo courtesy of strabuchet.com

 

 

So at Easter God shows us His love for us and his power to overcome any obstacle in life.  That’s why it’s such a celebration for you and me today.  Because He lives. In me. He’ll live in you too, if you ask Him. 

 

 

 

 

 God Directs Us

 

 

Life can pull us in all different directions, not just physically, when we need to be in two places at once, but emotionally too. I find the latter is much more difficult. There are many times when our lives are going well. There’s money in the bank, our health is good, and we have friends we can rely on. We enjoy it and, if we remember to, we thank God for them, recognizing He’s provided them for us.

But when something happens that changes our lives, we’re often left wondering why and what to do next. It could be anything—job loss, health issues, death of a loved one, or any host of other circumstances.  What do we do then?

I’ve found we have to hold on to what never changes in this world and that there are three things that meet that criteria: God, God’s Word, and God’s promises.  We’re going to take a look at these over the next several weeks. I’d love to hear your feedback in the process.

First, God is love.  So everything He does is done out of love for us.  Sometimes I find that hard to believe, especially  when life doesn’t go the way it should. When senseless things like someone dying far too young.  Often God doesn’t answer our “why questions.”  Sometimes we have to wait, for a variety of reasons.  I’ve had to wait for an answer to that question for months in the past, regarding my health.  It frustrated me, but I spoke to Him more in that time than usual. Perhaps that was part of the point?   Maybe. 

Now it’s your turn. What have you been through when you questioned God?  How did you make it through?  Share your experience here. Someone will benefit from it.

 

image courtesy of www.freeditigalphotos.net

 

 

Impending storm

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

“Oh, it’s not cloudy out,” I said, sitting at my computer one morning. I’d thought it was quite stormy when I’d gone outside just a few minutes earlier.

The forecast I’d just read confirmed that it would be cloudy for the next three days. But as I sat at my desk scanning the headlines online, I looked through the blinds and saw the sunlight on the trees.

 

 A few minutes later it disappeared.  I had assumed the weather would be stormy based on evidence I’d seen and what had been predicted. Yet, a different story lay outside a few minutes later. Then it changed again.

 

Life is like that too. Circumstances can lead us to believe one thing; when then they change, we change our minds. My emotions can be fickle too. If someone compliments me, it makes me feel good. If I’m criticized and given  feedback I don’t like, I may take it personally and believe it’s a failure.

Or my health can change for the worse. Sometimes life feels unfair.  So how do we know what to think if we don’t know what’s true and what’s not? We need to focus on what’s stable, what never changes. One of those things is God’s love and faithfulness to us.

What do find to be stable in your life? Who can you count on when things in your life are flux? 

 

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