The Faith I Live By: Jesus Christ is Risen!
Message Magazine’s Online Devotional for Sunday, April 21, 2019
Audio Link: http://bit.ly/ThoughtsinWorship
“Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, brining the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, ‘Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee?'”
Luke 24:1-6
Why are you trying to embalm your answer to prayer? Your answer is alive; but your faith, is it dead?
Burying the Living
You have to admire the dedication of these women. The Bible shows how these women were constantly seeking ways to honor Jesus throughout His life, and ultimately in His death. There was only one problem. They wanted to embalm a living man. Huh? Well they thought Jesus was dead. It was for this reason that they came to the tomb with spices and herbs to anoint His body. But Jesus promised to rise again. How could these women distrust the very word of God? Honestly, I don’t believe they distrusted Jesus. Instead, it seems they allowed their feelings and beliefs to cloud their vision of God’s answer to their prayer.
Can you relate? Has God ever promised to do something special for you but you struggled to believe that it would really happen? Have you ever forgotten God’s promise to you?
Have you ever tried to embalm the very thing God was trying to resurrect?
Burying Our Blessings
Truth is, most of us can relate. If you walk with God long enough you’ll realize that, oftentimes, His promises are far above our understanding. In fact, it’s our inability to understand how God will keep a promise that causes us to quickly lose faith and begin to discount His power. In fact, it seems like almost immediately after our prayers we make these tiny little coffins to squeeze the prospects of His grace into. We prepare things for death that God is trying to raise to live. This story shows us that God wants us to stop burying our faith. He wants us to allow Him to be God! He wants us to allow Him to truly rise and shine in our hearts.
Dear friends, allow God to be the Promise Keeper He has always been. Do not confine the answers to your prayers in a graveyard. Your prayer answering God is alive and well. And when He awakens your faith and opens your eyes, rejoice like the men Jesus engaged on the road to Emmaus. Give thanks!
By God’s grace, this is the faith I live by. Let this be the same for you.
