Cross

Alone With God

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But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6 ESV

Maybe the hardest part about real prayer is that no one knows about it except God. Jesus told us to be alone with God, but I hate to be alone. Didn’t God say, “It is not good for man to be alone.” But then God reminds me that Adam wasn’t lonely, and he wasn’t ever really alone. In fact, before he sinned, Adam was able to walk in the garden every day with God. But as God watched Adam sleeping, He decided that Adam needed another person to be with Him.  So that night, God performed the first surgery and He removed one of Adam’s ribs to form Eve as a helper who was made just for him.

Imagine Adam’s surprise in the morning when he woke up and there she was! Prayer that is alone with God is not lonely because in it we draw closer to God. He wants us to learn that we can be closer to Him than anyone else in the world. He wants to be our most intimate friend. Jesus tells us to spend time alone in our prayer closet so that when we open the door and step out, we can walk with Him all through the day. That special fellowship was made possible by another surgery that God performed. That surgery happened one Friday on the cross. There a Roman soldier thrust His spear into Jesus’ side, and blood and water poured down. In that moment God forgave our sins, then while Jesus slept, God began to fashion for Him a people who would be made just for Him and to be with Him forever.

One Simple Miracle and Sunday Praise

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As we get closer to Easter we need to remember what our faith is really about. Christianity is not about big church buildings, Christian concerts with special effects or elaborate social programs. Instead all that we are and everything we do is based on one single morning at a tomb. The body of Jesus was supposed to be inside it. The priests were counting on it because they had sent a guard. Pilate was sure of it because it was shut with a Roman seal. Even the closest friends of Jesus believed He would be there because they went with spices to prepare the body. And the grave was shut. The tomb was silent. The death from crucifixion was final….Until it wasn’t!

“You seek Jesus who was crucified” the angel said. “He is not here for He has risen as He said!” Matthew 28:5-6a And in that moment all History turned on the hinge of one simple miracle, an empty tomb and a risen Lord!

I loved this new release from The Weaver family in Pennsylvania. It is both simple and powerful- like that very first Easter morning!

Higher Ground – Video

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Luke 23:52-53 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

When Jesus was born, Mary wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid him in the manger because there was no room for him in the inn. At His death Joseph of Arimathaea took him down from the cross and wrapped him in clean linen and put him in Joseph’s own tomb, because Jesus did not have His own. From birth to his last breathe on earth it was clear that there was nowhere on this planet that Jesus belonged, because His true home was in Heaven and in our hearts. When we put our faith in Him for salvation, what was true for Jesus becomes true for us. We lose our acceptance on earth but we gain a citizenship in heaven where Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. We are called to higher ground! I pray you will be blessed by the video today and that you will be encouraged as you remember that we are called by faith to stand on heaven’s tableland!