Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
Acts1:1-3
In my former book, Theophilus,
(The author of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
was also the author of the Gospel of Luke.)
I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach
until the day He was taken up to heaven,
(As incredible as Jesus' resurrection is,
the true finale of the miracle of the resurrection is His ascension
into the heavenlies to take His place seated at the right Hand of the Father,
seated and at rest because His redemptive work, His mission to earth,
is accomplished and complete and finished.)
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles He had chosen.
After His suffering, He presented Himself to them
and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.
He appeared to them over a period of forty days
(Not only has Christ died, but He rose again, freed from the finality of death,
the first fruits of those of us who have already and still yet
will step into new life from death.
To ensure people received the good news of His resurrection,
Jesus appeared in person to so many people over such an extended period of time
that the truth of the Resurrection was undeniable and, in fact, changed the world.
That truth still holds for us today the truth of His presence with us.
His message to them is still His message to us,
that the Kingdom of God is here, is within us,
is a new institution in the lives of man,
and gives us the strength and power
to walk out the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.
Presenting Himself to a wide variety of people in a wide variety of settings,
Jesus remained visible and accessible to His disciples for forty days.
He began His ministry by fasting for forty days in the wilderness,
preparing Himself for the mission ahead of Him,
and now He shows Himself alive for forty days in a victory tour
as He brings His mission to completion.
The number forty often represents testing and trials,
such as the Israelites' wandering for forty years in the wilderness
or rain flooding the earth for forty days.
These forty days the Lord chooses to linger on earth
are also another example of the grace and mercy of the Lord
as He replaces the times of defeat with a time of triumph,
as He remains here on earth in person to give more than ample proof
to His followers of His resurrection life!)
and spoke about the kingdom of God.
(His message to them is still His message to us,
that the Kingdom of God is here, is within us,
is a new revelation in the lives of man,
and gives us the strength and power
to walk out the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

[category word for today]

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
Matthew 28:16-20
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.
(Jesus had earlier told them to meet Him on a particular Galilean mountain.
By this time, He had revealed Himself
to many of His disciples at different times and places.
But now He has appointed His disciples
to meet Him for His special instructions.
Today, He has also invited us to go to the mountain of the Lord,
to the very place in our lives today
in which He has predetermined to meet us,
to the very place He Himself has directed us,
and He meets us there to reveal Himself to us.)
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
(Stubbornly resistant, even standing in the very Presence of the Lord Himself,
some still doubted what they were seeing and had heard.
Though we stand in the very Presence of the Lord Himself,
though we are the very dwelling place of the Lord,
stubbornly resistant as we are, we, too, often still doubt.)
Then Jesus came to them and said,
(Doubting never daunts Jesus.
He comes to those who doubt, still seeking them out to reveal Himself to them,
just as still today He seeks us out to erase our doubts
and to prepare us to hear His next words of commission,
words from Jesus Himself that give His Own divine purpose for us.)
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
(Declaring His sovereignty and omnipotence,
Christ assures His friends that the mission upon which He is about to send them
carries with it His full endorsement and empowerment,
a reminder to us today that He still retains
that same authority and sovereignty and omnipotence in our lives
as He clarifies and endorses the mission He has for us today.)
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
(Here is our purpose today, to go, to disciple, to baptize, and to teach.
We go among those around us,
we live lives that draw them to us to see Jesus more clearly,
we immerse them in the newness of life that is theirs,
and we teach them truths the Lord has revealed
in the Good News and in His resurrection.
For some people, we are the only Jesus they will see.)
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
(Thank You, Lord, that You never leave us
and that You empower us to walk out the mission You have given us!)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

[category word for today]

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!

He Is Risen, Indeed!
Luke 24:13-36
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus,
about seven miles from Jerusalem.
(These two men, having heard the amazing reports of Jesus having risen,
had left the city for Emmaus, a word related to intense, heated determination.
The men were determined to engage each other in discussing together
the mysteries they had just seen and experienced.)
They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
As they talked and discussed these things with each other,
Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them;
but they were kept from recognizing Him.
(Trying to make sense of the past few days, they were pondering
the news of the day and the tragedy of seeing their beloved Rabbi cruelly crucified
and the wonder of the reports that He was not dead after all.
The Risen Christ has actually come into their very presence,
but they were so focused on the circumstances, on the situation,
that their ability to focus on Him and to recognize Him was lost.
How often we, too, are in the very presence of the Living Christ
and yet are so focused on what we are thinking about, on the situation before us,
that we, too, blind ourselves to the wider and most important reality
that the Lord Himself is present with us
and to the situation-changing truth that He Himself is presenting to us.)
He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"
(The Risen Christ is hardly unaware of what they are talking about
or needs to be told what He already knows.
Rather, the Lord always invites us to pour out our hearts to Him.
He gives us the opportunity to put into words our deepest hurts,
our doubts, our confusion, our limited human perspectives.
Why? Not because He needs us to inform Him,
but because He knows our putting into words what is troubling us
is the best way for us to be open to Him and to allow Him
to enter into those places of hurt and confusion.)
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked Him,
"Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things
that have happened there in these days?"
(Again, simply clueless, still sad and discouraged, they are incredulous
that this Person, who was also walking on the road away from Jerusalem,
could be uninformed about the events that had consumed the attention of everyone.
Symbolically, both the men and Jesus are already beginning the first steps
of moving out of Jerusalem and going into the world to spread the Good News.)
"What things?" He asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet,
powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
(Though they had heard reports of the Resurrection,
though they had earlier heard Jesus foretell that He would rise from death,
they still spoke of Jesus out of their human perspective,
in the past tense and that He was, though powerful, merely a prophet.
When we are in the middle of situations we don't understand,
we, too, often relegate Jesus and His truths to a, perhaps, interesting,
but insignificant place where He doesn't really impact
the human truth of what we see before us.)
The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over
to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him;
but we had hoped that He was the One Who was going to redeem Israel.
(As we so often do, these two disciples measured what they had seen
against their own judgment of what should or should not have happened.
We, like them, ask the Lord to intervene
and, when He does and causes His plans to unfold,
bringing circumstances to bear that might not align with the way
we had thought God should act and had planned for Him to act,
we immediately view the situation as being exclusively of human origin and control.)
And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.
In addition, some of our women amazed us.
They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find His body.
They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive.
Then some of our companions went to the tomb
and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus."
He said to them, "How foolish you are,
and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?"
(The men had heard, they had remembered,
and they had even been told by eye witnesses
that Jesus would rise on the third day after He was killed.
Jesus knows their slowness to believe and their lack of discernment,
reminding them of both the words of the prophets of old,
as well as His Own words to them earlier.
How often, do we, too, still lack spiritual discernment and insight
about the events circulating in our lives today.)
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,
He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.
(Here is yet another example of the Lord's tireless patience in dealing with us
even when we are slow to believe and slow to act on His promises and truths.
This picture is an encouragement that even when we are foolish, even in our doubt,
He remains faithful and long-suffering, carefully and gently opening up for us
all that we need to know even though He has tried to teach us the same things before.)
As they approached the village to which they were going,
Jesus continued on as if He were going farther.
But they urged Him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening;
the day is almost over." So He went in to stay with them.
(Always pursuing us, but never forcing Himself on us,
always allowing us to exercise our free will,
Jesus had done what He knew His friends had needed. Now He was  ready to go on.
What a holy time they would have missed
had they not pressed Him to prolong His stay with them
and what a blessing they received by being persistent.
How many times do we fail to press into Jesus and miss a blessing
that He would readily give and would be ours
were we to invite ourselves to spend more time with the Lord.
His time with us is ours merely for the asking.)
When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks,
broke it and began to give it to them.
(Their reward for their invitation to Him was more than they could have imagined.
When we ask the Lord to remain with us,
He makes Himself available in the most intimate and caring way.
After their long journey, after their deep discussions,
they were ready for physical refreshment,
and the Lord provides both spiritual and physical blessing to them.
He still provides the same for us today,
both physical and spiritual renewal and refreshing.)
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him,
(How like us. As believers, we are always in the very Presence of the Lord
and, yet, so often fail to recognize Him.
Even in their despair, He had been with them all along, but they hadn't known it.
As we walk along the Emmaus road today,
sometimes a road of sadness and deep questioning,
the Lord is walking with us to reassure us and to open our eyes to Him.
We only need to look for Him. He is always with us.)
and He disappeared from their sight.
They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us
while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
(How often do we sense that inexplicable "something" stirring within us,
and how often do we hear ourselves saying something like,
"Well, it was probably just me" when, in fact, that still, small Voice within us
is the very prompting, the very presence of the Lord Himself.)
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.
There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together
and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon."
Then the two told what had happened on the way,
and how Jesus was recognized by them when He broke the bread.
(Now ready to believe because they had encountered Jesus Himself for themselves,
the men are now ready to return to their place of doubt and discouragement
and exercise the authority that the Lord had given them.
Now they would reaffirm the women's testimony and Simon's testimony as truth.
Now they had their own story to tell.
Jesus today takes us through roads that are often difficult and challenging,
but they are roads that will give us a story to tell,
a "story," a new truth, in which we can place our trust,
if we will allow Him to teach us while we are on that road.)

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally

513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
John 20:19-29
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together,
with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,
(Mary Magdalene had just told the disciples that she has actually seen the Lord,
risen and alive, and He has actually talked to her.
With what incredulous wonder they must have received the news,
and yet, filled with the fear of man,
they still failed to comprehend the full measure
of what His resurrection really meant.
Even though we have the fully documented truth of His resurrection
and know the impact of all that His resurrection implies for us today,
we still so often live in fear rather than grasp the truth that is ours in Christ.
What part of our lives today do we still lock away in fear,
failing to apply the truth of Who Jesus is to our daily walk?)
Jesus came and stood among them and said,
"Peace be with you!"
After He said this, He showed them His hands and side.
The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you!
As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you."
And with that He breathed on them and said,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
(Jesus' appearance is always accompanied by His peace,
and He always immediately and tenderly extends His peace to us.
His perfect love casts out all our fear,
and then He breathes the new life of His Holy Spirit into us and over us
to empower and strengthen us as He sends us out.)
If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven;
if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
(As the disciples take the Good News to new audiences,
sent by Jesus into the world even as He had been sent by His Father,
now merely by virtue of proclaiming the forgiveness of sins in Christ,
and, depending upon the hearers' response to the disciples' call to repentance,
the disciples are, effectively, forgiving or not forgiving those who hear
by simply giving them the message for them to choose.
The sense is that when the disciples proclaim the message of salvation and forgiveness,
the hearers are being changed because God is doing a work in them.
Those who choose to receive the Good News will be forgiven,
while those who reject the message will not receive forgiveness.)
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve,
was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in His Hands
and put my finger where the nails were,
and put my hand into His Side, I will not believe."
(Stubborn to the last, skeptical, unconvinced, disbelieving,
refusing to accept others' eye-witness accounts,
somehow rationalizing what is uncompromisingly laid before us,
we, like Thomas, often declare our unwillingness
to commit to new truths we have been given,
depending, rather, on our own limited understanding
and individual experience as the sole basis for fact.)
A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.
Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,
"Peace be with you!"
Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see My Hands.
Reach out your hand and put it into My Side.
Stop doubting and believe."
(Even with Thomas, even with us,
the Lord mercifully meets us where our need lies, where we are resistant,
where and how we most need Him to reveal Himself to us.
Thomas' absence from Jesus' first meeting with His disciples was no accident.
Instead, the Lord used Thomas' absence to reveal to us His determination
to reach out to all of us who doubt.)
Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
(Without hesitation, spontaneously,
no longer needing to touch Jesus' nail prints or His Side,
Thomas worships Christ, acknowledging Him as Lord.
When the Lord reveals Himself to us,
our only response is worshipful acknowledgement of Who He is.)
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed;
blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
(You and I today are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
And today we are blessed as we rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus!)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

[category word for today]

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!

He Is Risen, Indeed!
John 20:11-18
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying.
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been,
one at the head and the other at the foot.
(Just as the two carved golden cherubim
who protected the mercy seat of God's chosen dwelling place
faced each other seated atop the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant
with their wings folded heavenward in praise
to point our view upward toward God in praise and submission to Him
and their eyes cast downward gazing on the sprinkled blood of the sacrifice,
a picture of where God's gaze rests when He addresses our sin,
even now two angels stand guard over the place Jesus' Body had lain,
the ultimate and final Mercy Seat, one at His Head and one at His Feet,
guarding the spot where the Body had been placed
from Whom the blood sacrifice was given,
the Body where God Himself through Jesus Christ dwelt.
The stance of the cherubim teach us an important lesson,
to lift up our hands heavenward in praise to Him
while our gaze remains intent and steadfast on His provision.)
They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said,
"and I don't know where they have put Him."
At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
(Distracted, frantic, and desperate with fear and grief,
even the appearance of angels doesn't faze her.
How often does distraction blind us
to the very presence of heavenly hosts around us
as we entertain angels unaware.
Mary even fails to recognize Jesus through her tears and agony,
the very One she is seeking, the very One for Whom she longs.
In our trials, we so often fail to see Jesus
standing right before us revealing Himself to us,
waiting for us to focus on Him instead of the circumstances.)
He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?
Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking He was the gardener, she said,
"Sir, if you have carried Him away,
tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him."
Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic,
"Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher").
(Finally, when Jesus speaks her name, the fog of her despair and grief lifts
as she realizes she is standing in Jesus' very presence.
Today, He still tenderly asks us the question as a warm and loving invitation
to tell Him about our deepest hurt and our deepest needs.
He still stands before us today calling us by name to focus on Him
instead of the hopelessness and fear of circumstances we face.)
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to Me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father.
Go instead to My brothers and tell them,
'I am ascending to My Father and your Father,
to My God and your God.'"
(Perhaps He is admonishing her that He is no longer the same,
that He is now the Holy Presence of God Himself.
Perhaps He is reminding her that His ascension is still some time away
and that she will have additional time to see Him.
Perhaps He is reminding her that His resurrected presence
impels her to step beyond herself and into His greater calling,
but the real treasure here is that Jesus gives
this solemn and joyous mission to a woman of that day.
He still extends that same calling and mission to us
to go tell others that He has risen and ascended into Heaven.)
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news:
"I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that He had said these things to her.
(With what incredulous joy they must have received her news
and one of the affirmations to us today that He has risen from the grave
and now lives in us through His Holy Spirit!)

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,

Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
John 20:1-10
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb
and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
(As a picture of all of us who were lost and need Christ,
this lowly woman had been delivered from darkness
and now is the one first chosen to see the first evidence of the resurrection.
When we are walking in the dark, in situations of loss and pain,
when we first seek the Lord, He shows us
that the stone has been rolled away to allow our entry into a new reality
of the situations we thought we were facing.
Christ's work, unknown to her, had completely changed the situation
she was fully expecting in her life. The same is true for us today.
What we may expect from our human perspective is completely different
from the work that Christ is completing in us and for us.
The stone had been rolled away, not for Christ's sake
to enable Him to escape the tomb after His Resurrection.
Rather, the stone was pushed back for Jesus' beloved followers
to come in and see for themselves the truth of His Resurrection.
What she saw tells us that no stone in our lives is too big to be rolled away
and that the Lord clears the way for us to see His truths clearly and first-hand.)
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple,
the one Jesus loved, (the younger disciple John) and said,
"They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,
and we don't know where they have put Him!"
(As we often do in the circumstances of our lives,
she completely misinterprets what she sees,
assuming the Lord is no longer accessible,
seeing only what her closed perspective allows,
and forgetting all the promises that He had previously made.)
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.
Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter
and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in
at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
(The younger and faster John leans over at the entrance
and intently and carefully inspects and examines the scene
in the way a careful detective would minutely examine the scene
to determine all the telling details and signs to draw a conclusion.)
Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb.
He saw the strips of linen lying there,
as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head.
The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.
(Peter, on the other hand, rushes hurriedly into the very center of the scene
as his way of gaining his own perspective of the situation.
The grave wrappings having been carefully removed
and folded tidily in place show clearly that Jesus' disappearance
was not the result of grave robbers having hastily stolen His Body in the night.)
Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first,
also went inside. He saw and believed.
(Because of his careful scrutiny of the setting,
the carefully folded grave clothes,
and recalling what Jesus had been telling them,
John now sees and believes that Christ has risen.)
(They still did not understand from Scripture
that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
(Although John now believed what Jesus had repeatedly said to them,
neither he nor Peter still comprehended
that the Scriptures themselves had foretold and pictured
the necessity of, first, Jesus' death and, then, His resurrection.
To help us grasp, like these men, His message for our lives today,
the Lord patiently keeps revealing to us—
where we are today in our walk with Him—
the incremental pieces of Truth we can understand,
unveiling to us all that we can take in.
The Truth tells us that no challenge we face is greater than Jesus,
no stone is so big that it can separate us from His love,
from His resurrection power, not even death itself.
Even that challenge has been swallowed up in victory. )
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]

 

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
Mark 16:9-18
When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week,
He appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom He had driven seven demons.
She went and told those who had been with Him
and who were mourning and weeping.
(What a precious gift this redeemed woman of the world was given,
to be the first to whom Jesus appeared.
When we experience great trials and great failures,
as we receive His healing and salvation,
the Lord has even greater mercies and revelations in store for us.
Jesus had accomplished in her life a great work of deliverance and salvation.
Like her, we also should be quick to tell others around us
of the life-changing encounter we, too, have had with Jesus.)
When they heard that Jesus was alive
and that she had seen Him, they did not believe it.
(In our sophistication and intellectualism,
we often still treat what the Lord reveals to us
through the truths He ministers to us in His Word
with the same incredulity and skepticism and cynicism.
May we put away doubt and simply believe
what He has promised to us today!)
Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form
to two of them while they were walking in the country.
These returned and reported it to the rest;
but they did not believe them either.
(Even when we hear His message to us
time and time again, even from different sources,
we are still so reluctant to take Him at His Word
and to believe He is Who He says He is in our lives.)
Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating;
He rebuked them for their lack of faith
and their stubborn refusal to believe those
who had seen Him after He had risen.
(The Lord still appears to us today
in the everyday moments and times of our lives.
May we listen to those He sends into our lives
to reveal His truth and power.
May we yield our stubborn hearts and minds
to the presence of the Lord today!)
He said to them, "Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to all creation.
(Here is our mission yet today
and "all the world" for us lies right here where we are today,
beginning right here with the people around us
and the situations with which we connect today.)
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,
but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
(Coming into relationship with Christ is our choice, plain and simple.
The Lord empowers us with the responsibility for that choice
and also allows us to experience the consequences of our choice.)
And these signs will accompany those who believe:
In My Name they will drive out demons;
they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up snakes with their hands;
and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all;
they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
(As we walk out His mission to go into our world and to preach the Good News,
and using words when necessary,
the signs of Christ's undeniable power will serve as indisputable evidence
of His mighty power and love as He works through us to fulfill His purposes.
Today, in His Name, may we reach out to those around us
in miraculous ways that show Christ's power
to bring new life and hope to all of us!)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
Mark 16:1-8
When the Sabbath was over,
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome
bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.
Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise,
they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other,
"Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"
(Filled with purpose, but filled with apprehension,
on a quiet and thankless mission of unappreciated and humble service,
these dedicated women were determined
to continue to minister to their dead Lord
in the only way they thought they could.
How often we only look at what's in our power and strength to do,
failing to appreciate the Lord's mighty agenda for us.
How often do we only look to our own resources,
failing to appreciate the Lord's mighty intervention in our lives.
How often do we only look at what's humanly possible,
failing to appreciate the Lord's presence and purposes.
Though the women were focused on a humble task,
the Lord planned far greater purposes and revelation for them.
When we go about our seemingly mundane and ordinary tasks today,
we can rely on the Lord to roll away the barriers blocking us
and to effect far greater revelations in our lives than we have known before.)
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone,
which was very large, had been rolled away.
(Looking in disbelief and even greater fear,
they looked into the gaping entry into death.
In our lives today what appears to be darkness and death and disintegrating decay,
what appears to be insurmountable circumstances,
may, in fact, under the Lord's touch, be the entry
into a new perspective and a new vision of reality
we've never before encountered.
Removing the barrier of this stone in the midnight hours
before the dawn of this day's work is God's work and His alone.
Who will remove the blockage? God will.
Who removes the blockage? God does.)
As they entered the tomb,
(Though fearful, they chose to enter into the darkness of their fears to see truth.
More than the stone having been rolled away, the tomb is empty!
Even as the truth they expected to see no longer lay there,
their eyes are opened to a new reality.
When we enter the darkness of our circumstances seeking Christ,
He reveals truths and power and reality to us that we have not imagined.)
they saw a young man dressed in a white robe
sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
"Don't be alarmed," he said.
"You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, Who was crucified.
He has risen! He is not here.
See the place where they laid Him.
(Incredulous as he knew the women were,
not only to behold such a supernatural being,
but also to take in the incredible words he was speaking,
the angel gently attends to their fear and to their understandable skepticism
by tenderly guiding them to examine the tomb
to see for themselves that Jesus was no longer there.
May we lay aside our doubt and cynicism today
to look for Jesus in the midst of our circumstances
and to see His other-worldly provisions for us!)
But go, tell His disciples and Peter,
(Especially mindful of Peter
who had so dramatically and publicly failed the Lord
he had sworn he would never fail,
the angel gives clear instructions to tell Peter the good news,
to reassure him in his shame and humiliation and guilt.
What a tender reminder that the Lord
is always mindful of our personal and unique needs,
always reaching out to us to free us from guilt and failure.)
'He is going ahead of you into Galilee.
There you will see Him, just as He told you.'"
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb.
They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
(Whatever lies ahead of us today, we can still be assured
that the Lord goes ahead of us in the Galilee of our today
and in that place He clearly reveals Himself to us.
In awe of what had been revealed to them,
without hesitation, without loitering, without telling anyone in their way
the astounding truth they had just witnessed,
the women fled from the holy presence of the angel.
Even though they had seen with their own eyes the truth of the empty tomb,
had been confronted with an angel of God who spoke to them,
had been given such astounding and earth-shattering news of hope and triumph,
still they fled in fear. How like us still today,
even though we have been confronted with the Good News of the Kingdom,
have been given the hope of salvation both for today and for eternity,
have had the truths of God's Word revealed to us by His Holy Spirit in us,
we still flee in fear from the Truth of His Presence in our lives,
running away and back to something more familiar.
Even in fear, however, the women still were faithful to the mission
which had been entrusted to them.
May our trembling and bewilderment in the face of the unexplainable in our lives
only lead us to the victory and assurance in Christ
that His resurrection offers us today,
and may we have the kind of holy fear that spurs us on
to walk out what the Lord asks us to do today!)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
Matt 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
(They had likely lovingly prepared the spices at sundown on Saturday evening,
after the Sabbath was over and they were now ready to go to the tomb
the first thing on Sunday morning, arriving there before dawn.
Heavy-burdened with the death of their Friend and Teacher and in mourning,
they came with every intention to attend to His corpse.
Like these two women, instead of looking for life in our circumstances,
we so often look for and expect death.)
There was a violent earthquake,
for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven
and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
(These powerful and electrifying events that trumpet Jesus' resurrection,
so incredible, astonishing, marvelous, and astounding,
are so absolutely amazing that the Roman soldiers,
though experienced and proven men in war and battle,
faint away in a paralyzing terror and panic.
When the truth of the spiritual world invades the mere physical world,
the landscape changes and crashes into the reality
that we, heretofore, have been able to see.)
The angel said to the women,
"Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, Who was crucified.
He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.
Come and see the place where He lay.
(In shocked amazement, these two courageous women,
though undoubtedly fearful and hesitant, listen to the angel,
a fantastic, other-worldly being who speaks words
that were unthinkable and unimaginable in the extreme,
who tenderly comforts them and leads them to the very place
where they could see with their own eyes
that what he was saying to them was true.
As we fearlessly seek Jesus today,
the reality of Heaven alters our perspective of earthly matters
as He shows us evidence of the places where He is in our lives!)
Then go quickly and tell His disciples:
'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.
There you will see Him.' Now I have told you."
(What an amazing truth and mission to be entrusted to these two women.
The very first announcement of the truth of the resurrection is revealed to women,
and they are trusted with the command to tell their and Jesus' friends
just as we are asked to share the truths with those around us
that the Lord has revealed to us in the experiences though which He has led us!)
So the women hurried away from the tomb,
afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell His disciples.
(Filled with unspeakable joy, they eagerly ran
to share the miracle they had just encountered.
May we be as hearing, as joyful, and as eager
to carry out all the Lord has asked us to do today.)
Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," He said.
They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him.
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.
Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me."
(Far from being hard to find, Jesus reveals Himself to us
through a juggernaut of relentless and determined pursuit of us to ensure we see Him,
planting Himself right in the midst of our path to ensure we "find" Him.
When Jesus reveals Himself to us as He truly is, the Risen Christ,
our only response is to fall before Him in worship!
And His response to us is to reassure us and to send us to others
who also need to be reassured and who need to see Him.
May we be as faithful today as these women were,
first, to look to Christ when He appears to us,
then, to worship Him,
and, then to go and tell the good news of His truths!)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
Luke 24:1-6
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning,
the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
(The so-called "religious" leaders had hastily buried Jesus' body
before sundown on the Friday before
when the holy Sabbath day, the Feast of Passover, would begin
and when, according to their religious customs,
it would be unlawful for a body to remain hanging on a cross.
While they had just tortured and murdered an innocent Jesus
following the mockery of any semblance of a legal and just trial,
they were scrupulous in keeping the fine point of their law
to remove His Body from the cross before sundown.
Because of the haste of Jesus' burial,
the women who had been devoted to Him
and who cared about a proper burial for their beloved Rabbi
had been unable to anoint His body before His burial.
Filled with grief and mourning the loss of their loved One,
devastated and still reeling from the sudden
and unexpected turn of events on Friday,
their hopes having been dashed that Jesus was truly their long-awaited Messiah,
not understanding how so much could have changed
in the week following the Sunday just the week before,
before Jesus' arrest and murder
when the crowds had so delighted in Jesus as He rode into the city
and even clamored to crown Him as their king,
not understanding how they could have been so wrong
or, more frightening, how Jesus could have been so tragically wrong,
how all His promises had been meaningless,
not knowing how they would ever be able
to do the impossible and roll the stone away
that blocked the entrance to the tomb,
not knowing how they would face this seemingly insurmountable circumstance,
they were determined at least to try to do the right thing to honor their dead Master.
They fully expected to find Jesus' corpse,
His stone-cold, rock-hard, lifeless, dead body
lying in the tomb where He had been left on Friday.
How often we, too, are blind to the unchanging, unrelenting, and mighty truths
the Lord is trying to reveal to us
because we focus only on the narrow expectations
we have formed in our own thinking!)
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
(When they saw the stone moved from its place,
what shock and concern they must have immediately felt,
fearful of even further violations to Jesus' body after His death.
Even when the Lord rolls away the stones that hold us in darkness,
we can still fail to grasp His truth, instead fearing even worse
as we face seemingly incomprehensible circumstances!)
but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
(They must have entered the tomb hesitantly and apprehensively,
with fear and trepidation, frightened about what they might find.
Thank God that we can enter the tombs of darkness and hopelessness in our lives today
and see with our own eyes the stark and clear evidence
that death is gone! The tomb is empty!)
While they were wondering about this,
suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
(Not only do they not see Jesus' body,
but they are shocked when two beings suddenly appear
who are so other-worldly they are unlike anyone they had ever seen before.
When we look for Jesus in the death of our circumstances,
He shows us the truth through His messenger, the Holy Spirit,
and we see and hear the light of His message shining with life and hope!)
In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground,
(In terror the women fall to the ground
covering their heads and cowering in fear.
The reality of the spiritual world crashes in on their human perspective
and causes them to yield to new truth!)
but the men said to them,
"Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here; He has risen!"
(And with these words, the angels proclaim
the glorious message of the Risen Christ.
These heavenly messengers are given the high privilege
of being the first to proclaim the truth of Christ's resurrection to us.
Not only did He die on the cross for our sins,
but He rose from the dead, alive and vibrant,
vigorous and pulsating with power over death, hell, and the grave,
and filled with the resurrection power of new life,
fulfilling the true meaning of the Feast of First Fruits,
revealing Himself as the first to overcome death, the first fruits from the dead!
Though it looked the darkest that first Passover weekend,
though it looked as if God had forsaken them,
though it looked as if Jesus had failed,
never had the Father been more intensely at work,
never had Jesus been more in control, more victorious!
When our own lives look the darkest and most hopeless,
when all manner of death invades our lives,
that's the precise time that the Lord is doing His mightiest work!
He makes the darkness and death of Friday give way
to the glorious light and life of Resurrection Sunday!
Herein is the true Easter message, the Good News of the Gospel.
If Jesus had only died, He would have been a heroic and tragic martyr,
but the story of redemption would have ended with His death.
The glorious news is that His death gave way
to His magnificent and wondrous resurrection—
a sure cause for hope and joy in whatever we face today!)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]

 

Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today!

Matthew 27:31
(On this "Good" Friday morning some 2000 years ago,
Jesus had earlier agonized alone in prayer in Gethsemane,
He had been arrested by a mob as a common criminal,
all His disciples had forsaken Him during the night
as they fled for their lives in terror,
and Peter was in anguish for having betrayed Him.
After a night of beatings, humiliations, and floggings
and after appearing before the high priest and Pilate early in the morning,
on this Good Friday Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion
to become the fulfillment of the true Passover Lamb of God.)
Then they led Him away to crucify Him.
(Each of the Gospel writers uses just such a similar, simple phrase
to describe the unspeakable horror and finality of Jesus' death sentence,
and then while hanging on the cross itself,
Jesus uttered a series, seven in all, of wrenching statements before He died.)
Luke 23:34-35
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them,
for they do not know what they are doing . . . . "
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him.
(Even on the cross with nails tearing His flesh and
holding Him suspended between heaven and earth,
as He looked straight into the jeering, hate-filled eyes of people
celebrating His long, slow, excruciating death,
Jesus even then, even still extends forgiveness to us!)
Luke 23:42-43
Then he (a criminal also being crucified) said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom."
(One of two criminals who was being crucified along with Jesus
and who, unlike Jesus, actually deserved punishment
because of crimes he had committed
realized His need of Christ and spoke in those few words a deep faith
that Jesus really is Messiah King over a kingdom of men.
His is a cry that pleads not only for salvation, but for significance,
as, while breathing his last breaths, he realizes he had spent his life in vain
and humbly asks the Lord to remember him.
Even in Jesus' suffering and throes of death,
this sinful man could see that Jesus was the Messiah
and was ushering in a Kingdom even in His death.)
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth,
today you will be with Me in Paradise."
(Jesus lovingly responds to perhaps the first soul born again into salvation
as the result of His redemptive work on the cross.
Here, even in His own sacrificial agony, Jesus hears the desperate cry of another
and selflessly, lovingly, and mercifully provides salvation for a man in need.)
John 19:26-28, 30
When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby,
He said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."
From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
(Even in the agony of a torturous death, Jesus looks to those He loves who are in need.
He is mindful of his mother witnessing His death as Messiah,
now watching Her Son Who was born to her with the sole purpose to die,
born to save the world through His death on the cross.
As He sees His earthly mother whom He loves,
as He sees her grief and seeming abandonment,
as He sees His young friend and disciple John
who had earlier abandoned Jesus and fled in the night in terror
for a time in faithlessness and cowardice,
He reaches out in love to them to offer His love and provision,
even as He still reaches out to our needs today.)
Matthew 27:46
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? –which means,
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
(Jesus prays the prophetic prayer from Psalm 22.
Because Jesus now bore the sin of the whole world
becoming Himself the sacrificial Lamb sin offering,
He was separated from His Father God.
His earlier prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
when He had prayed for strength for this very hour,
actually sweating great drops of His own blood,
had anticipated not only the horror of carrying this heavy weight of sin,
of actually becoming sin Who knew no sin,
but more tragically its resulting severance and separation from His God.
He knew that the very sin He carried for us
would temporarily separate Him, the only time in all eternity,
from His Holy and Righteous and Beloved Father,
and the prospect and actual experience of that separation was almost unbearable.
Yet, as He had prayed that the cup of suffering and separation
that His Father had given Him to drink could, if possible, pass from Him,
He had also prayed that God's will, not His own, be fulfilled.
Jesus, the ultimate Lamb, intensely God, becomes
the self-selected and self-emptying sacrifice.)
John 19:28
Later, knowing that all was now completed,
and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled,
Jesus said, "I am thirsty."
(While completely God, but completely man as well,
knowing His mission was now nearing its end,
Jesus still felt compelling, human, physical needs.
His thirst reveals how completely He fully experienced
all the pain and agony of His torturous death.
Earlier in Gethsemane, He had asked that the cup be removed,
and now He calls for a cup to slack His thirst
so He can give us living water and so that we will never thirst again.)
John 19:30
When He had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished."
(A triumphant victory cry, He saw that His mission was now accomplished,
that He had fulfilled the purposes that He and His Father
had laid down before the foundations of the world,
that He would provide the means for redemption and salvation
for His lost and desperately needy people, for you and me.
Now far from being finished, through His crucifixion,
His Kingdom come is just begun,
a new way of life, a new salvation
where our sins are covered and our debt is cancelled.)
With that, He bowed His Head and gave up His Spirit.
(No one could take His life.
Rather, Jesus released his life and laid it down Himself.
Of His own volition and under His control, He decided the moment He would die.)
Matthew 27:50
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice,
(In utter agony and suffering,
Jesus cries out from the deep physical and spiritual pain
of the weight of our sin that He carried.)
He gave up His Spirit.
(Again, specific words that indicate Jesus' life was not taken from Him,
but that He laid it down Himself and released Himself
into the death that He knew would provide atonement for sin
and lead to His Resurrection and to life and salvation for us.)
Luke 23:46
Jesus called out with a loud voice,
"Father, into Your Hands I commit My Spirit."
When He had said this, He breathed His last.
(As in death for all human beings, Jesus' Spirit belongs fully to God
and rests in His sovereign judgment and care.
From Psalm 31, this prayer is Jesus' final submission
when the Creator of light enters the darkness of death itself.)
Luke 23:44-45
It was now about the sixth hour, (about 9:00 a.m., about the time of the morning sacrifice)
and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, (about noon)
for the sun stopped shining.
(Broad daylight turned to black night as Jesus died.
As He hung suspended between heaven and earth for these hours,
the darkness of sin and evil had seemingly triumphed
as light turned to darkness in the middle of the day.
Even heaven and earth responded to their Creator's death.
Though unknown and not comprehended by men,
in the darkness of these hours, when the situation seemed most hopeless,
when the circumstances were the darkest, when all hope seemingly was lost,
God the Father was doing His greatest work of all Creation through His Son.)
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
(But the curtain in the Holy of Holies in the Temple
that separated the people from the Holy Presence of God
was ripped apart from top to bottom so that we, through Christ's sacrifice,
can boldly approach our God and His very throne of grace and forgiveness.)
Luke 23:52-53
Going to Pilate, he (Joseph of Arimathea) asked for Jesus' body.
Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth
and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
(The Creator God, the Great I AM, the Holy One, the Lord of Lords,
the King of Kings, the Mighty Rock, the Strong Fortress, Wisdom Himself,
the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, the King of Righteousness, the Son of God,
now lay in the cold and unrelenting darkness of death and the grave.
His Body cold and lifeless, even He Himself, Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is now held captive to the cruel and wretched fate of all men.
Although this Friday seems to have ended in tragic defeat,
the story doesn't end here,
and the glory of Sunday morning sunrise and Son-rise is coming!
He still today brings the power of resurrection life
into the hopelessness and death that we face on all the "Fridays" in our lives!)

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

In Christ's love,
Blessings!

Sally
513 254 3874

 

[category word for today]