Three Words Guaranteed To Change Your Life

Why is life so hard sometimes?  Treading along the pathway, looking down. Searching for hope in the world.  Around us.

Fighting fear.  Blind with dread.  Struggling for hope.  Reasoning our life.  Our situations.  Our circumstances in our heads.

I am…it seems.  We live.  As if Jesus is still dead.  

And the hope we once had.  Is still nailed to the cross.  I mean….we talk about the cross.  The death.  The bleeding and pleading and pouring our hearts out.  And how Jesus death was everything….

Because it was.

But, what if Christ had died.  Suffered.  Was crucified.  And never rose?

Wouldn’t we be like the unbelieving pagans.  Hypocritical Pharisees.  Looking for hope….in other resources?

Hope found in other places…..besides Jesus?

But yet, don’t we do that.  I do that. Every day….

Live as if Jesus never rose from the grave.  As if He died.  And all meaning.  His purpose.  Any power.  Was crucified that day.

When the story has just begun.

Luke 24.

They went to the tomb. These faithful women.  And they returned.  To the Following One’s.  And said,

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

And just that thought.  Seems to stick deep in my head.

Yes, why do we stand at the cross. Hide out in the upper room.  When Jesus has risen?  He is alive and presenting himself to the world around us?  Those willing to get up.  Look up.  Go….

Two men walked along the road.  To Emmaus.

Eyes restrained.  Trying to reason in their brains.  Unbelieving.  Afraid.  Heads bowed.  Eyes looking at the ground.

And it was there.  Jesus walked with them.  Saying,

“Peace I give you.  Why are you troubled?  Why do doubts arise in your hearts?”


And I wonder.  How often are we like them too.  The men trudging along the road.  Justifying.  Wondering where Jesus went….When He is next to us.  Walking.  Yet, we don’t see Him.

And they wait in the upper room.  Locked inside their sorrow.  Clinging to their hearts.  Questions…..“Is Jesus really alive?  If so, why?  Why are we filled with fright.  Terrified?”

Then Jesus enters.  And how everything changes….when Jesus enters.

And…..He did not just explain theologically why He does not reside in the grave.  But, He asked His followers to touch Him.

And I wonder, was the touching of Jesus, to feel His scares hands and feet…..More about healing…..and less about the disciples unbelief?

For I remember, the lady.  With the blood disorder.  And how her touching Jesus.  Freed her.

And how….if we touch Jesus, I mean….really touched Jesus.  Would we be made different.  Complete. Healed.  Whole?

Then, Jesus asked his disciples to something even more miraculous.

He said, “Preach repentance  You are witnesses of these things.  Wait in this city.  And then you will be equipped with power from on High.”

What?

The same power Jesus died for?  How can it be ours?  How can we really walk with it…..in this head downcast.  Dirt kicking.  Fear ridden world….trying to justify why Jesus is not alive?

And I think….

Sometimes I don’t get it right.  I wait.  Or I try….to walk in power.  Or I repent.  But, I don’t do them in order. I want one or the other….not all. 

But, I wonder…..

Could these three words be tied together?

Could the repenting give peace to wait.  The waiting prepare us for the filling.  And the filling be a prerequisite to real faith?  Real power.  The kind of faith that does not draw crowds to ourselves.  Or fade out with the first weight of troubles or doubt.

And so….

• I confess my dirt road walk that has doubted….when Jesus has been there all along.
• I confess to walking….eyes strained….by my own circumstances.  Unable to see Jesus.
• I confess…..my unbelief that has tried to reason away the situations of my past and blinded me.
• I confess…..being slow of heart. Not waiting.  Not looking to Jesus…or expecting….

Power from on high.  When all Jesus had is ours.  Yes…..

• He died not that we might be fixed on the cross of death…..but rising His Spirit inside our chest.
• He died that we might not be questioning, and doubting and filled with unbelief swirling in our heads….but so that we can rise up.  In faith.  Walk in the power that Jesus claimed.  Believing for greater things than this.
• He died that….though life is hard.  Circumstance overwhelm us.  At times.  That we might lift our head. Touch His hands for healing.  Believe through every situation.  That if Christ can be raised from the dead, my puny circumstance, is easy…..for Jesus.

So, I urge you today, my brothers.  My sisters.  Listen to the Holy Spirit.  Repent.  Wait.  And expect….power from On High.

For in these three….

Jesus will be found.  Not in death.  But in life.  Risen.  Victorious.  Equipping you with everything you need….

To walk the path to Victory.

Keeping your head up.  Seeing Jesus.  Every step.  Not dead.  But alive.  A friend of sinners….

A friend.  And the faithful one…..

To you and me.

(Linking with Emily @ Imperfect Prose, Ann, WLW, Tracy)