“I AM He who lives, and was dead, and BEHOLD, I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”  (Revelation 1:18)

Yes, it’s Resurrection Sunday!

I woke up this morning and as I was about to do my morning devotion, I was reading some books to get some more new insights on what this celebration is all about.

We know that Jesus came to fulfill the law which gives sin its power, for without the law, sin is nonexistent.

We know that the sting of death is sin which was dealt with at the cross when Jesus became sin Who knew no sin so we may become the righteousness of God in Christ.

We know that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, and that death indeed lost its sting and was swallowed up by this triumphant victory.

Once and for all, Jesus paid it all in full, that we may HAVE and ENJOY life in abundance to the full, till it overflows.

In the midst of all these thoughts, I still asked Him, “Lord, let me know what this day means.”

I was in awe of how responded in such immediacy and in utmost simplicity.  He plainly spoke with His still, small voice inside my heart.

“I AM ALIVE FOREVERMORE!”

We have a LIVING GOD Who quiets us in His love, Who hears us, Who sees us, Who blesses us, Who rejoices with us with singing, Who cares for us, Who heals us, Who comforts us, Who provides for us, Who leads us, Who guides us, Who goes before us, Who is our rear guard, Who shields us, Who rewards us, Who favors us, Who surrounds us with His protection, Who gives us wisdom, revelation and understanding, Who gives us clarity when we are confused, Who gives strength when we are weak, Who makes a way when there seems to be no way, Who reveals to us the truth of His Word for us not to be ignorant of the enemy’s schemes, Who lights our paths, Who restores our souls, Who nourishes us, Who gives us peace, Who fuels our faith, Who gives us hope, Who feeds us with His faithfulness, Who delivers us from all destruction, Who opens doors which are meant for us and closes them if they aren’t, Who IS WITH US, IN US AND FOR US, Who fill us with His all in all, and the list goes on and on.

HE IS THE GREAT “I AM” and not I was nor I will be.  HIS “NOW” PRESENCE is present at present and He presents Himself strong and mighty in time of our need.  His Presence is our greatest present in every moment.

HE IS ALIVE and He speaks His living word so that we are not limited to live our lives by  bread alone but by every word that proceeds from His mouth.  His Word is spirit and life.  He is the LIVING BREAD.  “And Jesus said to them, “I Am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

HE IS ALIVE and His desire is for us to live our lives in Him, with Him and for Him.  He desires for us to live and move and have our being in Him.  He desires an intimate relationship with us, with moment to moment, heart to heart, face to face divine encounters with Him.  He desires fresh fellowship at every given time because He loves to reveal to what us He has in mind for us.  Mind you, His thoughts of us are more than the sand in the sea.  It is that countless.  And if we turn our affection to Him, surely He will unveil our eyes to see His “now-thought” of us.  That is intimacy.

HE IS ALIVE and He is the true source of life, the TRUE VINE and we are the branches.  A branch can never live by itself unless it is constantly and consistently connected to the vine.  Try cutting a branch from a tree and after a few days it dries up and eventually dies.  Unceasing fruitfulness only comes with our intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, when we are abiding in Him and Him in us.  “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:4-5)

HE IS ALIVE because He is the Resurrection and the Life.   He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. (John 11:25).   Anything in our lives that is on life support, may it be in health, finances, relationships, or whatever it is that we are in the midst of, know that we have HOPE.  It is the kind of hope that NEVER disappoints.  CHRIST IN US is the HOPE of GLORY.  It is a confident expectation of GOOD because HE IS GOOD and HE IS ALIVE to express His goodness to us. 

Bottom line is that our Heavenly Father in the Name of Jesus and by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit has FULLY restored to us as to how Adam and Eve were living in the garden of Eden, walking, talking and communing with God in the cool of the day, by the resurrection power of Christ in us. Jesus Christ defeated the enemy, restored back the long-lost relationship that we were created for and took back the power and authority that we were entrusted with that was lost in the garden.  Now it has been re-delegated back to us as the stewards of His creation. This time, we become co-laborers with Him and co-heirs with Christ, but He intends for us to rule and reign with Him according to this active and alive love-relationship that He consummated us with, us living our lives never independent of Him but forever abiding in Him, and Him living inside of us as He called us to be temples of the Holy Spirit.  It is He Who created us and He absolutely knows everything about us and everything we need to live a “heaven-on-earth” life.  Indeed, it is the Creator Who defines His creation and never the other way around.

We have limited ourselves in living out His glorious plans for us by doing things our own way.  No wonder His word says to seek Him first, to know Him first, to know what His thoughts and ways are first., to know who we are in His eyes first and to know how loved and valuable you and I are to Him first.

I love how the Message Paraphrase stated this …

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think He’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do His best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way He works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”  (Matthew 6:33 MSG)

For me, one of the powerful ways of defining a Christian life is a life that reflects that JESUS IS ALIVE in us.  It is a life that is constantly refreshed every time He speaks and is demonstrated by the way we live our lives in obedience to what He is speaking.  It is our love for Him that fuels us to obey Him.  We love Him because He FIRST loved us (1 John 4:19).  When we received His love, it is but inevitable to respond accordingly.  Yes, we are still a “work-in-progress”, but always remember that one slightest divine encounter with Him changes our whole perception of what life is all about and the discovery of every divine encounter is being issued every single day.  A Christian life is a life of waking up each morning and excitedly saying, “What’s next, Papa?”, knowing that His plans for us are to prosper us and never to harm us, to give us a hope and a beautiful future, a glorious expected end.

This is only made possible when we have a revelation of WHO LIVES INSIDE US, WHO IS LIVING HIS LIFE IN AND THROUGH US.

“But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, He’ll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”  (Romans 8:9-11 MSG)

This is the resurrection life that is made available for us IN CHRIST.

“This RESURRECTION LIFE you RECEIVED from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with Him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with Him!” (Romans 8:5-17 MSG)

And this is the assurance of Who We have all the days of our lives that JESUS is not only ALIVE but HE IS WITH US ALWAYS by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in us.  He desires to be a part of every step that we take, every move that we make, every word that we say, every thought that we think and every song that we sing.  He desires intimacy with us.

“BEHOLD, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS.”  (Matthew 28:20)

 

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for Your utmost, unfailing, glorious, redemptive plan that we may live a life empowered and graced by the resurrection power of Christ in us, Your very own Holy Spirit.  Thank You that by the richness of Your mercy, the  abundance of Your grace and Your amazing great love for us, You remain faithful and hopeful as ALWAYS even when we are not.  You are exceedingly quick to forgive us and remember our lawless deeds no more because of the Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  Thank You for always seeing us righteous before Your eyes, postured to never be rejected nor neglected any longer because the price of our unrighteousness has been fully paid at the cross when Jesus said, “It is finished!”.  It was indeed an offering that fully qualified to satisfy the payment for ALL our sins (past, present and future) and ALL the sins of mankind that it only needed to be done ONCE AND FOR ALL.  You knew it was a debt that we could never pay on our own, thus You gave us Your only Beloved and Begotten Son to do it for us because of Your great love for us.

Thank You, Jesus, that although You knew what You had to go through, YOU DID IT ALL for the JOY that was set before You, seeing us reconciled back into our Father’s love and embrace.  You never withheld anything from us, not even Your own life and You simply said, “Not My will but Yours be done!” because of how much You love the Father and how much You love us.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for revealing to us all truth about Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection and allowing us  to powerfully experience ALL the benefits of the cross.  Indeed it takes a revealed truth for our faiths to be activated.  What revelation reveals, our faith explores and eventually experiences what the truth was sent to accomplish.

Jesus, I invite You to come into my heart, be the Lord and Savior of my life and make Your home in me.  Amen!