He's Alive

Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit." When He had said this, He breathed His last. 

Luke 23:46

Imagine with me, just for a moment, a place of pure beauty; a place where the light is brilliant, the colors magnificent. The great street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass (Revelation 21:21). There will be robes of white and gates of pearl. There will be no more night, no more tears, no more worries, no more pain, no more suffering, no death or mourning. Instead, there will be praise - praise to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Praise to the one who came to earth to live and die on a cross to give us this eternal life in this wonderful place called Heaven. Doesn't it sound wonderful? And I know that we cannot truly fathom what Heaven is really like...we can only imagine. It will be more than we can comprehend. But what I've thought about so much this week, this Easter, is what it took for us to be given a place such as this to spend eternity. What did it cost? It cost us nothing. It cost Jesus everything. What sacrifices were made? We made none. Jesus gave it all.

See, Jesus was the only perfect man to walk this earth. He came to show us He was and is Christ, the Messiah, our Savior. He showed His love and His power to all, telling them what was to come. Oh, to be there then - what was it like? What was it like to watch Him feed thousands or make the blind to see? What was it like to see Him raise the dead? What was it like to touch the hem of His garment? To hear Him speak, to see Him perform these miracles, to watch Him give grace and show His love and speak of His death, burial and resurrection...what was it like? I wonder what they thought when He spoke of these things. He was perfect; unlike us, He was without sin, yet He was condemned to die. 

Luke 24:20 says, "The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him." (NIV) Now before they crucified Him, the Bible tells us in Matthew 27:28-30, "And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews'. Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head." (NKJV) They spit on our Savior, our Jesus, the One who came to save us and offer us this place I spoke of earlier called Heaven. They beat Him and hurt Him as much as they could. Not only did they hurt Him physically, they mocked Him and laughed in His face. What strikes me so much in these verses is that it says, "And they bowed the knee before Him". The Bible tells us in Romans 14:11, "For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God." (NKJV) Yet here they are bowing before Him not to worship Him or confess to God, but to mock Him. After the beatings and the mocking and the humiliation they put Jesus through, they led Him to a place called Golgotha. It was there they drove the nails in His hands and feet and hung Him on the cross to suffer and bleed and die an excruciating death. Even as He hung on the cross, Matthew 27:37 says, "And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS." (NKJV) They mocked Him even as He died. And you know what? He was dying for them, for you and for me. This perfect Lamb of God, hanging on a cross, dying, to take our sin for us so we wouldn't have to. What a sacrifice! We gave nothing. Jesus gave it all.

Jesus died that day on the cross. Oh, they watched and waited and shouted for Him to save Himself. Matthew 27:42 says, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." (NKJV) He could have saved Himself. If He had chosen, He could have come down from that cross. But He chose not to. He didn't even drink the gall that was offered to Him to lessen the pain. He took on the full pain and force of all of our sins upon Himself. He died to give us life. 

But this is not where Jesus stops. The story doesn't end here, with His death. Matthew 28 tells us the story. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. But there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord came from Heaven and rolled the stone away from the tomb! Yes, the stone was rolled away and Jesus was not inside. The angel's countenance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The angel told the women to not be afraid and that Jesus was not there. Jesus is Risen, just like He told them! The angel told the women to go tell the disciples that He is risen from the dead, that He was in Galilee and that they could see Him there. Now, we weren't there when the stone was rolled away, but can you imagine it? If we really stop and think about the deep sadness we would be feeling for having just lost Jesus, only to realize that He's risen, we get a glimpse of the emotion running through their hearts. The Bible says they had fear and great joy. But Jesus told them not to be afraid. They came and worshiped Him and He ascended into Heaven. He told them that day, and it is written for us today, "lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". Matthew 28:20 (NKJV) 

So this story is what's been pondering in my heart all week, especially today, Good Friday - the story that Jesus died on a cross that should have been mine. But He came with a purpose, to die for us and take on all our sin and then Rise up and defeat death. I do a lot of worshiping through song, and today I was going through some music and wanted to specifically hear the song, Arise, My Love. My favorite part of this song is when it says, "Then the Father looked down to His Son and He said, Arise my Love, Arise my Love, the grave no longer has its hold on You". Can you picture it with me? I can see God, the Father, looking down upon His Son, dead in a grave after so much suffering, reaching out His arms saying "Arise, my Love". Wow! That gives me chills. The Son went home to Heaven to be with the Father. I don't know if this happened, but when God, the Father says "Arise, my Love", I can picture Jesus falling into the arms of God. After having suffered and died and completing the task laid out before Him on this earth, it was over. He conquered death and the grave!

Today, I also listened to the song, He's Alive. I love a song that tells a great story, and this one does just that. It tells the resurrection story of Jesus from Peter's point of view. My favorite part of the song is when Peter is feeling ashamed and broken, and suddenly there is a sweet and strange perfume, and a light that comes from everywhere. As Peter looks up, Jesus is standing before him with His arms open wide. Peter fell to his knees, clung to Him and cried. Oh to have been there...to have been Peter. To feel such anguish and sorrow over His death, such shame for denying Him, then suddenly Jesus is standing before Him reaching out for Him, drawing him near. The song goes on to say that Jesus raises Peter up and the love from Jesus is shining through His eyes. The guilt Peter felt suddenly melted into peace. He was alive!! The grave could not hold the King!

To have been there, to actually see Jesus raised from the dead, I can only imagine. Just the thought makes my heart sing and makes me want to shout! Jesus died for us... horrifically, painfully died, but it didn't end with His death. He arose from the grave and is in Heaven preparing a place for us forever, for eternity. 

There is no one that could love us this much. What Jesus did for us is more than anyone will ever do. The Bible tells us He knew us before we were born, but when we get to Heaven, we will fall at His feet and worship Him. He will welcome us by name when we get to Heaven because He died specifically for each of us. We'll get to see Him and thank Him and praise Him for His sacrifice. The soldiers that bowed a knee and mocked Him, they bowed again, but not to mock, but to call Him Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Hallelujah! 

Will you spend eternity in this wonderful place called Heaven, with a Savior who went to these great lengths to make sure you could? Do you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord? Have you asked Him to forgive your sins? Have you thanked Him for His sacrifice? If not, do it today. Ask Him so that you can have the assurance of an eternity in Heaven.  

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, to save a wretch like me. He saved me. I adore Him and I love Him more than I can put into words. His sacrifice for me makes me so humble and grateful. I want to tell the world of His love. 

So, arise, my love, and worship Him. I thank Him, today, for what He did for me and for you. Everything He did for us was, and is, all we'll ever need. He is with us today, just as He was with the people when He walked this earth. He's my everything, and today I celebrate His ultimate gift. He's given us everything under the Son!

"But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him." Acts 2:24

Happy Easter!

I love you all,

Kacey

Moving Mountains

"But the falling mountain crumbles away, and the rock moves from its place."

Job 14:18

We all face mountains...things in our path that seem insurmountable and impossible to conquer. We all want directions on how to get around this mountain - either how to climb it, or if we're honest, how to just avoid it and go around and miss it altogether. Never do we really want to climb it because from the bottom looking up it seems too big, too immovable, too steep, too hard. So what do we do? And how do we answer others, especially our kids, when they ask us for directions on how to move a mountain? The Lord spoke to me this week about this and I'd like to share.

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First, I would like to tell you that both of my boys have severe food allergies. They consist of nuts, eggs, shellfish, and milk. My youngest son, Jonah, is the one allergic to milk, and for us, it's by far the hardest to manage. On top of the food allergies, he has been diagnosed with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, or CVS. About a year ago, Jonah started vomiting for no apparent reason. The vomiting is very intense, violent, fall in the floor, us begging him to breathe kind of vomiting. We had never seen anything like this. After ruling out a virus, or flu, we thought he might be allergic to something new, but he wasn't. Just when we thought of going further with testing, it disappeared. No more vomiting. He was fine. The second or third time this so called virus appeared and then magically went away, we began to dig deeper - asking questions, doing research, and having our doctor help us determine what this was. After ruling out other things, it was determined that Jonah has CVS, which is a cyclical syndrome that comes and goes. Fast forward to about a month ago, and Jonah began complaining about bad headaches and severe abdominal pain, which we now know are called abdominal migraines. This last cycle has lasted for a month. It's hard on Jonah. He misses school, his food allergies become more sensitive, his head and stomach hurt. I think the worst part for him is that it comes on so suddenly, with barely enough time to make it to the bathroom, and the fact that it is so hard and violent for him. So we pray. We pray that the cycle ends quickly. We pray that there are no headaches and stomach pain. We pray he's able to go to school. We pray that the Lord removes the food allergies from both boys. But here's the thing I was so concerned about last week when it seemed so bad - I was worried that Jonah was discouraged with God because the cycle was still continuing. So I asked him. His sweet, precious, 10-year-old little heart said, "Well, no, mom, I'm not discouraged. We just need to keep praying!" Wow! He said it like he could not believe I had even asked the question. The Bible says in Matthew 18:3-4, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4) Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (NIV) Jonah was showing me he had faith. He believes his prayers are being heard, and he showed me how patiently he is waiting. 

Then this is what God did next. I stumbled across a story about a church in the Smoky Mountains that had just built a new building. They were a very excited congregation. Ten days before the dedication of the new building, an inspector came by and told the Pastor they would not be able to open as scheduled because they did not have adequate parking for the size of their church building. The Pastor explained that it took every inch of their land and they had no room left to expand the parking lot because there were other buildings on each side and a mountain in the back. The inspector said he was sorry, but they would not be allowed to hold their dedication service or open their new building. The Pastor decided to hold a prayer meeting, a mountain moving prayer time. About 30 members of the 300 member congregation met and they prayed for three hours. The Pastor was so moved and told the members to plan on showing up for the dedication service as planned, that God had not brought them that far to just quit. He told them to have faith. So the next week as the Pastor was in his office, someone knocked on his door. He opened it to a construction worker who explained that they were working over in the town next to them and needed some fill-dirt. He said they needed it right then and asked if they could remove dirt from the mountain that sat behind the church. He told the Pastor that in exchange for the dirt, his company would pave and concrete the area free of charge! The Pastor agreed, smiled, and the dedication service was held on the original Sunday. He told his members that God moved the mountain! He said the moral of this whole situation was that faith was not the absence of doubt, but the presence of belief! 

This has moved me in a mighty way. Jesus tells us in Mark 11:23, "Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them." (NIV) This church believed and God moved a mountain! I could not wait to share this story with Jonah. I told him just how much he had taught me with his faith and that I believed God showed us this story for a reason. Matthew 17:20 says, "Because you have so little faith, Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." See, a mustard seed is tiny, smaller than all other seeds. God isn't asking us to have an enormous sized faith. He picked the smallest seed of all and told us that if we had the smallest size faith in our heart, we could have the biggest outcomes. I explained to Jonah that God's ways are higher than our ways, and that He ultimately has the perfect plan for us. God's plan might be for Jonah to use his allergies and CVS to help others and give glory to God. But God's plan might be to remove these allergies and this CVS from his body. We don't know the plan, but we have learned this week through what God has shown us, that we don't have to know the plan. We just have to trust, to have faith, and to believe. Psalm 121:1-2 says, "I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from? 2) My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." (NIV)

Our help is in God alone. Our help comes from Him. Our faith is in Him alone, even if it's just a tiny amount. But God is so good and so big, that He doesn't ask the impossible from us, He does the impossible for us! Hallelujah! 

So my family has fully committed to praying for the boys, that the allergies will be completely removed from their bodies, and that Jonah will never have another CVS cycle again. We give God glory already for what He's done - for allowing us to understand what CVS is, what the allergies are and how to deal with them. We praise Him for allowing us the faith to pray for a miracle. And we give Him glory and praise for whatever the outcome! I praise Him for showing me a deeper side to the heart of my son, the faith he possesses as a little child in his prayers to a very big God. I thank God that He can move mountains...literally! 

I love Him and all He is and all He means to me. I pray you know Him, too. I pray you accept Him as your Savior so you can watch Him move the mountains in your life, whatever they may be. It only takes faith the size of a mustard seed. 

I'll update you and talk to you all soon. But for now, we'll just keep on talkin' about everything Under the Son. :)

"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." Psalm 90:2

I love you all,

Kacey