'resurrection' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth…” vss. 10-11a Isaiah 55:10-11 The prophet had made some bold promises to the exiles in Babylon. Speaking for the Lord, he tells them that they will return to their native land…
Daily Devotions
No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.” vs. 13 Romans 6:12-16 Paul implies here that the folks in Rome had an option to present themselves either to sin as instruments of wickedness or to God as instruments of righteousness. His words resonate with our own observations of the world and our…
Daily Devotions
The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” vss. 10-11 Romans 6:6-11 Paul has some large expectations for those who have been baptized into Christ and who dare to call themselves his followers. We are not to be content with muddling along in life and blindly following the ways of the world.…
Daily Devotions
Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” vs. 4 Romans 6:1b-5 During the Jesus Revolution of the 1960’s, thousands of searchers responded to the proclamation of God’s unconditional love by being immersed in the waters of the nearest stream, lake, or sea. For many it was a life-changing experience and signaled…
Daily Devotions
Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” vss. 21-22 John 20:21-23 There are many passages in our scriptures about the Spirit or the Wind of God. It animates every living creature and energizes believers with wisdom and understanding. The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness and filled him with a passion…
Daily Devotions
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” vs. 20 John 20:19-20 Luke tells us that after the resurrection Jesus was revealed to two of his disciples in the breaking of bread. John, on the other hand, reports that Jesus was known to the disciples in the revealing of his scars. These two very different stories are a great gift to us as we struggle to see…
Daily Devotions
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” vs. 12 1 Corinthians 12:11-13 It seems that Paul had no difficulty believing in the resurrection. All he had to do was consider that little congregation in Corinth that was so dear to him. In them he saw Christ, the same risen Lord Jesus Christ who had called him into ministry on…
Daily Devotions
Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” vs. 35 Luke 24:25-35 The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, as recorded in the gospels, are mysterious and compelling. Each of the gospels has different stories with surprise endings and various twists. Luke’s account of the appearance to two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus has long spoken to the hearts of believers in every age.…
Daily Devotions
Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” vs. 24 Luke 24:13-24 It’s really hard for any of us to believe in things that we have not experienced. And if we are going to believe in them, we will need to have supporting evidence. According to Luke, that’s what disciples of Jesus were looking for when they were told by some women…
Daily Devotions
Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’” vs. 27 John 20:26-31 Thomas had told the other disciples that he would not be convinced of Jesus’ resurrection unless he could touch his wounds–he didn’t need another sign, the scars would be enough. He needed to know that the resurrected Christ was the crucified Jesus! And his wish was granted. Jesus…
Daily Devotions
So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’” vs. 25 John 20:19-25 Thomas did not become famous through his first century missionary journey to southern India, but because he was the only disciple to doubt the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. Even…
Daily Devotions
Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy…” vs. 8 1 Peter 1:3-9 This letter is addressed to believers living in five Roman provinces in what is now the country of Turkey. Some had suffered alienation from families and persecution by authorities because they had become followers of Jesus. Even though they had never seen him they had…