Do you feel stressed out? Overburdened and overwhelmed?

Are you wearing too many hats, and none of them seem to fit? 

Sadly, far too many of us feel that way far too often.

​The demands and responsibilities inherent in our "hurry-up" world easily overtake us, before we even realize it; no matter how intent we are to stay calm and carry on.

There is good news!

We are not meant to carry that load, or any load, alone.

We are not designed to continually endure such high stress levels; or live our lives feeling like we are one step from the edge.

God created each of us to trust and depend on Him. To walk in continual, daily fellowship with Him.

He gave us a Savior who understands what it's like to be in high demand.

And Jesus certainly experienced the full weight of the world on His shoulders when He went to the cross and willingly took on the sins of the world so we could be reconciled to God.

The Lord sees each one of us in our stress, in our struggles, and in our desperation.

He loves and cares for us and knows how to give us the peace we long for.

We just need to call on Him, humble ourselves before HIm, and lay our burdens at His feet.

When we surrender our worries and our cares into His loving hands; His peace begins to fill our hearts, where it flows and through us as we taste the rest our souls desperately yearn for.
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My Savior lives!

Good Friday, Easter and Resurrection Sunday have all passed for yet another calendar year; but the message of a risen Savior does not need to sit on a shelf until next Easter season. 

Jesus Christ is alive!

                “He is not here; He has risen!” (Luke 24:6-7 NIV)

               “Fear not; I am the First and the Last.
                I am He who liveth, and was dead;
               and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen.
              (Revelation 1:17b-18a KJV)

He came to die, and die He did.

                But God demonstrates His own love for us,
                in that while we were still sinners,
               Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

              “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served,
               but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”
              (Matthew 20:28 NKJV)

But, He didn't to stay that way.

                We know that Christ, being raised from the dead,
                will never die again; death no longer has dominion
                over Him.” (Romans 6:9 ESV)

               Christ Jesus who died – more than that,
              who was raised to life- is at the right hand of God
              and is also interceding for us. (Romans 8:34 NIV)

He came to triumph over death, to defeat the grave, and to overcome the decay and decline of our sinful condition. He came to pay the price for sin on Calvary's cross, for me.  For me!  And for you!

               For all have sinned
              and fall short of the glory of God,
             (Romans 3:23 NKJV)

              Who gave Himself for our sins
              to deliver us from the present evil age,
              according to the will of our God and Father
             (Galatians 1:4 ESV)

I am as a slave, bought for a price, and that being so much more than I could ever pay.  A price far above my market value; but nonetheless, one Jesus was willing to pay.

Not so I would remain tied and bound to this life and its sinful ways.  Not to give way to temptation, wallow in sin and worship at the feet of the world.

                So you must must consider yourselves dead to sin
               and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11 ESV)

                Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
               but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
              Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-
              His good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)

He did it to set me free!  To give me a hope and a future; to give me strength and power to walk among the world and not be in it.

                 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity,
                but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT)

                Set your minds on things that are above,
                not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:2 NKJV)

               “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
               “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
               plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

To rise above my past slave-state and take up a new heritage: as part of the royal family of God!
I am free!  My Savior lives and I am free!!

               For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 
               So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. 
               Instead, you received God's Spirit when He adopted you as His own children.
               Now we call Him, “Abba, Father.”                                                 
              For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.
              And since we are His children, we are His heirs.
              In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory.
             (Romans 8: 14-17a NLT)

              But as many as received Him,
              to them He gave the right to become children of God,
              to those who believe in His name: who were born, 
             not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
​             nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 NKJV)

              But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood,
              a holy nation, God's special possession,
             that you may declare the praises
             of Him who called you out of darkness
             into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9 NIV)

He lives in me, as the Holy Spirit, and He has given me a new life, and a new start.

              This is how we know that we live in Him and He in us;
              He has given us of His Spirit. (1 John 4:13 NIV)

              There is therefore now no condemnation
              for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1a NKJV)

             Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
             old things have passed away;                                               
            behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)

Love brought Jesus down from heaven, to live and walk among us.  Love lifted Him up on the cross to die. Love took Him down into the tomb, and love raised Him from the dead.  And He did it all so that we might be saved.

              “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
              that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish
              but have everlasting life.
              For God did not send His Son into the world
              to condemn the world,
              but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
             (John 3:16-17 NKJV)

             And there is salvation in no one else,
             for there is no other name under heaven
             given among men by which we must be saved.
            (Acts 4:12 ESV)

Praise be to God for the greatest gift I could ever receive; for a love so deep, so wide, and so rich, my cup truly runneth over.  Even when I struggle in life, and suffer through its hurts; I can still trust in the power of God's love.

             I pray that out of His glorious riches
             He may strengthen you with power
            through His Spirit in your inner being,
            so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
            And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
            may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people,
            to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
           and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-
          that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
          (Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV)

My Savior lives and He loves me!

He loves you too.  If you already know Him, I pray this stirs your heart to remember that your Savior
is alive and well, and working in your life right now!

If you don't yet know Jesus as Lord and Savior; He is  ready to come in and make His home in your heart; if you will but receive Him.  He waits at the door, holding the free gift of eternal salvation He has made available for us all if only we open our hearts and accept Him.

            “Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.
             The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die;
             and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die.
            Do you believe this?'”
​            (John 11:25-26 NIV)

Then lift your heart to Him and  join me that we may cry together with one voice;

                                                                                 I believe!
                                                                          My Savior lives!

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"I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33, NIV)

In that day people will proclaim, "This is our God! We trusted in Him, and He saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!" (Isaiah 25:9, NLT)

So, why is Good Friday, good? It's not because we are celebrating Jesus' death. Nor are we honoring Judas' betrayal. It's not even because of a  three-day weekend. 

It's "good" because we now know the rest of the story. It's because Christ wasn't bound to that cross, or that grave, by human hands. No, He was there willingly. Jesus Christ suffered and died to pay for the sins of the world. WHY? Because of LOVE. For you. For me. For anyone who will come.  

Good Friday represents the hope for a new life, for a fresh start for all who come to Him, receive Him,  believe and follow Him. 

We don't need to stand in the dark shadow of the cross, unsure of our eternal future.

Jesus loves us. He came for us. He endured the cross and an agonizing death, for us. He rose again. For us. He chose us. Each one of us. But, it's up to us whether we chose Him, or not. Everyone is welcome and there is always room for one more.

"I can come just as I am
you welcome me, you welcome me
I can lay my burdens down,
you carry me, you carry me
with love in your eyes you ran,
and with grace in your voice,
you said

There is room at the table
there is room at the table
when I'd wandered so far, you came after my heart
you made a way and set a place for me
there is room at the table."
(Room at the Table, Saddleback Worship 2017)