Resurrect me!!

It’s the week before Easter and Christians around the world are preparing to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s an exciting time to reflect upon the sacrifice and the power shown during the weeks leading up to Christ’s crucifixion. Spring is finally here and signs of new life are popping up everywhere…flowers, trees, and bees. As I was thinking about that, God said to me “it’s resurrection time”. I agreed and tried to move on to the next thing but then He pointed out something to me. With all of the newness of spring, there are many of you that are still feeling the effects of a long winter. You haven’t quite gotten the joy of the new season but God is calling you back to life today! He wants you to stand up and cry out to him, “Resurrect me!”

How many of you are ready to be revived and resurrected? It’s time to go into this new season in a better place. It’s time to shake off the layers, the heaviness, and the cold and receive the warmth of the Son. As I was praying, God immediately gave me Psalm 51. When David wrote this psalm, he had just been confronted by the prophet Nathan about his affair with Bathsheba and he was looking for redemption. I wasn’t quite sure if I had heard correctly at first but then I got it. Everyone goes through challenges and trials in life and the aftereffects are often heavy and long. Think about it. The grief after losing a loved one. The disappointment after a betrayal. The fatigue after a spiritual test. The guilt after a sin. Sometimes, these things weigh on you to the point of hopelessness and you are crying out for renewal and resurrection. But read what David says. “Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don’t look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don’t throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I’ll let loose with your praise.” (Ps. 51: 7-15) I’m a New King James girl to my heart but I love how the Message translates these verses. It captures David’s heartfelt desire to be redeemed and brought back to life. Can you see how you can apply this to your life? Can you see how the desire to be made new applies after a long winter season? Resurrect me, God!

When Christ was resurrected, He gave way to restoration and renewal in your life. The fact that He did not stay in the grave gave you the power to live again. It’s time now to take off the grave clothes of winter and put on your fresh spring attire. It’s time to leave all the pressures of the old season and embrace the release of the new one. “What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have Him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.” (1Peter 1:3-5 MSG) This is your resurrection day! This is your time to give all the worries, stresses and disappointments over to God and receive your future. Resurrect me, God!

God wants you whole and well. Will you receive it? You see, that’s the issue. If you do not allow the space and time for God to work in and through you, you allow winter to keep hold of your life. For those of you that have seen Frozen, there’s a scene when Olaf the snowman begins to melt because it’s too warm and he is given his own personal snow cloud. Some of you have unconsciously requested your own personal snow cloud that has kept you from feeling the full effects of spring. I challenge you today to step out from under that cloud and receive the gift and power of resurrection. You deserve it! May the God that raised Christ from the dead, renew and restore you today and cause you to feel a quickening in your spirit to go forward into your new season! AMEN.