the power of easter…

i know it's a cliche but this easter can be the first day of the rest of your life. JESUS CHRIST wants to give you the power to start over and to keep going. that's an outside power source HE wants to give you. i realize that some of you are barely hanging on. some of you your career is going down the tubes, your health is going down the tubes, your marriage is cracking up. you feel like chucking it all. you really don't have too much confidence. it may be because of fatigue – you're just worn out. it may be because of failure. it may be because of fear. i challenge you to let JESUS CHRIST light up your life, let HIM put hope in you.

listen, you really do matter to GOD. HE really does care about you. there's more to life than just getting up, going to work, come home, watch tv, go to bed, get up in the morning, go to work, come home, watch tv, go to bed ... and go to a party on the weekends.

i don't know why you are reading this today. but i do know this, regardless of the fear or the failure or the fatigue or the frustration or the other things that tend to discourage you, GOD has an encouraging word for you today. HE wants to say, "I am with you and I will give you the power to start over and begin a brand new life. not just turn over a new leaf – a brand new life. everything you've ever done wrong could be forgiven, forgotten and start over – just like being born again.

that phrase is used in the bible. some don’t understand that term. but it just means to start over, get a new lease on life. you can have a clear conscious. HE'll not only give you the power to start over, HE will give you the power to keep going. when you feel like hanging it up, throwing in the towel, walking out, HE will give you the power to keep on keeping on. for some of you, the tide in your life is out right now. it may be out but the tide always comes back in. GOD will help you through this.

would you pray a simple prayer in your heart today? you don't have to say it aloud. GOD will hear you. HE knows your heart. HE knows the very thoughts going across your mind. this is between you and GOD. this is the most important decision you'll ever make. would you say, "GOD, i'm not really sure i know YOU or not. but i want to. i want to put my trust in YOU. JESUS CHRIST, i don't understand it all but as much as i know how i ask YOU to come into my life."

you don't have to have all your questions answered to make a simple statement like that. i still have questions. but i'm growing and learning. say, "JESUS CHRIST, as much as i know how, i ask YOU to come into my life. i ask you to forgive all the things i've done wrong. i ask you to help me start over with a clean slate. because YOU are alive today, i ask YOU to give me the power not only to start over but to keep going and to go in the right direction. i want to believe in YOU and trust in YOU. help me to understand it more."

if you prayed that prayer i believe GOD heard you. it's that simple. JESUS made it so simple nobody could say it was too hard to understand. today, if you really meant that in your heart it can be the turning point, a new hope, a new life.

FATHER, thank you for easter. thank you for the difference it makes in our lives. thank you, that the basis for confidence is not all these things the world puts up but it comes from knowing you and knowing that you have a purpose for our lives and that you have a power for our lives too. we pray this in JESUS' name. amen.

just a thought from the front…