Prayer Tip: The Resurrection and the Life
Daily Scripture
John 14:1a (NRSV) and 20:19-21 (CEB)
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
That [Easter] evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the…authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
I grew up in church. There is never a time I didn’t consider myself a Christian. I made the decision to follow Christ and be baptized when I was ten years old. I knew I needed Jesus, but I didn’t really understand why. I was basically a good person and didn’t live a life that shouts “sinner.”
When I was 27, I decided to, once again, try to read through the entire Bible, starting with Genesis. I had started this endeavor several times, and I don’t think I’d ever made it all the way through that first book. This time, I stuck with it. Every evening before going to sleep, I would lie in bed and read for a while. I didn’t have a plan and just read as much as I felt like reading. From August to February, I read all the way from Genesis through Jeremiah, and that’s when following Jesus began to make more sense to me. Experiencing the ups and downs of the people of Israel helped me understand my own need for a savior.
The Israelites in general weren’t what most of us would consider terrible people. As a whole, they weren’t murderers or thieves. They weren’t addicts or drunks or domestic abusers. They were simply God’s people who kept forgetting to love God. At some point while reading Jeremiah, this hit home for me, and I wept. I may not have committed the so-called “big sins,” but every day, in some small way, I forgot to put God first.
That’s when Easter became real for me. I realized it didn’t matter what my sins were; I needed the sacrifice of God’s Son to erase them all-–just like the Israelites did two thousand years ago. And what a joy that, not only was Jesus sacrificed for us, but he was resurrected-–and we will be too! Join me in praying for an Easter that is even more significant to you than ever before.
Lord God, we thank you for Easter. We thank you for your love that is so great we struggle to understand it. Draw us close to you and help us to experience your love in a new and unique way this year. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer
GPS Insights
Angela LaVallie Tinsley
Angela joined staff in April of 2007. She oversees the administration of COR’s memorial gardens, room reservation system, insurance, licensing vehicles, and many other behind-the-scenes tasks that help keep our physical facilities running.
