We have been talking about finding our way back to God’s house after experiencing hurt or trauma at the hands of other believers in the church. We have talked about how we cannot say we love God and hate what He loves, His bride, the Church. In fact, Jesus said in John 14:15 says, “Loving me empowers you to obey my commands.” Loving God empowers us to obey what He needs us to do. Does it mean it’s easy? No. However, it pulls what would have otherwise been impossible by sheer will into the realm of possibility as we lean on Him and trust in Him. Yes, we really can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
God loves us so much and He endured so much for us to remain stuck in our past. Sometimes we stay stuck in seasons, situations, places or whatever it may be because we forget just how loved we are. Today, I thought I would remind us all what Jesus endured. Isaiah 53:1-9 tells it like this:
“Who has truly believed our revelation? To whom will Yahweh reveal His mighty arm? He sprouted up like a tender plant before the Lord, like a root in parched soil. He possessed no distinguishing beauty or outward splendor to catch our attention— nothing special in His appearance to make us desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of deep sorrows who was no stranger to suffering and grief.
We hid our faces from Him in disgust and considered Him a nobody, not worthy of respect. Yet He was the one who carried our sicknesses and endured the torment of our sufferings. We viewed Him as one who was being punished for something He Himself had done, as one who was struck down by God and brought low. But it was because of our rebellious deeds that He was pierced and because of our sins that He was crushed. He endured the punishment that made us completely whole, and in His wounding we found our healing.
Like wayward sheep, we have all wandered astray. Each of us has turned from God’s paths and chosen our own way; even so, Yahweh laid the guilt of our every sin upon Him. He was oppressed and harshly mistreated; still He humbly submitted, refusing to defend Himself. He was led like a gentle lamb to be slaughtered. Like a silent sheep before His shearers, He didn’t even open his mouth. By coercion and with a perversion of justice He was taken away. And who could have imagined his future? He was cut down in the prime of life; for the rebellion of His own people, He was struck down in their place. They gave Him a grave among criminals, but he ended up instead in a rich man’s tomb, although He had done no violence nor spoken deceitfully.”
Reading that reminds me of what Jesus did for me. Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross, but He chose to. Was it easy? Absolutely not. Hebrews 12:2 says, “We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be His, He endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!”
The cross was a traumatic and horrific event. Jesus suffered at the hands of those He came to save. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus’ earth journey was not all sunshine and rainbows. He endured suffering, sorrow, grief, pain, humiliation, abandonment, torment and rejection. He was despised, disrespected, looked down on, spat on, whipped beyond recognition, struck down and brought low. There is nothing we can walk through in life that Jesus did not understand or endure. He gets it. But He says, if you will just look past the temporary discomfort, pain, suffering, there is joy waiting for you on the other side.
We talked about forgiveness last week. Forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for us so we can break free of the chains of our past. Jesus paid too high a price for us to choose to remain chained to the very things that are killing us. As we get ready for Easter, this is a good time to consider leaving the past behind. We need to take inventory of our lives and ask God to identify the things He wants us to nail to the cross on Friday. Good Friday was a dark day. A sad day. A hard day. Our Saviour bled and died. But resurrection was coming on Sunday. What looked like victory for the devil, was a heavenly set up.
The devil may think he is winning in your life, but you have the chance to call on Jesus and turn it around. As we nail our past hurts, mistakes, failures and trauma to the cross, it may feel hard, dark, lonely, sad and it means a part of us may need to die. But we know that Sunday is coming. Joy is waiting for us. God wants you to be His. He died to prove it. Don’t let someone else’s mistakes, attitude, actions, ignorance or whatever it may be, keep you from the One who loves you. This Easter, if you haven’t done so already, find a church to go to. Make time for Jesus. It’s time to nail the past to the cross. Nail the old you who’s been stuck in endless cycles to the cross. That is, surrender Lordship over your life, every single area and especially those parts that hurt. Invite Jesus in. Give those parts of you to Jesus and trust that come resurrection Sunday, you will rise in the newness of life.
I am not saying your life will change dramatically in one weekend. Easter represents a spiritual truth of taking up our cross and dying to ourselves so we can rise to life in Christ. This is a daily exercise. Over time, we will begin to see God at work in our lives and in our hearts as we break through old cycles and start producing godly fruit that blesses others.
Go to church 😊 Have a wonderful Easter!
Love and blessings,
Melissa Tsingano.
Heavenly Whispers Blog 
Leave a comment