“The Finished Work”
“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection,
not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” Martin Luther
Springtime, after 10 years of drought, has displayed its beauty as never before! The parched California ground has been flooded with life-giving rain and the mountains and valleys have exploded into the most spectacular and abundant colors and fresh new life!
Revival has come to a dry and thirsty land!
The death, burial and resurrection of Christ, which we celebrated yesterday, was the revival of revival! Easter is the annual reminder to us of the desperate need we have for revival in our lives daily. Revival is the power of the Holy Spirit transforming God’s Word into our soul. There has never been a need, as great as today for revived lives, revived families, fellowships, communities and nation. The desperate need is there but the realization of our personal need is not! And revival starts with us!
“For revival is not a green valley getting greener, but a valley full of dry bones being made to live again and stand up an exceeding great army. (Ezekiel 37) It is not good Christians becoming better Christians—as God sees us there are not any good Christians—but rather Christians honestly confessing that their Christian life is a valley of dry bones, thus qualifying them for the grace that makes all things new”! (Roy Hession) For the Christian, death is a promotion! New Life springs from our continual choosing to die to our pride and selfishness.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God,
which is your reasonable service.” Rom. 12:1
Some give Him a place; some give Him prominence; but what Christ wants in our lives is pre-eminence. The fruit of His being pre-eminent in our life is a spiritual renewal that restrains the anger of God, restores our God-consciousness and reveals His continual activity in us.
For those who have humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God at that place where sin is washed away, it has meant revival of their Christian lives in the truest and simplest sense of the word.
As we celebrated the finished work of our Savior yesterday, let’s use this reminder to revisit our need for personal and continual revival. His death and resurrection came with plan and purpose. It was to give us life from death. New life does not begin with someone else. It begins in each of us.
Let’s exchange dry bones for New Life!
“If you are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sits on the right hand of God.” Col. 3:1
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is discipling and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
