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EVANGELIZES, EDUCATES & EDIFIES!
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Shanick Moore is a mother, Minister in Training, author, empowerment speaker, Christian Life Coach, national leader, and entrepreneur. She is also the National Program Coordinator with Project Single Moms. www.projectsinglemoms.com
During this season, many are
preparing to celebrate Easter. The stores will be full of shoppers and the
churches will be packed with parishioners. There are many fasts, good deeds,
vacations, celebrations and fellowships being planned for this special time of
the year. As long as I could remember the church has been a part of my life,
and I must admit going to church on Easter to the packed house gave me mixed
feelings. On one hand, I was overjoyed for all the people in attendance who
would enjoy the service and receive the word of God. Then, on the other hand, I
was disappointed with knowing that on the following Sunday many of those full
seats would be empty. I always wondered, why go through all the trouble of
shopping, traveling, getting dressed up and attending the service if you were
only going to return to your old ways of not attending church on a regular
basis. This made me consider that people truly did not understand what they were
shopping, traveling, getting all dressed up, and attending service to
celebrate.
Easter Sunday now dismissed by many believers and called Resurrection Sunday is a very significant day in the lives of those who believe in Jesus Christ. On the calendar, this special season leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus is an exciting time of services full of worship, praise, programs, plays and reflection. A time of reflection of the price that was paid for us all. Do we truly understand and meditate on the series of events that resulted in our salvation and chance for eternal life through Jesus Christ?
To really get the fullness of why Christ was resurrected, we have to understand and appreciate the reason why he was born. Because of mankind's sinful nature Christ had to be born. In the beginning God gave us free will. He set the guidelines and gave instructions and the rest was solely up to us.Unfortunately, we turned away from living the right way and lived a life of sin, which was definitely leading us to death. So our Father loved us so much that gave us the only thing that would give us all another chance. God gave us Christ.
Matt 1:21 NLT And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,for he will save his people from their sins.
John 1:29 NLT The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 3:16 NLT "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
1 John 4:10 NLT This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
These are only a few scriptures that tell us why Christ was born. The Bible is full of details of God's love and kindness toward us. Just meditate on that for a moment and make it personal. Understand and know that the only reason Christ was born, was to give you and I another chance at life.
John 10:10 KJV The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
It is exciting to know that our God loves us that much. No one in the world has this capacity, regardless of how hard they try to love you. No one can love as our Heavenly Father can. They can strive to and try their hardest, but the love from our Father, the God of the universe, and creator of all things is absolutely incomparable to anything we can experience outside of Him.Meditating on that alone just makes my heart melt for Him. My soul falls deeper in love every moment I think of his admiration for me.
I had a moment there just thinking about his goodness. Let's keep it going and take a moment to cover why Christ lived? We can say we just covered that, it was to be a sacrifice, but we actually only covered why Christ was born. It gets a little deeper when you really digest why Christ lived.Christ lived to show us how to live. Jesus is God in flesh and being God, he lower himself and became flesh.
John 1:1 AMP In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 AMP And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Christ could have been born and immediately been sacrificed for our sins. There was so much more to this sacrifice. He lived to show us the way.
John 14:6 KJV Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Christ lived in this world to show us that we all, including him was created to fulfill a purpose and regardless of what comes our way, we can complete it. We can ask how is it possible, that we can compare our lives and what we go through, to the life of Christ, but we must remember all that he did as he lived. One of the most important things he did was take on our temptations.
Matthew 4:1 AMP THEN JESUS was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.
Luke 4: 1,2 AMP THEN JESUS, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit. For (during) forty days in the wilderness (desert), where He was tempted (tried, tested exceedingly) by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry.
Luke 22: 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.[c]
Mark 26: 39 KJV And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Jesus went through the process that so many of us run away from. This version in the Bible breaks it down and says He was tested exceedingly. Jesus endured temptations that many of us will never experience. He took it all and at the end of the day, still did not sin. Jesus suffered and He felt the pain. The suffering did not skip over Him because He was God; He endured the pain for us because HE IS GOD! He had the power to stop it all, but He did not. He never forgot his purpose and reason for living. He lived to complete the task that He was assigned. No matter how painful, trying, difficult, scary, hard, unfamiliar or uncomfortable, He went through it all as a man to show us that we can make it through absolutely any and everything because He did.
Leading to the resurrection, Christ experienced a week of emotional highs and lows. It started with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey as the people shouted praises to Him and threw palm branches in His path as a symbol of victory.The week continued with Jesus spending time giving last instructions to his disciples and also the famous last supper. Another very significant moment was when Christ was on the Mount of Olives praying to the Father. The scripture lets us know how much pain he endured knowing his fate. He knew exactly what he was going to experience to finish the job he was born to accomplish. So his pain was not only painful in the spiritual realm, it was even more painful in the natural. Christ was beaten and ridiculed severely. This was also a part of the plan. Every hit, wound, bruise, stripe, strike, smite, and affliction was for us.
Isaiah 53: 4, 5Surely He has borne our grief's (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
For me, I did not truly visualize this process until I saw the Passion of Christ. This movie actually made these scriptures alive as I watched every hit; every drop of blood that poured from his wounds and every piece of flesh that left his body from the horrific weapons used to torture Christ. No matter how many times I see that scene, I get the same feeling of gratitude and unworthiness. My soul cries out to Him as tears flow from my eyes, and I think of all He did for me even though I did not deserve it. Then to know after all of this, He carried the cross to his own crucifixion. As He carried the cross, the same people that praised Him were now the same people who screamed hateful words at Him. All through this painful process, He continued on to give His life for the same people that hurt Him. The pain continued as He was nailed to the cross continuing on to fulfilling His purpose.
I will say again that Christ was born, lived, and died to fulfill the ultimate purpose. To give mankind a second chance, He had to go through the process. His task was not easy but in the form of man He showed us all that it was doable. Even though we strive to be more like Christ, we will never have to carry the burden He carried. We will never have to go through the heartache and pain He endured. It was not over. He had to perform one more thing to complete His assignment. He was resurrected as He said he would be, only three days later.Christ had to be resurrected so that you could be saved.
Romans 10:9: KJV That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Jesus Christ's life is the perfect example of a purpose driven life. Resurrect means to bring back to life, to rise from the dead, revive, to bring back into use, or to renew.
So I ask, what do you need to resurrect in your life to make sure the purpose of your creation is completed? What have you given up on because it was too hard, painful, or difficult? What is dead, but should be alive and flourishing? These are some very important questions that before I asked you, I had to ask myself. I must make it personal and admit that these last few years of my life have been the hardest I have had to experience. There were moments where I was at that same place Christ was, on the Mount of Olives, asking God to take it from me. It was a painful process to get to the point where I cried not my will, but your will be done, Lord. Writing this piece reminded me that it is not about me, but the purpose I was created to accomplish. To know all that Christ went through as a man and still went through the process for me. My trials no longer look big at all. It will hurt. It will be painful, but it will be completed. So now I ask myself the same question. Shanick, what do you need to resurrect, renew, or refresh? This is not a once a year question that I must ask myself, but a daily question and reminder as to why I exist. Each day reverencing the life of Christ, and never taking a moment for granted.
If you have not accepted Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior, please do it now. If you need a renewal, do it now. Please do not have another Easter or Resurrection Sunday getting dressed up and looking the part, while you do not get the true understanding of what it all means. You must know what was done for you from the beginning, so that you will be victorious. Let us not let another year go by distracted by people, places, and things, falling further away from our purpose. Remember everything that Christ suffered was just for you, and not one day, moment, or second did He stop and abort His mission. Regardless of what society tells or shows us, being a Christian means being Christ like. So let us be like Christ, as we live to complete our purpose. Let us show Him our gratitude by how we live our lives, and not only how we get dressed up and go to service on Easter/Resurrection Sunday.
Easter Sunday now dismissed by many believers and called Resurrection Sunday is a very significant day in the lives of those who believe in Jesus Christ. On the calendar, this special season leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus is an exciting time of services full of worship, praise, programs, plays and reflection. A time of reflection of the price that was paid for us all. Do we truly understand and meditate on the series of events that resulted in our salvation and chance for eternal life through Jesus Christ?
To really get the fullness of why Christ was resurrected, we have to understand and appreciate the reason why he was born. Because of mankind's sinful nature Christ had to be born. In the beginning God gave us free will. He set the guidelines and gave instructions and the rest was solely up to us.Unfortunately, we turned away from living the right way and lived a life of sin, which was definitely leading us to death. So our Father loved us so much that gave us the only thing that would give us all another chance. God gave us Christ.
Matt 1:21 NLT And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,for he will save his people from their sins.
John 1:29 NLT The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 3:16 NLT "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
1 John 4:10 NLT This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
These are only a few scriptures that tell us why Christ was born. The Bible is full of details of God's love and kindness toward us. Just meditate on that for a moment and make it personal. Understand and know that the only reason Christ was born, was to give you and I another chance at life.
John 10:10 KJV The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
It is exciting to know that our God loves us that much. No one in the world has this capacity, regardless of how hard they try to love you. No one can love as our Heavenly Father can. They can strive to and try their hardest, but the love from our Father, the God of the universe, and creator of all things is absolutely incomparable to anything we can experience outside of Him.Meditating on that alone just makes my heart melt for Him. My soul falls deeper in love every moment I think of his admiration for me.
I had a moment there just thinking about his goodness. Let's keep it going and take a moment to cover why Christ lived? We can say we just covered that, it was to be a sacrifice, but we actually only covered why Christ was born. It gets a little deeper when you really digest why Christ lived.Christ lived to show us how to live. Jesus is God in flesh and being God, he lower himself and became flesh.
John 1:1 AMP In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 AMP And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Christ could have been born and immediately been sacrificed for our sins. There was so much more to this sacrifice. He lived to show us the way.
John 14:6 KJV Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Christ lived in this world to show us that we all, including him was created to fulfill a purpose and regardless of what comes our way, we can complete it. We can ask how is it possible, that we can compare our lives and what we go through, to the life of Christ, but we must remember all that he did as he lived. One of the most important things he did was take on our temptations.
Matthew 4:1 AMP THEN JESUS was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.
Luke 4: 1,2 AMP THEN JESUS, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit. For (during) forty days in the wilderness (desert), where He was tempted (tried, tested exceedingly) by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry.
Luke 22: 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.[c]
Mark 26: 39 KJV And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Jesus went through the process that so many of us run away from. This version in the Bible breaks it down and says He was tested exceedingly. Jesus endured temptations that many of us will never experience. He took it all and at the end of the day, still did not sin. Jesus suffered and He felt the pain. The suffering did not skip over Him because He was God; He endured the pain for us because HE IS GOD! He had the power to stop it all, but He did not. He never forgot his purpose and reason for living. He lived to complete the task that He was assigned. No matter how painful, trying, difficult, scary, hard, unfamiliar or uncomfortable, He went through it all as a man to show us that we can make it through absolutely any and everything because He did.
Leading to the resurrection, Christ experienced a week of emotional highs and lows. It started with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey as the people shouted praises to Him and threw palm branches in His path as a symbol of victory.The week continued with Jesus spending time giving last instructions to his disciples and also the famous last supper. Another very significant moment was when Christ was on the Mount of Olives praying to the Father. The scripture lets us know how much pain he endured knowing his fate. He knew exactly what he was going to experience to finish the job he was born to accomplish. So his pain was not only painful in the spiritual realm, it was even more painful in the natural. Christ was beaten and ridiculed severely. This was also a part of the plan. Every hit, wound, bruise, stripe, strike, smite, and affliction was for us.
Isaiah 53: 4, 5Surely He has borne our grief's (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
For me, I did not truly visualize this process until I saw the Passion of Christ. This movie actually made these scriptures alive as I watched every hit; every drop of blood that poured from his wounds and every piece of flesh that left his body from the horrific weapons used to torture Christ. No matter how many times I see that scene, I get the same feeling of gratitude and unworthiness. My soul cries out to Him as tears flow from my eyes, and I think of all He did for me even though I did not deserve it. Then to know after all of this, He carried the cross to his own crucifixion. As He carried the cross, the same people that praised Him were now the same people who screamed hateful words at Him. All through this painful process, He continued on to give His life for the same people that hurt Him. The pain continued as He was nailed to the cross continuing on to fulfilling His purpose.
I will say again that Christ was born, lived, and died to fulfill the ultimate purpose. To give mankind a second chance, He had to go through the process. His task was not easy but in the form of man He showed us all that it was doable. Even though we strive to be more like Christ, we will never have to carry the burden He carried. We will never have to go through the heartache and pain He endured. It was not over. He had to perform one more thing to complete His assignment. He was resurrected as He said he would be, only three days later.Christ had to be resurrected so that you could be saved.
Romans 10:9: KJV That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Jesus Christ's life is the perfect example of a purpose driven life. Resurrect means to bring back to life, to rise from the dead, revive, to bring back into use, or to renew.
So I ask, what do you need to resurrect in your life to make sure the purpose of your creation is completed? What have you given up on because it was too hard, painful, or difficult? What is dead, but should be alive and flourishing? These are some very important questions that before I asked you, I had to ask myself. I must make it personal and admit that these last few years of my life have been the hardest I have had to experience. There were moments where I was at that same place Christ was, on the Mount of Olives, asking God to take it from me. It was a painful process to get to the point where I cried not my will, but your will be done, Lord. Writing this piece reminded me that it is not about me, but the purpose I was created to accomplish. To know all that Christ went through as a man and still went through the process for me. My trials no longer look big at all. It will hurt. It will be painful, but it will be completed. So now I ask myself the same question. Shanick, what do you need to resurrect, renew, or refresh? This is not a once a year question that I must ask myself, but a daily question and reminder as to why I exist. Each day reverencing the life of Christ, and never taking a moment for granted.
If you have not accepted Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior, please do it now. If you need a renewal, do it now. Please do not have another Easter or Resurrection Sunday getting dressed up and looking the part, while you do not get the true understanding of what it all means. You must know what was done for you from the beginning, so that you will be victorious. Let us not let another year go by distracted by people, places, and things, falling further away from our purpose. Remember everything that Christ suffered was just for you, and not one day, moment, or second did He stop and abort His mission. Regardless of what society tells or shows us, being a Christian means being Christ like. So let us be like Christ, as we live to complete our purpose. Let us show Him our gratitude by how we live our lives, and not only how we get dressed up and go to service on Easter/Resurrection Sunday.
