Sunday, April 9, 2023

RESURRECTION SUNDAY



 RESURRECTION SUNDAY

Yesterday God blessed me with an unexpected check for $773. Apparently, the medical people decided that I should get a refund for two warranties I bought on my hearing aids, one back in 2020 and one in 2022. I had no idea that they were going to refund me until the check just showed up in the mail, and of course I thanked God for the extra money. This past year, with less income now than when I was working, I have learned in the practical realm what it means to trust God for my finances, and He has surprised me many times over with this kind of cash coming in from unusual sources. It’s fun to know God as El Shaddai, the Lord of more than enough.

 

This title, El Shaddai, is first used in Genesis 17:1 “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, ‘I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]; walk before me, and be thou perfect.’” The Hebrew word translated “perfect” means “upright, complete, whole, healthful, wholesome, having integrity, unimpaired and in accordance with truth.”

 

In the next verse God says to Abraham: “And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” Since Abraham didn’t have any children at the time, this was a huge promise God was giving him!

 

Verse 3: “And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him.” I think we need to do more of this falling on our faces before God. Many of us need to stop right now doing what we’re doing in the religious realm and go to a place where we are totally alone with our maker.

 

It was when Abram fell on his face before God alone that God “talked with him”. And isn’t that what we want? God to talk to us? Abram didn’t go to his friends, his pastor, his wife, or his writings (if he had any). He fell on his face before God, and God talked with him. Then God told him an amazing thing: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” We are told in the epistles that we are the seed of Abraham today, and the blessing of El Shaddai on Abraham is ours today, through Jesus Christ.

 

On this resurrection Sunday, we fall on our faces before our God. We have to honestly confess that we cannot do this thing called life without God’s help and if we try, we fail more often than we succeed.

 

God gave us His only begotten son, Jesus, who also willingly gave his life to God, so that God could once again claim us as His own, taking us back into His arms and away from the god of this world, the devil. When we willingly surrender all we are to God, and that means our bodies and our souls and our spirit – everything we are now belongs to God, and that’s a very very good thing! He knows how to take care of us better than anyone else, including ourselves. God is gracious, merciful, forgiving, and sometimes challenging and confrontational, but always loving and always good.

 

God started my Resurrection Day early and was El Shaddai for me yesterday—no Easter egg, but $733. He blessed me and made me laugh, and I trust Him even more. I confess my surrendering all to God and to my Lord Jesus Christ and I’m so thankful to receive their love, and yours too.

 

Love, Carolyn

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