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Honoured Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: US
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Re: POWER of PRAYER- No Matter Which Faith You Follow=GOD is With You
"Not my will, but Yours be done."
This week, the Church pauses from the noise and chaos of the world to remember the most important days in human history. The final days of Jesus Christ's earthly ministry.
On Maundy Thursday, the Church remembers Jesus kneeling and washing the feet of His disciples -- the King of Kings took on the posture of a servant (John 13:4-5). He broke bread and drank wine with them, saying, "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). In the garden of Gethsemane, He knelt in agony and prayed, "Not my will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42). He knew what was coming, and He went anyway.
On Good Friday, we reflect on our Lord going to the cross. Not because He had to, but because He chose to. Every stripe, every nail, every moment of darkness was the Son of God bearing the weight of the sin of the world -- your sin and mine -- so that we would never have to bear it ourselves (Isaiah 53:4-5). He cried out, "It is finished" (John 19:30), and at that moment the veil in the temple tore from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51) -- Heaven breaking open what earthly powers had sealed shut. As, Isaiah, the prophet had foretold centuries before: "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5).
And then -- Sunday came.
An angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it (Matthew 28:2). The tomb was empty. Death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24). Mary Magdalene ran to tell the disciples, and Peter and John found only the folded burial cloths lying where His body had been (John 20:6-7). Risen. Victorious. Alive forevermore.
"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said." -- Matthew 28:6
The risen Christ appeared first to Mary in the garden (John 20:16), then to the disciples behind locked doors (John 20:19), then to more than five hundred witnesses at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). That is the hinge on which all of history turns. Not a philosophy. Not a moral code. A resurrection. A real, bodily, earth-shattering resurrection that means sin is defeated, death is conquered, and everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ is heaven bound.
Despite the conflict, hatred, and sin we see at work in this world, the good news of the gospel continues to do its work. A few days ago, on Palm Sunday, President Trump shared a letter he had received from Franklin Graham after the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. In it, Reverend Graham congratulated the president on what he called a "historic" accomplishment -- and then, with the boldness of a true evangelist, he pivoted from geopolitics to the gospel.
He wrote:
"This week you commented to the media that you might not be heaven bound... it is an important issue to know for certain that your soul is secure... The only way to Heaven is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ... If you accept that by faith and invite Him to come into your heart, you ARE heaven bound, I promise you."
He then quoted Romans 10:9: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Think about that. In the middle of a geopolitical breakthrough -- hostages freed, a fragile peace taking hold in one of the most contested pieces of land on earth -- a man of God looked the most powerful leader in the world in the eye and said: none of this matters as much as where your soul will spend eternity.
That is the resurrection message.
Ceasefires are fragile. Kingdoms rise and fall. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ is an unshakeable, eternal fact -- and the promise it carries is available to anyone who will place their faith in the risen Christ.
The peace that Franklin Graham pointed President Trump toward is not a ceasefire. It is the peace that passes all understanding -- the peace that comes only through the Prince of Peace, the One whose empty tomb we celebrate this Resurrection Sunday.
As you gather with your family and friends this Sunday -- whether around a church pew, a dinner table, or both -- I want to invite you to pray.
Pray for the men and women in the Middle East -- soldiers, aid workers, Christian communities under siege, and civilians caught in the crossfire of ancient conflict. Pray that in the midst of all the chaos that the gospel advances.
Pray for President Trump and our national leaders -- that the weight of their decisions would drive them not to their own wisdom, but to their knees. That the boldness of Franklin Graham's witness would find good soil in the heart of our leaders and their advisors.
Pray for your own family and community -- that Resurrection Sunday would not be merely a tradition observed, but an encounter with the living Christ. That someone in your circle who does not yet know Him would hear the good news, believe it, and be saved.
We do not pray to a dead teacher or a distant deity, we pray to a risen Savior who conquered the grave, who intercedes for us, and who is coming again.
He is risen.
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I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4
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