Lovely is...

On the cross Jesus’ final breath was breathed out so that we might breathe in His life.
His last words were meant for us...

“It is finished.” 

No longer is there any chasm, any separation between the Creator and the created, for when Love was nailed to the cross the world witnessed how lovely is death.

And in our witness of death’s beauty, we experience how lovely is life. No longer does death have the sting of victory for in Jesus’ lovely death we are set free to realize how lovely is life.

As we celebrate the glory of Easter contemplate these two truths:

Lovely is death. In Jesus' death perfect love overwhelms the darkness of fear, the darkness of pain, the darkness of anxiety... the darkness of sin. For in His death we meet love, for He is love and “perfect love casts out fear.” Lovely is the death of the One who is love for through His death we are baptized in His glory so that we might “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4).

Lovely is death is the truth of all those who “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely” so that we might be consumed by Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2).

Lovely is life. The joy of the cross is rooted in its destruction of our death so that through the death of Christ we might become baptized into the loveliness of life. Through the Spirit our hearts are awakened so that in hearing His voice we might truly live (Jn 5:25).

Lovely is life is the truth of all those who believe in Christ that “though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (Jn 11:25-26). For in Christ and through the Spirit, we are more than conquerors because in His death we become “the resurrection and the life.”

Only when we see how lovely is death can we experience how lovely is life. Only when Easter is lived through Christmas and Christmas through Easter can and will the Church become the eruption of hope bursting forth from the empty tomb! Amen Jesus! Tweet

Heaven is here...Do we hear?

Yesterday felt like an earthquake with the murder of God... 

And now... the deafening silence of Saturday...

The sound of Saturday's silence is the rumbling of love. A love bursting from the seams... waiting for Sunday's explosion.

But until then, the silence is powerful. The fear palpable. The angst overwhelming. And yet, in the midst of the silence, the tomb is calling out -- do you hear?

Today - as it always has - humanity is crying out for the hope of the empty tomb. And this year, the church needs to celebrate with bold-faced print, heart-filled streams, and tenacious prayers, heaven's hope.

That is, the Church needs to make clear the Kingdom of heaven is here... Do we hear?

What if today we “trust in the name of the Lord” so that we might “rise and stand upright?” What if today we who love the Lord, “shout for joy” by rising and standing upright by praying for the world today? (Ps20) 

What if the prayers of our heart were filled with the blood drops of Jesus?

What if we filled the silence (isolation) with the sound of our prayers?

As long as we live we should pray and pray unceasingly. Today is a gift from God for in His silence He speaks boldly, asking us, how will we respond to the actions of Christ? 

Will we step into the beautiful paradox that erupts from the cross? Will we step into the silence with the powerful and joyful noise of our prayers? Will we be the prayer song for the world to hear?

TGIF

Have you ever stopped to think what makes something good? Is something good always something to be thankful for?

Today many around the globe are engaging two truths: the cross, the COVID-19. For which can, should, do we exclaim: TGIF!

On this day called Friday, is there a reason to thank God? So many thank God for Friday and yet what is such thanks rooted in?

Might this day be the day when TGIF strikes at the core of the soul? Might this TGIF be a time when we pause to give thanks for the Friday that changed everything?

This Easter is different... As it should be. Truth is, the hope is that over the days past, we have grown closer, stronger, deeper with Jesus. And in our closeness we have found life to be what it is meant to be the closer I am to Him. And yet, how often do I neglect this truth?

Might this Friday be the day when we use the stay-at-home to really go home? To return to the One who is our home? What if today we pause and socially distance ourselves from the darkness, pain, angst of sin by embracing the One who is good? The One who radically altered the course of history thereby giving us the “goodness” of Good Friday.

As we go through the day, let us be mindful of the act taking place on our behalf... Let us ask the Holy Spirit to awaken us to the truth of what our King has done in order to give us the goodness of this life... 

As you enter into prayer this day - and throughout the weekend - be creative in the ways you meditate on God's word and in His presence. You might begin by listening to How Many Kings by Downhere, allowing the melody and lyrics to further awaken your heart to the truth of the One nailed to the rugged tree. 

The timing...

How does one respond to something unseen? What does one do when the world around is getting smaller and smaller... slowly sucking the oxygen from our dreams? Who does one turn to when no one seems to know which way to turn? What is the answer to my struggles, fears, confusion, discontent, anxiety... Is there an answer?

And so it feels as though we can only hope to be carried away from today's current predicament. It seems as though finding peace within and peace outside is nothing more than a fanciful kids tale... and so it seems...

Crazy truth of now is the timing... COVID-19 raining down turmoil, tension, struggle... falling down to the ground from this virus is a brokenness unseen before by so many. And the timing...

Passion Week.

There set before Jesus ... the pain. the suffering. the shame. the torture...

There set before Jesus ... The sin of Humanity...

There set before Jesus ... The Cross.

How did Jesus find comfort, peace, and refreshment in the midst of that hungry, violently salivating, rugged old cross staring him in the face? What did Jesus do as the life He lived for the other was now being ripped away by the other?

Brace yourself... Facing despair, desolation and darkness of the soul like none ever, Jesus fell to His face and prayed.

When Jesus needed to be refreshed, when He needed to be “carried away,” He embraced the Holy Spirit so as to be taken into the arms, into the heart of the Father. And there He found the intensity of peace that not only brought Him to His knees, but made Him sweat blood.

There in the garden, Jesus checked out by checking in to the needs, to the brokenness, to the hurt, to the suffering of the other. There in the garden Jesus took our chaos, our unstableness, our pain, our virus...our sin, and made it His.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” 

–Lk 22.42-44

Because of His love for us Jesus went to the Father so to reign down Holy love on His holy land through prayer. Through the Holy Spirit Jesus entered into the intensity of prayer for the sake of the world so that He might present the beauty and power of prayer.

Today, in your struggle to find peace you need not look to the world for your get away. What is needed more than anything right now is time with Jesus. Let the love of Jesus wreck your reality so as to make it real and right again. Today, check into Jesus for there in His embrace you will find rest for your soul.

May the Peace of our God wrap you up in the beautiful paradox of His radical love...

Poured out

Every moment I spend with Jesus is yet another moment I am filled with wonder. Every minute I spend in prayer is time I spend taking in the beauty of eternity. In Christ and through the Spirit, I have come to know this—Love.

This week is known to many as passion week. This week marks the intentional movement of the Light of God into the inferno of God. This week marks the moment when the love that came to town becomes the love that engulfs the town. This week marks the time when love steps into our pain, our silence, our turmoil, our darkness, our depression, our virus...

Truth of this week is that in the death of life's living hope, the hope of our life erupts. When we step into the truth of Christ's passion we are consumed by His presence and from His presence we can become His power. And the greatest eruption of His power and presence poured out is prayer.

Through the Spirit the truth of heaven's love can be multiplied... if we are willing to be poured out. When we come before His throne of grace we find the peace, the hope, the joy of heaven. We find that in Christ we are not alone, and in our unity we find strength.

We are not alone because He is our strength, our defender, our refuge in the storm. When we embrace the Spirit so as to step into the heart of Christ we come to find that through all the trials He has always been faithful, bringing healing to our soul.

Let Jesus be your everything. Today, become engulfed in the prayer of Christ—His prayer to the Father for the protection, the blessing and the glory of His beloved.

“I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours” (John 17:8-9).

For the truth of His love is the truth of our eternal joy. He came to wrap us up in His arms so that we might have peace, so that we might know that we are His own. Jesus’ prayer for us should bring our hearts to such a place of worship that we can do nothing but proclaim:

“You amaze me, Redeem me, You call me as Your own.”

If we say we love Jesus, our lives right now must show we love Jesus and the greatest way to do this is to jump into the “heart of Jesus” by jumping into prayer for the sake of the other.

Take a moment and listen to I am not alone by Kari Jobe and let the truth of this song invigorate the glory of your day as you are poured out in prayer for the sake of the world. Amen Jesus!

for further teaching and thoughts from Dr Farlow visit his YouTube page