Jesus Christ is risen!  The stone has been rolled away!  He conquered DEATH, left the tomb empty, and lives forever bringing new life to all who will believe and accept His free gift of salvation.

Hallelujah!

I could site all the evidence from once-atheists turned believers when they went on a personal mission to disprove the existence of Christ, the crucifixion, the bodily resurrection.  My greatest doubts have been settled.

I believe.

Jesus Christ IS who He says He is.  He is God.

Jesus Christ DID what He came to do.

He conquered death for us all.

He has saved us from our sins—from all that has kept us eternally separated from God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  And now we can live with Him forever in holiness.

But what about NOW?  What about TODAY?  He has saved us FROM our sins.  But what has He saved us TO?

He has saved us to live FREE—to live TRUE.  He didn’t rise from the dead so we could keep walking around half-dead.  He has saved us to LIVE fully alive, abundantly free, spreading this good news to the ends of the earth!

He has raised us with Himself to walk out of the tombs we still find ourselves in THIS DAY!

The whole earth testifies!  Let new life fly on the wind and drop where He wills and start anew, multiplying.  Let all death cases break!  And watch what a simple, small seed of hope can do.  It grows up and out and spreads its arms to the heavens in praise.

So what still has us caged today?  What keeps us in our death-tombs, experiencing day-to-day living as bound slaves to something, anything, except abundant life?

FEAR?  Self-doubt?  Insecurities?  Circumstances beyond our control?  Impressions and judgments of others?  Uncertain future?

Or PRIDE?  Thinking we can be our own god?  Thinking we are quite good enough?  Thinking we are better than most?  Thinking our talents, our money, our possessions, our friends, our family, our success, our looks, our intelligence, our __________________ can continue to fill us up, puff us up?  And then what?

I have been entombed by both.  If you’re honest with yourself, so have you.  Are we still?  How do Fear and her twin Pride keep us bound in grave clothes, buried in dark tombs, unable to break free and remove all that binds us?

I have been given many gifts—loving family, great friends, talents, intelligence, wealth, possessions, success.  I have received applause and recognition and awards over the course of my life and I used to live for it all, feeling fulfilled by it all, until the performance trap I found myself in nearly killed me emotionally and physically.  Because, deep down, Pride never comes alone.  Fear, though often cloaked, holds Pride’s hand.  They are joined twins that must be replaced in the mind and heart and soul by something better—by Someone greater—if we want true life.

So I went searching for a better way.  And today, I keep asking God to show me the areas in myself that are still bound by those death-twins, Pride and Fear.  I ask Him to take off the grave strips, to set me free, to help me fix my heart and soul and mind on Jesus so the calling, luring Sirens don’t pull me back into the tomb.

I WANT TO LIVE! 

I want to live fully free, fully alive, fully filled with abundant goodness!

Do you?

WILL you?

Will you call on the One who died, was buried, who overcame death and the grave, who rose again to SET YOU FREE from your own tomb of PRIDE and FEAR?

How?

It’s simple.  Even the simplest minds can have this greatest of gifts.  Even the smallest seed of faith can produce the largest, most glorious results.

Humble yourself and admit your need.  Admit you can’t raise yourself from your own daily death grips.  Admit you need Jesus and the power of His resurrection.  And He will come immediately and indwell you mysteriously.  His power to SET YOU FREE from Pride and Fear that promise you life but give you death, those liars.

Salvation isn’t just for someday—for after we leave this earth.  Salvation is for TODAY, for all who would come and receive freely NEW life, MORE life, FREEDOM from death-traps of promises never delivered.

Ready to be fully human and stop the rat-race toward fulfillment that never ends?  Ready to step off the wheel that keeps turning while we keep running, grinding ourselves into the ground, finding ourselves  exhausted and nowhere new?

Today is Independence Day!

Want to participate in the celebration?

You are invited and you need bring nothing except your broken, death-tombed self, open to receive all He wants to give you—His peace, His abundant life, His eternal promises for your ultimate good.

Let’s celebrate wildly today, the One throwing the party—the One inviting us, welcoming us to His table of abundant TRUE LIFE!