I think I'm going to start writing in this on a regular basis again.

Does anyone out there still read this?

just checking.

O taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who trusts in Him.

As an English teacher, you have GOT to know that I hate to be cliche.

But I don't think there's anything else I can say about this book by John Elderedge, Waking the Dead, except that I am pretty sure it is changing my life.

Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I felt a sustanance from God that almost overwhelmed me. And it wasn't during my devotions or while reading the book, I was just doing menial things around the house and sending up little, persistent prayers and God kind of gave me that "overflow of a forgiven soul" kind of presence.  Like, somehow I knew that he would sustain me...and what's more, it wasn't that "perseverence through struggle" kind of sustanence that I have been experiencing for the past, oh, 3 years. It was a joy. The joy of the Lord was my strength.  Like, the situations in my life were the same--seemingly mundane, hopeless, even oppressed....and God gave me unspeakable joy. I feel like, for the first time in a long time, I felt like I had a heart again. 

It was amazing.

And besides the book, this time of prayer in my life has got to have somethign to do with it. Now, more than ever, I am realizing the truth of what the Bible says in Ephesians about our battle "not being against flesh and blood" but against the darkness, the demons, the underworld.  And maybe I needed this book to make that fresh to me, but in praying SPECIFICALLY against the evil forces in my life that are trying to rob me and those that I love of our hearts, I have felt the Lord fighting on my side, and I have experienced what it means that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave that I may have life, and have that life abundantly.

And while we're on that subject, something really profound that I read yesterday comes to mind: Mr. Elderedge talks about the fact that the cross is our central theme that represents Christianity today. Right? We wear cross necklaces, and we put crosses on our cars....

But that was never intended to represent being a Christian. The cross should not be our symbol. And that sounds so sacreligious right now that you probably went back to read that a second time, but it is true. And history validates his point: around 400 A.D. the church started using the cross as a minor symbol...it was tucked away in the corner of the church.....but before that, it wasn't used at all.

Do you want to know what the focus was? Miracles. Great Works.The Ascension. Healings.

And centrally, The Ressurection.

That is what people focused on. That is where people knew the power was. And the Bible backs this up when in I Corinthians 15: 14, 17 Paul says,

"If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith...If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are sill in your sins."

Wow.  So we've been missing the focus all of this time? It's not like we don't preach the Resurrection, because we do.  But the early church was still so close to that miracle of Jesus rising from the grave that they couldn't help but portray it as central. In fact, I'm sure if they had made "Christian necklaces" they wouldn't have been cross necklaces....they would have been pictures of Jesus in the sky, rising into heaven, in defeat of sin and as Savior to us all.

I think I need to sit back and focus on this for a while.  God has given me my heart back because Jesus rose from the grave.

And that, people, is the power we need in our lives to conquer sin and hopelessness.