Getting crucified with Christ

Resurrection Power
Galatians 2:20

Look! That’s me on the cross –
selfishness crucified, so
my truest self can now
receive You, Lord.

Now
I can live by You in faith!

Now
I can live in You Who loves me.

Mary Sayler, © 2017, prayer-a-phrased Galatians 2:20 as a poem after reading various translations of today’s Bible verse on Bible Gateway.

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Believing and Praying in the Love of the Risen Christ

If we condense the whole Gospel into a single Bible verse, we’d probably pick the one previously posted and the one Christians most often quote: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life," John 3:16.

We especially think of this holy love during Holy Week as we recall the Resurrection on the first Easter when Jesus Christ overcame death and led The Way to eternal life – life that lasts forever.

We want that life! We want that promise to believers in John 3:16, but, as the next verse goes on to say: “God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that, through Him, the world might be saved," John 3:17.

Wow! As soon as we hear the promise of eternal salvation and everlasting life in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, we learn that, through Him, the whole world can be saved.

What does this mean to us as Christians?

If we take our faith one verse further, does this mean, for instance, that we might see results from our prayers for pure air, pure water, unpolluted food, and an earth free of baths in blood?

Could such prayers heal the ozone?

Could such prayers bring our families back to God and Christians back to the Bible and to the church?

Could our prayers – prayed in the love of God and the power of the Risen Christ – heal hearts deprived of God, not only in our neighborhoods, but around the world?

Prayer: Heavenly Father and Creator of the world and of time, space, and eternity, help us to believe! Help us to stay awake and aware of Your Love and the restorative, redemptive power of the Risen Christ to permeate every cell, every fiber, every particle of every person, place, and living thing. Thank You, Lord, for Your breathtaking love! Breathe on us in Your Holy Spirit and give us Your prayers to pray for our homes, environment, and the whole world in Jesus’ Name.

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©2012, Mary Sayler. Thank you for telling others about this site when giving them these words and prayers. Thanks, too, for following other Bible topics listed on Blogs by Mary. May God bless you and give you each day your daily prayers.

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Holy Week shows us everything the Bible says about love

“For God so loves the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in Him will not perish, but have
everlasting life. For Christ did not come
into the world to condemn the world, but
that through Him the world might be saved,”

John 3:16-17.

“For this reason, I bow my knees unto
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
from whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, that He may grant
you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with power by His Spirit
in your inner self, so that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith – and that you, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be able
to comprehend with all the saints what is
the breadth and length, depth and height,
and to know the love of Christ – the love
which surpasses knowledge, that you might
be filled with all the fullness of God.

“Now to him Who is able to do far more
abundantly than anything we ask or think,
according to the power at work within us,
to Him be the glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus throughout all ages, forever
and ever, without end. Amen,”

Ephesians 3:14-21.


Prayer: LORD God and Heavenly Father of all, as Lent ends and Holy Week begins, please help us to accept Your overwhelming love that we might fully turn to You and fully return to the church in the healing power, love, and forgiving embrace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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©2012, Mary Sayler. Thank you for acknowledging this site when sharing its devotional thoughts with others. For a variety of Bible topics, see Blogs by Mary. May God bless your Holy Week.

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