Ed Christian's World

The Life After The Sabbath…

In Leviticus 23:10-11, it says “When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord on the morrow after the Sabbath.”

This was a Hebrew holy day – Yom Ha Bikoreem, the day the first fruit was lifted up from the earth and presented to God. It could only happen after the Sabbath of Passover.

Jesus rose on Sunday morning, the morrow after the Sabbath; because the resurrection only comes after the Sabbath, the Seventh Day – the day the old week ends.

The Resurrection is the beginning of something new and so the power of the resurrection only kicks in after the Sabbath, after the old is finished.

Do you want to walk in the power of the resurrection? Then you need to have a Sabbath – to end the old life. Then you can walk in the newness of life and the power of His rising. For the Day of New Life begins “on the morrow after the Sabbath.”

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-18

Put away the things of your old life so that you can be transformed into a new life He has prepared for you. Walk in His power and His victory.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Gratitude…

Gratitude is a positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative and is associated with several mental and physical health benefits.

When you experience gratitude, you feel grateful for something or someone in your life and respond with feelings of kindness, warmth, and other forms of generosity.

There are three stages of gratitude: 1) Recognizing what we are grateful for, 2) Acknowledging it, and lastly, 3) Appreciating it. In other words, appreciation is the final component and the last stage in the gratitude process.

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 4:15

So now let us take this and put it all together to show just how important gratitude is in our daily life as a Christian. Now you are asking what is he saying that gratitude must be part of our daily life?

The most critical factor of life is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. Gratitude is an attitude of overflowing thankfulness and a prime indicator of our relationship with God.

When gratitude is lacking, grace has either not been received or not been understood. The state of our relationship with God is revealed clearly by our gratitude towards Him.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

God loves to hear from you. He often wonders why you never call or write. Seriously though, prayer is the simplest and surest way to convey appreciation to God. Sincere simple prayer, given from the heart and expressing your thanks for the wonderful life you’ve been given, will touch God deeply.

Gratitude might be the ultimate spiritual practice This is because of its Proto-Indo-European root, gwere, meaning “to praise, to celebrate; to be in contact with the Divine.” In other words, being grateful is equivalent to feeling the presence of the Divine in our lives. It is the same as being in a state of bliss.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

God doesn’t give us good things to placate our sense of fairness, but because He is generous and knows what we need and when we need it. Most often, our sense of what’s “fair” comes from comparing what we have to what someone else has. We don’t know the whole story of what’s going on in someone else’s life or why they have what they do. Truthfully, it’s none of our business.

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 2 Thessalonians 1:3

We should follow in the pattern of the good Father with our children. Don’t worry about satisfying their sense of what’s fair, don’t even pretend to. It rewards complaint and entitlement.

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4-5

Instead, give willingly according to what each one needs and from a place of generosity. Biblical gratitude and thankfulness are valuable in the kingdom of God. They turn our attention towards the giver honoring their effort by responding with kindness, appreciation, and goodwill.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Garden of Death – Garden of Life…

History begins in a garden; in Genesis, in the Garden of Eden. The garden from which life came. You plant life in a garden and so God planted human life in a garden.

But from that garden did not come life, but sin. And from sin, came death. What does this have to do with the resurrection? Where did it take place? It took place in a garden; a garden tomb.

It seems contradictory when a garden is a place of life, and a tomb is a place of death. Why a garden tomb? Because everything began in a garden. But from that garden, everything died.

And so Jesus, to bring redemption, starts where it was left off. The promise of man ended with death; a garden tomb. Jesus brings new life in a garden tomb because that is redemption. The power to take the failed promise of life and bring new life.

No matter how hopeless that part of your life may be – do not despair. For Jesus is the one who will bring forth life, from your garden tomb.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. Ephesians 1:7

Bring that hopeless part of your life, that death, that sorrow, that impossible part, to Jesus so that He will restore you from your brokenness into new life today.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Easter Bunny and The Passover Lamb…

Christians around the world celebrate Easter with Easter hats, outfits, parades, services, bunnies, and Easter eggs. It has nothing to do with God. Easter comes from Teutonic mythology linked to the goddess Eostra.

The rabbit is a pagan element. The eggs are linked to fertility. Yet, so many people who call themselves “Christians” celebrate the remnants of these things; Easter, a pagan holiday. Truth is, we don’t worship a bunny.

We worship the Lamb. Jesua didn’t die to fulfill a pagan holiday. He died on Passover as the Passover Lamb. Passover is about a real sacrifice, freedom and redemption that transforms all of life.

If you really believe in the resurrection, celebrate every day of your life by living in its radical and revolutionary power. Leave Egypt and tell Pharaoh, he has nothing on you anymore.

The greatest way to celebrate the Lamb and to give Him honor is to break the chains, walk in the newness of life, and cross the Red Sea – for Jesus is no Easter Bunny. He’s the Passover Lamb!

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Revelation 12:11

Transform your life from the past, live in the power of the blood of the Lamb and break every chain.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Power To Leap…

You were saved on the Passover of Jesus. Jesus died on Passover and rose during the Passover Week. Your salvation is a Passover salvation. Jesus Himself is called the Passover (2 Corinthians 5). Passover comes from the Hebrew word – “Pesach” which means to pass over. It also means – to LEAP, to leap over.

Therein is something wonderful. God doesn’t just want you to pass over sin, pass over temptation or pass through the darkness. He wants you to leap over it! The power of your salvation isn’t only to pass over unrighteousness but to leap over it!

The same thing you do when you rejoice. We have the power to leap, overcome sin, bondage and do it with joy. How do you overcome? With all your heart. How do you live in the Passover Lamb? You leap.

You leap for joy, in faith, over your problem, over your fear, over your sorrow, over your past. LEAP for God and LEAP for joy. Leap over that thing; for your salvation is Passover. Passover is Pesach, and Pesach is the power in Jesus TO LEAP!

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

Apply the Passover power today. When you’re confronted with that obstacle, that sin, that problem, that fear… in the power of Passover, leap over it!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Sacrifice Mystery…

Every day in the Temple of Jerusalem, priests offered up the morning sacrifice at about 9 o’clock. Interesting because Jesus is the fulfillment of all sacrifices.

He was offered up at the third hour – 9 o’clock, when the morning sacrifice was being offered. The evening sacrifice was offered up in the afternoon about 3 o’clock.

Jesus’s sacrifice finished in the 9th hour when the evening sacrifice was offered. Just as the morning sacrifice was offered up every day, so Jesus’s sacrifice covers every morning of your life.

His mercies are new every morning. As the evening sacrifice was offered up every night, so Jesus’s sacrifice is good for every night. In your times of darkness, His faithfulness will cover you. As His sacrifice spanned the hours connecting the two, Jesus’s sacrifice is good for all the time in between, every moment of your life.

Every morning give Him praise and every night give Him thanks. In between, live your life as your offering of love to Him.

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Hebrews 9:24-28

Start your day praising Jesus and remain in His holy presence throughout the day. Let His love shine through you wherever you are.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Jesus and The Sixth Day…

Yom Ha Shishi means “the sixth day.” It begins Thursday night and ends Friday at sundown. It’s the day of our redemption – it’s exact. The Passion began as Yom Ha Shishi began – Thursday night.

It started with Passover, the last supper, at sundown. Jesus was betrayed, arrested, tried, and crucified at the beginning of Yom Ha Shishi. It ended, as Yom Ha Shishi was ending. At sundown, He was taken down from the cross, laid in the tomb, the stone rolled in place.

In Genesis, the Lord finished His works – He rested. That’s why as Yom Ha Shishi was drawing to a close, He said “It is finished.” Your redemption was finished on Yom Ha Shishi.

You don’t have to struggle, work, or accomplish it. Your walk, future victory, forgiveness, all that you will be – finished. Stop struggling and start receiving it.

Jesus didn’t redeem you on the first, second, or third day. Then there would be something missing; work yet to be done. He redeemed you on Yom Ha Shishi. He said, “It is finished.” Then He rested. You do the same.

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. Matthew 27:47-50

Seek today to live in Yom Shishi, the end of the Sixth Day, as Jesus did. Stop trying to do it on your own. Let go and start resting in God’s finished work. And do all things in that.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Jesus’s Coming & The End Of Jerusalem…

Palm Sunday” was more than just a nice holiday. Centuries before Jesus entered the city gates, the prophet Daniel was given a revelation. An exact mathematical countdown to the coming of Jesus in Daniel 9:25:

“Know and understand….the issuing of the decree, to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Mashiach, Messiah, there will be seven sevens and sixty two sevens.”

Palm Sunday is Daniel 9 fulfilled – Messiah coming to Jerusalem to be “cut off”; to be killed. There were two sides to Palm Sunday; the receiving and the rejection of Jesus.

After Jesus’s coming, being cut off, and Jerusalem’s rejection, the city, temple, and sanctuary were destroyed by the armies of Rome. A destruction which still affects us today.

There are two sides of Jesus’s coming: two possibilities and two consequences. The city and the person who receives Him is blessed; but the city and the person who rejects Him is left desolate.

It is also true that we reject His presence in our lives as believers. But if you let Him in, your life shall become blessed, and full of glory.

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:27

Let God come into every part of your life and walk – and have His way.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Lamb For Each…

On “Palm Sunday” crowds received Jesus into Jerusalem. Today, crowds of believers, crowd into churches to celebrate the receiving of Jesus. Palm Sunday is really an ancient Hebrew holy day. It’s the tenth of Nisan; the day that was given to receive the lamb.

It’s an amazing thing that the Lamb of God entered Jerusalem on that day to be received. The original commandment for the tenth of Nisan doesn’t say that it was for crowds of people to receive the lamb. It says they were EACH to receive the lamb.

That’s the key. Jesus didn’t die for crowds – He died for you – personally. That’s the only way to receive Him. Have you become just part of the crowd?

Jesus did not simply die for all – He died for each – for you. He loves, not simply all – He loves each – He loves you. That’s the way you’ll find your blessing and know Him and His love. Receive Him today anew, personally, as the One who gave His life and His love for you, personally.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Exodus 12:1-6

Rejoice! For the Lamb of God has come for you. Open your heart today and receive His blessings and His everlasting love.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Exaggerating the Massiah…

The Koran of Islam is filled with historical errors. One of those amazing errors or statements in the Koran is a statement directed at believers in Yeshua, Jesus. It says, “Oh people of the Scripture do not exaggerate in your religion, the Messiah, Jesus, Son of Mary.”

The Koran calls Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, but doesn’t understand what the Messiah is. The Messiah is the one who reconciles man to God. Messiah is the one who becomes a light to the nations.

Jesus is the one who brings peace, first spiritually, then physically to the world; who will make the lion and the calf lie down together, who will usher in the Kingdom and reign upon the throne of David.

Jesus is the one who redeems us for everlasting joy. So you, people of Scripture, followers of the Anointed One, the Messiah, don’t stop lifting up the Lord.

You can’t speak enough about Him. You can’t praise Him enough. You can’t rejoice enough about Him. You can’t lift Him up enough. Don’t worry about exaggerating Jesus. You couldn’t if you wanted to. He is just too great. He’s the Messiah.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16

Praise Jesus all through the day, lift Him up in prayer, sing His praises with a joyful heart, share Jesus with others; again I say, rejoice!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed