Day 166: It Was Impossible

Acts 2:24

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

John 10:17-18

For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

I think one of the most important things mentioned here is, Jesus telling the people, you aren’t taking my life, I’m laying it down for my people. You have no authority over me, it is by the power given to me by my Father that I am even able to do such a thing. Jesus is making it clear that they can do nothing without His consent. They cannot take the life of the one who gave it in the first place. He is laying it down for His people. They thought they were doing Jesus harm when they killed Him, they thought they were winning when they nailed Him to the cross. They thought they were on top when He refused to come down off the cross. But little did they know, it was all part of the plan. They can’t do what God won’t allow. It was predestined that Jesus would die for humanity, but also be raised in three days.

Moving on to the book of Acts where Paul says it was impossible for Jesus to be held by death. Jesus is greater than death, and He defeated it when He died. He cannot be held by it. He is too mighty and too powerful. Jesus defeated the power of death when He took on the sins of humanity and died with them. It looked like death had won the battle but at the end of the day, Jesus was the only one to rise from the grave. He was the only one released from the grave. Death belonged there, life didn’t. When Jesus walked out of that tomb, death wasn’t with Him, He walked out with all life in his hands. It was impossible for Him to be defeated. Here’s the thing about this amazing story, Jesus defeated death for us. The same way He took our sin away from us, He defeated death for us. What I’m saying is, we alone cannot defeat the power or pangs of death. We alone cannot do it. Jesus came and took on our invisible battles, He came and fought a fight that one, we could not win, and two, a fight that we could not see we were losing. When Jesus came, humanity was dying in sin. Humanity was not doing too hot, we weren’t really upstanding citizens. Humanity needed a savior or we would die in our sin, never really knowing what it was like to have a relationship with God. Death was on our heels and we didn’t know it. Jesus came as a person who could not be defeated or swayed by the enemy, but He came to defeat the enemy. He came to fight an enemy that we weren’t equipped to go into battle with just yet. Jesus fills that gap for us, What the people didn’t understand is that Jesus was fighting for them. Jesus was standing in the gap for the people, He was saving them, protecting them from something much bigger than what they could see. They were worried about Him sitting with sinners, and healing on the day of Sabbath, but they were blind to the work He was doing to fix our corrupted souls. They were blind the things He was doing to make sure we were not consumed by death. They didn’t see what was really going on.

This is why I believe with every ounce of my being that we are in constant need of a Savior, we cannot walk through this life alone it will beat us up and down every which way possible. It was impossible for death to hold Jesus, that’s why He took a death that belonged to us. Jesus completes us, we cannot be held down by death or sin because He has already defeated them on our behalf. He has given us a way to eternity, by being the way.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to read through the scriptures and just think about how Jesus has filled in the gaps for us. Meditate on His word, and thank Him. Talk to Him about whatever stood out to you. Just take the time to pray and spend time with Him today.  

I love you and I hope you have an amazing Day or evening, Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 167!

Day 95: Let's Talk About It- "Broken People"

Psalms 147:3

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Psalms 34:28

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

This generation gets a lot of slack for acting out, we are constantly told to get our lives together. I think many times when we see people who are acting out, or having a hard time giving themselves to Christ, we must consider that these are broken people. We live in an age where people are walking around completely broken with a smile on their face. People are walking around ready to take their own lives but will smile and say, “I’m okay”. Why do we wait until tragedy strikes to notice that someone needed our ear, or they needed our prayer. They didn’t need us to beat them over the head with a bible, they needed us to be there. We have people walking around feeling unloved, and never knew that someone could love them. We are often told what we did to be in the position that we are in. Something we have to realize is that sin isn’t the only thing that causes brokenness within humanity, There is heartbreak, relationships gone wrong, death, mental illness, tragic accidents, natural disasters. There are so many things that can break a heart, but only one can truly heal a heart. Yet we have people walking around because they are unaware of this magnificent healing. We know of this healing, we know that Christ is our healer, but can we relay that message to the young girl who suffers from an eating disorder and cuts herself. Can we tell that to the young boy struggling with body image issues. Can we acknowledge that there is a deeper issue to the brokenness of people.  We are good at acknowledging pain and hurt, but what are we doing to make sure these people receive healing from God? Why are brushing off people’s pain? We have been told to let it go, let God, surrender, but what about when the wound is fresh and we can’t let it go that night or day. What if just lifting our hands in church won’t take the pain away, I have to be honest. Why do we sweep these things under the rug and act as if they are not there. There are broken people, we were once one of them, and many of us still are.

As the body of Christ we must see past what we think of people, we must look past our judgements and see the heart of humanity. We have to take our eyes off of ourselves for a second and look outward to see the brokenness of this world.

We see the flaws of humanity, and but we don’t see the heart of man. If we did we would know that the person who is walking down the street talking to themselves isn’t crazy they lost everything including hope and no one took the chance to listen to their story. No one took the time to sit with them and lend an ear. No one stopped to pray for them. No one took the time to tell them that there is healing in the Lord, that He sees the hearts of humanity even the ones that are in pieces.

We live in an era where everything must be okay, and when it’s not we put up a facade. This generation has the best poker faces I have ever seen. Because we don’t have time to deal with people who are really suffering, even if that means we ignore our own pain. We don’t have time to dig deep down to the root of our issues and be healed by God. We cover it up with a band-aid until the infection spreads and we can no longer hide it.  We have lost the ability to be vulnerable, we’d rather walk around dying on the inside than go to someone with our pain. We do not want to look weak, even when we are, The scripture tells us that God is near the brokenhearted, why are we walking around harboring pain. We have to realize that it is okay not to be okay.

I walked around broken for so many years, harboring so much pain, anger, self-loathing, hate, the list goes on. From being bullied all throughout school starting at the age of five. From looking in the mirror at the age of seven and hating who I was, and literally saying to myself, “You’re black and ugly”. To choking and hitting myself at the age of eight because the bullying was so bad, I felt like I needed to inflict pain on myself. I suffered secretly for years, and alway put on a smile and pretended like I was okay. It was only when I was twenty one that I really found healing in Christ. I felt like I always had to be okay, I had to put on a mask that said I was strong and confident even though I was broken. I was in pieces, there was still a little girl inside me who never got healed. I was walking around preaching at different churches at the age of sixteen and planned out my suicide at seventeen because I was in so much turmoil that I could not handle it anymore. Or when I had a mental breakdown when I lost my father at the age of eighteen. Because I blamed myself for His death and couldn’t understand why GOd would choose to take him from me. I gave up on GOd and church, but I had people praying for me, there were a few people who could see past my poker face, and that is why I am here today. Someone looked past my acting out and my mask and saw that I was broken. I am living proof that Christ is our healer. I did not have a platform or a place to really talk about what I was going through at the time, which is why I’m doing this, If I have to air my dirty laundry to save someone else I will do it. But God healed me and repaired my heart and if someone didn’t take the time to sit with me and pray for me and see through my pain, I would not be here today. I would probably be dead by my own hand. It is important that we talk about this stuff because it can literally save a life.  

We live in a broken world and people are walking around broken. We know what it is like to be broken our have our hearts broken. If we have encountered the love of God we know what it is like to be healed by our one and only healer. We must  let people know that their is a God, there is a Savior who can take that pain away.

I don’t know who you are but if that’s you, know that there is a Savior. Jesus Christ died to save this broken world, he wants that heart, even if it’s broken. Especially if it’s broken. Even if you have to give it to Him in pieces, he will take it and put it back together. You’re not crazy, you’re not a bad person, you’re hurting. Today is the day for you to get rid of that pain, and start a journey of healing. You do not have to hide it or cover it up. God sees your heart in every condition and He wants it the way it is, so that he can fix it and heal it.

Reflection

1. How’s your heart? Are you broken?
2. Are there some things that need to be healed in your life?
3. Are you walking around like everything is okay but it’s not?
4. Do you believe that God is our healer?
5. Do you believe that He can and will heal you?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions  guide your prayer today. Know that God is our healer. We call Him, Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. Pray for the brokenness of humanity, and if you are broken, bring that heart to God today. Talk to GOd about whatever it is, maybe you don’t even have words, maybe it's tears, maybe you don’t even have that. Just open your heart to God and give HIm what you have. Know that He can heal the broken.

If you need someone to talk to or pray with, reach out to someone. I’m open to talk as well, you can email me, (TheDyamondj@gmail.com).

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Share this with someone and open the conversation up to talk about it. Have an amazing day and come back tomorrow for Day 96.