"Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count her towers; mark well her bulwarks; consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the next generation following...for this is our God." Psalm 48:12-14
Such beautiful imagery we are given of Zion's towers and bulwarks; her prophets, watchmen...her reformers and defenders of the faith. Her palaces; those human dwellings of God made so beautiful as majestic royalty because of the presence of the King of kings.
We were made to contain God....earthen clay formed from dust of the earth made into 'palaces', human dwellings of God made beautifully as royalty because the presence of God came into our lives. All the streams of grace and mercy that flow down to us are because Him. Our God who has done great things for us is unchangeable in His love and He will lead us and keep us and set us above even the reach of death. The glory of the Resurrection followed the suffering of the Crucifixion. Christ abandoned Himself to do the will of the Father because of His love for us all. He was raised in mighty power because even death could not hold Him and He made a way for us all. This way, this path to glory, is always by way of abandoning our self, our self will. To follow Him as He walked to Jerusalem to the place of death...a place where we understand that even death cannot hold us down and all that comes against us becomes swallowed up when compared to the privilege of being used for His royal purposes. Jesus came to give us Life.....but it is a Resurrected Life...and this Life comes with surrender.
This Sunday we rejoice, reflect and celebrate the greatest and most glorious love story ever written. May we embrace once again the incredible love Christ displayed at the Cross for us all....and not just be reminded of this but also embrace our part of a living story...in knowing the greatest love story ever known to man perhaps we too could think of the great part we have to play as we remember the Cross and through suffering and difficulty we see how God had a loving design...and through our suffering and difficulty God has a loving design for each of His children as well.
As I think of Easter I think of Christmas... the two most glorious times of the year for my husband to celebrate as he shared often of the heart of what it means to be a follower of Christ, and I think of two hearts that are great examples to us who bowed their hearts to the Sovereignty of God.
I think of Mary and I think of the truest meaning of a true princess and daughter of the King as I think of her life and calling. I think too of our granddaughter and how every young girl loves a princess story. Dreams set on a search for Cinderella's lost slipper in a magical land seen with a castle and a prince who comes to rescue her as she was busy with her mundane duties always believing there was something more...and how they lived happily ever after.
Such a sweet time in a young girls life - the dress up, gowns, pretending. However, the greatest desire is that she grow up to be a princess of the King who is after God's own heart. The honor and privilege that is given in being heir to the King. A princess of this King who is focused on serving her King selflessly and according to His will believing that she has come 'for such a time as this' as was written about another woman with royal purposes, Queen Esther, to do the Father's will. Matthew 20:26-28 teaches us that, "Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant..whoever desires to be great among you let him be your servant...whoever desires to be first among you let him be your slave...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many". This is the conditions of the Spiritual Kingdom, a Kingdom whose ways are upside down compared to earthly kingdoms...but this Kingdom is Eternal and serves a Commander who is God, the Most High.
A surrendered will is seen in the lives of those who know their King..who are called His servants. Psalm 123:2 tells us, "Like the eyes of Servants to their Masters and like the Handmaiden to her Mistress, so our eyes are to You, Lord Jehovah, our God" . Mary's life gives us a glorious picture of a "handmaid of the Lord" and her obedience and a heart to do the will of the Father. Her spirit was submissive to His voice even when she was entrusted to do a very difficult thing in a moment when she did not fully understand. By measure of the worlds opinion, carrying God's Son before her marriage to Joseph she could not understand.... this went against mans ways and there would be ridicule, mocking, and whispers coming against her. This was also a great responsibility that came with many unknowns rolling around her heart at the time of this announcement from God through the angel Gabriel. God's message to her for what He had then came with acceptance of the Father's will. Mary said, "Let it be to me according to Your word" Luke 1:38. Her obedience came with a cost but the privilege and the weight of glory far outweighed the weight of suffering as she later would give back her son at the foot of the cross as she watched His crucifixion and accepted what God needed to allow as He too in His indescribable love for us all gave His one and only Son for the sins of the world. Mary had a royal purpose.
In the Garden we read of her son Jesus' response, much like Mary's. We hear how "He knelt down and prayed" and with the cup of suffering pressing upon His lips while His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground...saying, "Father, if it is Your will take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours" Luke 22:42. Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven and strengthened Him and He prayed more earnestly...then He rose up...with great peace in His heart as He accepted the will of God. We are reminded that in the first Garden in Genesis man rejected God's will and the consequence of sin came into the world...now....in the second Garden Jesus accepts God's will for all the sin of mankind and He came to reverse and restore all things in every heart. It would cost Him suffering in His obedience...but for the redemption of the world as obedience through suffering always ends with a resurrected life. Jesus had a royal purpose.
Our life comes with pain and hard things as I have experienced many trials and testings and through each time God has proven His faithfulness and Randy would always remind me that if God has laid this upon us then He will also do what He sees right in His eyes as we trust in Him...as we trust Him He will do good things and the good is always for the redemption of others. And, of course, I know there have many difficult things each of you have gone through and although I may not understand them all I do know of the One who does and His purposes are His loving designs in our lives...our royal purposes.
As I walked this week last year with my husband I thought of Jesus in the Garden and Mary....both giving up their lives to do the Father's will in all He was asking. I continued to see Mary at the Cross seeing a torturous and horrific death taking place as she cried tears of agony and gave back her son for the Redemption of others although she did not understand all that she was witnessing. I found myself seeing this image of her continually as God was telling me Randy is His. I began to serve the Lord, daily performing my vows to God, in my service of caring for Randy knowing his life was in God's hands and that I would do all that God was asking of me to love and serve His servant, my husband...with a heart that bowed down before the Sovereign plan of God. Jesus and Mary teach each of us what a complete surrender looks like. Its a surrender marked with His royal purposes for His royal plans. This is what God is asking of each of us....in our souls...for the work of our sanctification...whatever the cost. Accepting what God is asking....and in love with a heart resigning to His will instead of enduring in all He is asking with much weariness, bitterness and discontent. It is always God working in our inner soul to make us more like Himself...and we can be confident that He doesn't give us more than what we can bear and it is a privilege to know that He can entrust us with all He is asking us to carry upon our own cross daily
The life of Jesus teaches us so clearly that suffering is required for us all enter into a relationship with God. His own did not receive Him, He had no where to lay His head, and He witnessed His closest friends not understanding what was taking place in His life. In the Garden He told His friends to just wait and to pray and to watch...he did not ask for understanding from them. In this place, to enter into the great mystery of suffering with Him....as He does with us today. He was mocked, spit upon, flogged and killed...and the scriptures tell us that through it all He learned obedience and that He kept His peace...."through it all He suffered for us...leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps....when He was reviled He did not revile in return, where He suffered He did not threaten but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously." 1 Peter 3:20-23. This is a beautiful example of how to handle lifes difficulties.....and to remember how Jesus suffered the greatest injustice know to man and remained quiet in His heart and relinquished all to Gods royal purposes.
I have to believe this was Marys heart and character as she walked through a difficult time as a young girl, a princess of the King to accept His royal purposes for her life. How unfair life can seem to us and others as God allows things that are hard to understand at the time...but that attitude has no place in a believers heart....it indicates the condition of our heart when we do not surrender all to Jesus.
The story of Easter is the story of a King who will always love us and give help as we need.....life's setbacks He restores...He gives us crowns of glory and new garments of robes of righteousness….not one tear falls that He does not notice.... as we understand that we will continue and there will be hardships but He gives us all that we need for our journey with our King...we do not walk alone because the king will always guide us and He gives us a map, His Word....and He guides our feet til we have arrived where Evil has no power and the newness of life begins and our part is to follow the way that is best set before us by Him and the way that has been already mapped out...the Kings way never fails us and His promises are always true...we can trust our King with our life. We will grow to see our steps deeper going forward or shallower and even shrinking back depending on how much we believe in the Sovereignty of our King! We are on this journey with Him and for Him alone.
As we glory in great gratitude this Easter Sunday let us too respond as servants of the Most High and bow our hearts and wills before a Sovereign God who, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed" I Peter 2:24
Thank you Jesus, you opened our eyes to see Your grace and mercy...and you continue to reveal more of your glory in and through our lives. You enter our lives and restore peace with our God and You give rest for our souls. You consider us worthy to be used of You for Your glory....to bring Your resurrected power into the lives of those who are eternally separated from You that all would come and enter into your heavenly Kingdom.. Thank you for standing among us and for continually moving in all of our hearts.
We rejoice in Your Resurrection as our King of kings...and for adopting us into Your royal priesthood as your Beloved children who consider it a privilege 'to bear branded on our body the marks of Jesus' Galatians 6:7....
The proof of discipleship is the mark of the cross...and the mark of the cross are His Royal purposes for our lives.
Be blessed this Resurrection Sunday as you pause and reflect on His Amazing Grace...and tell it to the next generations...for this is our God...our King!
Michelle A.Guerra
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