The tomb is empty.  Hallelujah!  Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is alive and because He is alive, Christians around the world have reason to celebrate today. If Jesus were not alive; if the tomb was not empty, nothing else really matters.  We would have no hope; we would still be living in our sins and we would leave this earth going into a lost eternity.  The fact that Jesus was resurrected three days after being crucified for the forgiveness of our sins, we are assured that those who die in Christ will also rise again when Jesus Christ comes back to get His children.  The Bible is true and God has promised us that those who have confessed with their mouths and believed in their hearts that Jesus died and rose again, will spend eternity with Him.

Today is a good day to ask Jesus into your heart and receive the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life.  What more could you ask for?  Jesus Christ went to Calvary so that we all could be saved and the Bible tells us that “whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  All you have to do is respond to that still small voice speaking to you, calling you to come near to God and if you do, He will accept you.  He will forgive you, and He will put within you the power of His spirit to be more than a conqueror.  You can then resist the devil and sin less and become more and more like Christ.  Call out to Him and you will never be the same.  If you have already answered His call and are walking in the newness of life, make it a point to re-dedicate and commit your time, talents and resources to bring others into the kingdom of God.

God is good. God is faithful.  God is and will always be the one who will never leave you or forsake you.  His love is unconditional and available to everyone.  Don’t let the blood of Jesus go without taking advantage of everything it affords you – love, peace and a life with Almighty God. Happy Easter to every one who has eaten the bread and drank the cup that Jesus is offering as a token of His Father’s love and forgiveness for you!

Gardens by nature are beautiful.  They are not only beautiful to look at, but many gardens provide the nutrients necessary to sustain life.  There is one garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, that was the place of sorrow and comfort for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Jesus went to the Garden with a heavy heart because He knew that He was going to suffer betrayal that would lead to his death on the cross.  The Garden was a lonely place for Him but in the midst of it, He prayed to God asking if ‘this cup could pass from Him.’ Jesus stayed in that Garden until He was able to lay down His will and carry out the will of His Father.  Jesus was a weak man when He entered the Garden but He left the Garden totally submitted to God in spite of the fact that it would mean His death.  Prayer was the key that transformed Jesus into our Savior, and the price He paid for the forgiveness of our sins was great and we should not take it for granted.  Where would we be if it wasn’t for Calvary?  We would be lost and would die without any hope of eternal life.

The Garden was crucial to Jesus yielding to God’s will, and it is also crucial to us today.  At some point in your life you will have to make a decision as to whether or not you will obey God and your decision will affect the rest of your life.   Your journey on earth will contain many trials and tribulations as Jesus told us, so you must be prepared when those times come.  You will be successful if you have a transparent relationship with your heavenly Father.  The flesh is weak but the spirit is strong, and it is the spirit of God within you that will enable you say ‘not my will but your will be done.’  You might feel alone at times but remember Jesus promised that He would never leave nor forsake you.  Believe that.  Trust in that.

If you do not already have one, prepare a garden of your own.  Let it be the one place that is special to you and God.  Open yourself up to God and He will be there to give you exactly what you need when you need it.  Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them in your garden.  I promise you that God will always provide the nourishment and nutrients you need to survive.

Have you received a promise from God that has not yet been fulfilled and you are wondering whether or not God has forgotten His promise?  I’m here to tell you that God does not forget.  God remembers everything, and He will do what He said He will do in His time and in His way.

You must learn to wait upon the Lord, and you do that by being obedient, by having faith and by being patient.  You must do what God has told you to do and until He speaks to you again, you must hold steady and do nothing else.  Waiting on the Lord will require that you trust God and believe in His faithfulness.  Whatever God has told you, it will come to pass.  He is not like man and has no need to lie.  Once God makes a promise, the ball is in your court and you must believe in Him and His word.

One of the hardest things we will ever have to do is to be patient.  Patience is not easy.  We live in a society where we want and expect everything instantly.  We are not patient while we drive.  We are not patient when we are standing in the check out line, and it’s sad that we are not even patient with our own family and friends.  God will make you wait but there is a purpose in the waiting.  If you are in a hurry, the longer it will take before you see what God has promised you.  God will make sure that you learn that He is in control and not you.  When we become anxious, we are telling God that He is taking too long and that will certainly not please Him.

God has not forgotten you.  There are many examples in the Bible where we see the faithfulness of Almighty God.  He remembered Abraham and Sarah and gave them Isaac.  God remembered Joseph after many years and promoted him in the land of Egypt.  God remembered Job and gave him twice as much as he had after losing it all.  God remembered that He had promised David the role of King but David had to wait until God thought he was ready.  God never forgets, nor does He sleep, and you can be confident that what He has promised you, He is faithful and just and will keep His promise as He has done to the saints before you.

God has everything under His control, so while you are waiting begin to offer your thanks to the One who has promised never to leave or forsake you.

A Christian’s journey on earth is a walk of faith.  You might be one who God has spoken to and is in the process of leaving your comfort zone and going to a place that you have never been before.  Abram heard the voice of God telling him to leave everything behind and go to a place unfamilar to himself.  He did not ask God ‘why’ or ‘where is this place?’  Abram simply obeyed God and received the blessings that God promised him.

It is important for every Believer to stop and take a moment to evaluate their relationship with their heavenly Father.  You might have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior many years ago, but to live victoriously, you must have a present day relationship with the Lord.  It is easy to plan out your whole life – where you will go to school, who you will marry and where you will live, but ultimately, you should realize that God wants to order your steps so that you reach the destiny that He has for you. God does have a plan for you and His ways of getting you there are different than your own.  God tells us in His Word that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways.  God sees the big picture and knows how things are to end.  Man can only hope that the decisions he makes will work out for his good.

A mature Christian will let God take control of his life and he will be obedient to doing what the Holy Spirit tells him to do.  Trust is the key and you must believe that God is faithful and He will always be there to guide you to victory, but many people are not willing to submit to God to that degree.  They want to do all the planning and make all the decisions.  That is risky at best, but to those who are like Abram, they leave all the decisions to God and they walk in faith every day knowing that God loves them and has a better plan than they could ever imagine.

Abram was 75 years old when he heard God speak to him and the words he heard changed not only his life, but the lives of many, many Christians to this day.  You are never too old for God to use you.  So, if you have not yet started your walk of faith, choose to do so today.  Submit your life to God and ask Him to guide you, and promise Him that you will follow Him wherever He leads you.  A walk of faith is simply taking one step at a time and leaving the details up to God.

It’s natural for anyone to be a little dismayed when they are going through difficult times, but the Apostle Paul told us over and over again that we are to rejoice always.  Philippians is a wonderful book of the Bible to read when you find yourself with your back against the wall and nothing is going the way it should be in your life.  Paul suffered numerous mishaps on his journey to Philippi.  Not only was he ship wrecked, but he was beaten harshly numerous times and thrown into prison.  While in prison, he was able to encourage the saints and tell them that the joy of the Lord was their strength.

You can possess this joy of the Lord at all times because this is joy that the world can’t give you nor can the world ever take it away from you.  This joy comes as a result of a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  It is spiritual and is not dependent upon where you are or what is going on in your life.  It is deep within and you carry it with you wherever you go.  This joy will cause you to have such peace that no one can tell when you are troubled.  It truly is amazing and is worth becoming a part of your life.

As you grow older and become physically weaker, at the same time, you should become spiritually stronger and have the ability to teach others about the joy of the Lord.  Each of us must experience this joy for ourselves, and it will not come from just hearing about it.  As you travel along your journey of life, purpose in your heart that God will become the most important person to you and you should spend a lot of time in His presence and reading His Word.  The joy of the Lord is, and will always be, the source of your strength now and for all eternity.