"Good" Friday

Today is what Christians around the world call "Good Friday"

Why is it called “Good Friday”? Because by His death, Jesus became the final and complete sacrifice for our sins. We cannot erase our guilt, nor can we overcome our sins by our good deeds. It is considered a "good" day because it represents the ultimate victory over sin, death, and evil, paving the way for the Resurrection on Easter. While being the darkest day in history, it is a day that brought the greatest act of love to mankind—the opportunity for eternal life and continued fellowship with God and all that accompanies a relationship with Jesus, for all that choose to believe. 

My Spiritual journey has changed a lot over the years. My upbringing was more of a religious upbringing and I will leave it at that not to offend. The disciplines of the Christian faith were not done out of relationship but more ritualistic. While it did give me a foundation for my faith, it was not the life that I believe Jesus was calling us to. The practices of faith are a means to knowing the person of Christ which was the basis for our creation in the first place. God wanted fellowship, so much so, when we messed things up, right from the start I may add, God then made a way to restore the sin problem, so fellowship with Him could be continued.

What this amounts to is Love. He is love! God is the ultimate lover. The problem is, despite paying the ultimate price with Jesus on the cross for our payment for our sins and gaining back fellowship with Him, and even giving us Holy Spirit to be our help with all of this, (the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead)  He needs to be chosen. He has set up everything, so that you will choose Him and experience the love, peace, joy, comfort, healing, ...... but He will never force you to choose Him because that is not love then. Unfortunately, I know this concept all to painfully  well recently in my life. 

As a way to shed my religious past, I stopped doing many of the disciplines which was kind of dumb. LOL But, I wanted anything I did, to be authentic. I'm happy to say for many years now, I am back to doing these disciplines and they are part of my routines now and come from a place of authenticity. 

There is also a part of me, that with the dates and events that are very important to me in my life, I try and remember or celebrate those on a daily basis and then give extra attention on the times that most people remember these events in however they see fit. 

As before mentioned in a relationship that I was in,  I tried not only to celebrate the person on the day that God gave them life, but I tried to celebrate them everyday because of what this person meant to me. She was worth celebrating everyday. 

​In the same manner, where there is a very heavy emphasis on Jesus's death and resurrection this weekend, this is the most important event in my life. It changed my life literally forever. For me, to think about this once a year, was not enough. So I was moved by Beni Johnson, and her book on communion that this needed to be part of my daily routine. So almost everyday now, I start my day with communion. Some of her thoughts: 

“Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19 The breaking of bread and drinking of the cup in remembrance of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is a prophetic act of worship, warfare, and proclamation. It heals, restores, breakthroughs, and aligns. It’s a somber yet joyful celebration of the greatest gift ever given to mankind - eternal life and life abundantly; that we may know Him and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Jesus had instructed us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

I loved the tradition, but I didn’t fully realize how powerful the sacrament was. Throughout the years, though, I have come to recognize that “in remembrance of Me” carries a level of authority of which I was previously unaware. Communion should be taken with thankfulness, somberness and celebration. As I take the bread and the wine, I consciously bring all three of these thoughts into my moment of remembrance. Obviously, we should all be beyond thankful for God sending His Son. And the fact that Jesus said “yes”—coming to earth as a man and staying up on the cross on the day He was crucified—is a stunning reality. It is worthy of our thankfulness. In addition to gratitude, I try to take a moment and connect with the physical pain and, most devastating, the abandonment that Jesus felt when His Father had to turn His back on His son due to the heavy, horrible sin that Jesus was carrying. Taking that moment to experience the somberness of remembrance is important in keeping our hearts connected to how much He loved us. Finally, we come to Communion with a heart of celebration because Jesus died and He rose again on the third day. Taking the sacrament, we are celebrating that—once and for all—the great sacrifice was made that shifted the atmosphere forever.

Taking communion is a tool of warfare. Communion is powerful. It is aligning ourselves with the reality of Christ crucified and resurrected. Sin and sickness have been defeated. If we grab on to this power, there is breakthrough available in every area of our lives: freedom and salvation, life and healing. One of my favorite thoughts on taking communion is that, every time we take communion, we remind the devil that he has lost. That is one powerful tool. My husband says, “The devil only has power in our lives where we give him permission.” When we take communion, we actually say to the devil, “You can’t have control of my life because you’ve lost. I’m pulling your source of power.”

Taking communion is good for my spirit, my soul, and my body. It is a practice that keeps my spirit connected to Jesus. I take it for the healing of my body. I take it in remembrance of Him. No more going through religious motions

(back to me lol)

With so many things in life, the more you do something, sometimes you become desensitized to them because of the familiarity. As many times as I've heard the greatest musicians in the world live, I do get a little familiar to the sounds that I am hearing, because I know them so well and that's now the standard in which I hear music by, but there is something every time, even if it's the hundredth time I've heard this person, that lets me know, I'm still hearing greatness, and comparatively to my sad playing always lets me know the genius I'm being exposed to. 

And so it is with Jesus. I've been told the Easter story since I was born and doing communion every day, there is a risk of being desensitized to the greatest act of love in human history. What I have found thankfully, and do to Holy Spirit, is I'm actually becoming more emotional, which is what I've always wanted. I always felt guilty that someone gave their life to me and I don't cry about it, it doesn't bring me to my knees every day. That is changing. 

I was going on a missions trip in HS, that I never went on, God had other cool plans for me. But part of the prep was memorizing these verses. I'm thankful I had to as I struggle with memorization, but these have always stayed with me.

From Philippians 2: 
5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
The story of Christ is the ultimate good vs evil story, however the drama is removed because we know we win. 

The fact that there is so much opposition to the message of Jesus only leads one to believe it is true. There is tolerance for everything in this world at this point except Jesus which makes you know there is truth that the evil one doesn't want you to believe. The evil one actually knows the truth but also knows he is defeated. 

Most Good Fridays when I can, I try to watch the Passion of the Christ, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Not something I ever look forward to and I actually have to prepare my self for this. But if the uncomfortableness is so strong, it only solidifies that the grace, love, and victory I now live in, was bought at a tremendous price and that always needs to be at the forefront of my thoughts, soul, and spirit, for the rest of my days on this planet. I do not want to be complacent about this because too heavy of a price was paid for little ol' me, who Jesus says I go after the one lost sheep! Such love. 

One of the great blessings of my life was being able to go to Israel. I always say the Bible went from Black and White, to  Color. When I'm standing where Jesus stood, it's no longer just a story that you don't know if it's true or not. There is so much now days that are validating the Bible and Jesus. 

So now concluding, I'm including a few pictures, a praise offering, and viewer discretion clips even though the depiction is truth which is what all of this is about. 

God bless you if you made it through all of this and even if you didn't, still, God Bless You! He's giving you a choice to choose Him today. 

The following is my little offering of praise. 
O Sacred Head Now Wounded: 
​
O sacred Head, now wounded
With grief and shame weighed down
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown
How pale thou art with anguish
With sore abuse and scorn
How does that visage languish
Which once was bright as morn
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered
T'was all for sinners' gain
Mine, mine was the transgression
But Thine the deadly pain
Lo, here I fall, my Savior
'Tis I deserve Thy place
Look on me with Thy favor
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace
What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest friend
For this Thy dying sorrow
Thy pity without end
O make me Thine forever
And should I fainting be
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love for Thee