Palm Sunday Thoughts ~ by Christina

Today is Palm Sunday.  This day comes every year on the Sunday before Easter Sunday.  This year I am finding myself reflecting in a deeper way than I might have if I wasn’t in quarantine with an underlying fear of my friends, loved ones or even myself getting this virus and it possibly causing death to one or more of them.  Yeah, that is the possible reality that we are all facing.

But we are also all facing another reality—we have the opportunity to claim Jesus Christ as our Savior and trust him for every moment by moment breath we take.  Palm Sunday is the beginning of the historical truths that we learn about in the Holy Bible where Jesus is on his journey toward the cross.  Palm Sunday is when Jesus is going into Jerusalem continuing God’s plan to help us have a way to be united with him.  Jesus will be welcomed by some with palm fronds and exclamations of “Hosanna!” and a welcome for a king who is the one and only true Savior.  But there will also be those who mock him, scorn him and those who want to hurt him and those who follow him.

As I am here thinking about Jesus and the cross, the death and the resurrection, I am in awe of the way God allows his creation to make choices that results in ways that appear outwardly as an awful situation.  If I had been alive experiencing that day when Jesus hung on the cross, died and was buried in the cave, I would have possibly been confused or even angry that it happened.  It would be an awful situation.

God puts us in situations or circumstances that may appear as an awful situation, but he doesn’t leave it there in that awful place.  He always has a way and carries us through to a better place if we choose to follow him and see his goodness.  That’s why we celebrate Easter.  Jesus doesn’t stay in the cave dead…he rises again and God reveals his glory through the risen Jesus.

We waste our energy, emotions, and time focusing on the “awful”, the “bad” and if we trust and look for God’s plan we might be more likely to see the beauty of God’s plan.  He turns ashes to beauty.  The bad (ashes) that we go through can come out on the other side as beauty.  Look for it, it is there.

“To console the mourners in Zion— to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”  Isaiah 61:3

We can trust him to work all things together for his good to those who love him.  Do you love him?  Do you trust him?  Can you see him at work in your life and in the lives of others even when at the moment it may seem grim?  He is at work.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Think about the words Larry Kirk shared during his sermon today regarding Romans 8:31-32:

“In verses 31 and 32, we’re given the conclusion to all these truths: What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?  32   He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  If God gave us the greatest of gifts in the giving of His Son to be the Savior, for self-absorbed and sinful people then whatever we, his redeemed, foreknown and chosen people need to live out that salvation we can know he will provide that also. Believe it.   Preach it to yourself. Take it to heart.  That is the perspective of faith.”

God wants each of us to know him, really trust him and acknowledge him as king and Savior.  He will continue to draw us and pull us to himself.  When you struggle, will you let him lead you or will you continue to try to fix it yourself only to keep struggling without the power and peace of God.

Join me as I celebrate our King Jesus and show my gratitude for the way he reveals himself by dying and rising through the events surrounding the cross.  God reveals himself through this, the only way that we could recognize a sliver of his glory and power.  Trust him…  he has a plan.

Even when it hurts or seems confusing, is angering or frustrating, he is in control.  Celebrate the RISEN Lord Jesus Christ and hold onto him for every breath you take and every situation you are in during your time on this earth.  He is Jehovah God and we can confidently cry out and exclaim Hosanna! He is the Great I Am.

Focus and meditate on his truth and ways he reveals himself to you!

Read or listen to the teaching by Pastor Larry Kirk from today’s sermon about Palm Sunday and our perspectives from Romans 8:18-32 https://www.cccdaytona.org/sermons/sermon/2020-04-05/palm-sunday-the-pandemic-and-faith-s-perspective

Palm Sunday verses to think about:

Zechariah 9:9 – Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

John 12:12-19 – The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! ” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

Luke 19:11-44 – “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”