Thursday, April 17, 2025

Welcome!

It’s been a challenging but interesting past 7 days. We’ve been navigating issues with my mom’s health. I thought I hurt my back, then thought I had a kidney stone …. but it turns out it’s shingles! Holy shingles during Holy Week! 🙂 

I will say I have felt the presence of the Lord in a fresh way this week, so I’m grateful for that.

I hope you have a wonderful Good Friday and Resurrection Weekend! It feels like something’s in the air …

This issue … Resurrection isn't just a future event—it's a present reality. Jesus redefines it. And he draws us to step into the advanced life of God's Kingdom right now, right here.

🌱 The resurrection is already on!

He’s not waiting for someday. He’s breaking in today.

Raising someone—or something—back to life. That’s not just power … it’s Christ’s energy on display. Demonstrated.

And here’s the invitation: You and I can experience resurrection life now—not just in the age to come, but today. For God’s glory.

That’s what happened when Jesus stepped into Martha’s world. Her brother Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. Death had sealed the situation.

“Your brother will rise again” (See John 11:17–44).

Martha defaulted to what she thought she knew—“He’ll rise on the last day.” But Jesus was about to reframe everything.

🔍 Faith unlocks a superior kind of understanding

Jesus wasn’t indifferent to Martha’s pain. He was present, personal, and powerfully intentional—ready to reveal the Father’s glory in real time.

He was inviting her into something fresh—a new and living way by faith.

“By faith we understand that the worlds (ages and everything in them) were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3).

Understanding by faith is higher than understanding by intellect, tradition, or your personal history.

🔁 Jesus reframes how we see reality

So much of what Jesus does in us is to help us see from our heart. And believe.

Martha's view of resurrection was all future. If we’re honest, many of us do the same.

But with Jesus, the powers of the age to come are already breaking into the now.

“… and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come” (Hebrews 6:5).

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.” —N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

Could this be the normative Christian life? Not average (the average mean of what’s around you). But normal in Kingdom terms?

🕊️ It’s a person: “I am the resurrection and the life”

Jesus said it in the present tense. And he meant it.

“Take away the stone.”
“Lord, by this time…”
“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
“Lazarus, come forth!”

An imagined quote from Martha: “I believed he would raise the dead one day… I didn’t know he meant today.” —Martha, in the tension of faith

So much more is to come with Christ at his appearing. But the Kingdom is already here. And it includes foretastes of resurrection life.

Foretasting Christ’s resurrection life can include healings, new beginnings, renewal of anything, raising the dead, and more.

Now. And wherever your “here” is.

✨ Five reflections for living resurrection now

1. Fresh in-fillings of the Spirit
   He gives the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). Be filled again (Ephesians 5:18).

2. The Word must be primary
   God magnifies His Word even above His name (Psalm 138:2). Give it prime space in your life.

3. The release of your spirit
   Watchman Nee taught about the soul’s “crust” limiting our spirit. Pursue greater wholeness so your spirit can flow.

4. Challenge limiting theology
   Honor your roots. But keep growing. Test all things. Follow Jesus above tradition.

5. Desire to see God’s glory now
   The power of God reverses the effects of the Fall. You have to want it. It’s about his name and fame. His story and glory.

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