Matthew 28:8 (Christ has risen!)

Welcome God every morning before your work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 3:17

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed... Matthew 28:8

Living Faith snippets: "How could the fear of these women possibly be described? How could the joy? The utter horror of Jesus' arrest and crucifixion is now followed by an earthquake, an angelic appearance and the tomb of Jesus empty! The Easter story is the wellspring of our most unimaginable hope, hope in God's power to bring life out of death. Jesus tells us: "Do not be afraid." Not only for our physical death, but for all the other endings, devastations and breakings. Happy Easter!" by Patricia Livingston

Pat nuggets: On Easter morning, I joyfully woke up Paige (8) and Grace (5) with the greatest news of all time..."The rock is rolled away...the tomb is empty...Jesus has risen!" As if not surprised at all, they both grunted with irritation at my joyful announcement. They looked at me like "well duh, God said He would and He did"...confident faith! Then, they asked if the Easter bunny made it...they don't have as much confidence in the bunny's delivery. In response, I said, "yes...because Jesus is alive!"...in all of us. We are the Easter bunny and Santa Claus to one another (love and service to neighbor). Happy Easter...Christ has risen...we are free from death!

Faith Challenge: Let's challenge each other to joyfully live out the Good News. Suggestions?
* NEW: Let's share our Easter joy with at least two people today...

Counter-Culture News: LifeSiteNews, American Family Association, Priests for Life

* Let's never forget the horrific reality of abortion (images)...#1 cause of death in America. Let's courageously share ProLife Truth (John 14:6) to create social tension for exposing abortion's unjust peace...rebuilding a Culture of Life (Matt 5:16) and setting the unborn free!

Our Prayers: Those who pray together stay together. Fasting ideas below.
* Prayer to end abortion, abused children, chastity, peace, our enemies, our troops, depression/ despair, prisoners, ProLife politicians, illnesses/injuries, jobs, natural disasters

Through Christ our Lord,

Pat

Phil 4:13

* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. 'If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead.'
* Fasting: Let's fast from things that take our eyes off Jesus (selfishness, bitterness, being so critical, impatience, gossip, excessive video games, etc) and take on things that fix our eyes on Jesus (selflessness, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, patience, understanding, caring, helping, listening).
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' (Blessed Mother Teresa).
* Evangelization: Let's make room for unbelievers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.
Let's joyfully invite others to join our LIFE Group...Rich or Pat will gladly add them to the devotions distribution list (Mark 16:15)!