Impossible!

Daily Reading:  Acts 2

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2.24)

Devotional Thought: After being filled with the Holy Spirit, the frightened, hiding apostles burst out into their community with the good news of Jesus!  Thousands of people heard Peter preach about new life, hope, and forgiveness in Jesus. 

In his message, Peter made an amazing statement: It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus!  Yes, he had been betrayed by his own countrymen.  Yes, he had been tried and crucified by the Romans.  Yes, he had been buried.  But - no, death could not keep its hold on Jesus.  God raised him up! 

And, dear friend, it is impossible for death to keep its hold on those who know and serve Jesus!  Think about your life.  How has “death” intruded upon you?

• Are you experiencing sickness?  Death cannot keep its hold on you!  In the name of Jesus there is healing and grace!

• Have you lost your job and income?  Death cannot keep its hold on you!  Your God is Jehovah Jireh – the Lord our Provider!  Trust in him for every need.  He will not disappoint.

• Has a relationship been torn apart?  Death cannot keep its hold on you!  The most important relationship in life is certain: Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you.

• Has life been invaded by sorrow?  Death cannot keep its hold on you!  Jesus is the resurrection and life and the one who dies in him will live again!

• Are you facing impossible choices which yield no winners?  Death cannot keep its hold on you!  Thank God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph and gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Three thousand people found fresh hope, that day.  May you find fresh hope in Jesus today!

Prayer: Jesus, you are alive!  It is not possible for you to be held by death.  And, as I hold on to you in faith, death must loose its grip on me.  Hallelujah!

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 69:6-12

6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.