What is Jesus resurrecting inside you this Easter?

When you wake up in the morning, can you feel your Savior’s heart pursuing you? Can you hear Him whispering to your spirit? “I love you. Come and listen to Me. I have something you need to hear.” His love is a rock in your life. It never changes.

In the early morning hours when I’m listening to Him, sometimes my heart knows all is well and I just delight in His love for me. I worship Him and read His Word, and He fills my love tank.

At other times, it feels like He wants to resurrect something inside me.

Maybe it’s something I’ve forgotten about, like a dream He put in my heart a long time ago.

Sometimes He wants to resurrect my hope and faith for something I’ve been praying for. Other times, what I really need is the resurrection of a renewed mind, where I can think what He is thinking and listen more to what He wants to say.

This week, we are praying that the resurrection power of Jesus would resurrect any area in your life that feels dead, stuck, or in conflict.

We’re praying that the blessings of His favor would bring victory to your heart and your circumstances. Remember, the blood of Jesus is enough. We can ask a lot of questions and wrestle with a lot of fears—but the blood of Jesus is enough.

Even more than these things, we’re praying for a resurrection of your intimacy and delight in Jesus. May you come to understand what He did for you, personally, and may your love for Him be resurrected in ways you never thought possible.

Your love is a precious gift to Jesus, and it is what He wants—for you to love Him in return.

This weekend marks another year of our Savior’s death on the cross and His resurrection. One person who experienced the resurrection power of Jesus before the cross was Mary of Bethany. This is one of my favorite stories in Scripture, and I love the way The Passion Translation puts it:

Then Jesus went to Bethany, to the home of Simon, a man Jesus had healed of leprosy. A woman came into the house, holding an alabaster flask filled with expensive, fragrant oil. She came right to Jesus, and in a lavish gesture of devotion, she poured out the costly oil, and it cascaded over his head as he was at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were offended. “What a total waste!” they grumbled. “We could have sold it for a great deal of money and given it to the poor.” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Why are you critical of this woman? She has done a beautiful act of kindness. You will always have someone poor whom you can help, but you will not always have me. When she poured the fragrant oil over me, she was preparing my body for burial. I promise you that when this wonderful gospel spreads all over the world, the story of her lavish devotion to me will also be mentioned in memory of her.” (Matt. 26:6–13 TPT)

John’s version of this story says the oil was worth three hundred denarii, which is nearly a full year’s wages (see John 12:5).

Mary of Bethany gave her best to Jesus. The disciples saw her brash act of devotion as a waste, but to Jesus, it was a precious act of extravagant love. She recognized who Jesus was—she knew how much He loved her, and she responded to that love with everything she had. That is a pillar of Becoming the One and something God has been speaking to us for many years. The only thing He requires from us is that we love Him—with all our heart, strength, and mind. Everything we are.

Other people might not understand our love for Jesus and what it leads us to do, but Jesus understands. He sees it for what it is. In fact, He might even see it more than we do—above and beyond the way we see it—because He is the One who can see the depths of things and what is actually real. Imagine that! Your act of love might mean more to Him than it even means to you.

All of us are learning to love Jesus well.

He opened an eternal covenant for us, based on what He did for us and how He purified our heart. This covenant is so alive! The love Jesus poured out two thousand years ago on the cross keeps going—on and on and on—and the power of His resurrection lives in us every single day.

When you wake up tomorrow morning, on Good Friday, take a few minutes to ponder what Jesus did the Friday He was crucified.

He took care of every single thing you regret and feel shame about, all the things that weren’t good enough, all the things you knew were a mistake—past, present, future. He took them and nailed them to the cross for you. Think about this in terms of His love and how much you want to love Him back.

This Easter, what is your love for Jesus leading you to do?

Mary of Bethany knew how much she was loved, and it led her to respond extravagantly. Do you know how much you are loved?

Can you come to a point of surrender, where you give Jesus everything—not just the pretty things, like your heart, but also the ugly things, like your hurts. What He did on the cross cleanses you from all the pain, lack of forgiveness, sins you’ve committed, and sins committed against you.

How has Jesus come to resurrect you today? Let us know! Please leave a comment below.

Your heavenly Father loves you more than you realize. Other articles from Salomé Roat and Becoming the One:

• Want to Have Great Communication in Your Dating Relationship? Here’s Where to Start

• Anxious About Marriage? Here’s Why Trust Is Good for Your Heart

• How Can I Trust God When He Hasn’t Brought My Spouse Yet?

• April Encounter Week

For more information on sex, marriage, and finding the person who is right for you, get a copy of Becoming the One by Salomé Roat. Click here to learn more. The book is also available in Spanish.