The Spirit of the Lord has spoken to me to teach you daily during the eight days before Easter, Resurrection Sunday.
Click here to sign up for my 7-day email teaching series,
Your Open Door – beginning Palm Sunday and leading into Easter Resurrection Morning! I want to
flood your spirit with faith as you discover the miracle that was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it
can accomplish in your life TODAY!
DAY SEVEN:
Saturday, March 30th - From Gloom to Glory
Dear Friend,
Easter Resurrection Sunday is TOMORROW! I hope your faith is
being stirred up to
believe and to
receive
all God has in store for you during the supernatural season
of Christ’s Resurrection
!
Today marks the seventh day of Holy Week and the seventh
installment of my email teaching series.
If you’ve missed any of the other days of Your Open Door email teaching series, click here to catch up.
In Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago, during the Lord Jesus
Christ’s final year, He had repeatedly mentioned both
His death and His conquest of it. To be certain, some of His
references were somewhat veiled.
On more than one occasion He had declared that this generation
that constantly clamored for “a sign” would get
none from Him other than “the sign of Jonah,” in
reference to Jonah having spent three days in the dark belly
of a great fish before being returned to light and the fresh
air of a Ninevite beach.
Then suddenly, in Matthew 16, the One who so often spoke in
parables and cryptic metaphors become jarringly literal and
frank:
From that time on, Jesus began to show His disciples that
He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised
on the third day.
- Matthew 16:21. (See also Mark 8:31-33; Luke 9:22).
All three of the Synoptic Gospels record this shift toward
plain-spokenness concerning what was about to transpire. Not
just this one time, but as we saw above, the scriptures
declare that He kept giving them this information
“
from that time on.”
It’s apparent that Peter understood the message Jesus
was delivering, for Mathew records that Peter rebuked the
Son of God, saying, “This shall not happen to You.”
A chapter later, Jesus again tells them plainly, and Matthew
records the disciples “were extremely sorrowful.”
So how is it possible that these men could be so utterly
taken by surprise and thrown into despair when the very
events that Jesus foretold to them unfolded? How could the
possibility of Jesus rising from the dead not even enter the
minds of those who had seen Him break up no fewer than two
funerals by raising up the deceased - one of whom had been
dead more than three days?
In fact, in the day following the Crucifixion, Jesus’s
enemies seemed far more aware of His past predictions than
did His friends. His “sign of Jonah” statement
was to the temple scribes and Pharisees, and its symbolism
was not lost on them. Memory of this statement prompted their
early morning trip back to Pilate, where they said:
Sir, we remember that deceiver saying while He was still
alive, “After three days I will rise.” Therefore
command that the tomb be made secure until the third day,
lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and tell
the people, “He has risen from the dead.”
- Matthew 27:63-64
Friend, there exists a very
common, very deeply innate tendency for all of us to take
special note of what fits our preconceptions and gloss over
things that don’t.
We hear what we hope to hear. See what we hope to see. We
love evidence that validates our preferred way of thinking
about things, and we easily dismiss evidence to the contrary
as being irrelevant or flawed. Behavioral scientists have a
fancy word for these very human tendencies:
cognitive biases.
Denial can, in fact, be a powerful blinder. Here, it seems
that every mention the Savior made to His followers regarding
His impending sacrifice was rationalized away as a metaphor
or symbolic language or something that simply wasn’t
true because it
could not be true.
Of course, on the other side of Pentecost, fifty days later,
immediately after being filled with the Holy Ghost - the One
who brings “all things to their remembrance” -
timid Peter would jump up and boldly preach the very first
Spirit-led sermon to a Jerusalem festival throng, declaring
that Jesus’s arrest was “by the ordained counsel
and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). He would show
them from the Scriptures how the psalmist David foresaw his
Messianic descendent being put in a grave and yet not
suffering corruption (vv. 27-31), revealing
the scriptural allusion to Christ’s triumphant
resurrection.
Yes, in a few weeks, it would all be very clear, and the
disciples would recall that He had told them plainly and
repeatedly all these things would happen. But here on the
Sabbath of despair, there was no room for light or hope in
the minds of Peter and the others. Fear, confusion, and
disappointment filled every available space in their souls.
That’s why I wanted to share this with
you. Maybe you are holding on to the
promises of God over your life. Maybe every prophetic word
spoken over you or your loved ones is very real to you. Or
maybe, like Peter and the others, you find yourself between
a Friday Afternoon and a Sunday Morning - in the Sabbath of
despair.
Maybe the devil has tormented your mind, or tried to convince
you the promises of God are not real, could not be true, or
could not transpire as He said.
Let me tell you, dear friend…
- The words He speaks to you - they are spirit and they are life! (John 6:63)
- You are the head and not the tail! (Deuteronomy 28:13)
- He says of Himself, “I am the LORD, who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)
- The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it! (Proverbs 10:22)
- He is watching over you, and His ears are open to your prayer! (1 Peter 3:12)
- Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares for you! (1 Peter 5:7)
- There is mercy and grace to help you at His throne! (Hebrews 4:16)
- He says to you today, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine!” (Isaiah 43:1)
- Though weeping may endure for a night, JOY COMES WITH THE MORNING! (Psalm 30:5)
There is hope! There is a way! There is life! His name is
Jesus Christ, and He lives! And because He lives, fear is
dispelled! Anxiety is erased! You can be assured that no
matter how dark your Saturday looks, Sunday is coming!
Victory is on the other side! You’re coming through!
Hallelujah to the Lamb, who was slain and now lives: the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Jubilee.
We are in an extraordinary season where we not only celebrate
the Resurrection, but the year of
God’s
Open Door - supernatural blessings and provision!
There is still time to
send your prayer request
and
sow your Resurrection Seed offering in faith,
believing for your greatest miracle to come to pass as an
Open Door Resurrection Harvest!
Whatever you do, make sure your prayer needs and your
Resurrection Seed offering is here before THIS SUNDAY’s
Resurrection Easter Service. We’re going to believe
God for miracles, signs, and wonders to be released as the
people of God gather in faith and expectation.
If you are unable to join us
at World Harvest Church Columbus, Ohio
or our great congregation
in Elkhart, Indiana
in-person tomorrow morning at 10am ET, I pray you’ll
join us online at
YouTube Live,
Facebook Live, or
RODPARSLEY.TV
for our Easter Sunday service as we celebrate that HE IS ALIVE!
MY PRAYER FOR YOU TODAY:
Father, today we give You glory and honor for Your
faithfulness. Thank You for dispelling every fear and
conquering death in the mighty resurrection of the Lord
Jesus. We praise You, Lord, God of righteousness and Prince
of our Peace! We speak the peace of God and the strength of
Your might over us now, and all our loved ones. I ask that
You will continue to reveal the wonders of the Resurrection
during this year of the Open Door and have Your way in our
lives. Make us strong in faith and confidence in You to
overcome all things, for Your glory. In Jesus’ Mighty
Name, Amen.
Yours for the harvest,
Pastor Rod Parsley
DAY ONE:
Sunday, March 24th - Day 1: The Holiest Week of the Year
DAY TWO:
Monday, March 25th - Day 2: A Hero Emerges
DAY THREE:
Tuesday, March 26th - Day 3: A new location
DAY FOUR:
Wednesday, March 27th - Day 4: Our Canaan King’s Coronation
DAY FIVE:
Thursday, March 28th - Day 5: Three Powerful Keys
DAY SIX:
Friday, March 29th - Day 6: Important Last Words
DAY SEVEN:
Saturday, March 30th - Day 7: From Gloom to Glory
