Easter Update – Lisa Miller

FIRST APPEARED IN WASLALA LIFE 4/21/21

Easter Update 4-4-21

Dear Brethren and Friends,

Greetings in the name of the Lord who is RISEN and who is looking down upon us from His throne in heaven.  Today is the day that most Christ-followers here in the U.S celebrate Easter as Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.  If you are one of those and were in church this morning, I hope that you went home encouraged to persevere in your walk with our Lord.  If you are not a follower of Christ, I pray that you will soon (if not today!) change your allegiance from whatever or whomever you are serving (for we all serve something or someone) to Christ, the only One who can fill our every longing (and yes, I speak from experience).

Well, I attended church in Lockport, NY County Jail this morning with three other ladies (two on one side of the dorm’s floor to ceiling chain-linked fence and two, including myself, on the other side) dressed not in the usual finery of a new spring dress but dressed rather in gray sweatpants and an orange t-shirt overlaid with an orange sweatshirt.  Since we don’t have jail-sponsored religious activities (due to COVID) another inmate asked me to help her organize an Easter service.  I responded with a “Sure.”  We sang, “This is the Day That the Lord Hath Made,” had a topic while reading portions of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection from Scripture, had a sharing time of what Easter means to us and of course we had prayer.

Since I was asked to give the topic, I chose to share about Jesus’ life from the Garden of Gethsemane to His crucifixion.  Lest you think I’m preaching to you, I’ll share with you just my closing comments, which reiterate the main parts of my topic.

1)     Even tho’ Jesus was betrayed,

He showed no bitterness.

2)     Even tho’ Jesus was accused falsely,

He remained quiet.

3)     Even tho’ Jesus’ closest friends deserted Him at His time of need,

He showed no anger toward them.

4)     Even tho’ Jesus was mocked, spit on, struck and flayed open,

He did not retaliate.

5)     Even tho’ Jesus suffered at the hands of people, dying an agonizing death,

He still says, “behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I felt so inadequate and was humbled to tears while sharing these TRUTHS with these ladies.  Even so, I am thankful that the Holy Spirit lives within me, enabling me to share with them what true love really looks like.

I’d like to close this letter with the reading that closed (before prayer) the service.  I hope that you are as blessed by the reading as I was (and still am):

The Cross is the Test of Love

Everything Jesus did in His life of obedience to the Father here in our world found its climax on the Cross.  There, finally He proved to the world of men how far He was prepared to go to rescue them.  There He showed, once and for all, what love really means.  There is no such thing as love that does not embrace suffering and self-sacrifice.

If we think we love someone, let us test that love by asking how far we are prepared to go for that person’s sake!

If we imagine we love the Lord Christ, let us look at His broken and bleeding body hung up with nails and ask if what we call “love” has any of that quality in it.  How much?  How far will we go?  What price will we pay?  “Obedient unto death” – is that what we mean by love?  It is what He meant.  “Love one another as I have loved you,” was His command (John 15:12). (Elisabeth Elliot, the Music of His Promises, pg. 98)

Please pray for us:  that God gives the growth of His Word (1 Corinthians 3:5-15).

Serving Him where I am planted,

Lisa

Want to write Lisa:

Lisa Miller #149005A

P.O. Box 496

Lockport, NY 14095

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