An Easter Prayer

After we have celebrated Easter and the greatest gift offered to mankind - a resurrected Savior who offers salvation to all - what do we do now? What should we do with the knowledge that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected, just as he said he would?

Of course, the first thing is to accept the gift offered. Praying a prayer of repentance and acceptance enjoins us with God, so much so that he calls us his children.

As children of God, we now have a new potential for higher living. However, the sad and disappointing truth is that many children of God never live to the level of their potential. It’s like they pray a prayer to receive Christ and the gift of salvation offered, but then disconnect. The power to live to the level God desires for us is through the power of prayer. Many of us are living below our potential simply because we are not tapping into the power source of life.

I heard someone once describe it this way: It’s as though God has prepared an incredible banquet for them, and they are sitting in the corner with a bologna sandwich. The problem is that they don’t want to risk giving up the familiar sandwich for the promise of the banquet.

It’s like saying, “Okay, I know I am saved and going to heaven, but I’m going to stay right here until then.”

An Easter prayer is meant to be just the beginning, not the end. Prayer changes us by drawing us closer to God. Even well before the first Easter, David understood prayer’s power as a mechanism to change us.

One of David’s famous prayers was: “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”

Living to our potential means that we meet God in prayer. I believe in the old adage, “No Prayer, no power!” When our heart intersects with the heart of God, we are changed. We become more Christ-like. We begin to see things through God’s eyes rather than our own. We see people as God sees them.

That means that we become less judgmental and more loving toward others. We begin to see our circumstances through the lens of what God is doing in our life. We rise above our circumstances rather than being engulfed by them.

The Easter story is about a resurrected life. God’s desire is to resurrect in us new life. We don’t have to wait for heaven to enjoy an incredible relationship with God. Through prayer, we can encounter God and have the confidence that our life has meaning and purpose, because we know that he is leading and guiding our steps.

An Easter prayer has the power to elevate your earthly experience and align it with the God who paid it all for you.

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*reprinted from the Peoria Times