Key Bible Verse: This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand (Ephesians 1:19-20). Bonus Reading: Ephesians 1:19-23

Is God really able to change human nature, to make cruel people kind and sour people sweet? … to take people who are dead to spiritual reality and make them alive in Christ? Yes! He's able to give life to the spiritually dead and transform us into the likeness of Christ. How are these claims substantiated? The objective evidence is the Resurrection.

We're always in danger of trivializing the gospel, of minimizing what God is able to do for and in us. We speak of becoming a Christian as if it were no more than turning over a new leaf and making a few superficial adjustments to an otherwise secular life. But according to the New Testament, becoming and being a Christian is an event so radical that no language can do it justice except death and resurrection—death to the old life of self-centeredness and resurrection to a new life of love. The same God of supernatural power who raised Jesus from physical death can raise us from spiritual death.

We know he can raise us because we know that he raised him. Now our prayer is that in every aspect of our lives we may "really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead" (Philippians 3:10).

—John Stott in Through the Bible Through the Year

My Response: I need to experience resurrection power in the following areas: ____

Thought to Apply: All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal! —Jonathan Goforth (missionary to China)

Adapted from Through the Bible Through the Year (Baker, 2006) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, let me glimpse the staggering nature of the Resurrection, and its transforming power.

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