Jesus Died Our Death So We Could Live His Life. Remember Jesus This Holy Week… Take Some Time With Him Each Day And Reflect On Easter Week
I know that Lent was always a part of our life growing up, it was a time of giving up something, dying to wants, and reflection. 40 days of focusing on Jesus’ sacrifice and His miraculous resurrection. How about you? Did you grow up with Lent as a part of your family devotions? It didn’t really mean much to me, it was a ritual, and my heart was not in it. It wasn’t until I accepted Jesus into my heart that I began to understand the significance of remembering holy days, especially Holy Week. After I accepted Christ in my heart, Holy Week meant so much more to me because my heart was engaged and it wasn’t just an act of traditional religiosity. So out of that heart to heart relationship with God, I write this exhortation about Holy Week. Hope it blesses you and I hope you participate in my Holy Week Devotional day by day during Holy Week. God bless you, KimberlyMac Author.
Thoughts About Holy Week
Holy Week is the week leading up to Easter and it is all about the final days of Jesus’ life here on earth. It spans from Palm Sunday with His Triumphant entry into Jerusalem to His death by crucifixion and then to His Resurrection. I enjoy Holy Week in heavenly hindsight, because we know the end result. It is great to remember each day what Jesus did during Holy Week and how to apply those daily experiences to our life today.
In the gospel, we come to understand that death is the inescapable pathway to life. We are called to die to our desires for our own comfort, pleasure, and glory and give ourselves to seek the glory of the King and the success of his kingdom. We are called to die to our own righteousness and find our hope, help, and comfort in the righteousness of Jesus given over to our account. This death that I have just described is a process of daily scanning our lives to see where things still live in us that should not live, then praying for the strength to die once again.” Quote From Lent Devotional Worship Initiative
So excited to grow through Holy Week with Jesus, spending each day of Holy Week remembering what He has done, taught and miraculously implanted in our hearts. So, as I start my Holy Week Devotional, I pray this song, connecting to God heart to heart:
As Holy Week Begins…
Jesus came to us and He came here knowing that at the end of Lent was a tomb. He came walking, teaching, healing, loving and moving day by day towards His death. He knew that He would suffer and die in order to redeem the world, saving us from our sin. His purpose was death, it was His destiny and He was willing to suffer and die for us, because He knew that this was not the end of the story for this Messiah, this Savior, this Redeemer, it was much, much more. So this is why during Holy Week we pray for that MORE… and stand in Awe of Jesus, Our Messiah!
PALM SUNDAY Palm Sunday We Remember Jesus’ Triumphant Entry Into Jerusalem. The Crowds Worshiped Him With Palm Branches, Acknowledging Him As Messiah.
The next day the news that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem swept through the massive crowd gathered for the feast. So they took palm branches and went out to meet him. Everyone was shouting, “Lord, be our Savior! Blessed is the one who comes to us sent from Yahweh , the King of Israel!” Then Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it to fulfill what was prophesied: “People of Zion, have no fear! Look—it’s your king coming to you riding on a young donkey! John 12:12-15
This is a day for us, this Palm Sunday to spend some time in worship of our Messiah. To bow in worship before Him. In retrospect we know the miraculous endgame that begun on Palm Sunday ended in all thrones and dominions bowing to the resurrected King Jesus. Can you imagine though being in the crowd on Palm Sunday and Jesus comes riding in on a donkey and people where worshipping and the crowd yelling out Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest, waving palm branches and throwing them down in the street for Jesus to ride over. And now we know Jesus will always be Holy Forever. Listen and Worship the Messiah right now on this remembrance of Palm Sunday! Remember…
“For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. “God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!” John 3:16-17 TPT
HOLY MONDAY was the day that Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, overturning their tables and cleansing His temple.
When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables. So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those selling doves He said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace! John 12:13-16
When we contemplate this day we realize that people were profiting, and had commercialized this part of the temple by selling doves, cattle, sheep, betraying what the outer court was supposed to be for, the earnest devotion of worship. When we think on this Holy Monday it would be a good thing to look at our heart and let God cleanse or overturn any tables in our heart that do not please Him. This day would be a good day for the cleansing of our soul, to the dying of what we want. The human condition likes to be pampered, so we need to detach ourselves from the focus of our wants and set ourselves up to be wholly-holy God’s, a person in full out followship of Him. Holy Monday, we check our hearts and position them underneath the Rulership of God’s Love.
“Let me make this clear: A single grain of wheat will never be more than a single grain of wheat unless it drops into the ground and dies. Because then it sprouts and produces a great harvest of wheat—all because one grain died. “The person who loves his life and pampers himself will miss true life! But the one who detaches his life from this world and abandons himself to me, will find true life and enjoy it forever! If you want to be my disciple, follow me and you will go where I am going. And if you truly follow me as my disciple, the Father will shower his favor upon your life.”
John 12:24-26 TPT
This is why there was the cross. God’s holy goodness and our sin converged in the greatest act of love there could ever be. Jesus died for our sins, absorbing the righteous wrath of God, and absorbing it in our place. Having perfectly esteemed God’s worth, and perfectly advanced his goodness, Jesus suffered the wrath we deserved for our sin. Our guilt, our shame, our enmity with God, it was all drowned in his sea of crimson. As the blood of Jesus flowed, the curse of our sin was broken. The wrath of God was poured out, and the love of God was demonstrated. And when all hope seemed lost, when it looked as if darkness had won, Jesus rose from the grave. He beat death, and he beat death for you and me. Quote From Lent Devotional Worship Initiative
HOLY TUESDAY Holy Tuesday was a day where Jesus taught parables in the temple, He shared some of his final words of wisdom, truth and spiritual insights with His followers. He was bold and authoritative as He confronted the religious rulers. Mark 11:20, Matthew 21:20, Mark 11:21-25; Mark 13:1-37
Holy Tuesday is a good day to think on and remember the many things Jesus taught and to check our hearts to measure our followship against His Words. Are we like His followers eagerly and humble learning from Him. Or are we more like the obstinate, prideful religious leaders? Think about everything Jesus has taught you from His Word, just as He taught on Holy Tuesday those many, many years ago, the precious principles of life and right living, of truth and faith. Are we willing to lose our lives, to be His canvas?
And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever’s loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35) “And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.” Matthew 10:38-39 CSB
HOLY WEDNESDAY during Holy Week was also known as “Spy Wednesday” it was simply-significantly the day that Judas Iscariot made a commitment to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. It is a day to reflect on betrayal and how easy it is to drift into the betrayal of Jesus by not being wholly-holy His, by conforming to the world, instead of being transformed by His Living Word.
Then one of the Twelve [apostles], who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests And said, What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you? And they weighed out for and paid to him thirty pieces of silver [about twenty-one dollars and sixty cents]. [Exod. 21:32; Zech. 11:12.] And from that moment he sought a fitting opportunity to betray Him. Matthew 26:14-16
It is so easy to drift off into our own “holy war” when things go terribly wrong and we don’t understand, we can’t wrap our mind around it. It is easy to see how Judas could have been captivated by deception as things were not going the way He thought they would with Jesus. He felt betrayed by Jesus, so He betrayed Him. All He was to Judas, as He discipled Him, loved Him, taught Him and Judas started His own “holy war” within himself as the enemy enticed him with lies and false counsel and all Jesus had ever been was kind, compassionate, caring… and Judas betrayed him. What about us? On this Wednesday of Holy Week, should we check our hearts for the assumptions we have made as we chose not to trust in Jesus timing, in His methods, in His way, truth and life. Are we drifting towards forsaking Jesus when all He has ever been is kind.
MAUNDY THURSDAY – Holy Thursday was the beautiful Last Supper with Jesus as He shared a meal with his disciples and they received the Sacrament of Communion.
“As they ate, Jesus took the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to his disciples. He said to them, “This is my body. Eat it.” Then taking the cup of wine, he gave thanks to the Father, he entered into covenant with them, saying, “This is my blood. Each of you must drink it in fulfillment of the covenant. For this is the blood that seals the new covenant. It will be poured out for many for the complete forgiveness of sins. The next time we drink this, I will be with you and we will drink it together with a new understanding in the kingdom realm of my Father.”Matthew 26:26-29 TPT
This Maundy Thursday would be a great time to receive communion together with Jesus. To cleanse our spirit of all unforgiveness, to wash our soul of any lingering bitterness, to bend our will into the Sovereign Sway of our God. <strong>We Remember The BitterSweet Spilling Of The Blood Of Jesus For Us, A Beautiful Sacrifice Of Love For Us. We Remember…</strong> To do as You did, to trust You in every season, to stay in followship of You, step by step when the way is unclear, to surrender to Your Plan. We need to look deep within our hearts and see the places where we have been resisting God’s Will, where we are not leaning into His Sovereign Sway, where we are wanting our will more than His.
Then Jesus led his disciples to an orchard called “The Oil Press.” He told them, “Sit here while I go and pray nearby.” He took Peter, Jacob, and John with him. However, an intense feeling of great sorrow plunged his soul into agony. And he said to them, “My heart is overwhelmed and crushed with grief. It feels as though I’m dying. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Then he walked a short distance away, and overcome with grief, he threw himself facedown on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if there is any way you can deliver me from this suffering, please take it from me. Yet what I want is not important, for I only desire to fulfill your plan for me.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to strengthen him. Matthew 26:36-39
GOOD FRIDAY is a day of lamenting remembrance, fasting and meditating on Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. We think on these things, but especially on the power of forgiveness as after Jesus was cruelly and mercilessly beaten, a crown a thorns placed on his head, mocked, crucified, He incredibly said this:
“When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided his clothes and cast lots.” Luke 23:33-34 CSB
The two thieves who were crucified with Jesus, one mocked him and the other received Jesus’ forgiveness and acknowledge Him as King. It is a stark remembrance of the hold of sin and the rejection of Jesus and the forgiveness of sin and the embrace of mercy. These thieves on the cross and their perspective gives us much to contemplate on this Good Friday. It is called good because that is what it was, good for us, because out of it came the greatest transformation ever known to mankind, the miracle of death to life. Which thief would you want to be? Think on that and make sure you resemble that thief who was humbly touched by God and accepted Jesus as His Messiah because it changed his life forever.
“So now there is no longer any condemnation for those who believe in him, but the unbeliever already lives under condemnation because they do not believe in the name of the only Son of God. And here is the basis for their judgment: The Light of God has now come into the world, but the people loved darkness more than the Light, because they want the darkness to conceal their evil. So the wicked hate the Light and try to hide from it, for the Light fully exposes their lives. But those who love the truth will come into the Light, for the Light will reveal that it was God who produced their fruitful works.”John 3:18-21 TPT
“The gospel offers you something that nothing and no one else can offer: life. But in offering life, the gospel calls you to die. That death is both an event and a process. By God’s redeeming plan we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection. In that way your moment of belief is a death and a resurrection. But there is more. Now that you are united with Christ, you are called to a very specific surrender, that is, dying to self. You simply cannot understand the gospel without this call to follow Christ in his death. We are called to die to sin. We meditate on his willingness to die, on the essentiality of that death, and on its benefit to all who put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Death is required of every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing the full range of the benefits of the new life that the resurrection of Jesus promises us requires that we too die.” Quote From Lent Devotional Worship Initiative
HOLY SATURDAY Was A Day Of Sad Reflection
Everything had changed and they were remembering together what Jesus had said and done, it was a sad, quiet reflection, waiting and wondering what was next for them. We know what was next because we have the heavenly hindsight of the resurrection of Jesus, but they did not. They were in shock, they were afraid fro their lives and they were grieving. There are many times in our lives where we don’t know what is next, we are afraid, fearful, and anxious, this is when we quietly reflect on what we know, on what Jesus has spoken, on His Truth, on the Promises of His Word. Make today a day of reflection of Who Jesus is and what He has said.
“Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.” Romans 12:1-2 TPT
“The hope of humanity hung on the question of whether or not he had the power to defeat the ultimate enemy, death. The empty tomb was a glorious answer to that question. The empty tomb is a promise that God will never leave his redemptive work half-done. He will complete everything that needs to be done for his chosen children to experience the full range of the blessings of his grace.” Quote From Lent Devotional Worship Initiative
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom. 6:1–4)
“In the gospel, we come to understand that death is the inescapable pathway to life. We are called to die to our desires for our own comfort, pleasure, and glory and give ourselves to seek the glory of the King and the success of his kingdom. We are called to die to our own righteousness and find our hope, help, and comfort in the righteousness of Jesus given over to our account. This death that I have just described is a process of daily scanning our lives to see where things still live in us that should not live, then praying for the strength to die once again.” Quote From Lent Devotional Worship Initiative
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)
EASTER SUNDAY What A Joyous End To Holy Week
This is the miraculous resurrection of Jesus and the beautiful centerpiece of our faith, where the triumph of death by Jesus and the ushering in of eternal life. Jesus died our death so we can live His life, so on this day we should dance to the beat of His glory singing His redemption song where judgement lost and mercy won. He Is Not Here! He Has Risen!
“Suddenly, the earth shook violently beneath their feet as the angel of the Yahweh descended from heaven. Lightning flashed around him and his robe was dazzling white! The guards were stunned and terrified—lying motionless like dead men. Then the angel walked up to the tomb, rolled away the stone, and sat on top of it! The women were breathless and terrified, until the angel said to them, “There’s no reason to be afraid. I know you’re here looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here—he has risen victoriously, just as he said! Come inside the tomb and see the place where our Lord was lying." Matthew 28:2-6 TPT
“We are called to die to that life where we did what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it, and how we wanted to do it. We are called to die to setting our own rules and living however we please. We are called to die to our rulership of our own lives. We are called to let go of our self-appointed sovereignty, living as if we’re the only master that we need, and to surrender ourselves and all we have to another master.” Quote From Lent Devotional Worship Initiative
Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes. Romans 12:1-2
Thank you for stopping into the Bridegroom’s Cafe this Holy Week. Every week is Holy Week here in the Cafe as Chef Jesus prepares exhortative spiritual meals to nourish our soul. Please let us know how this Holy Week Devotional blessed you. We hope you will subscribe to our website by email and that you will take the time to follow our Rumble Channel: https://rumble.com/c/KimberlyMac And enjoy our 1 Minute Encouragement videos. God bless you, Kimberly Mac, Author