This week all over the world Christians celebrate Easter, remembering the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To be truly transformed by the love of Jesus we must enter into the Easter mystery not just with our minds, but also with our hearts, with our souls and with all our strength.

When we contemplate the Passion of Christ we think about the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” Isaiah 53:3  “He was harshly treated, yet he submitted and did not open his mouth.  He was silent like a lamb led to the slaughter…” Isaiah 53:7

The word passion comes from Latin root pati-, meaning suffering, or enduring. Thus, compassion means to suffer-with.

What are you passionate about?

What are you willing to suffer for?

At the end of your life will your life story be about ‘a pursuit of pleasure’ or a ‘pursuit of purpose’?

No one wants to suffer senselessly, but most difficult missions are missions that entail suffering.

At the beginning of the Passion of Jesus Christ, Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. As He contemplated all that He would have to suffer, His humanity called out to be relieved. Jesus “fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Matthew 26:39

Even Our Holy Lord experienced a conflict between the desires of His flesh to be spared suffering and the will of His soul to embrace His mission of salvation.

Let us consider as we approach Easter to what extent do we surrender our will to the holy will of God? Do we pursue what ‘feels good’ or what ‘is good’?

After my spiritual conversion about twenty years ago, God spoke to my heart in a mystical encounter that I will never forget. I was at the time very distressed and I felt God speaking in my heart asking me ‘What is love?’

I replied ‘love is a feeling’ and to this I felt God saying ‘wrong’. So I asked ‘what is it then?’ And a quiet, gentle voice in my heart said, “Love is a choice”.  My heart and my mind and my soul were opened by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. I realized that God was telling me that love is only manifested by the choices that we make that honour God and are consistent with His Will.   This conversation with God changed my life and was the impetus for my mission to spread the Gospel message.

Jesus’ love was manifested in His choice to die for us. He didn’t want to endure the pain of crucifixion but He wanted to fulfill His Mission of Salvation and this mission could only be consummated in this way.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” 1 John 4:18:21

I did not really know how great love could be until I saw my Holy Lord Jesus being nailed to a Cross for me!

This Easter give your heart to Jesus without reserve knowing how much He loves you! Invite Him to take the reigns of your life and trust Him to guide your life and help you to discover a special peace that flows from His Heart.

Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

I invite you to join a Christian peace movement called The Mercy Movement. This peace movement is all about the power of Christians united in prayer.

On the night before Jesus died for us, Jesus prayed that His followers would be ONE.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17: 20-21

The Mercy Movement  is an invitation to all Christians to unite daily @ the Time Jesus died for us, 3pm (in our local time zones).  At the Hour of Mercy, 3pm, STOP and REMEMBER the greatest sacrifice the world has ever known and will ever know, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! At this time we pray for all souls to come to repentance and to know and love Jesus. We pray for the Holy Spirit to silence the forces of evil in our world and create peace and reconciliation.

This is the promise of God:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”2 Chronicles 7:14

The world is in URGENT NEED of healing and restoration. Let’s UNITE and PRAY TOGETHER AS ONE BODY OF CHRIST REMEMBERING THE PASSION OF CHRIST EVERYDAY @ the Time Jesus died for us 3pm (in our local time zones)

God will hear the cries of His people calling for His peace and His love to change the world, one soul at a time.

“We love because He first loved us!” 1 John 4:19