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God enthrones Himself among the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). The believers in the video below build a throne for the everlasting God within a mall in Beirut. In doing so they expressed their love of Jesus and His resurrection last Easter that brought beauty in a non-threatening way.

I encourage you to watch the video. Even though the song is sung in Greek and Arabic, their love for Jesus will boast your own worship this Easter. I have found the English translation and added it below.

Rough translation of what is being sung:

Christ is risen from the dead,
and by His death, He has trampled upon death,
and given life to those who are in tomb.

This day is the day that God has made,
let us be happy and rejoice in it.

Truly, He is risen!
Truly, He is risen!
Truly, He is risen!

This video may well be old for many people, but this a celebration event that Oprah Winfrey put on for African-American women in 2005. She desired to honor the lives of those who have paved a way for others to come behind. Honor was given, love was displayed, and then in the words of Oprah herself, “Jesus showed up.”

Bebe Winans took the stage pulled in legendary singers from the crowd to piece together a wonderful menagerie of praise. “Not one note was planned or rehearsed,” but the effect was felt by all that was there. Diane Sawyer said, “For the rest of my life I think that may be the most transcendently spiritual moment I’ve ever been part of.”

Sometimes as believers we are so caught up in trying to convince people of the Gospel that we forget to give people a chance to experience Jesus for themselves. It is possible that not one person there placed their faith in Jesus that day, but all of them there had an opportunity to experience Jesus that will contradict any negative feelings they have ever encountered with Christians.

I love this video, and I hope you are encouraged by it.

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Dear Readers of the Prayer Coach Blog,

I decided to do a Top 10 List this year to satisfy my interest and help those new to Prayer Coach find articles they may not have known existed. This list has been compiled by looking at pageviews on posts for this year. I also took into account Facebook likes and Twitter shares (please share any post you like on your social network).

1. 10 Things to Pray for Soldiers

This post had immediate success. It was shared on the Christian Prayer Center and shared by its fans to 1,700 Facebook accounts. This holiday season is good time to pray more for these wonderful men and women in the service; many of whom are away from their families at this time.

2. Prayer Quotes

It was really hard to pull this part together because if I took them all separately, they would have most of the top ten. These great resources are continually being found on search engines and used by many. To see a complete list of prayer quotes, go to our prayer resource page.

Here are the list of authors that filled out the top quote pages: A.W. Tozer, Bill Bright, Francis Chan, and E.M. Bounds. It was interesting that Dr. Bright’s quotes were shared heavily on the Stumble Upon network. Each share through any of the social networks is helpful for this site.

Two other quote pages that made the top list are 70 Quotes on what “Prayer Is” and If God is For Us…

3. 6 Steps to Deal with Grief

I personally love this post as it speaks to things that are important to me. Glad to see others seem to be liking it too. This post is not to insinuate that it is grief is quick and easy to process through, but there are some steps to help give direction through the process.

image courtesy of Associated Press (via Times Union)

Today is a remembrance of one of the most evil attacks on US soil. There have been many memorial services honoring the lives of friends and loved ones we lost on that day. As Christians we are told to be joyful always and that the joy of the Lord is our strength (1 Thessalonians 5:16 & Nehemiah 8:10). How is this possible in the midst of such pain and tragedy?

In Nehemiah chapter 8, the Israelites just finished rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. In gratitude they all gathered to listen to the public reading of Scripture. As they listened they became convicted by their disobedience to God’s commands. Grief began to rise, so Nehemiah called a joyful celebration stating that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Nehemiah recognized that grief that lasts beyond its time saps energy and leads away from faith. Joy leads us into the heart of the Lord and helps us see His joy for us. Grief has its season, but joy is our lifestyle (Psalm 30:5).

How can we enter into God’s joy in the midst of evil?

1. Choose to believe that God’s goodness is greater than the evil you are experiencing.
2. Thank God for His goodness and actively look for evidences of his goodness that still lives.
3. Activate your faith in God’s goodness by choosing to focus on joy.

I am not insinuating that joy is easy, nor should we ever forget what has happened. Life can be extremely difficult, but joy is an act of faith in God’s goodness for you. If God is for us, which we know if true, than we can always find joy.

• Circumstances are transformed when we think differently about them.
• Contentment is the peaceful happiness that comes when we are in awe of how God feels about us.
• Don’t pray out of need, but out of identity and inheritance. You’ll get a much bigger response.
• Don’t be in too much of a hurry until you can keep what you’ve got.
• Don’t let the enemy push you into a battle you are not ready for. Keep your focus on Jesus, and natural obstacles will arise because of that.
• Every believer already possesses the things they need to both get free and stay free. It’s already in us, put there by God Himself.
• Every time God speaks to you, it is to put a smile on your face.
• Faith in the nature of God is what keeps you moving even when situations are against you because you KNOW that God is faithful.
• God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent by His power.
• God always speaks to your potential, not your actual.
• God and the devil wants to do one thing in common to you; that is to kill you.
• God does not measure time, He measures growth.
• God is acquainted with grief, he does not live there.
• God is always going to focus on your new nature because He killed your old one.
• God is always relentless. He is relentless against the enemy. He is relentless towards his people in terms of his kindness and goodness.

image courtesy of the Jesus Film

I have been thinking again about the theme of love and fear. Jesus was the perfect representation of God on earth (Hebrews 1:3). He was perfect love, and perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). Think through the life of Jesus. Was He ever afraid?

• While in the desert during a 40-day fast, Jesus had a personal encounter with Satan.
• Several times, Jesus heard the audible voice of God.
• After a short sermon in His home church, the people tried to stone Him.
• When faced with 5,000 hungry people and little resources, He proceeded to feed them.
• In the midst of two terrible storms at sea, he sleeps through one and walks on the water in the other.
• The religious leaders throw a woman they caught in adultery in front of Jesus and demanded His response.
• After a long night wrestling in prayer, soldiers come to take Him to His death.
• Jesus subjected Himself to lies, mockings, beatings, and torture.
• Before going back to heaven, He leaves His ministry to a bunch of guys who a few weeks earlier all abandoned Him.

During each of this situations, Jesus showed no fear. How did He do it? I think to answer this question, we need to know how He continued to love since love casts out fear. The story where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet provides this for us. It begins with Jesus wanting to show the full extend of His love. The passage says that Jesus had a firm grasp on His identity, power, and purpose. And, it was out of this that He then washed their feet.

A friend of mine posted this video to her Facebook page. I found it interesting, and loved seeing it was in Eastern Europe. You tend to think of Eastern Europe being more reserved, so it was fun thinking how different this must have been. It was also great to see the different types of people involved from young girls to men in ties to elderly.

But as I thought of the power of dance, I was almost overwhelmed by what they were creating. There were declaring that they had something to celebrate. Jesus is alive and we have reason to dance! See more of these videos on Up To Faith. Enjoy.

image courtesy of The Passion of the Christ

“You know the Greeks didn’t write obituaries.
They only asked one question after a man died:
‘Did he have passion?’”.  – Serendipity

Did Jesus have passion in His life? Absolutely! He put all of His emotions, strength, thoughts, and will to His one goal: to do the will of His Father who sent Him (John 6:38). What was the main direction of the Father’s will: to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus did not have to die, but He chose to die to accomplish the will of the Father.

Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing the religious leaders wanted to kill him. Jesus told Judas to do what he had planned. Jesus had to wait for the soldiers to get back on their feet for them to arrest Him. Jesus chose to stop Peter from defending Him. Jesus had to put the servant’s ear back on before they took Him. Jesus gave the high priest the answer to assuredly irritate him. Pilot tried to get Jesus give him anything in which to let Him go. Jesus wanted to die.

Jesus’ choice to die was not to become a martyr, but for that joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). The discussion with His Father in the garden of Gethsemane revealed this was the only way (Mark 14:35-36). And since it was the only way, Jesus gave everything to make it happen.

So now, do we have passion? Is it okay for us to have passion? Let us be passionate about the things that Jesus died for. Let us have passion for being with God, passion for bringing others to God, passion for experience all that Jesus death and resurrection has given us.