Let’s Celebrate

Good morning. It’s the day of the Lord!

“Six days you shall labour and do all your work, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20: 9-11).”

Since Jesus’ resurrection the Sabbath does not exist anymore for the Christians, but God’s principles are eternal – we need to rest. Because Jesus rose on the first day of the week, it has eternally become a day of celebration – celebrating the salvation and victory that Jesus bought for us on that Sabbath so many years ago, when he became the lamb sacrificed for our sins on the cross.

Celebration is a time of joy and happiness, a time when we remember the good things Jesus have done for us. We should therefore also celebrate the good things the Lord has done through us. We are commanded to labour six days and rest on the seventh day. The labour of Christians should be winning souls for Jesus, intercession, encouragement, serving the needs of others, etc. If what we do is in obedience to the Lord, He will confirm it with miracles and answers to prayer. We’ll see people delivered and changed, we’ll experience circumstances relieved as well as healings and all kinds of wonderful things. This will give us reason to celebrate on the Lord’s Day.

Many Christians feel they are free and therefore do not have a problem to work on the Lord’s day. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:23 “’Everything is permissible’- but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’- but not everything is constructive.” Yes, you are free to work on a Sunday - God will not judge you for that - but if you separate the day for the Lord, celebrating His glory and redemptive power, especially if you had some special experiences with Him in the week past, your next week will have a good start.

Having an anointed Sunday morning celebration, a restful Sunday and a Christian movie or another celebration the evening usually prepares me for another week of service. In my case, experiencing the Lord’s anointing as I teach raise my heartbeat to celebration.

Today we remember those heroes who gave their lives in the wars of the world. Shall we also remember those Christian heroes who didn’t compromise when they were put before a choice to deny Christ and having their lives back? They chose death and that bought our freedom. Let’s celebrate the Lord’s involvement in all kinds of freedom, such as the ending of wars and religious freedom, but let’s pray for those still bound by sin and evil religion.

Father God we praise you for the glorious things you’ve done through the ages, for the wars and other violence you’ve ended. We pray that you use us to help those who are still bound to be set free through your power.