A Year with Jesus: '<i>'Be Unshakable'</i>'

What Jesus Might Say

Dear Precious One,

The writer of the "word of exhortation" (Hebrews 13:22) that you call the book of Hebrews wrote this:

When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now He makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also." This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful...
(Hebrews 12:26-28 NLT)

Do you hear the profound truth in these words?

As My disciple, you are part of something that can't be shaken. You are part of an unshakable kingdom. The world will pass away. Your body will die. Your riches will fade. Your homes, clothes, mementos, and valuables will rust, rot, decay, fall apart and be lost.

However, this is not true of you! You are eternal! What you believe and the One in Whom you believe connect you to what is unshakable.

My resurrection from the dead means so many things that are good and precious for you, but today I want you to hear the apostle Paul's words of exhortation in verses below: "be unshakeable!" What you do matters to Me. Everything done to honor Me is remembered forever. Who you are matters to Me. Your future matters to Me.

I faced death, enduring the horrors and humiliations of the cross so that you could know My love. My lifeless body was wrapped in burial clothes and placed in a new tomb. The stone across My tomb was sealed, and a guard was posted to ensure that no one took My lifeless body from the tomb. However, I defeated the powers of sin, death, and hell. Then, on resurrection Sunday, the ground shook (Matthew 28:1-6), and all the powers of evil in all of its manifested forms were shaken - evil was shaken to its core and its grip was shaken loose from your life and your future. I arose from death and the tomb victorious... for you!

Verses Jesus Might Suggest

Everything not eternal was shaken that resurrection day, but not Me, not My promises for you, not the future I purchased for you, and not My victory for you! So spend extra time pondering the last words in Paul's powerful statement in the verses below. Contemplate what My resurrection means for you. Go "be unshakable" in your faith as you live for Me!

Now listen to this: brothers and sisters, this present body is not able to inherit the kingdom of God any more than decay can inherit that which lasts forever. Stay close because I am going to tell you a mystery - something you may have trouble understanding: we will not all fall asleep in death, but we will all be transformed. It will all happen so fast, in a blink, a mere flutter of the eye. The last trumpet will call, and the dead will be raised from their graves with a body that does not, cannot decay. All of us will be changed! We'll step out of our mortal clothes and slide into immortal bodies, replacing everything that is subject to death with eternal life. And, when we are all redressed with bodies that do not, cannot decay, when we put immortality over our mortal frames, then it will be as Scripture says:
Life everlasting has victoriously swallowed death.
Hey, Death! What happened to your big win?
Hey, Death! What happened to your sting?
Sin came into this world, and death's sting followed. Then sin took aim at the law and gained power over those who follow the law. Thank God, then, for our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, the Liberating King, Who brought us victory over the grave.

My dear brothers and sisters, stay firmly planted - be unshakable - do many good works in the name of God, and know that all your labor is not for nothing when it is for God.
(1 Corinthians 15:50-58)

Our Response in Prayer

O Father, I look around and see the realities of my mortal world. I see the wounds that death afflicts on my heart and the hearts of those that I love. As I experience these things, I have to confess that I do not feel unshakable! Sometimes I feel very vulnerable to the earthquakes of life and death that I encounter. I ask for the Holy Spirit's help. I ask that the Spirit work deep within my heart to help me truly believe in the power of Jesus' resurrection for me and those I love. Help me believe that Jesus' resurrection changed everything. I want to be unshakable. So I ask, dear Father, for the power of Jesus' resurrection - the Holy Spirit - to awaken my heart to life eternal with the conviction that what I hold dear is truly unshakable. I pray this in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.