Ep 4.12 - Jesus Died for You, So What?

In this episode of the AU podcast, we invite you to pray and meditate on what Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross means for you. Jesus carries this cross, this pain, this punishment for you out of pure love. How do you respond to Jesus’ suffering? Let Jesus show you what He has for you and learn how to accept this love more fully in your life.

Hello, and welcome to today's episode
of the Authentic Uprising podcast.
I'm your host Jill Simons, and I'm
so excited to grow in the radical
art of standing in what God
says about you with you today.
The show is a place where we
pour into the sense of who God
is who we are and how we can
live more in the freedom that He
has for us every
single day.
Hello and welcome to this Holy Week episode of
the Authentic Uprising podcast.
I am very excited to pray with you
today in preparation for Holy Week.
We're not gonna chat a whole
bunch here at the beginning,
We're just gonna
dive right in.
And my goal for today is to
just create a meditation for
you to do time this week,
especially on Good Friday,
Holy Saturday, sometime over the weekend
as you're preparing for
Easter to really reflect on
what does it say about you that
Jesus died on
the cross for you.
What is it that God is saying to
you in that act, in doing that
radical act for you and how can you
really step into that this week?
If you feel like you have
totally nailed Lent,
if you feel like you've totally
failed Lent, it doesn't matter.
This week, we have an opportunity
to really begin again with
Jesus and step into what it is
that He has to give us, what it
is that He is saying about us
in His sacrifice on the cross.
That's what we're gonna
be reflecting on today.
That's what we're gonna
be praying with.
So as always with our prayer
episodes get comfortable,
find a place that you can really
enter in and not just passively
listen to this, but actually
come with me on this journey
chatting with Jesus, receiving
from Him, and hearing His voice.
We begin this time of
prayer and meditation.
I asked that you just get your
body comfortable first of all,
just being a position where you
can really receive from the Lord.
For me that typically
means open palms,
but if you prefer to
have your hands folded,
whatever feels
comfortable for you.
And as you breathe, I always
always love to begin these times
of reflection on what it is
that God says about me
by just bringing attention
to being thankful.
Praising God for His
goodness and who He is.
And so as I breathe in, just love to
say, "Thank you," and breathe out, "Jesus."
Thank you. Jesus. Thank you,
Jesus. God's gift of our
imagination is such a good one and
such a powerful
tool for prayer.
So we just wanna open our imagination to this
time of reflection on Jesus' Passion.
I would just begin
by asking Jesus.
Jesus what part of your Passion
do you wanna show me today?
Just let Him bring
an image into your mind.
Just give Him a few seconds
to speak into your mind.
But if you don't receive anything,
after a couple of seconds. That's okay.
Go ahead and imagine Jesus with His
cross whether He's carrying it,
whether He's on it, just stirring
that Good Friday of His Passion.
You just wanna see Jesus there.
Accepting this pain, this punishment.
He's not doing it with bitterness.
There's no resentment in Jesus.
There's no anger. There's no guilt
tripping. There's no gas lighting.
It's just love. He's embracing
everything that being thrown at Him.
Because He loves you. And it's
truly from a place of joy and
a place of love of you that
He offers all this up.
So I want you to
just see Jesus.
See how He looks at you as you are
there watching Him with His cross.
He catches your eyes and you just see
His eyes staring right into yours.
What do they look like?
What is in them?
Then as you see him there, I
invite you to just ask Him.
Jesus, why are You doing this?
Why are You enduring all of this?
Just let Him answer you.
Now think of seeing Jesus
in that position.
What what do you feel rise up in your
heart? What is it you want to do?
Do you wanna run to Him,
comfort Him, embrace Him?
You want to tend His wounds?
Do you wanna care for Him?
Or do you wanna run away? Do you
want to stop being faced with
Him in this position? Just
pay attention to what it is.
Without judging yourself
for it, just be aware.
How do you respond to
Jesus' suffering?
I invite you to just talk to Jesus about
your response. What it is you're feeling.
If you wanna go to Him then then do
in your imagination and go to Him,
comfort Him. However, you feel moved.
Weep with Him, hold Him.
Whatever you feel rise up within you. If you
feel like running away, just tell Him.
Jesus says I don't wanna be here.
Jesus this is so uncomfortable.
Whatever it is. Let Him respond
to you, to your response.
Let Him show you what He has
for you in this moment.
And that will be as
unique as you are.
Feel free to stop this podcast
and just spend some time here.
To be with our Lord, as He offers
up everything for you. Thank Him.
Thank Him for loving you and sacrificing
Himself for you to this extent.
Ask Him how you can accept this
love more fully in your life.
Ask Him how He wants to teach you to
accept your own crosses in life.
How He wants to walk with you on that
path. And just spend some time.
I'm praying for you and I hope that
you have a lovely, blessed Easter,
Easter season. Full of greater intimacy
and awareness of the glory of God.
Take care