Every year, the week leading up to Easter is difficult. There’s a full moon; and honestly, I think the enemy just comes after everyone a little harder because it’s his worst week–the week that we, as followers of Christ, remember and celebrate Satan’s ultimate defeat. Of course, he isn’t happy. So, he comes after us (at least my family!) in all sorts of different ways, trying to remove our focus from Jesus at Easter and put it back on ourselves.
Before I go any further…you should know that I’m writing this post to me, about me, and for me because I am not always successful at putting the focus back on Christ in the midst of an attack. But I do my best!
This week has been filled with opportunities to be selfish. I have taken plenty of them, as have my children. Then, my husband told me about his week at work and the things he has been dealing with are ridiculous! My children have been bickering, disobedient, and downright defiant this week. And as I write this, I’m still not even reconciled with one of my teenagers.
Topping it all off, I adjusted my work schedule so we could go to our Good Friday service at church, only to find out that our service was an hour earlier than I thought. All that work to adjust my schedule and I still couldn’t attend! (That quickly spiraled into a “Who has a church service at 6:00?!” conversation with myself, putting the focus right back on me again!)
Does any of this sound familiar? Please tell me I’m not alone in this!
So, how can we possibly win this battle and learn to keep Christ in Easter?
How to Keep Jesus in Easter
- Pray–
If you want to keep Christ in Easter, pray about it and ask for help! Listen, if you fervently go to God with the request to stay focused on Him, He will help. It is His perfect will that you keep your focus on Christ, not just on Easter, but always.
Tell Him that you’re struggling and ask Him for help! Also, be in prayer for your kids because they will struggle this week as well. Even if there were no attacks from the enemy on them (which is kind of a dumb hypothetical because there are attacks), the full moon and the change in barometric pressure because of it affect them greatly!
We need to pray for our kids, but we also need to pray with our children! Teach them to ask God for help in dealing with sin, bad behavior, and attacks from the enemy. They will be more receptive and understanding than you might think!
- Call it like you see it–
Despite everything that has gone wrong this week, I have done pretty well to recognize attacks as they come. I could just recognize it myself and pray, but instead, I have been reminding my children too.
Here’s the deal. Satan wants the attention to be on himself this week, instead of on Christ, but he knows that our family is never going to give our attention (at least not knowingly) to him. So, he goes for the next best thing, which is to put our focus on ourselves! (It’s also the easiest plan of attack for him!)
Yesterday, my son said, “It has been a long, hard week.” And I said, “Imagine what this week was like for Jesus.” It was a good reminder for me too. I can’t imagine what a long, agonizing week it was for Him…I have NOTHING to complain about!
My children have been bickering and arguing over the littlest things constantly! It has been exhausting to say the least. But it has definitely helped to call it out when I see it.
I have been reminding them, “Remember, Satan wants your focus all on yourself this week and definitely not thinking about Jesus.”
Last night, as I was tucking my daughter into bed, she prayed, “And Jesus, please keep Satan behind me so I will not lie.” At seven years old…she gets it. It was, quite possibly, the sweetest, most sincere prayer I have heard and the Lord used it to encourage my weary heart.
- Ignore the small things–
Why do the small things matter so much? They add up and if we don’t ignore the small things, or deal with them, the combination of all the small things becomes toxic. There have been so many things that have not gone well this week. A couple of them are big issues, but most of them are small things.
And yesterday, when I really needed some encouragement, I received a text message from a good friend that was just…well…pretty crummy. It was a completely unnecessary comment that frustrated me. I knew exactly what to say back to her–the perfect combination of a pointed reply with enough of an edge to make a point without really being unkind.
And thankfully, the Lord prompted me to ignore the original text message, delete it and forget about it instead of saying what was in my mind–even a nicer version of what was going through my mind.
Instead of calling my friend, who is notoriously bad at texting, out on it, I called Satan out on it. I recognized that it was an almost-successful attempt at driving a wedge between my friend and me when I was already exhausted. (She probably was too!)
I do think it’s good to point out that so many small things that go wrong can really add up, but do we notice all the small things that go right?
- Don’t make a big deal out of the pagan aspects of Easter–
Whether you like it or not, Easter eggs, the Easter bunny, etc. are all rooted in pagan rituals. I’m not saying you can’t decorate an egg and hide it with your kids, but just don’t put the focus on that aspect of Easter.
Remember what Easter is truly about and remind your children of it often. For example, we give our children a gift for Easter, but we don’t say it’s from the Easter bunny. It’s just a gift to serve as a reminder of the greatest gift of all–the salvation we find through faith in Jesus Christ.
This is also one of the aspects that should not be taken too seriously. Preaching to the choir here! Only two of my children’s gifts arrived on time (unless they come today!) and my son’s Easter clothes for church are lost somewhere in the shipping world. These are things I ordered weeks ago!
And it’s so frustrating and I’m trying to decide what to do (because I don’t have a Walmart to run to!). But I decided I’m just going to leave it alone. Two of my children can get their gifts on Monday, or whenever they get here. They will live. My son will choose something to wear that he already has in his closet. He will be fine.
There is no better way to teach our children that none of these things matter when it comes to the glory of the resurrection! And if I feel badly that my children don’t have gifts, how much worse should I feel about the sin that nailed my Savior to a tree.
- Worship–
Once you take the focus off of yourself and do your best to help your children do the same, put your focus back on Jesus by worshipping Him. You don’t have to wait until church, or until you can get to church, to worship! Find a way and find it now!
Last night, when we couldn’t go to church, we gathered around the piano and sang as a family. It didn’t matter that not everyone was excited about it. We did it and it mattered. It mattered to the Lord, and it mattered to Satan. After all of his attempts this week, we still managed to put the focus back on Jesus.
Think about those three days after Jesus died and descended into hell. Satan thought he had won. Can you imagine the Spiritual darkness running rampant on Earth? I can’t even imagine what that must have been like.
The best way to combat it is with worship…always.
Final Thoughts On Keeping Jesus in Easter
I just can’t emphasize enough the importance of Easter. It is the entire basis of our faith! Don’t allow Satan or the world to dumb it down to bunnies and eggs for your children. And don’t allow the enemy to steal your joy, whether it be through big issues or small details.
Teaching your kids these lessons now will equip them in important ways for the future. Remember that everything you do is an investment! Pray for your family and with your family, that you will all be able to focus on Jesus and forget the rest this Easter!
