There have been forty “Easters” since I became a believer in Christ and received salvation for myself.

I’ve celebrated Resurrection Sunday in many ways and with different levels of understanding. Some were accompanied by new clothes, chocolate bunnies, a special meal, dyeing eggs, and hiding them for my children. Most were honored by services at church where I focused on the Cross and the suffering Jesus chose to endure for me. All were received the best I could at the time.

This year I feel a difference. We’ve lived through three years of extraordinary challenges and watched the foundations of our country shake under assaults that can only be described as demonic.

Satan hates God, he hates Christ, and he hates America (a nation founded under God). He even hates those he’s captured to do his will. His compulsion to kill, steal and destroy knows no exceptions. There is no light in his darkness.

But God created the angels who rebelled with Lucifer. He is as superior to them as a baker is to his cookies—except this Baker created every ingredient from nothing. Nothing compares to God.

But while I’ve observed evil as never before from my blessed and protected place in life, I’ve also been drawn into prayer for my children, my friends, and my country as never before. I’ve experienced worship as never before and personal victories as never before.

Thanks to The Chosen and other anointed movies, songs, and books pouring into the marketplace despite the darkness, I’ve also seen Jesus as never before. I ‘ve come to know him as a man as well as God.

That’s why the agony Jesus suffered hurts me as never before. And why my faith, hope, and trust in every word of God’s Good News soars as never before. As the horror in Christ’s sacrifice overwhelms me today, so does the joy of His resurrection and all that comes from His triumph!

As Paul, the Apostle, shares: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive … Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22;24)

After appearing to many in His resurrected form, Jesus ascended and gave us a charge. Living from His Life and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we, like all who are alive in Him, are sent to disciple the nations.

“For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (vs. 25-26)

I’ve read these words from a distance over the years of my life in Christ. But something is different this year. Do you feel it too?