Dive into this Three-Day Easter Devotional taken from Majesty: How Worshipping God Will Change Your Life by Pastor Jack Hayford.

Day 1: Foundation of Hope

Read Genesis 3.

As we enter the Easter holiday, take a moment to look back at your experiences and think of a time when God came through for you in a situation or circumstance that seemed bleak. Maybe you went through a season when hope was hard to find. Maybe you’re still there. In times like these, when hope seems gone, we can find hope in the truth of God’s redemption. In fact, Pastor Jack Hayford says that when you feel this way, hope is not far away. 

"The wonder of God's wisdom lies not so much in His power to create as in His power to redeem. Genesis 3 is both the foundation of man's horror and the fountainhead of his hope ... he immediately sets forward two things—a promise and a provision—for mankind's redemption. … The Father insists that hell’s plot will not destroy man’s destiny." 

So how do we see God’s redemption at work? To put it simply, we worship Him!

“With unsurprising consistency, yet with an amazing simplicity, this plan also centers on worship! There is no show of power. No display of cosmic almightiness. No instant smashing of the serpent. No fury leveled at the guilty. Instead, there is an introduction to a humble act of worship. The Redeemer’s grace seems to exceed even His power as He sets forth to recover for His beloved creature all that has been lost.” 

God’s redemption plan is especially clear during Easter. Jesus’ death and resurrection paved the way for us to have everlasting hope!

Discussion Questions: 

1. Has God ever redeemed a situation in your life that seemed hopeless?
2. How did that impact your relationship with Him?

Day 2: The Power of Song

“There are places in the Bible that the sheer power of song explodes upon our understanding. I mean far more than the power of song to express joy, rejoicing, praiseful thanks, or unified worship. I’m talking about song as an instrument of miracles—of power works. I’m talking about instances in which the Bible shows songs becoming power-filled for battle, breakthrough, and for birthing.” 

The Song of Battle

Read 2 Chronicles 20:15–24.

“Vastly outnumbered by an alien host bent on their extermination, [Jehoshaphat] and his people made the Lord their first point of resort. With prayer and fasting, they turned to God, rather than appealing to a neighboring nation as a hired gun to come and rescue them. God answered their call.”

The Song of Breakthrough

Read Psalm 32:7.

“The Lord hides us and preserves us from trouble by encircling us with songs of deliverance. Somehow, in ways that defy our analysis, the song of the Lord on the lips of His people has a potential for contributing to spiritual overthrow, upheaval, and breakthrough. Just as music in the physical realm may strike a wavelength that shatters glass, so songful worship in the spiritual realm can shake Satan’s dominion, topple principalities of hell, and extend the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ!”

The Song of Birthing

Read Isaiah 54:1­–2.

“Isaiah 54 opens with a paradoxical command: ‘Sing, O barren one!’ The irony is that no one would direct a despairing reject to sing.

In ancient Israel, nothing prompted song less than the barren condition of a woman. She was disenfranchised, discredited, suspect of spiritual unworthiness, and potentially subject to divorce—all on the grounds of her being unable to bear children. Into this depressing situation of personal hopelessness, the prophet commands the woman to sing; incredibly, with his next words, he directs her to start preparing a nursery, for there are babies (plural) coming!

‘Enlarge the place of your tent … For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations … you will forget the shame of your youth … For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of Hosts’ (Isaiah 54:2). 

Here is the declaration of a principle that shines from other passages in the Word of God: song and birth—praises and new life—are linked together repeatedly.”

God resurrected Jesus from the dead, and He has the power to turn any situation around through our praise!

Discussion Questions:

1. Has worship ever changed a situation in your life?
2. In what ways does worship increase your faith?

Day 3: A Vision of Jesus

Read Revelation 1:10–19.

“When someone claims to have seen visions, well, it may understandably make any of us cautious. If he also tells you he saw Jesus, I suppose we all would confess to at least a momentary twinge of skepticism. However, that’s exactly [a] man [said to me]: ‘I saw Jesus.’”

The man went on to recount his time of being persecuted for his faith in his home country. In fact, the persecution was so strong that he was sent to an island penal colony, more than 100 miles from his home. One day, he found a place to sit and rest on a rock facing the sea, and a voice spoke to him:

“‘There is nothing that precedes Me and nothing beyond Me! I have always been and will be when time no longer exists. I am here to remove your fears for the future, for I too have been through the pangs of death and the horrors of hell, and I’m here to tell you—all will be well!’

Now, having relayed his testimony to you, I wonder what your feeling is about it? I mean, can you accept it at all? … I suppose you already believe it, for the report above is actually one you’ve probably read before in other terms. It was written less than nineteen hundred years ago, and the more commonly read version reads like this:

‘I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voices as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last … Do not be afraid … I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write … the things which will take place after this”’ (Revelation 1:10-19).

With those words, the apostle John writes from the Isle of Patmos, where he was exiled by the Imperial Roman government because of his leadership and influence for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is a reason I have sought to lead you into John’s vision by an apparent detour, as though relating to you some contemporary vision of Christ. The same realities that took hold of John’s soul also grip ours. Whatever remains of the present age until He comes again, this much is clear: His Spirit is working in fresh new ways today wherever open hearts are pliable. Today, He no more requires our instant mastery of lingering doubt than He did those early apostles. He only calls us to worship—to offer up all glory, honor, and praise. For it is there, as we exalt and lift upon high the Name of His majesty, that doubts will be scattered like shadows. For it is there that Jesus who died, now glorified, will be revealed among us.”

Discussion Questions:

1. This Easter, as you celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, what would you say to Him if He appeared to you?
2. What are ways you can get a deeper revelation of Jesus on a daily basis?

Copyright © 2023 by Jack Hayford

Did you enjoy this devotional? Check out Majesty: How Worshipping God Will Change Your Life from The Essential Jack Hayford Collection.