He is erasing the record of death from the earth.
There was a time when this felt like such a Christian faux pas to say. Even with verses in our bible like, “He will swallow up death for all time..” Is 25:8 and "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there will no longer be any death..” Rev 21:4, we Christians still get so squeamish at the idea that death is actually dead.
Why? Because it’s all we’ve known. We are so afraid to believe outside of what we’ve seen and experienced. We have our box and we’d like to stay in it. Reserve all the good stuff, all our promises for the “one day.” It’s so much safer that way.
One day we will get to heaven.
One day every tear will be wiped from our eyes.
One day death will really be defeated.
No.
That day already happened. Death was defeated at the cross. Tetelestai, completely and totally FINISHED. And to be honest church, I am so tired of settling for less than that. I am tired of living in a reality that is less than what He paid for, what He gave his blood for. I am tired of apologizing for actually believing Him and for curtsying to the comfort zone of fellow Christians.
The first time I saw a woman raised from the dead, I was a liar.
I saw the power of God break out and do the impossible through my own hands, hands that had never seen a miracle. Pure grace. And I apologized. Can you believe that? I apologized because I was so afraid of people. I was afraid of their threats that I would make this up for attention. I was afraid what they would think of me if I dared to boldly proclaim that He would use me to do something as offensive as raise the dead. I made excuses like, "oh, it was only about 2 minutes her heart stopped beating" or “I mean technically, she still had brain activity so she wasn’t really totally dead.” But I am done trying to explain away that day and I am ready to let that miracle do what it was made to do, prophecy.
Prophecy that death no longer has the final say. Prophecy that you don’t have to be a great minister to do great things. Prophecy that you don’t even need to have great faith to be used by God in radical ways. Prophecy that HE WILL DO IT AGAIN.
The second time I prayed for the dead, I was insensitive and insane.
I couldn’t believe it, I had actually come across a small handful of people that believed Him. That believed He could do it and that He WOULD do it. I felt like the luckiest person in the world to have the honor of meeting even just a few people that would take Him at His word no matter how insane they looked to the rest of the world. And man, we went for it. We prayed with everything we had and sadly that man didn’t get up. We left that morgue defeated by death but not bowing to it. It had taken another one, but I could almost hear it tremble. Death saw something that day. It saw a people that didn’t just lay down and let it wreak its havoc but a people willing to fight. Death saw the beginning of end that day. A people rising up.
This third time I face death, I stand with an army.
Would you believe me if I told you that that hundreds would stand together in solidarity and fight for the resurrection of a little girl morning and night day after day after day? I wouldn’t if you had told me just 2 years ago. All through the night prayer meetings, people flying in from all over the country to pray, the sounds of resurrection echoing through the body of Christ. Today, His bride stands together declaring that He is still the God that raises the dead. Not just when He walked the earth, not just in the early church, not even just in a remote village in Africa, but here today.
In two thousand and nineteen Jesus Christ reigns on the throne as Victor and we believe Him.
You could call these people a people of great faith. You could call them radicals. But I call it just following orders.
The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.
Heal the sick.
Raise the dead
Cleanse the leper and drive out demons.
Feely you have received, now freely give.
Matt 10:7-8
This, church, isn’t a lofty dream. It’s an order.
So go preach the gospel.
