I want to see the blind see, the mute speak, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead rise.
Possible?
Absolutely. I believe it is.
Before He ascends to Heaven, Jesus leaves us with the deposit and seal of His Holy Spirit and says that we will do even greater things than He did… and there’s miracles saturated all over every page in the gospels. Think on that for just a second…
……..yeah.
So, then we jump over to the book of Acts and read miracle after miracle… tongues of fire, people being healed by Christ’s power just by touching Paul’s handkerchief or being in Peter’s shadow, angels showing up, demons being cast out, visions and dreams of eternal proportion, the dead being raised up… the list goes on and on. It was possible then, and it is still entirely possible now.
The power of God hasn’t left us. It hasn’t been watered down. He is the same today as He was yesterday and thousands of years ago, and He will be the same tomorrow. He doesn’t change. His love doesn’t change. His power doesn’t change. His intentions for each of His kids in the world is still just as passionate as it was the day He wove them together in their mother’s womb. And His vehicle for spreading that truth is the Body of Christ– the church. There is no backup plan for the church to the world. We are IT. I love the way Michael Hindes says: “Everywhere that you go, health and life should break out because of He who is in you.” Living in us, is the same power that resurrected Christ from the grave. The power IN us– that is Christ– can do ALL things.
I don’t want to miss anything that God wants to do out here because of my unbelief. I believe that He still wants to heal and reveal His power through miracles. And if perhaps I am in error, I’d rather be in error on the side of faith than on the side of doubt. I see nothing in Scripture to lead me to believe that these things have died out.
So, I’ve asked the Lord to prepare me. To teach me. To make me bear MUCH fruit for His Kingdom. And what He’s shown me is that if I really want to be an extension of HIM to the nations, revealing His power and love, calling attention to Him only, then I have to die.
Yep. Die. To be like a seed. That dies in the ground. And is buried. A seed that comes to the end of its capacity…
…and once its dead and buried, things that I previously never thought possible will start happening…
…because there’s a lot more to the seed than you can see from the outside. But as long as it stays inside of itself, as long as it leads a self-contained life, it will stay as it is. And nothing will ever come from it. It has to die, to give itself up, before it can bear any fruit.
Now, I realize that this all sounds very romantic in nature… the concept of dying to yourself so that life can begin. Its hard to wrap my mind around this. Its hard to figure out how this looks tangibly, and in real time. We say a lot of things, but the implications of what it really takes to live the way Jesus teaches, may make me very, very uncomfortable…
Death is a strong word, I know. But I don’t think it can’t be any other way. We warm-fuzzy-sugarcoat this life of following Jesus and living by His teachings way too much. Death doesn’t mean making Jesus first on the list, others second, and me third. If Jesus were talking abut making a priority shift in our lives, He wouldn’t have used the word DIE.
Dead people aren’t second or third on a priority list. Dead people aren’t ON lists. They’re dead. The calling on my life is to come to the end of me so that He can begin. Being used to bear much fruit has nothing to do with how talented or gifted I am, or how much authority or intelligence I have, or my experience or lack there-of. It is based solely on whether or not I am willing to die to myself in this lifetime.
Unless I die like the seed, nothing happens. The seed stays the same, leading its same self-contained life. Nothing of eternal worth grows. But someone who has given up their rights, their entitlements, their prestige, themselves… that’s someone that can bear much fruit. I want to be that. I lived for myself and other people for a while, and I was utterly miserable.
Unless I die, things inside of me that I don’t even know that exist yet will never be unlocked and unleashed. And I’ll fall into the normalicy of life, living just to get by. God has specific intentions to use His Body to infiltrate this world, this generation with love and grace… and what would it look like if there were a bunch of Christ followers who were dead to themselves and ALIVE in the Spirit walking around loving on people everywhere? Really…
I didn’t make this stuff up, by the way… (John 12:23-27) I wouldn’t be the first one to die to my own will by choice, then be buried, and all for the purpose of not remaining a single, self contained seed, but one that produces many. The fruit of His death produced restoration and reconciliation for all people, for all time. And He said to do as He did. Thats a narrow road…
I like how Paul says it, that when we become united/married/one with Him in the likeness of His death, then we’ll be there in the likeness of His resurrection, too. (Rom 6:5)
Still striving to loose my life…
