The resurrection story is real.
An empty tomb is there to prove that He resurrected. Thereafter, He appeared to His eleven remaining disciples, and was seen by more than 500 people. Our prayer focus this month is that by the power of the risen Christ, all the deadness connected to us, by a shout of victory will come back to life.
In John 11: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”What Jesus Christ is saying here is that death is not the end of those who believe in Him. Paul calls ‘Death’ the last enemy, and what the ‘Resurrection Story’ tells us is that there is a Resurrection after death.
For the Christian, death means several things. It might mean a transition from one plane to another, from the life militant here, to the life triumphant in heaven. It might mean the end of a level, and the beginning of a greater level. As in dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus. The old is passed away, dead and a new has been born. In baptism, we are said to die with Christ, and are raised with Him in glory.
After the forces of darkness crucified and killed our Lord Jesus Christ, they thought that was the end of Him. I like what one write said, he said they killed to lamb to unveil the Lion! Eventually, He destroyed ‘Death’, by rising after the third day. Death had no dominion over Him. And as Christians, the Bible tells us in Romans 8: 11 that if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Meaning as Christians who carry the DNA of Christ and have an in-filling of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus dwells in us. Therefore, the Spirit is able to give our bodies and all of us ‘life’. Death will thus not have dominion over us.
Putting these two Scriptures together, our covenant as Christians is that whatever dies in us, is capable of coming back to life if we believe. Is it our body system; what has the doctors said? Whose report do you believe? Is it our businesses? Is it our emotions? Our dreams? You name it. Whatever is dead today in our lives, if we believe, by our command, backed up by the spirit of He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, will resurrect in Jesus name.
I pray for us, by the power of the risen Christ, may we continue to live the life of victory going forward.
I wish you the best in the coming week.
Your vicar and friend
Revd. Canon Kiri Wakama.
