God does His best work in graveyards…
I heard this statement from Karl Martin and did it ever get me thinking.
Does He? I had to really ponder this.
Well there is the time God told Ezekiel to command some very, very dead bones to life. Bones that were not ever coming back to life because they were so dead and they did!
The day Jesus was crucified it talks about dead people coming back to life and walking around the city. These folks were not sick- they were dead.
Then there was when the women went to find Jesus’ crucified body in the tomb and He wasn’t there. He had come back to life, He was no longer in the grave.
He met Mary at tomb and used her as His front runner- “go tell the disciples “ and Mary became His proclaimer. Jesus was dead, no one ever could have brought Him back to life. Mary had given up because Jesus had died, she was mourning, she got an infusion of life at a graveyard.
Lazarus was in the grave 4 days before Jesus went to see him and called him back to life. Dead…
There was the widow whose only son had died and Jesus met them either on the way or in the graveyard. Jesus brought the son back to life. The son was officially dead.
Jesus met the man who was banished from civilization, who lived in the graveyard because he was tormented by demons and was violent. We know him as Legion, the man with many demons. Jesus set the man free from his torment and gave him his life back.
In each of these circumstances Jesus set the people free - He released them from the power of death.
Does God do some of His best work in the graveyard? Of course He does!
Gods been talking to me letting me know that He is not finished with me. He is not finished with you. He is not finished with our country or our world. He is NOT finished. But we act like He is, this doom and gloom mentality of our day as if there is no hope.
I have had a rough week after surgery and man, pain is not a kind friend. Thoughts of what’s the point, will I get better, where is God, all flood through my head at times. Pain creates dark areas.
But God…. He sent me this message.
“I specialize in resurrecting the dead.”
Why the dead? Because only then can no man claim any part in the healing, the mending, the fixing. Because it was way past fixing, way past mending - way past life.
God specializes in resurrection.
What in your life is dead?
Your marriage, your family- split apart, your health, your faith, your dreams, your finances, your children- estranged, your job, your church, you? What?
What have you given up on? There is no way it could ever happen. It is dead! Not a chance it could happen.
God specializes in these areas.
Here’s the other question:
Are you fully alive? (Karl Martin)
Just like you can’t be part pregnant- you either are or are not, you cannot be part alive. You are either fully alive or …. Dead.
Gods been telling me that quite a bit in my life and in the world has died. If it’s dead, then it cannot be said to be living.
He said I either acknowledge that He is fully God or not. You cannot be half in and half out. God told me that I, and more than likely many of us, have turned Him into our “friend” or “genie” in a bottle. He said that a relationship with Him is more than “God bumps and tingles” - that that is a feeling not a relationship. That is not being “alive” in God as we flit in and out of our feelings.
Do we approach God as “father” all the time and forget that He is the King. We approach a father differently than a King. You see if we only approach God as father, we loose the reverence, the majesty, the awe. We do not really have to bow in submission to a father, but to a King…
As a father, God can ultimately “fail me” and let me down. As a King He cannot. It puts God into a different spot when we start talking King.
A King demands full loyalty but we okay, I mean me, have decided when to let Him lead and when He won’t. I like to think I am in charge. But here’s the thing - I’m not. It’s an illusion, I have no control over my life, trust me when I say the past 3 months have proven that.
I sit on my phone, scrolling as I watch the world go, hiding behind tv or a book but claiming to be alive, I take other people’s words to be fact about God instead of read His words myself. Oh something has died and it is not God.
God sees our dried dead bones and waits until it is time. Time where He says again “breathe!” And He offers us the breath of life to resurrect our dead bones. God gives us His all, He is all in and He expects the same from His followers.
Yes He is Father but He is also God, King of Kings, Jehovah, Almighty God, ruler of the world and beyond.
But God…His plan will not be stopped. So if Jesus came to give you “life to the full” - fully alive. Ask yourself, are you and if not, who stopped it?
God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are ALL in, 100%. They expect no less, they deserve no less.
But as I analyze my life and my world the past while, I can see where I am so dead. I choose where I can “slot” God into my day, if I have time. I can be so busy with tv, work, ministry, books, facebook, friends or whatever I choose to spend my time on. I call out to Him when I am in need and He had better show up or suffer my wrath. I like to tell Him what to do and when.
I look at that last paragraph and shudder. God forgive me! When did I make “me” God? It came slowly and with time but I took God off of His rightful throne and placed me on it. My friends this should never be!
God does His best work in a graveyard. Thank goodness! Because this bundle of dry, dead bones of mine needs some new life, it needs to breathe again, it needs a miracle. When I read the stories of how God met people in the graveyard, dead beyone dead, I am so thankful that He is walking in mine prepared to do more miracles. I need a few.
Come Jesus Come breathe afresh on me today, fill me with your life, bring these dead bones to life!
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