It is not everybody who dies that gets to be raised back to life in this carnal life. Being raised from the dead is not a blessing, it is also not a curse: It is an opportunity for the one who is raised back to life to complete an assignment, It is an opportunity for the one who raised such a person to add that feather to his or her cap as a minister, It is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to testify of his divine power in us as believers and in the church of Jesus Christ, It is an opportunity for the unbeliever to witness the power of God at work in believers and become believers, It is an opportunity for the believers to strengthen their faith and praise the Lord. It is not everyone who dies that ought to be raised from the dead, this has nothing to do with the anointing someone has or the power of sin in his or her life.
Born Again Christians especially should not be raised from the dead when they go home to be with the Lord, they should rise from the dead themselves if their assignments in Christ are yet to be completed. Unless the Lord returns them to us so that they can complete their assignments or missions. When they sleep, we should let them sleep When I hear that someone lost his or her faith in the Lord because his or her born-again relative died and was not brought back from the dead, I challenge the person’s understanding of the gospel as a result. What really did he or she believe? Does he or she know what being a believer means? Does he or she know what walking with the Lord means?
Apostle Paul was stoned to death and his body was dragged out of the city at Lystra in the Bible. If you have ever witnessed someone being stoned to death before, the person’s body will be full of wounds, broken bones, tissues, and bruises. If you have ever seen someone dragged through the street before by people or horses, you will notice the skin being torn or peeled off in various places, the people who dragged him saw him as someone who came to preach a message contrary to their pagan belief system and as such considered him a blasphemer against their god, by dragging his body through the cities as they do to criminals, they make him an example for the whole city to see, by dumping his body outside the city gate, they send a clear message to all that such as he is not welcome in their city.
The scriptures declared in Acts 14:19-20 that when believers gathered about him (Not with their hands joined in a prayer of agreement or any other drama). The believers came to see his body and he suddenly rose up (He was not carried, and he was neither wounded nor in a coma. They didn’t check his pulse or detect his breathing faintly and then rushed him to a hospital) He walked with his own two feet back into that city.
That is the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a man who has been charged with an assignment and has been anointed to defy death and any other force that might want to stand against him in the course of fulfilling his mission. In the case of Eutychus, Acts 20:7-12, We saw Apostle Paul raising a young man from the dead during a church service. The young man sat at a risky place, slept off during the service, and fell down to his death. Apostle Paul prayed for him and he was restored to life, this is an example of the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, It is applicable to all but not effective in all.
Every believer should lay hands on the sick and heal them, and also lay hands on the dead and raise them in the name of Jesus. This strengthens the faith of the believer and activates the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work in the believer. Believers, however, will not raise every dead person, although they must attempt to raise as many as they could. Some will come back to life and others will not. How those who come back to life are selected by the Holy Spirit is unknown to anyone, It has nothing to do with whether they are full of the Holy Spirit or not, It has nothing to do with whether they are believers or unbelievers, It has nothing to do with who prayed for them or the anointing of the person, It has nothing to do with where they died or what illness they died of.
I have seen someone shot six times come back to life from the dead before, I have seen an armed robber with a nail struck into his brain come back to tell the tale from the dead before, I have seen a pastor come back from the dead to mount podiums and preach the gospel, I have seen children, young adults, youths, males, females, believers, unbelievers, and so on being raised from the dead. For every one or two that get restored back to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, I have seen thousands sleep in the Lord who did not get restored back to life on this side of eternity.
I understand that we do not want our loved ones to go on to be with the Lord, nobody wants their relatives to die but it is an unrealistic expectation. Lazarus died the second time after being raised from the dead. Death is a must for all humans as eternal life is a given for all believers, this is essentially why we became born again, that we might render useless the sting of death and make powerless the boast of the grave. A believer should not be so immature as to turn the sleep of another believer and not being raised from the dead into an excuse not to serve the lord or to lose his or her faith. There is nothing cute about being shallow as a Christian.
An unanchored faith is no faith at all. I have had believers crying that they want God to raise their 90-year-old father or mother from the dead, When you ask them why they want this, they will say “He has not enjoyed life or I have not been able to take care of him or her the way I desire or he has not spent out of my money” It has nothing to do with them fulfilling a divine assignment or being a blessing to the community like Dorcas or Paul.
There is always this selfish motive, that has nothing to do with the dead but everything to do with the bereaved and their regrets. When a young person dies, I understand the desire of those around him or her to want to bring him or her back from the dead, but I do not understand it to the point of losing faith in the Lord over such.
Whether we live or “sleep” we belong to the Lord When we gave our life to Jesus, we signed an eternal agreement and it is irrevocable. We must settle this once and for all in our minds. We must not allow things that were already sorted and settled to move us to and fro like a yoyo as regards our walk with the Lord.
PS: We have an anchor that keeps the soul Steadfast and sure
while the billows roll Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love
We have an anchor that keeps the soul Steadfast and sure
While the billows roll Fastened to the Rock which cannot move
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love
Let’s try the first verse, “Will your anchor hold…” Will your anchor hold in the storms of life? When the clouds unfold their wings of strife When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain Will your anchor drift or firm remain? (We have an anchor) We have an anchor that keeps the soul Steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to the Rock which cannot move Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love Lord though you know all our ways Yet your love for us endures Amen
-GSW-