“He is risen! He is risen indeed!” I’ve heard that familiar phrase year after year every Easter Sunday. However, I was a Christian for many years before I even began to understand the power of Jesus’ resurrection and its implications for my life today.
For the longest time, I associated the word “resurrection” with Jesus being raised from the dead, with His second coming (when all the dead in Christ will rise again), and with the people that Jesus or the Apostles raised from the dead. That was it. I had no other context for that word.
I still remember the moment I realized the power of Jesus’ resurrection as it applies to me today. It was a mind-blowing and transforming moment in my faith journey that quietly took place in the passenger seat of my minivan somewhere between New Mexico and Texas.
I was reading the book Chase the Lion by Mark Batterson. In it he writes:
“After our first attempt at church planting failed, I thought the dream of planting a church was deep-sixed. I’ve since discovered that God-ordained dreams often go through a death and resurrection. Only when the dream is dead and buried can it be resurrected for God’s glory. Dreams aren’t just born; they are sometimes born again.”
God can resurrect dead dreams. Just having that little bit of insight flooded my mind with the fact that He is indeed in the resurrection business! He is able to resurrect anything that appears to be dead in your life. Especially the thing that at some point made your heart beat a little faster. The one that kept you up at night, filled with excitement. The one you hoped to see come to fruition one day.
Ephesians 3:20-21 says:
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen”
He is able, no doubt. If He does not resurrect a dream or desire, then it wasn’t meant to be, and we have to trust that He has something better in store. However, I no longer default to burying the longings of my heart – regardless of how obviously dead they might look – without bringing them to the Father to be resurrected first. No matter how big or small, no matter how ridiculously absurd my request is based on the evidence surrounding me, I lay the dry bones at the feet of the One who once told the prophet Ezekiel:
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: ‘I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
Ezekiel 37:5-6
What needs resurrection in your life today?
It can be anything! Here are just a few of the things that come to mind, but this is by no means an exhaustive list: your faith, your hope, your strength, your joy, your peace, your marriage, your children’s walk with the Lord, your children’s grades, your confidence, your reputation, your dignity, your ministry, your career, your business, your ability to create, your imagination, your desire for another child, your dream to adopt, a specific relationship, a health diagnosis, your courage, your optimism, your trust in God.
Whatever it is, I encourage you to bring it to the Lord today. Commemorate Resurrection Sunday with a request to the Father to partake in the power of Jesus’ resurrection in your life. May you be able to proclaim with joyful excitement: “My (fill in the blank) is risen!! It is risen indeed!” To God be the glory!
Praying for you,
Your turn!
- What needs resurrection in your life today?
- Write it down with the date on it, and dream about what this situation could look if God brings it back to life.
- Ask God to fill you with faith to believe the miracles He wants to do in your life, and the lives of your loved ones.
Photo by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto – Pexels
