Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Dead Will Rise

As our supper guests arrived, I expected the evening to turn out like any other night with friends over; I couldn't have been more wrong! The first thing our guest said was that a man had drowned in the pond just a block from where we lived. He and his friend had been drinking beer and had decided to take a dip in the murky water. Unfortunately, he didn't resurface. His friend frantically tried to find him and immediately sought help but to no avail. Almost an hour later, the body remained submerged in the dark water. As people gathered around the pond, our friend had passed by, which is how she found out what had happened. She told us that she wanted to pray for the drowned man to be raised to life, so I went with her. We waited anxiously while scuba divers went into the man-made pond to pull the dead man out. It was then that I thought to myself that seeing a drowned dead man wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. It was unsettling for me to watch them pull him out. It was too surreal. I went home, but later realized that my friend had left her cell phone and I had no way of making her know it was time to eat. I had to go back and get her.



When I got there I saw the dead body covered by a white sheet. At that point most of the people had already left. Our friend was joined by two other Christian friends and they were all praying. I knelt down and joined them stating that nothing was impossible with God. We asked the Lord to make him live again. I commanded him to rise in Jesus' Name. We were interrupted when they drew the sheet back to take pictures. I had no choice but to look at him close-up. I’m still recovering from the shock of not just laying a hand on a dead person, but also being so close to someone who had just died. It’s just so unreal. His pale, ashen, white body had regained its brown color. I wondered later if we should have kept praying. Instead, I told my friend that Eng wanted us home to eat. We left soon after that.



At first I was disappointed with the Lord for not bringing him back to life. Now I know that although I mentally believed we would do even greater things than what Jesus did (the lame walked, the blind saw, the dead came back to life) because He is praying for us, in my spirit I had unbelief. May the Lord increase my faith. Yes, I did pray, but had that man sat up, I would have been the first one surprised by it! I’m grateful that the Lord isn’t upset with me. I learned more about my faith. I cannot conjure it up. The Lord gives us faith to raise the dead. This is my prayer. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in me. I have prayed this reality in me. That drowned 29 year old Thai man remained dead, but soon, for so long as I get the chance to pray for dead people, one day, the dead will rise in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ.



By the way, Jesus has Risen! Happy Easter.