I've always cognitively understood the resurrection of Jesus. You know, what it was and why it matters. But this week, I was reminded, via a sermon, that in the book of Acts, the believers were always testifying to the resurrection. The cross was part of it, but the resurrection was the main focus of their testimony.
So, I was thinking and praying, perhaps even confessing, that I don't think I quite get the resurrection the way that God would want me to get it. And, I remember thinking to myself that it would have been easy for the apostles to stand as witnesses to the resurrection because they SAW Jesus die and then they SAW him alive again.
So what about us? We didn't get to watch Jesus die and then eat breakfast with him on the beach like 5 days later. So how are we witnesses of the resurrection?
Well, the Lord answered me sort of unexpectedly when I was confessing sin and strongholds to Him. I got it! I mean more than just in my head like before.
Death is the greatest stronghold we could possibly face. It's the one thing that we very obviously cannot defeat with our flesh- the sting of sin. And Jesus DEFEATED DEATH - the strongest stronghold!
And if he can break the physical stronghold of death, if his Spirit is THAT powerful, then MAN is He surely strong enough to set me free from dead works, spiritual strongholds, and sin. You see, my sin totally loses its power when I realize that the Spirit inside of me is so much stronger than the sin.
So my witness to the resurrection is that the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead has birthed new life in me - putting sin to death and living out righteousness in me! (In a tangible way, not just hypothetically.) And when that happens, you can't help but witness to it - both in word and deed.
But I realized that this means the real problem with my sin (and I really should specify strongholds, idols, repetitive sin) is not that it is too strong for me... cause we already know that it has no power, that God is stronger and goes on our behalf to defeat it, and also that he wants it gone more than we do.
No, the
real problem with my strongholds is that I am actually depending on them... that I actually don't want them to be gone... that I actually think there's something in them that will satisfy me. And so I stop short of freedom; I don't surrender
every single thought to the Lord. I don't bring ALL of my darkness to the light.
So if we really want it, we can have victory. God promises it and gives us everything we need to have it. Give thanks to the LORD!
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