Death has No Sting

Hebrews 2:13-15, 'I will put my trust in Him,' that is, 'I and the children God has given me.' Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying."

I must admit that I do not fear death. (For now, it is easy to say when you do not think it will happen right now...I pray my faith only gets stronger in this as I get older). I do not want my children to fear death either. If any of us are taken away early, I pray we can set aside our own loneliness and rejoice with them in their new life. If I die early, I want my children to rejoice. I actually talk about this with them so that, hopefully, they will not be as devastated if it did happen. I would hate for them to never know their God, just because I was gone. (Not that Jason would not teach them, but some people loose all hope when death comes for a loved one.) I tell them what an awesome experience that would be, to finally soar with wings with my Lord. We talk about this, because Christ paid the price, so that death would have no sting. I know what true death feels like, and that is living here without my Lord. But because I have a gracious God, He chose to save me from the power of death. He came and He died for me, and through His death, I now have life.

Hebrews 3, “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested Me in the wilderness. There your ancestors tested and tried My patience, even though they saw My miracles for forty years. So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from Me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in My anger I took an oath:‘They will never enter My place of rest.’ ...Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God....And to whom was God speaking when He took an oath that they would never enter His rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed Him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter His rest." (4), For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter His rest.... For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable."

Do you know that in this life, I used to be dead. Everything that I touched, had death in it. I believed in God, but because of my actions, I was dead to His rest here. For it is in obeying Him, that I can finally have rest. And it is in believing in Him that I one day will truly live. My life is finally full. I can only give this credit to the rest that I have found in my Savior.

There are many women out their who have a good husband, that are still miserable. There are many who have a great job, who are still lost. There are others out there, that could have a very blessed life, just as I enjoy now, but they are lost in this life because of the power of death over them. They are searching for something on this earth to give them satisfaction, but they will never rest and be full, for they are not turning to the one who will give them the rest they are looking for. Death no longer scares me. Physical death for the believer is not evil. For Christ came to and conquered death, so that we could truly live. It is in His death that we are given the security to live without the fear of death. It is in His resurrection that we can finally rest with Him now.

Isaiah57:1, "Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die." Oswald Chambers, "Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin— we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience...'If the Son makes you free...' Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant when he said, 'I have been crucified with Christ...' His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. '...you shall be free indeed'— free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus."

Thank You my God, for setting me free and for giving me life. Thank You for allowing me to rest with You. Thank You for finally giving me freedom to truly live, so that death no longer has its power over me. Thank You for giving me life...

http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/11/18/devotion.aspx?year=2009