1 Corinthians 15:55-57
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yesterday I received a prayer request that was somewhat unusual. It seems that a dear saint of the Lord is very near death. The family has been at her bedside for many, many hours, and yet she keeps hanging on. She wants to go and be with the Lord, but her body keeps lingering. The prayer request was that she would die!
It reminded me of a minister I once heard speak at a pastor’s conference who had been called to pray for people to be healed but, in almost every instance, they had died soon after. The pastor developed a complex and became hesitant to pray for healing. Then he received a call from a member of his congregation whose father was very near death. This time he was asked to come and pray that the Lord would hasten the death.
He was delighted to go since that was what usually happened. (You know what is coming don’t you?) Sure enough, the pastor prayed for the old man to die, but he was healed and lived for several more years. It taught that pastor to seek to know God’s plans and pray for God’s will to be done, not the human will.
Do we really trust God enough to pray that His will be done? When we are passing through the valley of the shadow of death, can we take our hands off and pray that His will be done? I am confident that if we can trust God with our life here on earth, we can certainly trust Him to bring us home to glory! As long as He has plans for me on this side, I am anxious to stay, but I will trust Him for my death!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil