The Search

Luke 24:1-7

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 

And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”

And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Certain women had prepared spices to go to the tomb of Jesus. The angels asked them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” This is not merely a statement. It not just a poetic piece or a flashy phrase. It is The Word, straight from the mouth of God. A sentence I would urge you to meditate.

The Dead

Dead people tell no tales they say. Yes. They are motionless and emotionless. They cannot hear nor feel anything. But most people relate to death as in the physical. Death doesn’t start physically. Death starts in the Spirit. What people relate to death is not death, that is decay.

Let me give you a new definition of death. Death is basically lack of vision. Death is getting astray and lost, divergent from the main plan of God. Let me refine it. Death is poverty, death is depression, death is lack of purpose. Death is endless losses in business. Death is failure and despair. Death is seeing no returns in your input.

Matthew 7:16-20

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

You cannot download money from the internet and print them from your printer and use it as an acceptable currency. A bad person cannot bring forth good things into this world. Neither do good people stir up scorn, they will not be called good.

Do you know it is not just the physical traits that make people good and neither is it that make people bad? It all comes from the spirit. For someone to be naturally good, they are naturally good in the spirit. Out of the abundance of the spirit, the nature of man flows.

A poor man is poor in the spirit. A man without a purpose is purposeless in the spirit. A drunk man is drunk in the spirit. It all starts deeper than what we see physically. This is why people who really try to change in their flesh always fail. This is why so many are always making resolutions year after year.

The dead are walking among you. They are human beings, living, breathing the fresh air but deep inside they do not know who they are. Some look extremely successful, composed, and with utmost decorum on the outside but deep inside, they are hollow. The darkness of emptiness hovers over their lives.

This is why we hear ‘successful people’ lacking in nothing (according to our eyes) killing themselves due to depression. Dead people are experts who teach you how to be successful but they are wallowing in great poverty. Dead people are experts who ‘know it all’ but are always wrong.

The dead are religious men and women who act all heavenly but do not bear fruit. Dead places are altars that do not carry the power to multiply, to heal or to change lives.

Sadly today, humanism has taught people that they can do all things through their own power. They quote things like ‘whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve’. Religion on the other hand has painted a picture of a very barbaric God.

Religion speaks of how great God is. It speaks of how God can heal, change one’s situation but when the rubber hits the road false accusations come through. One is told things like;

“Perhaps you do not fast enough”

“Do you pray harder brother?”

“Have you brought your first fruit? You need to bring a sacrifice to the Lord.”

“God cannot bless you because of the way you sin. You need to be cleansed first.”

“You know you are cursed and curses go up to the third generation. We need to lift out that curse.”

You need not fellowship in an altar that do not bear fruit. You need not fellowship in altar that makes you feel condemned. God’s altar is one which liberates you, makes you feel loved and makes you grow. God is omnipresent but He doesn’t manifest Himself everywhere.

The Living

Now that you know the dead, you need to know who the living are.

The living speak words that are abnormal to the human ear. They are not understood a lot. They take the narrow road while everybody takes the broader one. The living live in the spirit because they eat from the tree of life.

The living are never worried by things like sickness, diseases or pandemics. In fact, they only wear masks during this Corona period because they respect the authority. Sounds stupid right? I said they are not understood.

The living do not live in this world nor is this world part of them. They are mostly seen as odd and radical beings who come to disrupt the norm and that is exactly what they should. They reflect the true image of God, Jesus Christ who was never understood by many till date and who came to disrupt the norm.

The living bear fruit. They have power – great power. Power that is not sustained by man. The living see. They see things beyond the normal perceptions of human beings. They are always a step ahead. If a wise person gets to hear the living speak, they would want to hear more because they have the words of life. They speak the words from the mouth of God Himself.

The living bring out love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is because of what is planted in them. What is planted in them is the Spirit of God. They are one with God. Out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths speak.

Choose What is Alive

Why do you then choose death? God says that He has set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. Why then would you choose to destruction? Why would you constantly believe man’s report over God’s? Why would you constantly disregard what the Spirit of God says?

Why would you be in altars where you vividly know that God is absent? Why would you choose to listen to how the world defines you and not who your Creator says you are? Anything that is contrary to what God says about you is a lie.

If God says you are healed and the doctor says you are ill then one of them is a liar. If the world defines you as poor or your business as a small enterprise and God says that you are blessed beyond measure, that you will lend to nations, and that His blessing has got no painful toil then one of them is a liar. Do you know who the liar in your life is? Most people don’t.

I recommend that you take the word of God radically, seal it in your heart and run away with it. Meditate deeply on it. Do not be confused by the theological man who tries to decipher God. You are God too. He has even given you authority and power to do exceedingly above than what you can imagine. He even tells you that greater miracles will you do if you choose to believe. Jesus raised the dead. Imagine doing greater than that.

The power of life and death is in your hands. I recommend that you choose life. You are an overcomer period!