I have a friend whose nephew passed away today.
He fell at the doctors office and cracked his skull.
He was life flighted and in the hospital for almost a month.
He was 25.
There were pastors and a priest praying over his bed. There were people all over the U.S. praying for healing.
He died anyway.
When I prayed for him I had a sense of peace that he would make it.
So why did he die? Was there a lack of faith involved?
Does this change who I know God to be? What about Jesus?
This boy did not die a martyr, he died by a strange turn if events. He didn't lay his life down for Jesus, it was taken from him.
Jesus said that we have the same authority He had while walking on Earth. He took the keys of death and handed them to us so we can carry that authority. When Jesus died, death was defeated.
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:18-19
... and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:6
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
Colossians 1:13
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
Luke 10:19
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57
So, what about this boy? Why is the authority Jesus gave us not enough every time?
I can see how people would feel better thinking that the signs, wonders, headings and miracles died when the apostles died. The pain is more when we're disappointed. We don't get our hopes up when we can point to 'Gods will'. We say "If it's your will to take a 25 year-old man." Then when the impossible doesn't come through, it doesn't disappoint as much.
How do we pick ourselves up and believe the next time that God will do what He promised? How do we stand on the certainty that it will happen the way he intended next time? How do we gather our faith back up to maybe be disappointed again?
Or do we just play it safe and ask for things that may be possible, but don't cross over into the impossible? Ask Him to do something that can only be accomplished with medicine, doctors, or hospitals. Don't ask him to do something we've never seen. Don't expect Him to show up and be disappointed, again.
The truth is, I don't know why impossible prayers happen sometimes and sometimes they don't. I've read a lot of theories, I agree with some, some I don't.
I know what I know though. I have witnessed enough miraculous things to know our God still works. That He wants nothing but the best and life for us and those we love.
I'm still putting all my eggs in His basket and betting He will come through.
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Matthew 19:26
I will continue to pray and expect the miraculous. I will still love and expect Him to break through hard hearts. I will still reach out and expect Him to deliver people from mental and physical illness.
I'm standing on the rock that He is and expecting Him to go as far as He says he will, which is all the way.
We can expect the miraculous. But we have to expect it, even if we're disappointed sometimes.
