By Your spirit I will rise
From the ashes of defeat
The resurrected king
Is resurrecting me
Resurrecting, Elevation Worship
I have a heritage of ministry in my background. The man I call Gramps spent most of his adult life bi-vocationally working and building churches, both spiritually and physically. He was a spit-fire, short man of about 5 foot 5 inches at best, but preached hard like a man of great stature. It was all hell-fire and brimstone preaching most days. It was a consummate petition to the people to commit to God.
God gave me a gift that I will never forget. I spent one year in a little Midwest corn-field town, with a little white church building that my grandfather built with his own two hands. After a year in the role of associate pastor, God moved again and moved me with him.
Not much of that single year was all that impactful, other than that final Sunday in that little small town church that meant so much to me.
As a parting staff member, I got to say parting words from the pulpit. More than likely not particularly memorable to anyone else. And in truth, not sure the message was all that memorable to me. But moments before I shared the message God had given me for this small group of faithful followers, the Pastor asks that same small powerful man of God, who built that church, to pray from the pew where he sat to support his grandson.
Like a hot knife on butter were the gentle words of this powerful preacher as they spilled from his mouth. In that moment a grandson was made a son. He was proud that roles had reversed. He was elated that what he was leaving behind was being picked up by me.
In a simple prayer, the blessing of power and anointing was passed from one generation to younger generation. It was a real life moment of Elijah passing the mantle to Elisha. My spirit and heart melted as the soft prayer of such a powerful man and the ministry mantle of Gramps was officially passed to me. Years before he would take me to his study, stretch wide his hand over a collection of books like it was the promised land and say “Jeff, one day all this would be yours.” While, I eventually got the books, what I received that day was by far more significant than any collection.
What was apparent was that the same power that 50 plus years earlier was imparted into my grandfather, God had imparted into me.
Paul wrote these words to the church at Rome:
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Take moment and re-read those words. Now pause and think on them.
The very same Spirit that had the power to resurrect a dead Jesus back to life lives in you and me. It is the passing of the baton to us. God the father has spoken sweet and soft over us with his blessing of the Holy Spirit.
The struggle is most of us never live out the power we have. It wasn’t necessarily that moment in Small Town, USA that empowered my ministry. While I feel it was a significant day in my life. That same power had always been there. The prayer simply served as a lighting of the fuse of potential that existed.
We have access to a someone in the Spirit of God that has resurrecting potential. Power to resurrect your life, your career, your ministry, your family. That same power is living and active and accessible in me and you! So take hold allow God to bring back to life what was dead. Allow the Spirit to breathe on dry and dead bones.
Maybe today is your resurrection day! Maybe today is the day you realize that the same power that raised Jesus is available for you.
