“I still believe…!”
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Many of you have been praying for a little 11 year old boy named Alex. This morning Alex went to be with the Lord. I met with Alex’s family today and we prayed, shed tears and prepared for the days ahead. But there was one significant statement that was said that I have heard before that were truly wonderful words for those struggling with sorrow, grief and trials in the world in which we now live.
Pastor Greg Laurie’s son Christopher was tragically killed in a traffic accident about two years ago and it was a massive blow to Pastor Greg and his family. But on the following Sunday after the accident, as he went to the pulpit to speak, the first words he shared were those that I heard today.
Those words were, “I still believe!”
The most powerful and cruel force that rips through peoples lives as a result of man’s fall in the Garden of Eden is the matter of death. Death takes no prisoners, it respects no age, it matters not rich or poor.
But our Lord Jesus Christ came into this death ravaged world and died a cruel death on a cross and many believed all hope was lost. But on the third day as Jesus had promised He would, He rose from the dead and conquered the power of the grave and the savagery of death once and for all.
The Apostle Paul wrote it this way, 1 Cor 15: 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
As you read this post tonight or today, if you are passing through a storm, a trial or even the valley of the shadow of death, may the words of those who have been under the onslaught of death but have held on to the nail scarred hand of He who conquered it, bring you the strength , the courage and the hope to stand with them in your time of trial and to say, “I still believe!”