Raised from the dead! Is there any greater display of God's power or demonstration of His love, than when He raises the dead to life?
What name or names first come to mind when you think of the Biblical accounts of the dead being raised to life? Lazarus? Jesus?
Lazarus, according to Jesus, was raised from the dead for God's glory, so that God's Son would be glorified through it. Jesus encouraged Lazarus' sister Martha, as they were standing before the dead man's tomb, that if she believed Jesus to raise her brother from the dead she would see the glory of God. (Ref. John 11:1-44)
Interestingly, the first person raised from the dead in the Old Testament is not mentioned by name. We know he was the son of a Sidonese widow from Zarephath (Ref. 1 Kings 17:7-24). What was his name, his age? His miraculous resurrection from the dead was not a public event. It happened in an upper room of a poor widows home.
I try to imagine the conversations of the other children and parents in the community after they heard the story of Elijah's prayer and the dead boy being raised to life. Surely the widow spoke about the God of Elijah. Surely God was glorified, he raised an orphan to life!
The first person raised from the dead in the New Testament is also not mentioned by name. All we know from the Luke 7:11-17 account is that he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow...he was an orphan, an orphan who Jesus raised to life!
Today, God is raising orphans to life in Zambia, Africa. In late June/early July, I witnessed hundreds of orphans being raised from death to life. Not physical death to physical life, but spiritual death to spiritual life! How? Through the gospel of Jesus Christ shared with approximately 300 orphans at Camp Hope.
There is such a powerful move of God among a generation of children left behind, orphaned, in the wake of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. God is still in the business of raising orphans to life, for His glory and the glory of His son Jesus Christ.
Ophrey is a boy about the same age as my own son. He's infected with HIV. He desperately wanted to participate at our Camp Hope event in Kafue. So he prayed. I prayed. And 300 orphans at Camp Hope prayed that Ophrey would join them before the last day of camp.
Praying with Ophrey and believing God would give him strength to attend Camp Hope
Ophrey was invited to attend Camp Hope three months earlier by one of the 9 churches hosting the outreach event with Every Orphan's Hope. But now, sick and weakened by HIV, he had not left the home of his uncle, or the bed he was now confined to for almost three weeks.
When we visited Ophrey we were encouraged to learn that he was saved. He had trusted Christ for his salvation. But Ophrey desperately wanted to join his friends at Camp Hope.
As we prayed for Ophrey, I was encouraged that the Lord would give him the strength to attend Camp Hope by Friday (we visited him on a Wednesday). So I told Ophrey, "God will give you strength, we'll see you at Camp on Friday!"
When I returned to camp, we gathered the 300 orphans together for a time of worship and prayer. I shared Ophrey's story with the children and asked them to pray for him. Immediately the children took each others hands, bowed their heads and began to pray for Ophrey.
Friday came and Ophrey was at Camp Hope. When the children saw him, they gathered together to worship and praise the Lord! It was a wonderful testimony of the grace and power of God. The children at Camp had seen a tangible answer to their prayer. Ophrey knew the goodness and power of God. He'd been raised in the strength of God to the glory of God.
Raising orphans to life? Ophrey and 300 orphans who attended Camp Hope in Kafue would say God is still in the business of raising orphans to life, for His glory and the glory of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Wow! That is so precious! I could feel the power of God from just reading this wonderful story! God is so awesome!
Posted by: Morgan | October 21, 2008 at 08:06 AM