"He'll Do It for You Too!"

Revelation 11.11 NASB

“And after the three and a half days the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them.”

Leaders fall down, even leaders on high functioning teams. Take, for example, the two fire-breathing witnesses of Revelation 11 who prophesy to a tough crowd and “stand before the Lord of the earth” for “twelve hundred and sixty days” (vv.3-5). Together, and with God’s authority, these “two witnesses” (v.3) appear invincible. Like Moses before Pharaoh, they have “power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague” (v.6). Yet, even these men go down…

“…the beast that comes up out of the abyss will

make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.”
Revelation 11.7 NASU

But you can’t keep a good man or woman down…

“...after the three and a half days [1], the breath of life
from God came into them, and they stood on their feet;”

Revelation 11.11 NASU

How do you get up after Satan knocks your wind of confidence, strength, or life out? How can you stand again after the death of a loved one, the death of a vision, or the death of hope? It is sometimes impossible to rise to the occasion, even when you know you must.

Going through religious motions of the walking dead will only drive you more deeply into the abyss of despair, which is where the god of discouragement wants to take you. Go instead with “the Lord of the earth” (v.4) who is also “the God of heaven” (v.13). He alone can breathe life back into your battered soul and re-ignite the fire of your lost passion. He can raise you up from death, drudgery, defeat, and disappointment.

“And the LORD God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground

and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.”
Genesis 2.7 NLT

If God did it for Adam, He’ll do it for you!

“Come from the four winds. Come, breath.
Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!”

“So… the breath entered them and they came alive!
They stood up on their feet, a huge army.”
Ezekiel 37.9b, 10b “The Message”

If God did it for a pile of corpses in the Valley of Dry Bones, He’ll do it for you!

“…if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies”
Romans 8.11 NKJV

If God did it for Jesus, He’ll do it for you too!

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[1] I understand “three and a half days” to correspond to the three and a half years or “forty-two months” (v.2) of godless celebration on earth following the earlier three and a half years or “twelve hundred and sixty days” (v.3) of effective ministry by the Church of Jesus Christ and its “two witnesses.” This three and a half year time period is also called “time, times and half a time” in other apocalyptic passages (Daniel 12.7; Revelation 12.14). The combined seven years appears to directly precede the second coming of Christ at some future date.

The amazing photo of the hand reaching from water is entitled "Rise Up!!!" by "professional longboarder turned photographer" Ryan Cardone who gave me permission to display here on my blog. You can learn about Ryan and view and purchase his excellent ocean theme work at http://www.ryancardonephotography.com/about.htm.

The very good drawing of a man face down is by Brad Arnold and used here by permission of the artist. You may see Brad's talent on his My Space site at http://www.myspace.com/supremecreativegenius.