Hosea 13.14 says that the Lord has ransomed us from the power of the grave and redeemed us from death. We do not have to tolerate death in any area of our life!

Abraham dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything looked hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding not to live on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said He would do.
(Rom. 4.17-19 MSG)

What do you do when death has raised its head again in your life?  Maybe it’s not a physical death, but it‘s a death that is no less real.

Whether it’s death in your circumstances, death in your relationships, death in your finances, or death in your dreams and vision—death is still death—no matter what part of life it has affected. And death stinks.

Death is not just the absence of physical life or merely the ending of something. Death is the spirit of lifelessness. In the same way that life is an ongoing force (or energy), so is death, only in the opposite direction. Death is the opposite of life; it never denotes nonexistence. It is separation from life. We were not created to be separated from life in any area of our life.

For You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will You allow Your holy one to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
(Ps. 16.10-11)

We were not created to live in hell—nor were we created to live in hell on earth. The word for “hell” in this verse is the Hebrew word Sheol. Sheol is the abode of the dead. It refers to the netherworld to which all buried dead go. Sheol was a place to be dreaded. It is not described as a place of raging flames and pitchforks—but as a place completely void of life, a place of nothingness. Everything about Sheol was negative.

I know of nothing that could be more tormenting than to be completely separated from life. To live an existence of nothingness—that is utter torment. Once we have made Jesus the Lord of our life—hell is no longer our destination, and neither is hell on earth.

Hosea 13.14 says that the Lord has ransomed us from the power of the grave and redeemed us from death. We do not have to tolerate death in any area of our life! God does not leave our soul in hell on earth—He shows us the path of life!

In His presence is fullness of joy. Why? Because that’s where the life is. The only way that you and I will be able to experience life again where we have seen death is through living in His presence. His Presence is what changes us and changes our circumstances.

Romans 4 tells us that Abraham dared to trust God to do what only God could do—raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway—deciding not to live on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said  He would do. (Rom. 4.17-18 MSG)

How did Abraham develop that kind of assurance to believe that God even could do what looked impossible?  He did it by sticking with God and with what God said.

Verse 16 (MSG) says that the fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and His way, and then simply embracing Him and what He does. Embracing and believing His promise has everything to do with raising the dead in our life.

Can you and I raise the dead by ourself? Of course not. Neither could Abraham. The Word said that Abraham decided not to live on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do—instead, he decided to live on what God said He would do. That is believing—that is faith.