God is the Great Quickener
Very soon autumn will settle in where I live in Russia. The air will be cool and crisp, and the leaves will change colors and fall to the ground. It is absolutely beautiful! During the fall season, I am often reminded about an experience that happened many years ago when I was out in the backyard raking leaves with my two older boys. Paul, our oldest son, was busy helping me dig piles of dead leaves out from under an overgrown bush when Philip, my second son, called out to me, “Daddy, please come here!”
As I turned and looked over at Philip, I watched as he took a small, withered branch that had fallen off a tree and began to poke it down deep into the soil. As I walked over, he began to gather dirt around the base of the broken branch and then proceeded to pat the dirt as hard as he could to make sure the dead limb would not fall over. Then he reached over to pick up large, dead leaves out of the pile we had raked and started trying to reattach the dead leaves to the dead branch. Amused by what I had seen, I asked, “Philip, what are you doing?”
He answered, “Daddy, God’s beautiful little tree broke and died. Will you please ask God to make this dead branch come alive again?”
Of course that branch was dead and gone, but the Holy Spirit used this moment to speak to my heart about Romans 4:17, which tells of God’s marvelous ability to “quicken the dead” and to “call those things that are not as though they are.” It reads: “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” God may not be in the business of making dead branches come to life again, but He certainly does reverse impossible situations in the lives of His people.
The word “quicken” in Romans 4:17 is the Greek word zoopoieo, which is a compound of the words zoon and poieo. The word zoon denotes a living creature, and the word poieo means to do or to make and most often conveys creativity. When those two Greek words are combined, the result is zoopoieo, an incredibly powerful word that literally means to make alive, to infuse life in, to resurrect, or to empower with divine life.
What an amazing message!
God has the ability to inject resurrection power into any failing circumstance in your life, and most importantly, He absolutely wants to do it!
Next, I want to draw your attention to the word “dead” in this verse. It is the Greek word nekros, which literally refers to a lifeless corpse. This is vital to understand because it emphatically shows that no matter how cold, dead, and lifeless your situation might seem, God can and will empower you with divine life if you will stand firm in your faith and seek His face.
Consider the Old Testament example of Abraham and Sarah. They were physically “dead” as far as their ability to bear children was concerned. Yet when God’s Word came to them, faith was imparted and their aged bodies were supernaturally empowered to bear children. Or think back to Joseph who, through dreams and visions, received a great vision for his own personal life. For all practical purposes, it probably seemed as though his dream had died on the day his brothers sold him into slavery. But God took that shattered dream and supernaturally made it come to life years later. Once again, God proved that He is the God who quickens the dead and calls those things that are not as though they are!
When my son asked me to pray for that little branch to come to life again, I immediately thought of all the humanly impossible situations people face in their personal lives. To them, their problem is just as irreversible as that dried, broken, and withered branch. Without a miracle, their situations are hopeless, and for all practical purposes, their hopes, dreams, and aspirations are “dead.”
Naturally speaking, these people have problems that seem impossible and beyond repair — but with God, all things are possible!
God knows how to take broken dreams and resurrect them! He knows how to take dashed hopes, withered vision, and dried-up callings and restore them to life again.
We serve an awesome God who specializes in taking humanly impossible situations and turning them around for His glory. As James 1:17 (AMPC) so aptly states: “Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of ] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse.]” God’s perfect will is to shower you abundantly with “good and perfect gifts.” That is His will for your life!
So don’t despair just because your situation looks impossible. These matters are not beyond the reach of God, and all He asks is for you to have faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” God wants to bring new life to those areas that you thought were beyond repair. He desires to “quicken” your dreams, hopes, and aspirations and restore you to wholeness in every area — your mind, your body, your finances, your marriage, your relationships, etc.
Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” We have a miracle-working God who is available right now at this very moment to start a supernatural work of resurrection in your life. With man, this may be impossible — but with God, all things are possible!
I think of the people who thought our ministry in the former Soviet Union would never be possible. But God was just waiting for someone to believe Him and act on His Word. The powers that once controlled this part of the world are gone, and now the Gospel light is starting to shine where darkness once reigned. When I think of the attacks the devil has tried to throw against us and the finances we’ve needed to fulfill this assignment, it makes me stop and thank God for His supernatural ability to move above the natural realm and do what others said could not be done!
God is our Great Provider. He is the Great Quickener of dead dreams. He is our Great Physician, our Great Redeemer, and our Great Restorer.
God is more than enough to meet every need, and He can turn any dead situation around!
Do you need a miracle in your life today? Do you need a dying situation to be empowered and resurrected with divine life? Let today be the day that you believe God to quicken your dream back to life again!
Prayer:
Father, I am so thankful that You are our Great Provider, Great Quickener, Great Physician, Great Redeemer, and Great Restorer. There is absolutely nothing that You cannot do. I ask You to breathe new life into my visions and dreams that have been on the verge of death. You are the great power of the Resurrection, and I ask You to release Your resurrection power into my situation and turn it around. I know this is impossible in the natural — but with You, I know that all things are absolutely possible! I pray this in Jesus’ name!
Confession for Today:
I confess that the resurrection power of Almighty God is working in me to reinvigorate my visions and my dreams and to bring them back to life again. Despite what seemed to be against me and against the fulfillment of what God promised He would do with my life, God will show me His greatness and His glory. I will see the miracle come to pass. I boldly declare it will come to pass. God’s quickening power is at work on my behalf, and it’s at work inside me right now! I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!
Questions to Consider:
Can you think of a person in the Bible who thought his dream was over, but in fact, God resurrected it and made it come to pass? Who was that person?
Can you think of someone you personally know who fought and fought, and it seemed the fight was lost — but then the power of God resuscitated the life back into that dream again and it came to pass?
What vision or dream are you waiting to see come to pass? Has the devil tempted you to think you’re done and it’s over — that your vision or dream will never come to pass? Why don’t you make a list of all the Bible characters you can think of who came to the end of their dream, only to see it come alive again? I think this little exercise will surprise and encourage you!
