Simply because we live in ‘the land of the living’, among people who are living, doesn’t necessarily mean that people are living fully alive.

It’s like the famous line from the movie The Sixth Sense … “I see dead people. They only see what they want to see. They only hear what they want to hear. They don’t even know they’re dead!” 

Many times, we can become so beat up from the battle that we can barely move. Each step taken becomes a step of dread, of fear of what may come next. It becomes easier to disengage so as not to be destroyed, but when we do this, we end up abdicating our assignment, our anointing, and our abundant life.

There are also many people who have, sadly, never tasted and seen the goodness and glory of God, resulting in them “living” but never being fully”‘alive”. They may appear “religious”, but they have not fully appreciated the power of the resurrection. Therefore, they aren’t living in the fullness of abundant life. Typically, they end up choosing compromise over Christianity. When one does this, they willingly choose to live merely a Christian religious existence over a full expression of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

The result of all this? 

The result of this becomes a land full of “the living dead” who don’t even know they’re dead. 

Here’s our challenge: 

Life is already hard enough without living fully aware of all that Jesus died and rose again to give to us. Jesus didn’t die on a cross for us to live a lifeless, powerless, and feckless religious existence. 

CS Lewis would describe that type of life as “mere Christianity”.  

Jesus died to secure for us an eternal and abundant, Spirit-filled, empowered life full of hope, assurance, peace, and purpose. 

Jesus knew that this life and this world would have its fair share of pain, problems, and pitfalls. He also knew that we would face our fair share of giants and Jerichos. 

The true Christian life is more of a march than a walk -- believing step by step, in faith, that the Lord has been, is, and will always be faithful.

It’s a resolve not to abscond in fear at the size of the giant, but to be amazed in faith at the size of our God.

God is with us, no matter what wall we face.

God is with us, no matter what giant is in the land.

God is with us, no matter what valley we find ourselves in.

When times come that we feel beat up from the battle, and we will, we can rest assured that God is with us. He gives us His joy which becomes our strength. His love will always provide for us, keep us, hold us, and sustain us. Each day our God is faithful, and He will give us exactly what we need to not only survive, but to endure and thrive. Even if it’s only 5 smooth stones, God will provide exactly what we need at exactly the right moment.

We only need to lift our eyes to Him, remembering who He is and remembering who we are to Him, and in Him.

Lamentations 3:22-26 (NASB) says this:

The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those who await Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord.