As we enter into the New Year, there is one Scripture that has been constantly on my mind—Luke 24:5:
“As they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead?'”
With 2020 behind us, God continues to speak to me to not seek the living among the dead. We should not seek things that no longer have life in them.
The phrase “to seek” in this Scripture is defined as “to long for or to crave.” No good fruit is produced when we long for or crave things God has removed from our lives. It may be a relationship. It may be a job. Whatever it is, let it go. Don’t waste time seeking after things that are no longer producing life for you.
Don’t look back.
I found it interesting that the word “bow” in this Scripture is defined as “to fall back, to decline or to turn to flight.” Looking back and longing for what no longer is life to you only does one thing; it causes us to fall back and go backward.
Philippians 3:14 says, “I press toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Most of us are very familiar with this Scripture, but are we as familiar with the Scripture that follows?
“All of us who are mature should think in this same way” (Phil. 3:15a, CEV).
All of us who are mature should press forward, not backward.
Let’s look back at the Scripture in Luke again. The word “living” means to enjoy real life, blessed, fresh, powerful and living. While the word “dead” means inactive, void of life, inoperative and one that has breathed his last breath.
2020 may not have brought forth everything you thought it would. Perhaps you even lost some relationships, jobs or other things. Before you seek restoration for those things, stop and ask yourself: Is there any life in them? In your own personal life, are they fresh, powerful and blessed? If not, do not crave or long for them to return.
Recently some things have attempted to resurrect in my life—things long dead. They have breathed their last, at least in my personal life. To be honest, I have found my thoughts drifting back there time and again. When that happens for things that have no life in them, we must cast down those thoughts. They are dead and void of life and will produce nothing good or blessed for us. Therefore, we must choose to press forward to where God is calling us.
Luke 24:5 tells us the women were afraid.
Fear can cause us to hold on to things in which we need to let go. Fear can stop us from moving forward if we let it. The good news is “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7).
We are entering into a New Year. The best is yet to come. Do not look for the living among the dead. Let the dead things lie where they are. Search out the living and blessed things, for those are the things God has for you.
Be continually blessed as you enter into 2021! {eoa}
Kim Potter is the founder of A New Thing Ministries, which sends a daily teaching to thousands of people all around the world. She is a contributing writer for Intercessors for America and her articles have appeared on The Elijah List, Charisma, Spirit Fuel and ibelieve.com. Kim’s message is one of hope. She speaks to the heart of those who have grown discouraged and disappointed by the circumstances of life and imparts the desire and ability to stand against all odds and see victory. For additional information, go to anewthingministries.com. To join the city-by-city prayer movement to save our nation go to city-by-city.org.
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