"HE IS DEAD"

These were the words I heard audibly, spoken in a stern voice, one morning as I was waking up. I don’t know whether I was fully awake or caught somewhere between, like Paul described when he said he did not know whether he was in the body or out of it (2 Corinthians 12:2). What I do know is that I immediately understood who the words were about, and panic set in.

My first thought was that my spouse had died. I began to wail uncontrollably. I contacted him immediately, asking if he was okay, watching closely, keeping tabs on him throughout the day. Later, understanding and revelation came. This was not a physical death I was being shown, but a spiritual one.

Why would God say that my spouse’s spirit was dead?

Scripture tells us that we can be “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), separated from God through disobedience. Romans 8:6 says that the mind governed by the flesh is death, while Colossians 2:13 reminds us that being dead in sin is a real spiritual state. I believe God was revealing that my spouse had become separated from Him, given over to sin, and spiritually dead.

In the months that followed, I began to have revelatory dreams showing the lustful acts he was engaging in. It became clear that he had been handed over to his desires. What I had heard audibly aligned with what I was witnessing spiritually. His spirit was dormant, and the flesh was fully alive.

A spiritually dead state is dangerous and ultimately leads to not just a physical death but Hell. When the spirit is silenced, the flesh takes control, and Scripture is clear about when a person's flesh controls them, or they are living in their flesh- sexual immorality, impurity, selfish ambition, pride, drunkenness, and reckless living (Galatians 5:19–21). I saw many of these manifest at a high rate, both spiritually and physically, in my spouse’s behaviour. Thankfully, that revelation prepared me for what was coming and for what I would be required to witness.

Prayer and partnership with God will resurrect what is dead. The same God who raises the dead brings life back to the spirit. “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14). As God begins to resurrect the spirit, the flesh slowly loses its grip. Through prayers, fasting, repentance, knowledge, wisdom and the work of the Holy Spirit, the person is awakened and begins to return to their right mind, one day at a time.

What is dead to us is often the very place God begins His resurrection work.

Stay encouraged.

Love,

Victoria