Beyond All Human Power: Trusting the God Who Raises the Dead
When all other power fails, resurrection life begins.
📚 Devotional Credit
Open Windows
Excerpt by T. Austin-Sparks from Bethany – The Lord's Thought for His Assembly
📷 Photo Credit
Image courtesy of Unsplash
T. Austin-Sparks directs our eyes to a deep spiritual principle: that God's resurrection power is not displayed until every human resource has utterly failed. It is not that we simply face hard situations; it is that we come to the end of ourselves. Sparks points out that God often allows the sentence of death to work in us—not to harm us, but to bring us into full dependence upon Him who raises the dead.
Abraham, “as good as dead,” became the great type of resurrection faith. Likewise, Paul testified that he carried in himself the sentence of death so that his trust would no longer reside in himself, but in the God who alone raises the dead. This is the abiding pattern: God brings us into circumstances where no person, no system, and no strength of our own can deliver us. And there, in that final silence of human effort, God’s voice resounds through resurrection.
This is not the defeat of the believer, but the glorious unveiling of Christ’s sufficiency. What appears as disintegration is often preparation. What seems like death is fertile ground for resurrection life. Sparks urges us to see this pattern not as punitive, but as purposeful—bringing glory to God alone, and reminding us that life—real life—flows from Him and Him alone.
📓 Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit
My beloved, I do not call you into strength—I call you into surrender. Not the surrender of despair, but the surrender of trust. You are not being forsaken when the walls close in, when no option remains, when every resource of flesh and will fails. You are being invited into resurrection.
I allowed My servant Abraham to see the deadness of his body, not to discourage him, but so that he might witness My life spring forth where death had reigned. I brought Paul to the place of no return so that he would rest in the God who raises the dead. Do not think you are outside My plan when you reach the end of yourself. You are standing at the threshold of My power.
You were never meant to carry the weight of your own deliverance. My Son bore that weight. And now His resurrection life lives in you. Let the sentence of death to self-effort do its quiet work. Yield—not to fear, but to Me. Trust—not in the appearance of things, but in the One who brings life from the grave. In your waiting, I am not absent. I am preparing the stage for My glory.
Let no man glory in what only I can do. And let your soul rest, fully persuaded that I will bring forth life—real, indestructible life—where you saw only ruin.
(Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 1:9; Romans 4:19–21; Galatians 2:20; John 11:25; Philippians 3:10; Romans 6:4–5; Colossians 3:3–4; Ephesians 1:18–20; 2 Corinthians 4:7–11; Isaiah 26:12; Psalm 115:1)
🧂 Real-Life Analogy
It’s like reaching into a flashlight drawer during a power outage and realizing every battery is dead. In the moment of darkness, no amount of effort, shaking, or repositioning restores the light. The only solution is a fresh charge—power from an outside source.
In the same way, God sometimes permits every “battery” of human ability to run dry—not to mock us, but to center us. In those moments, rather than scrambling for backup plans or temporary fixes, we can pause, breathe, and remember that Christ is our ever-present source. Today, when you encounter a moment where your efforts fall flat—a deadline missed, a conversation that doesn’t go as planned, a discouraging report—rather than reacting, quietly yield to the Lord within. “Lord, I trust You to display Your life through me in this very place where I’ve reached my limit.” Watch what He does when you give Him the stage.
🙏 Prayer of Confidence
Father, I thank You that I am not my own savior. You’ve never asked me to raise myself from the dead. You’ve called me to rest in the risen Christ, whose life is now mine. I rejoice that even when I reach the end of myself, I am not at the end of Your purpose. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in me—not someday, but now. I yield to You in quiet trust. In the places where I see no way, I know You are preparing to show me that You are the Way. And so, I rest—not in resolution, but in resurrection.