2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” NKJV
Romans 6:1-4 – “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” NKJV

Philippians 1:21 – “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” NKJV

Three times in my life, I heard the devil say to me in what seemed to be an audible voice, “I’m going to kill you.” The Lord performed a miracle each of those times to prevent my death in situations where I could have and would have died had He not intervened. I have known all my life, in a very real way, that I am alive for a purpose, and I do not sense that I have fulfilled that purpose as of this date.

The devil tried to kill me almost from birth within the first two years of my life.  We spent a large amount of time in the doctor’s office as the medical personnel tried to determine what was making me sick. The doctors gave my family virtually no hope that I would live as a teen, but God intervened and gave my dad the wisdom to relocate, and I got completely well in the relocation.

The first time I heard those words, “I’m going to kill you, or you are going to die,” was in Vietnam on the day of my arrival in country. God miraculously changed my orders and relocated me to a safe haven. Unfortunately, I learned that those who went where I was to be that day lost their lives. I was not a Christian then, but God’s mercy spared me for His purposes.

The next time, I was on a plane flying to Colorado from Austin, Texas, and had to change planes in Dallas. As we were coming into DFW, I heard those words so clearly that it startled me, and I looked around to see who had said them, but no one had been speaking to me. As we descended, I sensed something very wrong, and just as the wheels touched the ground, the engines roared, and we lifted off again, and as I looked down and back, I saw another plane crossing our runway.  I was going to a retreat with other ministers for spiritual renewal and came away energized with a new vision and a sense of purpose.

The third time I heard those words, I was diagnosed with Parathyroid Cancer a few months later. God miraculously used the surgeons and provided a healing touch that caused the surgeon to say as we went in for a second surgery, “Somebody much higher than me has been at work here.” He said that what had transpired does not happen medically and considered it a miracle. We rejoiced then and continue to rejoice in God’s mercy, grace, and power!

God asked me after the last time the question in the title – “How do you kill a dead man?”  Since then, my response to the devil has been, “And if you manage to kill me, what have you done? I will go home early, and someone will take my place and carry on the work I have been assigned. I am already dead, in Christ, so you can’t kill a dead man.”

I am not trying to be flippant nor disregard the seriousness of attacks of the enemy, but in Christ, we are more than conquerors, and He has overcome the evil one, and we are IN CHRIST. Therefore, we are overcomers! I want to live out the entire length of my days and accomplish all God has for me to do! I want it to be said of me as it was of David in Acts 13:36 that I fulfilled the purpose of God in my generation, and then I died. Not before, not until! My destiny is complete, my race run, my journey complete, and my fight won. THEN GO HOME!

You have a destiny and a purpose that God has designed and desired for you.  I sincerely pray that you fulfill every portion of it and live out the remainder of your days in abundant joy, grace, power, and love!

Blessings to each of you!