I recently saw on Google that approximately 2 people die every second, 120 every minute, 7,200 every single hour, and over 174,000 per day.
When I pondered this further, it made me wonder how I have been able to survive this long, come this far, and become what I am today.
You, me—every single one of us—is a miracle. If over 120 people die every minute and somehow that is not you, then you have surely survived and overcome more than you can imagine. And all of this is possible only by the power of God. His hand makes and destroys, gives and takes, starts and finishes.
When you think about humanity, it has only survived by the will of God. He once destroyed the earth in the time of Noah, but by His mercy a handful was spared—from whom you and I have sprung.
How many times do you face death daily? How many times have you overcome temptation? How many times have you healed from sicknesses that could have taken you? How many times have you overcome oppression and injustice?
Was it really by your own strength? Can you even heal yourself from a disease? What then has preserved you this far, if not God?
Every single time you wake up, your children look up to you to come back home with bread and milk for them to eat. Your parents count on you to help revive the family. You walk out of that door every morning to face the day, fight for your share, and make it through—for those you value the most.
As King David put it in Psalms 124:1-4 (NKJV):
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say—
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul.”
This was in reference to the many battles Israel had to go through to take over the Promised Land. They had to drive out over seven nations, which were much bigger and stronger than them, before they could fully claim it. David speaks of the wrath and wars all these nations waged against Israel, and how it was only by the Lord’s hand that Israel prevailed.
Life is no different. You wake up every single morning to face the day, go to work, or do whatever you have to do to survive. Each one of us goes through hills and valleys throughout our lives and is sometimes confronted with near-death or similar circumstances. The fact that you are reading this is proof that you have overcome, even though some situations may have seemed permanent or never-ending. If you are still alive, that’s great news.
The paradox of being given life is that you must face death every now and then. Yet you have to keep fighting if you want to succeed in the end.
It is as though you are always standing on a cliff, and down below is the valley of death that keeps getting filled with our deceased counterparts, brothers, friends, name it, every single second.
You have to face death every single morning and overcome it to survive.
The actual death
For death is not only physical but also spiritual. You were set free by the blood of Jesus and born again through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You put away your old self and put on a new person—one who is dead to the world but alive in the Spirit. And if one is alive in the Spirit, the only way to die is by falling back into the old sinful life they lived before getting saved.
If 2 people die per second in the physical world, don’t you wonder how many Christians die daily in the Spirit?
You, as a Christian, are called not only to receive salvation and miracles but to stand strong, defend what has been entrusted to you, and come out a winner. This is true life. To be alive in the Spirit is to die to the world. Are you spiritually alive though?
If you are tempted every single minute to sin, surrounded by non-believers who keep testing your faith, or overwhelmed with problems—some of which even seem spiritual—this is the real war.
Being alive despite all this fire around you is what sets you apart.The word of the Lord is no less powerful today than it was in old times. The power to overcome evil is very much present, and those who earnestly seek it overcome and turn out victorious in the end. So can you.
Just as Israel did when it took over the Promised Land, and as King David declared later in Psalms 124:6-8 (NKJV):
“Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord…”
This is what preserved them, and it is what preserves you, me, and all of us. It is what convicts you not to steal that money, not to fornicate when the chance presents itself. It is what preserves you when you are not financially stable. It is what has kept you together to this very minute, from the brink of death.
