*This was originally posted December 18, 2019 and written at Carrie Judd Montgomery’s Home of Peace Healing Home in Oakland, CA after being in Redding this past week as things unfolded and in the midst of the global prayer movement for resurrection life for Olive.

On July 7, 2006, when I was at a leadership training for Starbucks Coffee back when I was a store manager, one of the activities we were asked to do was to write out some of our dreams. I wrote lots of fun and random things on that little paper. One of which was that I wanted “to write a book about Revolutionaries/Revivals” which I ended up getting to do 10 years later alongside of one of the great generals of the faith in our day. Defining Moments with Bill Johnson came out in 2016, ten years after I had written it down that day. In the book are stories of people who actually prayed for the dead to rise and saw some positive results.

Another thing I wrote on that little piece of paper was that I wanted to “Raise the dead.” You see back in around 2001, I preached at my youth group on Matthew 10:8 (NIV) that says “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” This is something God actually calls us to do and has given us authority in. He didn’t say “if you think it’s My will, then heal the sick, raise the dead, etc…” He also didn’t say, “if you feel Me breathing on it, then heal the sick, raise the dead,…” He simply said to do it. Because we know the nature and heart of God, we know that He sent Jesus to overturn Satan’s plans to kill, steal, and destroy and instead to give us the abundant life (John 10:10).

So all that to say, I preached my little twenty something year old heart out to the youth on that Scripture and then probably a week or two later one of the pastors on staff died in a freak accident while on the mission field. This happen right after I had preached on this passage. Because of the timing, I had no doubt in my mind that God wanted to raise him from the dead. Why would I preach on that exact same verse and then literally someone dies prematurely? This was not okay and I truly believed with all of my heart that God was going to raise him from the dead.

I arranged a prayer meeting to pray for God to raise him from the dead. Those who attended this meeting were mostly made up of the fifteen kids in a discipleship group I was leading that summer who had to be there, plus a few more, and another pastor who came to make sure everything went okay. Let’s just say it was more of a remnant than a unified church body moving together to ask God do the impossible. This made me sad especially as I was 100% convinced God was going to raise him up I did not see an army rising up to contend for resurrection life. In the end, the pastor was never raised from the dead. I was a little disillusioned but I never regretted contending for resurrection life and it never made me believe that God can’t do it another time. I believe it was said that John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement, prayed for hundreds of people for healing before one of them got healed.

Then in 2007-2011, I moved from California to England and in my research, discovered a forgotten healing revivalist who planted some of the earliest healing homes in our nation. I ended up doing my research and Ph.D. on her life story. So crazy how God sent me from California to England to discover a Pentecostal pioneer who based the majority of her life in California. I ended up publishing my thesis which would become one of the first ever biographies and books about her life story to date. Through recovering the forgotten legacy of Carrie Judd Montgomery, I was able to help raise her life story from the dead in a way because barely anyone had heard of her before I had written about her. I checked off the “Raise someone from the dead” on my dream list with that one but still believe for and contend for resurrection life.

Since then I have prayed for dead birds, squirrels, and anything else I saw had died so that I could practice and step out in faith to see God do a miracle. I figure, if I pray for enough animals and people who died before their time, eventually one of them would be raised up. I am not saying I pray for every dead person to be raised from the dead, but when I feel an unction, I dive in.

Too many people confuse failure with the ability to risk and learn from the journey. We can never fail with God (Romans 8) and we will never know if we never try. God doesn’t demand perfection but He does invite us into obedience. Because we’re in relationship with God, we know His heart and try our best to move where He would move in response to His compassion. If I pray for resurrection life and it does not happen, I don’t ever feel like a failure because the result was not what I had believed for. I always celebrate that I took a risk and followed my and His heart. And if I pray and believe and they don’t raise from the dead, God is still good. He never changes even if my understanding of His exact ways and timing is limited.

Resurrection life is all over the Bible. Jesus raised people from the dead like Lazarus on the fourth day (John 11) and so on. Paul even raised someone from the dead in Acts 20:7-12. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead in Acts 9:36-42. Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) and He was raised the third day (Luke 24). It’s very Biblical to believe in this.

Smith Wigglesworth raised his wife Polly from the dead but she wanted to stay in heaven so he let her go back there. My friend Samaa Habib was blown up by a bomb, died and went to heaven and then came back because she wanted to lead her family to the Lord. Read her book Face to Face with Jesus to get the whole story. This is a real person that I personally know who was dead but then brought back to life. Heidi & Rolland Baker of Iris Global in Mozambique have seen many raised from the dead in their ministry and I’ve met some of the pastors and heard the stories of this happening.

So when Bethel’s worship leader’s precious two year old Olive stopped breathing and died a few days ago, an army of intercessors were mobilized at Bethel and around the world to contend for resurrection life. This has to be one of the most beautiful things in the world. So much faith for God to do the impossible in such a unique and corporate way is something I don’t believe I have ever witnessed before. I have recently moved from Redding but just happened to be there this weekend when everything unfolded. See article below to get up to date on the journey.

We have come so far in the last 20 years and I believe this global move of prayer for resurrection from the dead is a forerunner into 2020. The unprecedented faith to believe and contend for life just shows that God has been raising up an army to contend and stand for breakthrough in new levels in 2020. In the past when praying for resurrection was severely resisted, now it’s embraced around the globe in a greater measure. There will always be those who don’t understand and think that it doesn’t make any sense and have questions. That’s okay. But for those who believe, all things are possible. And no matter what, whether Olive rises or not, through this story, the church has now arisen and has taken its rightful stand.

We now know the true authority we have as saints. And believe me, the faith that has arisen from this situation will only get stronger and fiercer. We have now embraced the truth and mandate of Matthew 10:8 and believe with our whole hearts that God wants to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons through our lives. He wants us to partner with heaven to release the abundant and resurrection life He died for us to have. The enemy has already been defeated. Even beyond our understanding, God is still good. Our hearts, our prayers, and are faith remain unified with this precious family during such a time as this no matter what the outcome. And we still worship Jesus no matter what, because He is always good and never changes. The story is not over…

Bill Johnson’s response in the midst of this journey is very helpful. See below.

Update from Bill Johnson December 22, 2019