Living a Resurrected Life – Stop Running Back to the Grave
Please note that this article may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. You can read more at the bottom of this page or read my full disclosure on my Affiliate Disclosure Page
Are you tired of running back to the grave? Of trying to fill the emptiness inside of you with things that only leave you feeling more dead than alive? If so, then Jesus has good news for you! When you come to Him, He gives you a resurrection life – a new beginning where all your past mistakes are forgiven and left behind. You don’t have to keep living in defeat anymore. You can be made new!
Living a resurrected life means leaving your past dead and buried and living a new life in Jesus without turning back. He has set us free from our sins and given us a new identity in Him. When we choose to follow Him, we are promised victory over sin and death.
Jesus is calling you, like the story of Lazarus, to come out of that grave and leave it behind you; far behind you! Maybe it’s old relationships, old habits, old mindsets, or even your old life when things get difficult following the Lord.
God wants you to take off those grave clothes and clothe yourself in Messiah!
Are you living a life of freedom and victory in Jesus or is the enemy beckoning you back to the dead and buried things in your life?
Read on and learn how to “rise up” and come forth from that grave once and for all and start living a resurrection life as new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Pruning What is Dead
Maybe you’ve tried to change before, but you always seem to go back to your old ways. I know that feeling. I think we all do.
It’s easy to feel like you’re stuck in a cycle of sin and repentance. You know that you need to change, but it feels impossible at times.
Living a resurrected life doesn’t mean that you magically forget the past. It means leaving it behind, forsaking the things of this world that you once held onto, and moving forward in Christ.
I recently started gardening. I do NOT have a green thumb by any means and I cannot tell a good plant from a weed. I did grow up in New York City so I never learned how to garden.
But now that we have purchased our new home with plenty of land, I decided to learn.
After the season was over, I started to prune away some of the dead growth so that new growth could take place.
But nothing grew.
I pruned more away and yet nothing.
I came to find out that the plants that were on the property were annuals and have a life cycle of one year.
Ok, I have to tell you, I felt pretty stupid! I knew there were flowers and plants that only grew once but I didn’t think about vegetables.
I learned a valuable lesson. If I want recurrent growth I need to plant perennials.
I was trying to prune away something that was dead. No matter how much attention and hard work I gave to it, it was dead.
Living a Resurrected Life – Leave Dead Things Alone
How many times do we try to keep bringing things earthly things back to life that the Lord has made dead and buried in our lives?
Even those darkest moments we sometimes look back on fondly when we go through trials in our walk or we go through spiritual attacks. How often are we trying to prune those things He is telling us we are done with?
We keep working at it and trying to make it grow, trying to bring it back to life, but He is telling us that it is part of the past and no longer has a place in our lives.
Are you pruning dead things?
Are you nurturing what Hashem (Hashem means ‘The Name’ and is a term for God used in Judaism and by Messianic Jews like me) has laid waste to in your life in Him?
Is He asking you to focus on a new way and a new life? Is He trying to move you away from the past and the things we used to place value in and move you toward His promises and the good things He has ordained for you?
Are you leaving the dead things in the grave? Are you living a resurrected life or living trying to run back to what is dead?
Living a Resurrected Life – Salvation by Faith
Living a resurrected life began for me when Yeshua (Jesus’ Name in Hebrew) called me out of my “grave” back in 1996. Actually, He had been calling me out since I was a young child but I finally took those steps out of the tomb in 1996 when I gave my life to Him!
At that moment, I left the grave behind me. I took off my grave clothes, was baptized, and put on Yeshua, my Messiah! I was a new creation!
Are you living a resurrected life? Are there things you left behind in that grave Yeshua called you out of that you keep running back to? Share on X2 Corinthians 5:17 says
“Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
TLV
You are a new creation! That is the power of the resurrection. The old is gone! It has passed away! The past is dead and buried! It is no longer you who live but Mashiach (Messiah) lives in you! You are on your way to living a resurrected life!
Galatians 2:20 says:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
NASB
You left your old self in the grave and the life that you now live in the flesh is new, it is resurrected in Him! We are now living a life of freedom from sin and death!
You left your old self in the grave and the life that you now live in the flesh is new! Share on X
Living a Resurrected Life – The Old Has Passed Away
Let’s go back to 2 Corinthians 5:17 for a moment.
“Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
TLV
The ESV and even the KJV say the old has “passed away”.
The Greek word for “passed away” is parerchomai, and it means to pass away, to die or perish.
But another meaning I find interesting in Strong’s Concordance is:
To go past, pass by of persons moving forward
I find it interesting that this word in Greek means both to pass away and to pass by of persons moving forward.
It, combined, can be an act of moving forward past what has passed away!
Yeshua called you out of the grave. Are you moving forward past what is gone, past what you have laid in the tomb, or are you returning to the grave? Are you living a resurrected life? Can transformation take place in you? Are you living a life of faith and freedom in the power of HIS resurrection? THAT is REAL life.
Returning to the Tomb
As I mentioned earlier, I gave my life to Jesus in 1996 and even now sometimes I keep running back into that grave, into that tomb Messiah called me from.
Living a resurrected life and a life of freedom doesn’t mean living a perfect life! Our old man or woman may be buried but they have a resurrection every now and then and our flesh gets in the way and beckons us back to that old musty grave; to the old habits and old way of living, that body of sin.
But the one thing about God, the one thing about the Lord we serve, is that He never leaves us in there. The grace of God overcomes the grave!
He Keeps Calling Us Back Out!
Lazarus was in the grave for 4 days and his sister was worried about the stench! Martha told Yeshua in John 11:39
“Yeshua says, “Roll away the stone!” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to Him, ‘Master, by this time he stinks! He’s been dead for four days!’”
TLV
Yeshua replied in verse 40
“Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
TLV
Do you think that when you return to the grave when you return to the old things you had left behind to follow Messiah, that you “stink” too much for God to use you or redeem you from it? Do you think you fell so far back into that grave that you cannot be forgiven?
Rest assured, God is able! God’s power defeats the grave!
Luke 15:24
“For this son of mine was dead and has come back to life—he was lost and is found!’ Then they began to celebrate.”
TLV
Alive again! You are alive again!
We may return to the grave at times but Yeshua called you out of it and He will continue to call us out! You are alive in Messiah! He can forgive us for our mess-ups, our mistakes, our failures, our sins and restore us to righteousness and a life of freedom from condemnation!
There is nothing too big for Him to handle!
Living a Life of Freedom – Leaving the Grave Behind and Living a Resurrected Life
Leaving a resurrected life means you keep moving forward in your walk with Messiah and don’t look back at that tomb you left behind you!
Rely on God and He will get you through any trial or trouble!
If we keep relying on those old habits, those old relationships, those old ways we will keep moving back into that grave.
The enemy wants you back in there. He wants you stuck in the tomb with the deadness it brings. He doesn’t want you to live a life of freedom, he wants you to live a life of oppression and burden.
The devil wants you to lean on those old habits instead of on the one true living God.
Don’t listen to the enemy because he is a liar.
Living a Resurrected Life -Crushing the Head of the Serpent
One of my favorite scenes in the movie The Passion of the Christ is at the beginning of the film, where Jesus crushes the head of the serpent.
The serpent was there from the beginning. In the Garden of Eden, Eve had a life of ultimate freedom. She had paradise and God’s glory surrounding her and, instead of listening to the Lord and the ONE thing He told them not to do, she spoke to what she should have been stepping on!
Many times, the enemy starts calling Hashem’s blessings into question in our lives. He often tries to convince us that we were better off in our old way of life whenever we start to experience difficulties. The enemy whispers in our ear that He surely must not care about us if He lets us go through these troubles!
Eve allowed that conversation to continue! She allowed his lies to get into her heart and in an instant gave up her blessing.
Living a resurrected life means you stop speaking to dead things!
Don’t speak to the things you need to be stepping on!
Don't speak to the things you need to be stepping on! Share on XRomans 16:20
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
NASB
Step on it! Don’t allow him to call you backward! Ignore the lies and stomp on that serpent and keep moving forward in Mashiach, living a life of freedom!

Rise Up Lazarus
One of my favorite songs is about living a resurrected life. It is Rise Up (Lazarus) by Cain. I thought of this song as I was writing this post so I wanted to share it with all of you! We need the resurrection power of God in the world today!
See the video below!
NASB – “Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation“
Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.
Diane, I love your analogy of returning to the tomb and the fact that He keeps calling me back, keeps seeking and pursuing me. SO THANKFUL!
Pinned.
Thanks for linking up at InstaEncouragements!
Thank you so much Patsy!!!
It’s so easy to forget that I’m not the same old person but have resurrection power living within me. Thanks for this reminder. laurensparks.net
Thank you so much Lauren!!
I am so glad there was resurrection after crucifixion – and He pulled me out of that grave! Thank you for sharing this sweet message!
I am glad too!! Thank you so much!!
Yes! We need to take off our grave clothes and live the resurrected life because the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us!
Amen!! Thank you Karen!!
What do I keep coming back to? What a good question that I will be thinking about for some time!
It’s a good question for all of us to keep coming back to. It helps keep us aware of whether we are moving forward or if there are those little things in life that keep drawing us back. Thanks so much Rebecca!!
I absolutely love this post, Diane! I am featuring it on G&T this week. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much Aimee!! I so appreciate that and I am glad you enjoyed it!!
Oh wow Diane, this is super powerful! I needed to read this today! Thank you for being obedient to God and writing this … ❤️
Thank you so much Donna!!