Many have asked, Why did my loved one die even after they were prayed for?  Today I will try to explain something the Lord impressed upon me concerning death.  It’s a hard subject to deal with, when we know God is the author of life.  But is He also the author of death?  Hopefully this will shed light on the subject.  In fact, speaking of light, let’s go to the beginning, Genesis chapter 1, and God will reveal something to us.
Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
    Here we see something very important; it was dark out there.  Dark is the opposite of light, but most importantly, dark is the absence of light.  Now, God could have said Boy, it’s dark out there, I can’t see a thing.  But He didn’t.  Rather, He said Let there be light!  Or as the Hebrew translates it literally, Light BE!  Prior to this, there was no light, therefore it was dark.  From this we can see that God is the author of light.  Where did the darkness come from?  Did He go somewhere and buy it, like at Wal-Mart?  No, darkness was the default condition until God created light.  How long had it been dark?  We don’t know, apparently forever up till that point.  But the point is this: the Bible does not tell us that God created the dark, but rather that it was already dark.
 When we get to the part where God created Adam in Genesis 1:26-27, it is written: 
Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
   Where was Adam prior to his creation?  The answer is simple:  he did not yet exist.  Does that mean he was dead?  No, he had not yet lived.  However, once his life ceased, he was dead.  There has to be life first before there can be death.  Adam and Eve were created alive, and apparently they were created to live forever in their physical bodies, on the condition; that they did not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that was in the midst of the Garden of Eden.  We go on to read in Geneses 2:15-17:
Gen 2:15  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
    Now, here is where we start getting to the point.  God told Adam he would surely die in the day he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  So, did God create death that day?  No, but God created life, and the day Adam disobeyed God, the life God created in Adam ceased to exist.  Now, in the day God called forth LET THERE BE LIGHT, darkness did not cease to exist, but rather light overcame the darkness.  The disciple John explained it like this:
Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The Greek defines “comprehended” as seize, possess, apprehend, attain, find, perceive, come upon, obtain, overtake.  In other words, the light could not be put out by the darkness.  It’s like when you go in a dark room and turn on the light.  Where does the darkness go?  Who knows?  But the darkness is unable to overcome light, once the light is turned on.  By default, darkness exists until light comes.  And when the light is removed, it’s dark again.  Until life exists, there is none.  We define death, therefore, as the absence of life.
    When we pray for someone to be healed of sickness, we are praying the will of God, for there is no death in heaven where God lives, and He did not create Adam with any type of disease.  Jesus healed all the sick who came to Him, clearly demonstrating the mercy and grace of His Father, and He said in John 10:30, I and my Father are one.  They were (and are) one in purpose and will, and that will for us is life, not death.  The Lord Jesus came and gave His life as a sacrifice for our sins, for the purpose of restoring the life of God in us, displacing death in us that came upon us due to sin.  Before the sacrifice of Jesus, the default condition was that we would die.  That life of Christ Jesus displaces sickness and death just as the light of Jesus displaces the darkness, and the darkness cannot overtake it.  But, as soon as the light of Jesus no longer reigns in us, darkness moves back in, just as it was in us before the light of Jesus came in.  Can death overpower the healing power of Jesus and drive it out?  No, BUT, we can turn loose of that light by neglect, disbelief, or disobedience, just exactly as Adam turned loose of life by disobeying God when he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and I know of no better way to explain it.
    You can go into a room where the light is on, and by turning off the light, the darkness returns.  Remember, darkness is the default condition that is overcome by light.  If the light of Christ Jesus is removed or turned off, by default, darkness returns.  Light is not a passive condition, it is an overcoming, overpowering, dominant condition.  In order for the light of Christ Jesus to overcome darkness and death in our life, we must keep it turned on.  That is an active stance, not a passive one.  We must constantly seek Jesus, for He is our life, and without Him, there is no light in us, and sin and death reign.
    So then, did God create death?  No, He created life, but some fail to believe in the life that Christ Jesus died to give us, and therefore, the default condition of death overrules their hopes of life.  Hope is not enough.  It takes faith to stand in the face of death and say I have God’s promise and I will not be moved!!  Try as he may, the devil cannot seize, overtake and overpower the light of Christ Jesus in you, but you must “keep the light switched on” to stay in the light.  Some fail to believe through ignorance of what is available to them.  Though the Bible clearly shows us what we can have, some don’t bother to study and learn.  Some fail because of unbelief, plain and simple.  And some have been taught wrong, and others just get tired of holding onto the Word of God and they give up because of the devil’s constant persecution.  But he who overcomes WINS!   Remember, God did not create death, but life.  He did not create sickness and disease, but the absence of His light and life in us allows the default condition of darkness.  Do yourself a favor:  STAY IN THE LIGHT WHERE DARKNESS CANNOT APPROACH!  Will you have to work at it?  Yes!  That’s why it’s called “overcoming”.  Is it worth it?  Jesus thought so, and I believe you will, too.