You ask for the fear of death to be destroyed among believers, and rightly so, for this is the very heart of Christ's triumph. Do you not hear what the apostle declares? Through death He defeated him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and liberated all who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. Consider what this means. The one who fears death is a slave, cowering before every threat, clinging to life at any cost. But the one who has learned to despise death through Christ stands higher than all men, free from every tyranny. When the devil finds a soul that counts not even its life dear, what hold can he have? None at all. For if a man is ready to die for the truth, shall he fear loss of property or banishment? These are small matters to him who has already given up everything.
You confess that you are like a child in grasping these things. But this is the very place to begin. Christ Himself calls death nothing more than sleep. When He came to the ruler's daughter, He said plainly, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth." So it is with all who have died in Him. Since He Himself was to die, He prepares His disciples beforehand to bear the end meekly. Death is from that time forward become a sleep, and a sleep that leads to a kingdom. Consider how Paul reasoned. When he was in bonds, he did not say, "I am about to die, and that is my shame." No, he said that whether by life or by death, Christ would be magnified in his body. He counted death as gain, not loss. That is the true mark of a Christian soul.
You pray for wisdom and revelation to know the exceeding greatness of God's power in raising Christ. This is what you must understand: the power that raised Him is the same power at work in you who believe. If you have been planted together in the likeness of His death through baptism, you shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. For if you have shared in His death and burial, how much more will you share in His resurrection and life? The greater thing, sin itself, has already been done away with. Why then should you doubt about the lesser, the doing away of death? The light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Christ by enduring death has so overcome death that He has recovered those already held by it. He holds the keys of Death and Hades, and He has opened the prison doors.
Do not expect to feel boldness all at once. This understanding grows as you take up your cross daily. Jesus said not, "Let him renounce himself once," but, "Let him take up his cross," meaning you are to bear about this death continually, day by day ready for slaughter. For many have despised riches and pleasure, but death they still feared. Yet Christ wills that His champion should wrestle even unto blood, and that the limits of his course should reach unto slaughter, counting it all joy. When you set your mind to this, you begin to be conformed to His death not only in the likeness of baptism but in the actual suffering of your body. Then you will know the power of His resurrection in a way mere words cannot teach.
The apostle Paul strove toward this very thing. He endured all things, if by any means he might attain to the resurrection from the dead. He did not mean the common resurrection, for all will rise, some to honor and some to punishment. He meant that resurrection which leads straight to Christ Himself, the resurrection of those who have become true brothers to Him in suffering. That is a great and fearsome dignity. Not everyone who rises will share in that intimacy. But the one who dies with Christ, who fears no tyrant because he has already passed through the fear, will know the exceeding greatness of His power.
Do you see now what you are asking? It is not a matter of merely assenting to the truth. You must so set your hope on God that no event can shake you. When death approaches, it casts no terror; when life continues, you are bold in preaching and living. For if the fear of death could cut short your boldness, then death would be worthy of shame. But if you have been liberated from that fear, there is no shame anywhere. Look at the martyrs. They stood before judges who could only threaten death, and they laughed. Why? Because they had already died to the world. They had taken up the cross and found it lighter than the dainties of those who sit in prison houses, dreading the sentence. That is your calling. That is what Christ purchased for you.
So when you see Jesus in the Revelation as the Living One who was dead and is now alive forevermore, do not let your mind shrink back as though seeing a ghost. He places His right hand on you and says, "Do not be afraid." He does not speak this to the fearless by nature, but to those who have admitted their terror and yet believe. Your confession of childishness is no hindrance. The one who says "I cannot grasp it" is already being taught. Open your eyes then to the Scriptures. Recognize that the death of sin is past, and the death of the body is a sleep. He who has delivered you from the greater will certainly deliver you from the lesser. The keys are in His hand, not the devil's. He opens and no one shuts. He calls you forth into a life that no death can touch. Let this mind be in you, and pray with confidence, for you have already received what you ask.