Lazarus (Part 15) – The Danger of NOT Believing

Read John 11

This morning we continue our series entitled, “The Year of Supernatural Manifestation”, with our mini-series on “The Miracles of Jesus.”  Let’s continue with the story of Lazarus.

In our last message, I further highlighted the differences in the two sisters.  We saw that even after Mary had touched Jesus and even after He had traveled to the gravesite ready to resurrect Lazarus, Martha stepped in and mentioned that the body was stinking.  She was obviously not helping, but it was because she was not believing.  Her faith switch was clearly in the “OFF” position.  She had no clue of what Jesus was about to do and it is hard to receive what you cannot perceive.  This led Jesus to say, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Martha’s problem was that she had stopped believing.  Now, I am convinced she was believing while Lazarus was still alive.  She was confident that Jesus would show up and heal Lazarus, while he was still breathing.  She had faith in Jesus, faith in His power to heal, and faith that her brother would get better, while her brother was still with her.  But once Lazarus died, her belief died with him.  Once she stopped believing, she released the grip she had on her faith.  Once she gave up her faith, she lost all hope.  Once she lost her hope, her mind and her heart closed the door to the situation.  As far as she was concerned, Lazarus was in her rear-view mirror; Lazarus was  past-tense to her, with no possibility of crossing back over into her present.  In the case of Lazarus, Martha was no longer a believer.  She might have believed God for other things, but not for this.  This was, “case closed,” “end of story,” “game over.”

Jesus came.  He was ready, willing and able to bring Lazarus back to life.  Jesus said, “…if you believed,” but that was the problem.  Martha was no longer believing.  Belief is a powerful thing.  Belief is not faith, but without belief you will never get to faith.  Belief opens the door of possibility of it.  Faith exercises confidence in God for it.  Belief says, “It can happen.”  Faith says, “It will.”

We are called “believers” for a reason.  Jesus said, “As far as possibilities go, everything is possible for the person who believes” (Mark 9:23).  There are no impossibilities for the people who believe in God, but there are countless impossibilities for those who don’t believe.  For example, if a Christian is sick and God wants to heal them, but they don’t believe in healing, then healing becomes an impossibility for them.  Healing is not impossible, it just becomes impossible for them.  Why?  Because they have closed the door to it through unbelief.  This is what Martha had done.  She closed the door to it.  She could no longer “see” it.  She no longer believed.  Please don’t make the same mistake.

So what does this mean to you today?  A few things.

1.  God wants you to believe in Him.

a)  We are called “believers” for a reason.  We are supposed to believe in a God we cannot see and believe that the God we cannot see will manifest Himself in our lives in ways we can see.

b)  When you believe God and you open your heart to the limitless possibilities of His power, He is pleased with you and He is free to do what He planned to do in your life, from the foundations of the world.

c)  While God is God, and He could theoretically do whatever He wants, He seeks your cooperation.  For Him to fully OPERATE in your life, He wants you to CO-OPERATE with Him.  When you do, He works through you, He is glorified in you, and you are glorified in the earth.  God can glorify you, so that He can be glorified through you, when your heart is open to believe whatever He wants to do.

2.  When you don’t believe in God, you are hindering Him from moving in your life.

a)  God is a God of no-limits, but we put limits on Him when we fail to believe.  This is what Martha did.  She stopped believing when Lazarus stopped breathing.  Because of it, the door of possibility was CLOSED in her heart and mind.  This is a dangerous place to be.

b)  If you can’t believe it, chances are, you won’t have it.  I will use Jesus’ hometown as an example.  One day after Jesus started His ministry, He went back to His hometown, He ministered in the synagogue, and He basically revealed to them that He was the Messiah.  They people there rejected Him, because they could not believe that Mary’s son or Joseph’s boy was the Messiah.  They could not believe that the carpenter from ‘down the street’ was the Son of God.  This caused Jesus to say, “A prophet is without honor in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”  Then the Bible says something terrible.  It says, “Jesus could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them, because of their unbelief.”  Since they could not believe, Jesus COULD NOT perform miracles.  The Bible does not say Jesus “did not want to”.  It says He “COULD NOT” perform the impossible, because the people failed to believe.  Do you see how important believing God is?

c)  No matter how painful your situation has been, don’t make the mistake Martha made.  Continue to believe God.  If God still wants to do it, you should still keep believing for it!  It’s never too late and it’s never too hard for God.

Closing Confession:  Father, this is a year of Great Victory for me. I am a believer, not a doubter.  I refuse to give up on believing You!  I will not allow my situation to cross over into the realm of the past-tense in my mind or heart.  I will not allow unbelief to stifle my belief and faith.  Belief is choice, faith is a choice, doubt is a choice, and unbelief is a choice.  I choose to believe.  I choose to operate in faith.  I choose to continue to believe until I see Your glory manifested in my life.  I add patience to my faith and I maintain joy and peace while I wait in expectation.  I am a believer and I believe in the God of NO LIMITS!  I declare this by faith.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

This is Today’s Word!  Apply it and Prosper.