Read John 11
This morning we continue our series entitled, “The Year of Supernatural Manifestation”, with our mini-series on “The Miracles of Jesus.” We have been studying the miracle of Lazarus for about a month now. Today we will finally close it out. You know the story by now, so I don’t need to provide any more recaps. Just think about the story for a moment, and let’s jump straight into a few final golden nuggets we can glean from it.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. God’s timing is based on His plan.
a) Our God is sovereign and all knowing. He knows the end from the beginning. Therefore, He is not moved by current day situations. He already knows what He is going to do and He already knows how the situation is going to turn out.
b) When your watch of expectation is not set to God’s clock of manifestation, you will get frustrated while you wait on God to do what He will ONLY do in His timing.
c) When you understand God’s timing, you realize that a delay does not mean a denial. It just means that you were expecting it before God purposed to release it.
d) The more you walk with God and the more you die to self, the more your watch of expectation will be in sync with God’s clock of manifestation.
2. Your pain won’t move God from His purpose.
a) God knows what He is doing and He knows when He will do what He will do. In the process of waiting on God, if you don’t properly discern His timing, you will inevitably experience the pain associated with NOT getting something when you expected it. Here’s my point. Your heart may be hurt, your tears may be flowing, you may even cry out to God, but tears and cries are not going to move God from His purpose.
b) God will here your cries and He may even send people your way to comfort you in your time of despair, but God is not going to change His plan because of your tears. This is important to understand. If you want to give God something to consider, give Him your faith. Our God is more apt to be moved by faith, than by tears.
c) God loves you without question and His love is immeasurable. But when He looks at you, He is looking for faith, not feelings.
d) God already knew the pain you would experience and instead of removing the pain, He gave you His grace. He empowered you to endure what you have to endure on the road to fulfilling His purpose.
3. You may get to the point where God trusts you with a painful situation.
a) Raising Lazarus from the dead was the last miracle Jesus performed before He went to the cross. It is arguably the greatest of all the miracles. But I am convinced that most of the time people forget that a family was required for this miracle. God had to allow people He loved to go through a tremendous ordeal in order to manifest His glory the way that He did. He did not cause the sickness, but He allowed it to end in death and He allowed Lazarus to remain dead for four days. Lazarus had to die, Mary and Martha had to mourn, they cried ‘till they had no more tears, and then God showed up! The miracle was great, but so was their pain. God could not have trusted many families with this pain. He trust Mary, Martha and Lazarus, because He knew them, He loved them, and He knew this would not break them.
b) What can God trust you with? The closer you get to God, the more He knows He can trust you with. It may be painful, but it will also be purposeful.
c) When my last son, Ethan, was born, God trusted Isabella and I to get His Word into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the National Military Medical Center (NMMC). Ethan was in the NICU for 56 days. Isabella and I ministered to lots of people. We brought the love and light of God into a place that we would never be authorized to enter, unless we had a baby in there. It was painful to see my little baby born at 3lbs. It was painful to endure 56 days of visits to the NICU. It was painful to see his little body struggle. But there was purpose in the pain. Lives were changed. Hearts were touched. God was glorified. This happened because He trusted us with the pain. He knew we could take it. His grace was already on us for it. What can God trust with you? What level of pain can He trust you to endure? Will you embrace His grace and overcome the pain or will you buckle under the pressure, throw in the towel, blame God and run away? The choice is yours!
Closing Confession: Father, this is a year of Great Victory for me. I have learned about Your miracle working power and I am ready to see it manifested in my life. I rest in You. I trust in You. I believe in You. I keep my eyes fixed and focused on You. Come what may, painful or not, I will embrace Your grace and overcome every challenge by Your power. You can trust me Father. I will never give up on You and I will never allow anything to derail me from my destiny. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
