This morning, we continue our series, “The Miracles of Jesus.” Before we get into the miracle, let’s look at the foundational scripture I will share with you all year.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us. I pray you get refreshed and restored as we study each miracle.
Read John 11
We have been studying the story of Lazarus for a while now. I trust you have been enjoying it. There is so much to this story that I will continue to take my time as we walk through it.
Yesterday we saw how Jesus plainly told His disciples that Lazarus was dead. The fact that Jesus allowed the situation to get to the point where Lazarus died led to many questions. The family was left wondering why Jesus had not shown up. The disciples were left wondering why Jesus decided to stand-pat for two more days and basically ALLOW Lazarus to die. And then they had to reconcile Jesus’ statement to them when He said, “For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” Did they not believe already? I am sure they THOUGHT they believed in God. But what Jesus was alluding to was the fact that this situation would stretch them and cause them to believe on another level. There are levels to your faith. There are levels to believing in God!
This miracle came at the end of Jesus’ ministry. He had already been with his team for over three years. These were 12 men who had been with Jesus every day for the entire span of his ministry. They saw him perform miracle after miracle. They saw Him do all the things we know of and even all the things that are not documented in the Bible. They had a front-row seat to Jesus’ life.
Think about that for a minute. We read about what Jesus did, and our lives are changed forever. But they did not read about it. They experienced it. They were there. They saw the disabled stand up and walk. They saw blind men and women receive their sight. They saw Jesus and Peter walk on water. They felt the fish and loaves multiply in their hands. They experienced it all.
So, when Jesus says that he was glad that they were not there when Lazarus died because this miracle, the one that I’m calling “the mother of all miracles,” was going to cause them to believe, it teaches us that there are certainly LEVELS TO BELIEVING; LEVEL TO OUR FAITH!
The disciples believe in God, obviously. But they did not believe on the level that Jesus was talking about. It’s one this to cause a woman who was bent over to straighten up her back, but when we are talking about a man who is dead and who had been dead for four long days, and God raises him from the dead, that is another level of believing. Jesus had NO LIMITS to His faith. This is how we are supposed to believe!
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. There are no impossibilities in God. There is literally NOTHING God can’t do. However, you limit God by your inability to believe. This is why EXPANDING your capacity to believe God is so important.
2. You limit God’s ability to operate in your life when you fail to believe in Him and His limitless power. All things are possible for him who believes (Mark 9:23). But for the one who does not believe, there are many impossibilities because they are looking at their circumstances from a human point of view instead of God’s point of view.
3. Reading the Bible is great, but to grow your faith to a limitless level, you will have to experience the God of the Bible. You cannot just know God from a book.
4. It is your experiences with God that prove the reality of His power. Jesus knew that this experience (raising Lazarus from the dead) was going to take his team’s faith to another level. The problem is that to experience God in a supernatural way, you will need to be placed in impossible and uncomfortable situations. You will never know God as a healer if you are never sick. You will never know God as a supernatural provider if you never launch out, in faith, beyond your resources. You will never know the soothing touch of God’s peace if you are never shaken, rattled, or disturbed. In short, you may be introduced to God in a book (the Bible), but you will only become intimately acquainted with Him through your experiences.
5. True experiences with the God of No Limits stretch you to the point where the supernatural becomes natural to you. Experiences help you grow your faith to the next level.
6. When you truly believe God, you are no longer the issue; you are no longer the one holding God back. At that point, God is free to manifest His best in your life!
7. Jesus was glad that Lazarus’ situation got so bad. Not because He wanted to see Lazarus, Mary, and Martha suffer but because people needed to see the impossible become possible before their very eyes. Jesus had already raised two people from the dead, but it would be nothing like this. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days, after his body was already stinking, and after rigor mortis was setting in, it caused people to believe God in a way no one ever had. This is what happens when the supernatural is manifested on earth. And this is why miracles, signs, and wonders are so important. It causes people to believe in God in ways they never have, and it causes them to release every artificial limit they have ever placed on our limitless God!
8. Jesus believed in the Father, and He wanted (badly) for His disciples to believe. I am convinced that He wants us to believe as well. If we can believe, we position ourselves to receive.
9. Believing on another level requires dying to self and dying to the limits of your humanity. When we die to self we create an atmosphere where miracles can take place because we (along with all our limits) are getting out of the way!
10. When we believe in God’s ability to do the impossible, we also become more resilient in the face of adversity. Trusting in God’s power enables us to maintain hope and persevere, even when confronted with seemingly insurmountable challenges. Why? Because we truly believe that God can do anything, and we believe that God will never leave us. Therefore, no matter how bad a situation seems, we believe God will see us through it! This is the type of resilience the Father wants us to live with.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
I know there are LEVELS of believing, and in this season, my FAITH is growing to another LEVEL!
I believe in You, Father! There are no impossibilities for You. Therefore, I declare that there are no impossibilities for me!
I take my limits off of You. You are a limitless God, and I no longer limit You with weak faith, fear, doubt, or unbelief.
No matter what a situation looks like, I believe You can, and I have faith that You will, manifest Your power and Your glory in my life! There is literally NOTHING You cannot do!
I am a believer, not a doubter. I walk by faith and not by fear. My heart is open to believing on another level. My faith grows daily through Your Word and the experiences You allow me to have.
My spirit is open to receive. I am no longer the issue. Father, You are free to do whatever You want to do in my life! Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
