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
In yesterday’s message, we closed out with Martha expressing her frustration to Jesus, saying, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Most of us can identify with her. Her pain is obvious and understandable. But what Jesus said should have caused her faith to leap. When Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again,” she should have started praising God. The problem is that her heart would not allow her to hope for her brother. Lazarus’ situation was beyond her capacity to believe God. Since he had been dead for four days, her belief system was closed to any possibility of a resurrection. Maybe if it had been four hours, she might have thought that Jesus could still do something about it. But four days? Four long days? After four nights of crying herself to sleep, she was not open to believing God. Her mind and her heart had already moved on from any possibility of the supernatural. This is why it is critical that we expand our capacity to believe God.
God is often looking to bless us, but we miss out on His best because we fail to even fathom the possibility of what He wants to do. Jesus plainly told her that her brother was going to rise again, but she missed it altogether. She said, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” In other words, she was saying, “Oh, I believe he will be part of the end-time resurrection.” But Jesus was not talking about some distant thing. He was ready to MOVE right then and there in their lives. But Martha could not believe it. It’s hard to receive what you cannot perceive. She had lost her joy and peace in believing God. She was no longer believing God for Lazarus. To her, Lazarus was part of the past.
Jesus gave her another try. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” That was a powerful statement. That should have shocked her faith back into place. That should have awakened her belief. That should have resurrected her hope. And I like the way that Jesus offered the statement to her. After He said it, He asked, “Do you believe this?” In other words Jesus was saying, “If you can believe this, if you can believe that I can do anything, if you can believe that I have resurrection power, if you can believe that I can bring the dead back to life, then I can turn your dead and seemingly hopeless situation around.” But we will see, as we continue on in this series, that she was not ready for it. What Jesus said went right over her head.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. You need JOY and PEACE to believe God for the long-haul.
In 2008, I spent the entire year teaching a series based on Romans 15:13 entitled “Joy and Peace in Believing.” While you actively believe God to do something in your life, it is critical that you maintain both the excitement of joy and the serenity of peace. If you maintain joy and peace, you will be able to continue to believe God until He does what you are believing Him for. But if you lose your joy and peace along the way, like Martha did, you will stop believing and run the risk of missing out on God’s best.
In this season of refreshing and restoring, if you have lost your JOY and PEACE, my prayer is that you get it back. I pray that you get it back right now while you read this. May the JOY of the Lord overtake you, and may His peace flood your heart and mind.
2. Once you close the door of your heart to the possibility of something, you won’t hear God anymore concerning it.
— Once you stop believing God and your heart closes the door to the possibility of it, you are no longer in-faith. Once you release the grip you had on your faith, you have closed to door to God. He will try to get you to open it again, but it is hard to reignite faith in a believer once it is gone.
— Once your belief system is closed to the possibility of something in your life, you are no longer open to God for it. Even if God speaks to you about it, it will be hard for you to receive it.
— Jesus tried a few times to get Martha to believe, but she missed all He was saying because her heart was closed. He even said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” But it went right over her head.
— Don’t make this mistake. Remain OPEN to God! He can do anything.
3. As we walk with God, read His Word, and have faith experiences, one of our goals should be to OPEN our hearts to impossibilities so we are ready when God wants to perform the impossible.
— It is often difficult for humans to fathom the enormity of God’s blessing. He loves us so much, and He planned to do so much in our lives that we sometimes have a hard time ‘wrapping our minds’ around His plans. But it is critical that we do. This is why God goes to great lengths to grow our faith.
— It is hard to receive what you do not perceive. This is why the Holy Spirit goes to great lengths to help you develop spiritual perception. He wants you to know all He has planned for you!
— Expanding your capacity to believe God requires stepping out of your comfort zone. Sometimes, God will challenge you to trust Him in areas where you have never experienced His intervention before. When you embrace the unknown and believe in God’s promises, you open yourself to greater miracles and breakthroughs.
4. Embrace the concept of “God-sized” dreams.
— There is literally nothing God cannot do. However, there are many things He cannot do in our lives if we fail to believe.
— One of the reasons God wanted me to teach this series on miracles is to help you believe on His level. When you believe on God’s level, you know anything is possible.
— Instead of limiting your expectations to what seems reasonable or achievable, dare to dream big and believe that God can surpass even your wildest imagination. By doing this, you will expand your capacity to believe in God’s power and open yourself up to the abundant blessings He has in store for you.
Say this, “I dream God-sized dreams. I belive on God’s level and I believe what God believes about me!“
5. You need a NEW MIND to believe on God’s level.
— In one of my previous messages, I discussed the importance of renewing your mind to the Word of God. To expand your capacity to believe, you must be intentional about replacing limiting thoughts and beliefs with the truth found in God’s Word.
— The day you were Born-Again, you became a new man (or woman), but you were still living in an old body, and you were in need of a new mind. You need a new mindset to maximize your purpose and potential. You must reframe your thinking to align with God’s thinking, and you must build up the faith to believe what God believes about you.
— As you meditate on the scriptures and allow them to transform your thinking, your faith will grow, and you will begin to believe God for the impossible.
6. To grow to another level, you must believe on another level first.
— Your legs will never take you where your soul has never been.
— In Christ, the change happens on the inside BEFORE it manifests on the outside.
— If you can’t SEE IT, you will never BE IT!
— As you expand your capacity to believe God, you will become more sensitive to the divine impulses of the Holy Spirit. When you are aware of the Holy Spirit, and you are willing to follow Him, He will lead you into new territories of faith. As you go, by faith, you will experience the supernatural power of God in ways you never thought possible.
— Jesus had performed many miracles, but this miracle (raising Lazarus from the dead) required faith on another level. The man had been dead for four days. Jesus had faith, but Martha did not.
— You say you want to go (or grow) to another level in 2023. You say, “This is my season! This is my time! This is my turn!” That sounds great. But if you don’t believe on God’s level (limitless) in your heart (your inner man), you may never experience God’s best in your hands (the manifestation of it). You have to believe it before God will manifest it!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
I am finally getting to the point where I genuinely know You to be the God of no limits. There is nothing You can’t do!
Therefore, no matter what things look like in the natural, I will maintain my joy and peace in believing, I will operate in faith and patience, and I will continue to believe that You can and will move in my life.
I remove every artificial limit I have ever placed on You.
My belief system is open to the impossible and the supernatural.
I refuse to close the door to any possibility.
I am open, I am ready, and I am receptive to whatever You want to do in my life today and any day!
I believe on Your level, and I shall experience Your best! 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!
