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 through this miracle several times now. I have been giving you lessons we can glean from it. We will continue today.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Faith will require you to actively believe God for the impossible.
— Faith isn’t passive; it’s active. When Jesus commanded them to roll away the stone from Lazarus’ tomb, despite their doubts and fears, they obeyed. Faith, at times, demands us to take steps that defy human logic, but when we follow God’s lead, miracles happen.
— Faith prompts God’s participation. Faith isn’t merely a mental affirmation of God’s power; it compels us to partake in God’s plans. Mary and Martha participated in the miracle by believing in Jesus’ words and following His command. Of course, Jesus led the effort. This is how actively involved in God’s plans we must be.
— Faith welcomes miracles. When we act on our faith, we create an environment conducive to miracles. Some people cannot muster up the faith to even ask God to do what only He can do. By rolling away the stone, Lazarus’ family set the stage for the extraordinary. They welcomed God’s power into their circumstances.
— To live by faith, you must actively get God involved in your life. Faith engages God’s grace. Remember that as you enter this day!
2. God wants us whole.
— Lazarus’ resurrection was not a temporary reprieve; it was a complete transformation. When Jesus steps into our lives, He doesn’t just offer temporary fixes; He provides complete change.
— With Jesus, we are not only brought back to life but we are also given a new life. Lazarus’ resurrection symbolizes the new life we receive in Christ. When He revives us, He doesn’t merely restore us to our former state; He makes us new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
— When Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth!” Lazarus popped up. His spirit rushed back into his body after four days. He was alive, but he was still bound with “dead stuff.” Jesus told the people there to “loose him and let him go.” God does not want you alive and bound. God wants you alive and free! In Christ, we’re not only resurrected; we are also set free from our past. God is not judging your future by your past. So neither should you!
— God’s miracles are not halfway measures. They are full, complete, and far beyond our wildest expectations.
— God doesn’t merely change our circumstances; He transforms our lives.
3. God’s miracles often exceed our expectations – God will blow your mind!
(Ephesians 3:20 TPT)
Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.
— God’s ways are higher than our ways. His plans and purposes exceed our human understanding and expectations. Mary and Martha could not have expected the resurrection of their brother, but God had a plan that far surpassed their hopes.
— God is a God of abundance. When He performs a miracle, it’s not half-hearted or minimal. God doesn’t just meet our needs – He exceeds them.
— Thankfully, God’s miracles are not limited by our imagination. We may pray for a solution, but God’s response can be far greater than we could imagine. Mary and Martha prayed for healing, but God gave them a resurrection.
4. Miracles bring glory to God and faith to people.
God performs miracles to reveal His glory. I have talked to you a great deal about the glory of God in this series. Let me talk to you about building up your faith.
— Miracles reinforce and help build up our faith. Seeing God’s power firsthand, as Mary and Martha did, can fortify our faith and deepen our relationship with Him.
— Miracles can lead others to faith. The miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection led many to believe in Jesus. When God moves in our lives, it can ignite faith in those around us.
— At our church (VCMI), we see God do things that exceed human explanation all the time. But recently, while in a service where God was healing people, the person leading the service, Randy Clark, explained what was happening in a way that I knew, but I had not articulated it that way before. Randy played a video of people getting healed. In one case, there was a woman who had lost her eye in an accident decades before the service. She even had a fake eye in her eye socket when she got to church. When the power of God started moving, we received her healing. She took the fake eye out, and a new eye was manifesting in her eye socket right in front of everyone. It was progressive. They put her on camera. She had the fake eye in her hands, and the new eye came in. Then slowly, you could see the pupil coming into focus. Then she was able to see with her new eye.
As they showed what God was doing for the lady on camera, on the big screen, the people present in that service (this was in Europe) increased their faith to believe. So miracles started breaking out all over the service. Well, in our church in Virginia, as we played the video and Randy Clark talked about miracle after miracle, he said, “Showing you these miracles is helping you to build up your faith.” We then asked people to come for prayer who needed healing, and many were healed.
My point is that sometimes people need to BUILD UP THEIR FAITH for the supernatural. When God performs a miracle, yes, it brings glory to His name. But it also helps build up people’s faith to experience a similar manifestation of His power.
As I have been teaching you about miracles for five months, I pray that you have built up your faith to believe!
5. Have the faith to ASK FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE!
— You will never see the impossible if you don’t ask for it! You cannot walk on water if you do not get out of the boat. You cannot hit a home run if you don’t have a swing. To experience God on this level, you must ASK FOR IT!
— Even Jesus, God in human form, showed us the importance of asking the Father for what seems impossible. In the case of Lazarus, Jesus thanked the Father aloud before calling Lazarus forth from the grave, demonstrating that He was asking the Father to do what was humanly impossible (John 11:41-42).
— To see God’s power manifest in impossible ways, we must dare to ask Him for the impossible. Stretching our faith means praying prayers that are beyond our capabilities, but not beyond God’s. It means believing that what is impossible for man is possible for God.
— We need to believe that God can do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). We should never limit God based on our human understanding. Our prayers should reflect our belief in His limitless power and His willingness to act on our behalf.
— We must not be afraid to pray bold prayers. Jesus encourages us to ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7). When we approach God with faith, asking Him to do what seems impossible, we invite His supernatural power into our situations.
— Have the audacity to ask big! God is a big God, and He is able to do far more than we could ever imagine. Therefore, we should not shy away from asking big, asking for the impossible, because our God specializes in things thought impossible!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
I thank You for helping me to build up my faith by studying the miracles You performed through Jesus. I now believe that You can and will perform the impossible in my life!
I will never doubt Your mighty power to work in and through me. You can achieve infinitely more than my greatest request and more than my most unbelievable dream.
You are capable of exceeding my wildest imagination! You are God, and Your ways are so much higher than mine that my finite mind cannot comprehend all You want to do in my life. So I simply OPEN my heart to You!
I believe, I receive, and I ask! I have the audacity to ask You to do what only You can do! I have the faith to lays hold of Your grace. As a result, I get to 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!
