Word for the Day May 15
By: Evang.
Cascille Hammack
"When He heard this, Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death.
No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.' " John 11:4
When Jesus was told his beloved friend Lazarus was sick, He responded with John 11:4. But after
He heard the news, He stayed in the city he was in for two more days! Afterward, he told his disciples, "Lazarus
is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." John
11:14. When He arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Lazarus' sisters Martha and Mary were distraught.
Mary was the one who had poured perfume on the Lord previously and wiped his feet with her hair. She did not go out
to meet Jesus when He approached, but Martha did. Martha said in John 11:21, " 'Lord,' Martha said to Jesus, 'if
you had been here, my brother would have not died. But I know that even now God will give You whatever You ask.' "
Jesus said in verse 23, "Your brother will rise again." She thought He was talking about the resurrection
at the last day. What Jesus said to her next is the most powerful proclamation we must always remember in John 11:25,
"Jesus said to her, '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?' " Her answer was perfect, "
'Yes Lord,' she told Him, 'I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come to the world.' "
At this she went back and called Mary. When Mary saw Him, she fell down and cried, "If you had been here, my brother
would not have died." John 11:32 Verse 33 says, "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come
along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in Spirit and troubled. 'Where have you laid him?' He asked."
Jesus then tells them to take away the stone and Martha warns that there would be an odor because it had been
four days. Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" John 11:40.
Then 41-44 declares, "So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank You that
You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that
they may believe that You sent Me. When He had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out! The
dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to
him; 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Lazarus' resurrection is a powerful miracle showing
us Jesus is the resurrection! Not only will He give us resurrection from our own physical death when we believe Him
into eternal life, but He will resurrect the dead circumstances in our lives for His glory. Isaiah 55:8 explains, "
'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.' " No matter the darkness
and valleys we sometimes face, even when we have done nothing to warrant the circumstances we must remember that Jesus is
the resurrection! He will resurrect our circumstances in a supernatural way for His glory! As Martha said, Lazarus
even had an odor, and was afraid for the stone to be moved. Sometimes our circumstances can have such an odor we don't
want anyone to be exposed to them. Sometimes they are so beyond our control and seemingly beyond rectification, but
that is when we as believers must take a stand to trust Jesus at his Word that He is the resurrection and the life.
He gives life to what is dead! He is life!!! There is not life apart from Him. If your circumstances are
impossible, glorify God that He will show up and display to you and the world that nothing is impossible to Him! Give
Him thanks for your suffering that through it His glory may be revealed in this earth! Your testimony is of great worth.
2 Cor. 4:17,18 "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them
all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is
unseen is eternal." It had to get as bad as it did, for God to reveal His glory in your circumstances. Don't
fail in your trial, know Him who speaks with all authority, "I am the resurrection and the life.." John 11:25.
Let Him show up and call to your circumstances, " 'Come out!' "
