God, the Holy Spirit, brings forth healing. Healing is not only geared to just the physical, but can be manifested in other areas: mental, emotional, and spiritual. Broken bones can be healed. Mental deficiencies can be healed. Those who have been wounded or broken-hearted can be healed. Those who have not accepted Christ can be healed (spiritually - Christ). All of these types of healing are real and can happen if we have faith. Understand that all healing does not happen instantly. God allows some healing to be delayed. What does it mean to be delayed? When something is delayed, more time has elapsed than what was expected. The results of that expectation are behind schedule. Have you ever felt that God has been behind schedule in healing your situation? I have been guilty of this. Truth be told, God is an on-time God.
We often find ourselves asking God to bless us with good health, more income, and to take away burdens. Those items alone can bring healing to many, especially more income. What areas of our lives are we asking God to heal? Has God healed us in those areas? If not, does it mean that we are not healed nor does it mean that our healing has been delayed? Maybe, the delay is to check our spiritual stamina. We have to remember that whatever we ask of God in Jesus' name, God will do it as long as it is within His will. Do you know that whatever area of your life that is unhealed affects more than just you? There is a reason that we lack in certain areas of our lives. God can fill that void and get the glory in the process. It is not about us, but it is about Jesus. Have you ever noticed that we want things when we want them? We get uptight when we do not get them when we want them. We treat God the same way. We ask God for something and we get uptight when the answers to our prayers do not come when we first ask for them. The reason that we do not get them right away is because they have been delayed. It does not mean that our healing is not coming. It means that it will be on God's time, not ours.
In John 10, Jesus tells us that He is the sheep gate and the only way to the Father is through Him. Those who believe in Him shall have everlasting life. Jesus told us to watch out for the deceivers of the world. Jesus talked about spiritual healing, but His resurrection opened the door for healing in other areas. In John 11, Jesus is going to back up what He said. We find out that Lazarus is very sick and requires healing. Mary and Martha thought that healing was not coming but it was only delayed.
In John 11:4, Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick and acknowledged it. Mary and Martha sent someone to notify Jesus that Lazarus was sick and was dying. Have you ever sent word to Jesus through your prayers that someone close to you is sick and requires some healing? This is what we are seeing here. Jesus tells the messenger(s) that the sickness is on Lazarus for a reason. The sickness that is upon Lazarus is to bring glory God, the Son and the Father. Sometimes God will use our sicknesses or dead situations to bring glory to Him after the tables have turned for the good.
In verse 6, we find out that Jesus is in Jerusalem when He got the message. The text tells us that Jesus stays another two days in the same spot knowing the magnitude of the situation. How many times have we felt that Jesus was not hearing us? How many times have we felt that the healing is not coming fast enough? It is called delayed healing. The healing is coming but not at the time that we want it to come. It will come at the time that it needs to come. We must understand that when we declare healing, it has been manifested in the spirit realm. We must allow it to manifest itself in the natural realm. Will we wait on the healing?
So Jesus tells the disciples to pack and they will go to Bethany to check out the scene. Jesus tells the disciples that Lazarus is sleeping. The disciples thought that Lazarus was really sleep. Jesus was talking about sleep in the spiritual aspect. He was dead. When Jesus got to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. It is sorrow and mourning everywhere at this point.
It is important that verse 18 is touched upon. The text said that Jesus was near to Jerusalem. It states that Jerusalem and Bethany was about fifteen furlongs off. That is about two miles away. Jesus could have easily been there well before then being that the two towns were only two miles apart. There is a reason. A resurrection had to take place. This one last miracle had to take place that will play an important part in the Pharisees getting together to plan to crucify Jesus. That was the last straw. The healing is coming in due time but we must wait on the Lord. Sometimes God allows sickness to come upon us and to linger to help others around us. Can you think of situations where someone was sick or going through and you were strengthened in the end? Someone in your family was terminally ill and you did not think that you could make it. Sometimes, healing comes in death. When you die and are saved, there is no more sickness. There is eternal healing that has taken place. Many people have changed their lives from bad to good because someone died in their family. If that person would not have died, then they would have continued to go down that road of destruction waiting on their number to be called.
In verse 26, Martha begins to tell Jesus that she has the faith. Whatever Jesus asks God, He will do it. Did she really get that she was looking God straight in the face. Sometimes God is right there in the midst of our situations and we do not recognize who He is. Our job is to reach out to God with faith and the healing will come as did the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus tells Mary that those who believe in Him and live in Him shall never die. This is the time to do a spiritual checkup. Are we living in Him by walking with Him on a daily basis? Those who obey the commandments of God shall live forever, no matter what happens here on earth. Do we really believe in Christ and His resurrection? Do we believe that He can heal us of any sicknesses? His death and resurrection allow all aspects of healing to take place. This opened the door for the gifts if healing from the Holy Spirit to manifest itself to us.
Verse 39 tells us the reason why this healing has been delayed. Jesus has been led to the spot where Lazarus lay. The spot is a cave that has a stone blocking the entrance. This sickness/death has affected several people in the negative but God is going to turn the situation around to get glorified in the end. Jesus tells the people there to take away the stone. Many times, it is the stones that have blocked our entrance to life. It blocks our entrance to being resurrected out of our dead situations. The stones were not always stones. The stones were pebbles. The pebbles represent burdens. When we allow problems to accumulate, they add up. The pebbles become stones. The stones become boulders. We need to deal with the stones. The pebbles are a lot lighter than the stones or boulders. Once we remove the stones in our lives, we can see the light. We can see our way out. Some of us have had the stone in our lives taken away. The exit is there but we have been in that dead situation for so long that we have forgotten how to walk to the exit to reach freedom and have life once again. That yoke is a little stronger to break off but it can be done. That type of situation needs an extra push from God. That is why prayer is so important. Prayer breaks through the barriers of any opposing force.
Martha told Jesus that the body of Lazarus stinketh. Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days and he began to stink. Have you ever looked at a situation, yours or someone else's, and said that the situation really stinks. It seems like there is no way out of it because we have been in it so long. It seems like there are no options. We must keep in mind that God is the power source to deliver us out of any situation no matter how bad it stinks.
Take a look at verse 40. Jesus asked Martha a question. If you believe, would you not see God's glory? If we believe that God is able, we will see change. Our faith ushers in the presence of the Lord. Where faith is, God is. Where God is, His presence is. Where His presence is, His glory will be also.
In John 11:43, we see the power of Jesus. When Jesus is in the midst of your situation, you can believe that there will be positive change. What was dead will have life. Jesus told Lazarus to come out. He is telling Lazarus to come out of that dead situation by the power of the Most High God. Did you know that we have that power to speak life into people around us that are going through? Jesus spoke life into Lazarus. To speak life, we must have life our hearts. Life is the word of God. When we speak the word of God and believe, we speak life.
In verse 44, Lazarus came forth. He was resurrected. Jesus told the people around Him to loose Lazarus from his grave clothes. If we only get to a point where we realize what we are wearing and get out of our grave clothes (lust, hatred, fornication, adultery, lying). The sins listed above like other sins will help prepare us for eternal death. We tend to blame God for our situations. It is not God that is wrapping us up. It is man that is wrapping us up in grave clothes. We have seen time and time again where we have walked around in grave clothes because our trials and tribulations have taken our spirit. The only way that we will have life again is to take away the stone(s) in our lives that have closed the exit to freedom (life).
If you truly want to be healed in every aspect of your life, do not look for these remedies that are temporal. Look for healing that is eternal. Turn to God. He is the one that has true power to heal. If you want to learn more about God's power of healing, please log on to my website at http://www.protectionfromharm.com. Thanks for reading my articles.
Rear Tine Tiller Order Now Saved Ultrasonic Mouse Deterrent
No comments:
Post a Comment