"LAZARUS is NOT DEAD!"

So much of what we experience as Believers has to do with our "toggling" back and forth between "perception and reality" or more specifically, FEAR versus FAITH!

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 11 we have no better example of how selfishness and fear can obliterate faith and totally alter our present realities. Here we have Martha and Mary in a panic because their brother Lazarus ("God has helped" in Hebrew) is sick unto death. They wanted Jesus to come to Bethany and be in their presence "physically." As if His wonder working power could only be activated if He was in their proximity. There is a profound lesson here. Don't miss it! (The Lord is omnipresent)!

Jesus' message of belief in the Father and His Word seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Never mind the wonders and miracles that they had witnessed first hand at the feet of the Lord. They had totally disregarded that this was the Man that the Chief priests, Pharisees and Sadducee's wanted to murder because of His opposition to their wicked hearts and religious manipulation of God's Law. That His countless acts of love and grace and peace that had liberated thousands had somehow been forgotten in this one moment in time. What does the Lord have to say to you to get you to remove your "grave clothes?"

Could it be that we all suffer from the same disease? It is called being "myopic" or "shortsighted." It is not our eyes but our words that set us free from the bondage of sin and death. It is the words, "I BELIEVE!" that catapult us into new dimensions in relationship with Christ Jesus and bring joy to God Almighty. In John 11:35, "Jesus wept." was a seismic reaction by the Master to His disgust that even the people in His "inner-circle" didn't KNOW HIM! He wasn't sad over the death of Lazarus because He had just said, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake Him up." (John 11: 11) 

Faith is a verb. It is an action word. Faith is ambulatory (always moving forward). The words of Christ preceded Him that day to Bethany. When He said, "Lazarus is not dead, but only sleeping" it was the words that He spoke that sealed the fate of His dear friend. What words has the Lord God spoken over your life that you have ignored, doubted or rejected? What are you afraid of? What part of your life has the spirit of Lazarus taken hold?

Lazarus was "raised from the dead" (but later he died) but Jesus stated boldly, "I AM the Resurrection and the Life!" (the owner of the keys to the Kingdom). There is a profound difference between these two declarations.

...It is matter of LIFE or DEATH!