"COME FORTH”
John 11:43
Bishop Randall Parker III
This is a season of Uncommon….unexpected blessings in the lives of God’s people, and there are people on the verge of these blessings, so don’t give up regardless of what your circumstances look like. God can work a miracle after the due date…that’s why they call it a grace period! We can’t forget that God performs the possible when it looks impossible. People of God can boldly say, you may not see the breakthrough"don’t write me off"’ .
We see this in John 11 with the story of Lazarus .We must realize that devotion does not exempt us from deficiencies. In John 11:1-2 we see that in the midst of relationship and devotion, sickness still creeps in. We must remember that the Word tells us that those that live godly will suffer persecution.
You must also understand that your deficiency has been designed for deliverance. God has designed that sickness or the thing you need deliverance from so that He will get the glory. We see this in John 11:4….This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God… The glory is the guarantee that you are coming out of it.
In verses 5-6 we see that a delay is not a denial. Jesus loved this family, but He did not respond immediately when He heard of Lazarus’ sickness…He purposely delayed it. If God always showed up when we want Him to show up, we might develop a case of "anthropomorphic arrogance." In other words, if He delivered us when we wanted to be delivered, we might start thinking that we did it instead of Him.
You must also be able to discern in your dilemma. Verse 9 shows us that when facing dilemmas we must know that we are with the Light. If we just follow God, who is the light, we will not fall. John 11:11-15 shows us that Lazarus died a physical death, but he was spiritually sleep. If Jesus had been with Lazarus during his sickness, He would have healed him rather than let him die…there was no way Lazarus could have died in the presence of the resurrection. As mentioned earlier, Jesus delayed coming to Lazarus for a purpose. With Lazarus’ death, Jesus’ power over death was later revealed to his disciples and others…His glory was revealed.
Verses 16-26 tells us that you must have determination in your destination. We see that Martha knows it looks rough, but she also knows too much about Jesus to give up…Martha still expects a miracle. Jesus then tells Martha that Lazarus will rise again, and Martha responded that she knew he would in the resurrection at the last day. However, Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life…. Jesus is saying no matter what you are going through, I can pull you through; and when He explained it to Martha in this way, she believed. These verses also reveal that God discloses who He is through trial.
In John 11:28-31we see that you can’t allow yourself to be discouraged by doubters. Mary had an attitude of entitlement (remember in verse 2 that it was Mary that anointed the Lord). She felt that after anointing Jesus and going through what she went through that He had no right to let her brother die. Not only was Mary struggling with her feelings, she also had others following her and pumping her up against God. Jesus saw this and He wept because He saw that the Jews had infiltrated the process…they had messed Mary up.
In verse 38 we see that you must have divine directive. Jesus came to Lazarus’ grave and there was a cave with a stone lying upon it. The cave represents the place in which you hold the problem, and the stone represents the thing that you put over the problem that is a constant reminder of the problem. Jesus’ directive to Martha was to remove the stone. However, Martha then called her own brother stinky. Jesus in verse 40 told her that although she was seeing glory, she was still focusing on circumstance. We must focus on God’s directive instead of our circumstances.
We see a declaration of deliverance in John 11:43. Jesus calls Lazarus by his name…it was Lazarus’ miracle. It’s your miracle!
When Lazarus was delivered he came out bound in grave clothes (John 11:44). Sometimes you are delivered, but still have the garments of your old-self following you around. Jesus told them that were around Lazarus to loose his grave clothes and let him go. We must loose and let go of those left overs that bind us because our destiny has been defined by God.
