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GOD IS ABLE!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD! How true it is. And yet, there are times in our lives when the pressures and cares can crowd around us with such intensity that we can easily lose sight of how awesome He is and how He is at work on our behalf. There are times in our lives when all seems lost and hopeless. Even in times like that, God is at work to restore that which seems lost, and to resurrect that which seems dead.

LAZARUS COME FORTH!

Let’s follow the story of Mary and Martha’s relationship with Jesus. They get into a terrible crisis over their brother’s sickness. They ask Jesus to come because they have seen His power in the past. They send a message to Him saying, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” Jesus sends back a reply and says, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” This is a wonderful story in John 11. Verse 5 says, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” So many times when we are in a terrible circumstance in our life, we seem to forget the Lord’s love for us. Other times when we are asking Him to fulfill a desire of our heart and He says, “Wait,” we can easily lose site of His faithfulness to us.

We can learn many things from the story of Lazarus:

1. WE SHOULD NOT BE COERCED OUT OF THE FATHER’S TIMING.

Jesus watched for the opportune times to reflect the Father’s glory from Heaven. With the Lord’s love for Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, it might seem that Jesus would have immediately left His post and gone to His sick friend. However, He waited two days. This event revealed His ability to control His emotion. Even friends and close acquaintances could not coerce Him out of the Father’s timing. He was not moved to action by external forces.

This is key for us. Our emotions must be intact to keep us in God’s perfect timing. This will ensure that we will be at the right place at the right time. In those days, the rabbis taught that after three days the soul returned to God. It was believed that the soul hovered near the deceased for three days. Jesus’ delay meant Lazarus was in the grave for four days. This meant he was good and dead, and that his soul had departed. This is the only record in the Bible of a resurrection occurring past three days. When we are in turmoil, crying out to God desperately, we need to remember that God, who knows what tomorrow holds, knows the perfect time to move on our behalf.

2. HE REVEALED THE PROGRESSION OF FAITH THAT WAS NECESSARY TO OVERCOME.

He kept working with Martha, Mary, and His disciples to show them His character. He encouraged them to believe. “If you will believe…” He kept saying, “You will see the glory of God.” Allow the Lord to raise your faith for what He will do in days ahead. Faith in difficult situations can seem to allude us. Remember, faith is that pause between knowing God’s plan and actually seeing it take place. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

3. HOPELESSNESS IS TURNED TO RESURRECTION POWER.

Martha and Mary had lost all hope of seeing their brother again. However, Jesus kept ministering to their hopelessness and encouraging them in faith. Jesus stated that Lazarus’s sickness was not unto death, but “for the glory of God.” Was the raising of a dead person the issue? What was the relationship of this particular miracle to subsequent events? This miracle was actually one of the culminating events in Jesus’ life that eventually led to His own death and resurrection. When Jesus overcame and was resurrected, He defeated hopelessness in our lives, just as He defeated hopelessness in Martha and Mary when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

4. THE SHOUT OF “COME FORTH!” CREATED A RECOVERY.

When Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come forth!” There was a great recovery of life, hope, and faith. There are times in our lives when we are in hopeless situations that the Lord with shout, ‘come forth!’ This means to escape, break out, bring forth, draw to an end, lead out, to depart from a condemned situation. Come forth! We have the authority, in Jesus’ Name, to speak hope and life into situations as well. Here is a list of issues over which we can shout “come forth!” in our own lives, along with a Scripture to pray through:

• Recover lost or broken relationships (Isaiah 58:12).
• Recover your prophetic call (Ps. 105:19).
• Recover delayed promises (2 Cor. 1:20).
• Recover the spirit and gift of faith (Rom. 1:17, Ps. 23:3).
• Recover the miracle of healing (Jer. 30:17).
• Recover your spiritual stability (Mal. 3:10, Ps 129:8).
• Recover your financial stability (1 Sam. 7:11-14, 2 Chr. 20:6).
• Recover joy (Neh. 8:10).
• Recover wasted years (Joel 2:25).
• Recover the lost sheep stolen from your pasture (1 Sam. 17:34-37, 30:20).
• Recover the blessings of God (Prov. 3:32, Deut. 28:1-4).
• Recover all (1 Sam. 30).

GOD IS ABLE!

Faith should be growing and steadfast. Faith should be abiding and continuing. It is so easy to grow in the cares of this world and lose sight of God’s ability to shout, “come forth!” Many have fallen into fear of failure, fear of harm, fear of abandonment, fear of the future, and fear for their children. They have forgotten God’s ability to bless. God has the ability to help us endure. One meaning of the word endure is to repair a broken foot so you can step forward, continue on your journey, and possess the promise God has for you. May the enduring power of the Lord and faith in His ability be with you until the day that He shouts “come forth!”

With blessings,
Jack and Rebecca Sytsema

©2006, Children of Destiny. All rights reserved.

(Portions of this article have been adapted from the book, The Best is Yet Ahead, by Chuck D. Pierce and Rebecca Wagner Sytsema, published by Wagner Publications, 2001)

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GOD IS ABLE!
SCRIPTURE GUIDE

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
(Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)

I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
(Jeremiah 32:27, NIV)

His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
(Job 9:4NIV)

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.
(Psalm 20:6, NIV)

Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name."
(Psalm 66:3-4, NIV)

Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before.
(Psalm 68:28, NIV)

You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.
(Psalm 77:14, NIV)

No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.
(Jeremiah 10:6, NIV)

Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
(Jeremiah 32:17, NIV)

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
(Daniel 2:20-21, NIV)

The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
(Nahum 1:3, NIV)

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
(John 13:3, NIV)

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
(1 Corinthians 2:4-5, NIV)

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
(1 Corinthians 4:20, NIV)

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
(1 Peter 4:11, NIV)

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
(I John 4:4, NKJ)

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