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A Greater Testimony-The Greater Glory (Resurrected Instead of Healed)!

by Angela Willingham  
5/30/2009 / Christian Living


Have you ever wondered why God does the things He does or why He does them when He does? Maybe I am the only one who has questioned the timing or the plan of God in my life. I want to be real about it, the truth is there are times when I have tried to understand what He was doing and why and it made no sense to me at all. Some things He does quickly and other things just seem to drag on.

I was reading a devotional about the timing of God and thought, WOW! They used the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. I have seen the same topic used with the story of Joseph in Genesis and they are both very powerful testimonies to why God does what He does. He has a plan in all of it, to stretch us, to grow us, to do something awesome that only He can do.

In the Gospel of John we see the stories of Jesus performing miracles and healing the sick throughout.

In Chapter 2-He turned water into wine.
In Chapter 5-He healed the lame man.
In Chapter 6-He feeds the 5000 and walks on water.
In Chapter 9-He heals the man born blind.
Etc...............

The miracles and testimonies of healing don't stop there, but when we get to chapter 11 we read the story of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha and the friend of Jesus. Lazarus was no stranger to Jesus. Jesus loved him. A message was sent to Jesus to let Him know that His friend was sick. They needed Jesus to come and see about Lazarus. Funny that anyone would think they needed to send Jesus a note. Jesus knows everything. He had to already know His friend was sick. John 11:4, 4 But when Jesus heard about it he said, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this." Jesus went on doing what He was doing.

To us that would mean don't worry about Lazarus, he is going to be fine. We would not expect to hear that Lazarus died, but he did. What did the people think then? What did Mary and Martha think? What would we think? Did they question what Jesus had said? Would we doubt, would we question what Jesus had said?

The truth is we would think we must have got it wrong, Jesus did not say Lazarus would not die. The truth is we have thought those thoughts regarding some of the things God has spoken to our spirits when they did not seen to turn out the way we thought they would in the timing we thought they should. The truth is we have been confused because what we saw did not line up with what we expected. Remember our friend Shelly Reichenbach and her book "The Crushed Rose"? (Check out the video on our website if you never saw it.)

The truth is that Jesus could have healed Lazarus at any time. He could have healed without ever leaving the place He was ministering. He could have healed him with the blink of an eye, a word, the wave of a hand or without a movement or word at all. Jesus chose to do nothing because this situation happened so that God would get the glory. The scripture goes on to say that Jesus said Lazarus was asleep, so everyone thought, Oh then he will wake up, but Jesus clarified that no he was dead. Wasn't that in conflict with what He had already spoken? Didn't He say the sickness was not unto death? How could Lazarus be dead and the sickness would not be unto death? Did they think Jesus was confused? It did not make any sense, but the truth of matter is that Jesus knows everything. When Jesus got there He was told not only was Lazarus dead but he had been dead 4 days so it had to stink.

Jesus had already told the people that if they believed they would see God's glory. Jesus called Lazarus forth from the grave. Lazarus came forward still wrapped in the grave clothes he had been buried in fully alive and not stinking. Jesus told the people to free him from the grave clothes and set him free.

Jesus could have healed Lazarus, so why didn't He? Why did He choose to raise him from the dead instead? What does that mean to you and I? He let the situation get totally out of control, to die before He did anything. There was no way to fix this in the eyes of those that were watching. It was too late. If you are a friend of God, one of His chosen disciples, there may be some things in your life that seem dead, beyond repair or healing. He has sat back and watched your situation go from bad to worse with no hope in sight. He has chosen to let them die so that God could get the greater glory out of your testimony. When your story is told everyone will know that it could not have been done if God had not done it. You did not have enough money. You were not cute enough. In some cases if the truth be told the people that were needed to turn your situation around did not even like you.

Maybe your situation is the death of a loved one. Maybe it is the death of a dream. Maybe it is the death of a career or a job. Maybe it is the death of a relationship. Whatever has died trust Him that through it He is going to do something so off the chain that we will all know it was Him so that He can get the greater glory out of your life, because He could have done something before it got that bad.

Start praising Him in spite of what you see in the natural realizing that you ain't seen nothing yet! It might be a better job, a better relationship. Whatever it is your testimony has just been elevated to one that will give Him the greater glory. A testimony that says He did a greater work through your life by not healing the situation sooner and letting something die and get to the point where not only was it dead it was stinking and nothing short of a resurrection was going to do.

Maybe your situation was a life lived to please self. A life that gave glory to the enemy and did everything to promote his kingdom and God turned it around and now He is using you as a spokesperson for His kingdom. Why did God let you go so far? Why did He let you go down a road that lead, not just to your destruction, but to the destruction of the lives of your family, friends and others? Your turn around represents a new beginning for you and a new beginning for His kingdom, for the Kingdom of God, a new life resurrected. He is now using you to save more people than you lead astray, by your selfish behaviors and attitudes. Yes, He could have stopped it sooner and healed your addiction, He could have never let you get started down that path, but for the greater glory, the greater testimony, He allowed it to happen.

What in your life is dead and in need of a resurrection, not just a healing but a resurrection? Whatever it is know that He can do it if you really want Him too.


Scripture:
(We encourage you to read chapter 11:1-45)
John 11:40-45:
40 Jesus responded, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?" 41 So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me. 42 You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me." 43 Then Jesus shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him go!"
45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen


Angela Willingham, CEO New Beginnings Holistic Fitness Ministries, Inc.
www.mynewtemple.org
Copyright New Beginnings Holistic Fitness Ministries, Inc.

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