Will you still Believe Him even though His answer is “No?”
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Have you ever had a bad day? What about a bad week? A bad year?Nothing seems to be going right for you.
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You trip going to work and rip your clothes.
You leave your windows open and your car gets wet and smells like mildew for a week.
You can’t do anything right. Your kids don’t listen. You slam your finger in the door.
You get a phone call that changes your life. Your doctor gives you a bad diagnosis.
You have to say goodbye to someone you love.
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Life is constantly filled with ups and downs.
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One moment you’re getting an award and the next minute you get a flat tire.
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Two women named Martha and Mary could tell you all about their bad day and bad week.
Their brother all-of-a-sudden gets ill. Within a very short amount of time he goes from being a healthy young man - to death’s door.
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So of course they send word for their close friend, Jesus. Who spent his entire career helping people and healing bodies and minds.
If he could do it for everyone and their mom, then surely he can do it for some of his closest friends.
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So they sent word. They thought that within a day Jesus would be at their door step.
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A day went by with no word.
Two days go by.
Three days go by.
Four days go by.
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It wasn’t like Jesus was actually busy doing anything. It wasn’t like other things were happening that were more important than his friend’s death. Jesus was purposefully holding off going. Jesus’ timing was on purpose.
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By this time Lazarus had already been dead four days
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They lost all hope. Lazarus was in the tomb wrapped up. Dead and gone.
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Then Jesus shows up.
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Now if I was Martha and Jesus had shown up four days late and missed the funeral of my brother AND missed healing him on purpose, I would have been really upset.
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Like I probably wouldn’t even want to talk to Jesus again or even see him.
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Even Martha didn’t understand why her brother had to die. She didn’t understand why Jesus had to take so long to get there.
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She only had a shred of hope left- a mere mustard size amount of faith to believe that something great would come of all of the misery.
“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
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That really takes a lot of faith to keep believing and pushing through regardless of what outside circumstances have come.
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It’s easy to believe God when your prayers are answered.
It’s easy to believe God when you have blessings.It’s easy to believe God when his answer is “Yes.”
____The Question maybe you should be asking yourself is “Do I still believe even though He says ‘No?”____Maybe a loved one has passed. Maybe you’ve gotten fired from your job. Maybe you’ve lost your house to a fire. Maybe everything has been taken away from you. ___Do you still believe God is good?
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Read more about this story on John 11:“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death.
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No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
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“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
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Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
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After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
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His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
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So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
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Then Thomas (also known as Didymus ) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
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On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
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Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
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“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” __
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” __
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside.
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“The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
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Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
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When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” __
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
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Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
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Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone.
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Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
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When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
__Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.””John 11:1-44 NIV
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