DEVOTION ON LAZARUS

"Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha."(John 11:1)

"Sickness, death and grief". There is no way to escape the fact that Lazarus was the friend of Jesus but he still got sick and died!! The bible is very clear about the truth of healing through miracles and wisdom on our part. Someone once said that if you had enough faith that you would nev

er get sick or at least you would be instantly healed if you did get sick. The bible does say that "All things are possible to him that believes". "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."(Matthew 19:26) Please humor me for a moment and realize that there may a space of time between impossible and possible with God. This space of time is mentioned by Peter in his writings. "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:"(1 Peter 1:6). When we are in the season of trials, hardships, loss or grief, we must keep believing for deliverance and healing. Jesus was very close to this family but His friend Lazarus died and it brought an extreme amount of grief into this family. Death is a doorway from this world to the next and while that door is open it lets the emotional pain of loss and grief into our lives. Now, we not only have the loss of a love one to process but the emotional pain from that loss that can actually last the rest of our lives if we don't process it correctly. The bible is filled with stories of life, death and how they are processed. We are Tri-part beings created in the image of God, Jesus wept and so do we at tragic events in our lives. WE ARE A SPIRIT THAT LIVES IN A BODY THAT HAS A SOUL!! Our Spirit communicates with God, it lives in the body with the soul, which is our emotional man. Our emotional man (soul man) cries, laughs, thinks, grieves, it's who we are as human beings. Just like Mary, Martha and the community wept over the death of a brother, a friend we weep over the loss of friends and family members because this type tragic event opens our emotional gate. Our emotions are very unstable, by this I mean, we can't always control them like we wish. We can go from laughter to weeping in a split second during these times and we can't stop ourselves. If you are in such an emotional time right now, please just cry it out, don't hold it in. It must go back out the same emotional door that it entered your life, so let it go. As most of you know, I went on a very dangerous preaching mission earlier this year. I went to a place where they martyr Christians, kidnap Americans and a host of things I won't mention. Many have ask me, "How did you process that experience?" In order to survive these extreme circumstances I purposely shut my emotions off for the duration of the trip. When I arrived safely back home, saw my family and realized I actually lived to see them again, my emotions came back to life. For no reason, I would be sitting in my living room and just go to weeping uncontrollably. It was mostly at night and lasted for several weeks but in the "process of time", I begin to stabilize. You will begin to heal because life goes on, God is good and the journey of faith continues...... Yes, Lazarus got sick and died but Jesus came to the rescue, He will also rescue you.

Scott L. Boatner

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 "Jesus wept."(John 11:35)

"Jesus Wept". I've often wondered what all Jesus was weeping over on this very sad and emotional day. It is obvious the He was very upset over the death of His close friend Lazarus but He had prophesied that his death was for the Glory of God. "When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glor

ified thereby."(John 11:4) Since Jesus was the Son of God, Virgin born - God in the flesh, the manifestation of The Mystery of Godliness, Emmanuel-God dwelling among us!! What did He feel that day? "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."(1 Timothy 3:16). I'm sure He saw more that day than the death of one friend that troubled Him given the truth that He was the All-Knowing, All-Seeing God among men. Did He see the sin curse in action, was He troubled by the consequences of the spirit of death among the whole human race? We make choices daily, these choices produce life or death spiritually. The choices we make may bring immediate results and some may take awhile to manifest but they too will rise to the light. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: "(Deuteronomy 30:19) Jesus wept over us that day, He wept over our pain, our hurts, our toxic memories, our selfish decisions that affect others. He saw all things that day that would cause us to suffer, whether it was a product of this sin cursed earth or a product of our own depravity. Jesus Christ saw US that day and HE WEPT over us!!! Jesus lost a friend that day, have you experienced a loss lately of any kind? It doesn't have to be a death, loss comes in many ways but it always brings pain, emotional trauma and suffering of some kind. Is it bankruptcy, divorce, a rebellious child or maybe a spouse that doesn't see what he or she is doing to your wonderful family? The news of Lazarus was an event in Jesus life, what news have you gotten lately that has blown you out of the water? What are you troubled about at this moment? What are you weeping over right now? Always remember that Jesus is weeping with you!!

Scott L. Boatner

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"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,"(John 11:33)

"Jesus was Troubled". The friend of Jesus, Lazarus, had died and Jesus was in another town preaching the Gospel when He got the tragic news. When He was to told about Lazarus, He continued His ministry for two more days then He left for Bethany to visit t

his family. If you will read the entire chapter, (John 11) you will find many revealing things about yourself by way of the personalities in this chapter. We all perceive things differently, as well as handle things differently. After Jesus and the 12 arrived and were greeted by various ones, we read that Jesus was "troubled"!! The word troubled in the Greek means "agitated". What was Jesus agitated or stirred about on this particular day? Please allow me to answer my own question with a question, I learned this from reading the gospels, Jesus often answered questions with a question. Was He troubled with the 12 disciples, given the conversation along the way to Bethany? When Jesus told them that they were going to Judea, the 12 immediately reminded Jesus that they were almost stoned to death there on their last visit. How could the God of the universe possibly make it through each day without us to keep Him informed on past, present and future events? Jesus tells them that Lazarus is asleep so let's go wake Him up, exactly what every dead Christian needs is a good shaking and waking!!! Once again the 12 come to the rescue with brilliance, if he's asleep, he's doing good. At this point in the spiritual lesson, Jesus plainly informs the 12 that he is dead and faith filled Thomas chimes in with, "Well by all means, lets go die with him". The fact that the 12 were as blank as a sheet of paper spiritually sometime was definitely troubling to Jesus. Could have the Spirit of Jesus been agitated by the underlying element of the war between God and satan, light and darkness, life and death, faith and flesh, spiritual knowledge and spiritual ignorance, etc..?? Do you think that it could have been the obvious fact that He was actually blamed for Lazarus death by the sisters, "If YOU had been here"? I'm amazed that all the stuff God gets blamed for every day. If you read the story of Adam and Eve very closely, you'll notice that Adam wiggles his way around to blaming God by saying the "woman" made me do it and YOU gave her to me. Could it have been the fact that these were some of His closest followers, friends and disciples but yet there is very little faith shown in this whole event except by Jesus Himself? Jesus longs for us to be as powerful and faith filled as He, can we be? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."John 14:12). Could it have been that when He was about to perform the miracle of a lifetime, that He was informed one more time that He couldn't fix this, "He stinketh"? In this chapter we have some of faith's finest but yet they were a long way from where they needed to be!! Where are you today on your journey of faith and maturity? How are you handling the stress or even sometime tragic events of life? In spite of the display of humanity at its best on this particular day, we have a MIRACLE! You too shall get your miracle, just lean on JESUS!! BTW, we all stink, some of us just haven't had a reality revelation yet!!

Scott L. Boatner

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 "And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother."(John 11:19)

"Comfort" After the death of Lazarus, friends in the community came to comfort the family that had experienced the tragedy of the loss of a loved one.
The word comfort means to console or encourage. When we suffer the loss of a love one, we n

eed a support group around us to help us get through this difficult time. As a preacher, the saddest funeral service that you can be a part of is when someone doesn't have a big family or support group of any kind. I've often said that there are more benefits to being a part of a church family than just hearing a sermon on Sunday mornings. When you suffer, it's a wonderful thing to have a group of spiritually minded people around you that know how to pray for you. When we suffer this kind of loss, we become very vulnerable to emotional outburst from one end of the spectrum to the other. One moment you can be laughing and without warning, weeping the next. If you haven't lost a love one but yet you have suffered a very traumatic event and are very emotional due to toxic memories, God wants to comfort you today as well. As a Spiritual Leader, I normally advise people to stay in complete control of their emotions rather than allowing your emotions to be a dictator. "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."(Proverbs 25:28). We should be able to maintain control of our selves at all times but when we suffer loss, especially the loss of a loved one, we must let our emotions cleanse us. Our emotional man is an outlet of relief, so during this time, just let your emotions go and you will begin to heal. You will know when it is time to regain control of your emotions and God will give you the grace you need to do so at the proper time. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) God can and will give you the strength to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and give you the comfort to smile again. I know that today you think that you will never smile again but you will because God heals the broken hearted. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). God brings COMFORT to His children which ultimately brings healing, stability and balance back to your emotional man!!

Scott L. Boatner