He's Removing The Stone • Daily Devo 160
Don't Give Up! Word Count: 1,676
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Today’s Devotional Scripture: 11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. - John 11:11 KJV
37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. - John 11:37-39 KJV
The Message For Today (September 10, 2024):
Audio Version Of This Devotional: He's Removing The Stone Audio
What if it's not over yet?
What if this seemingly dead situation, this apparent end, and this hard stop in your life is a good thing? What if the situation that you can't seem to change in your own strength is being allowed because it is more than just about your strength. It is about the glory of God being revealed through your life.
This scripture for today is broken up in two ways. First because we must recognize that the Lord moved with intention. Jesus delayed coming to the aid of Lazarus and his sisters. He delayed two days knowing what was about to transpire, knowing that he would be dead four days by the time Jesus actually showed up, and that the delay seemed as if it would end everything. Nevertheless, the Lord waited, as we see in verse 11.
We see that He says, our friend Lazarus is sleeping. I'm going to go wake him up. We see that in verse 11, and many are confused because they think, oh, he's just taking a nap. Then in a couple of verses later, you see where the Lord clarifies that Lazarus is physically dead. That is the reality. Jesus confirms it right around verse 13 of John 11. He's dead.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
But God plans on going there anyway. He shows up anyway. So we know the situation and the scene, the set, so to speak. Right now in your life, it may seem like there is complete stagnancy in your situation and that nothing is working to make it change. No matter what you're attempting to do, it seems like the situation in and of itself is dead. It's not moving.
You've called on God, you've prayed, you've done what you know to do in terms of applicable faith-filled solutions, yet and still, nothing seems to be moving. I imagine that Mary and Martha felt the same as they watched their brother die, as they wondered why Jesus didn't come immediately, and why he didn't rush to their aid. Why was he, why would he not have immediately helped with things?
Mary and Martha probably feel the way that many of us feel right now: that if things had worked quicker, if God had turned things around, maybe we'd be in a better position right now. Maybe things wouldn't be so difficult. Maybe it wouldn't feel like it was so dead if God just, if there was just a miracle that transpired. All the while, the miracle was happening. Martha and Mary couldn't see it.
As Jesus arrives and asks to go to the cave, we see in verse 37, even they that were on the scene knew the power of Jesus and said, he's healed the blind. Could he not have changed the situation? He's healed the blind. Could he have not saved Lazarus before it got so bad? People doubt the power of God in your life, even while God is moving, because the situation isn't changing. They'll question, you know:
“If God really is for you, how could things have been so bad? Maybe this isn't God. God wouldn't allow you to deal with so much pain. He wouldn't have allowed this to happen. Why? God not come to your aid if you're a believer, if you believe God, if you've been faithful.”
Remember in the scripture, in Job, that Job's friends, after sitting with him in silence for seven days, asked him, they just said, just repent for whatever you've done that caused this calamity upon your life. Just repent. And Job had done nothing to deserve this. Job was chosen to bear the affliction for the glory of God. Likewise, you may be in this situation that seems dead because God is removing the stone.
Not your will,
Not your desire and timing,
Not anyone else's expectation,
Not the limited thinking of the people around you,
Not the religious dictates of people,
Not their limited perspective.
Nothing is changing what God is doing. God is removing the stone. As we continue to read in verse 38, the groaning that Jesus is feeling, he groans within himself. As he came to the grave, you can see he was frustrated with their unbelief. He spoke to Martha and then he spoke to Mary. Even while he was there saying to them “Take away the stone”.
Jesus was there commanding them to take away the stone. And Martha said, why? What's the purpose? It's already too late. He's been dead for days. She reminded Jesus that he (Lazarus) was dead for days. And so in verse 39 we see, Lord, by this time he's stinking, for he has been dead for days. That's verse 39 in John 11.
It's incredible that when God starts moving and advising us to take certain steps, that it's like, “Why take these steps? It's already too late. Why do that thing? The deadline is already passed. It doesn't matter. Why are we doing this? It's already over.” When Jesus comes in, when Holy Ghost instructions come, when you're led to do something that seems counterintuitive, this is the time to trust God because it's not our expectations or our control that dictates a miracle; that dictates the power of God.
That just doesn't happen here. The way that we see God work through scripture time and time again is to go beyond the expectations of the people. He goes beyond the expectations of deadlines. He goes beyond the expectations of what they feel like they need. He goes beyond it. Even outside of the apparent control of men like King David in Ziklag in 1 Samuel 30.
Even beyond situations where we see Samson* who is being taken prisoner and the Lord gives him the strength to break his bonds, pick up the jaw of a donkey and kill a thousand men. And then after he grows tired and thirsty, Sampson* prays in the book of Judges and the Lord opens up the hollow in that jaw and water breaks forth out of nowhere. Beyond the control of men of God, beyond the control of woman of God in the scripture.
The Lord gave authority and power. The Lord transformed situations. The Lord opened doors. The Lord transformed these things. Everything else had to wait. Everything else had to bow. And even those who were there who bound up Lazarus and put him in the cave were the ones that unbound him when the Lord said to take away the stone and in verse 44 of the scripture we see.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Not only did he tell them to take away the stone but he said loose him from his grave clothes. Loose him. They had to unwrap the bindings that they had put on him four days before to prepare the body for burial. All of this to say. The situation may look bleak. It may feel like you've been working against this thing for months, a year, two years. Attempting to get back in the swing of things, attempting to heal the affliction, attempting to change the situation and you're just wondering is it worth it?
Is it worth it to try again? Is it worth it to dig in and is it worth it to walk that thing out? And maybe it is. Maybe it's time to let go and recognize that even if you don't see the stone moving, even if you don't see the situation changing, that does not mean that God is not using the situation for His glory. It does not mean that God isn't coming to remove the stone. Not by might, nor by power, but by His spirit that he's doing it right now.
Closing Devotional Prayer
My prayer for you: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you. I thank you for covering the woman of God from beginning to end. I thank you, God, for an outpouring of your spirit. Please Lord, remove every wall, allow the breakers anointing to come forth in a mighty way.
As the mighty woman of God begins to assess her situation this morning and truly sit with this word, I pray God that you would just show her something different. Show her God where even in her own mind she may be working against you, where her doubt and her questions may be undermining the move of God in her life.
Show her God how to be ready, how to be ready to come into agreement with you in every moment. Lord, I thank you right now for the divine authority that is on upon her life, for the grace and the glory, oh God, that is coming forth from her situation.
I thank you, oh God, for the empowerment of the Holy Ghost. For Lord, you are good and your mercy endureth forever. I thank you, Lord, and I pray in Jesus' mighty name, Amen.
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