John Chapter 11: Blogpost 4

Welcome to the 4th and concluding part of this series.

Some of the truths we’ve gleaned from this portion of scripture, John Chapter 11, include;

1. Jesus loves us and He proved this by dying on the cross. We can, like Lazarus, Mary and Martha be confident that The Lord loves us and will always look out for us.
2. Jesus was never threatened by death, we shouldn’t be. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He lives in us, meaning that we also have resurrection power at work in us; both to live victoriously in this life and for the resurrection day. There is really no glory in dying before we accomplish our God-given purpose. This is one benefit of having eternal life deposited in us by God. This life is a steady supply of life, God’s life to our bodies at all times. We have power in our words to determine and experience differently from how we feel. I have heard people confuse eternal life with long life. The 2 are not the same.
3. Sickness and disease do not put Jesus under pressure, we shouldn’t be put under pressure by them. One thing I’ve found about gaining victory over sickness and disease is the ability to separate yourself (spirit) from your body. When our bodies are challenged, it is important that our spirit is not, because that is where we fight and gain victory from.
4. Jesus carried every sickness and disease in His body and in exchange gave us healing -in His stripes. We should be experiencing this health as Christians. It is almost delusional to think that because Jesus bore our sickness, then sicknesses won’t show up in our bodies. That is a loser mindset….. from the onset. People have died prematurely from thinking this way. They go through shock, confusion, unbelief and then give up. Not that we should expect and welcome sickness, but when they show up, we call forth the healing power already made available to us through the sacrifice of Christ….. “My grace is sufficient for you”….If there was nothing to overcome, there will be no need for the rich deposit of the Holy Spirit in us.

Truth #5: Unbelief Cannot be Tackled Unless It is Identified

Now, starting off to write this article the most attractive verses in it all for me were verses 11-16 and 21-27….

I love the sincerity of Thomas, the other disciples and Martha about what they believe and what they don’t believe…..

‘These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”’ John 11:11-16 NKJV

”Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”’ John 11:21-27 NKJV

I don’t remember ever reading a positive account written of Thomas by Bible teachers. He is readily identified as ‘the doubting Thomas’, while many times, Martha is labelled as that unserious follower of Christ, who paid more attention to service than the Words of the Master…..Martha ministry…… Well……. 🙂 I believe someone can do both service and Word together well…….

You know, I have never understood unbelief like I did during my study on “Weights Won’t Let Us Run“. You should read that article. Unbelief is a terrible sin. God hates unbelief, He abhors it, He detests it, God cannot be God to us where we allow unbelief. Unbelief limits God, unbelief restrains God from blessing us, unbelief does not allow us to maximize our benefits in Christ, and so unbelief ultimately steals from us. Unbelief is a besetting sin.

In John 11, we see not only Thomas, but the whole disciples of Jesus perplexed by Jesus’ announcement of going to raise a dead Lazarus. Yes Thomas was more outspoken, but the perceived silence from the rest of Jesus’ crew, communicate some uncertainty and unbelief. I particularly like it that Martha clearly separated the things she believed, from the ones she was struggling with. She had no problem with the final resurrection, no problem with Jesus being the Christ, but her faith didn’t extend to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Call her little faith, unserious or whatever, I love this Martha!

Not too long ago, I was going through Andrew Wommack’s website, just reading and listening to some short messages. I found that as I ventured on the ‘Healing Journey‘ page, I was practically skipping through them. I wasn’t spending any time on them. Then the Lord asked me; ‘Grace, do you believe these things at all?‘. That question came both as a counsel and a reprimand to me. That is what started my journey towards understanding unbelief. Up until then, I would never have thought myself as harboring unbelief in any way.

If only we can like Martha identify the areas of our Christian faith that need strengthening. Can we like Martha be sincere and honest about the pressure points in our faith walk? If only we can be humble and cry out to the Lord; ‘Lord help my unbelief!‘, the Master will not condemn us, but He will most eagerly stoop down and help us up.

Thank you so much for joining me on this study. Hope you were blessed by it.

God always prepares us ahead for different seasons of our lives. This study prepared me for some personal challenges that came my way last few weeks. So glad I did it.

Love Always

Grace

AboutGrace Obomanu

Grace obomanu is a Christian Blogger and Founder; 'Grace Obomanu Foundation'. Grace is an inspiring writer who intentionally projects the truth of God's word by sharing simple yet profound truths from the Bible. She writes with a revelational thrust, sharing wisdom, insights relatable to everyday living with particular emphasis on Victorious Christian Living. Her foundation, a non-profit trustee, continues to make impact, adding value to people's lives through outreaches, mentorship, bible teachings and counseling, partnerships. Grace has a diploma in Ministerial Training (with emphasis on Spiritual Leadership from Rhema Bible Training Center Nigeria. She trained as a medical doctor and has years of experience in Health Systems Management. She also holds a master's degree in Public Health from the University of Liverpool.