Faith

Faith

God said it, that settles it, I believe it. Yeah, that’s the way it should be phrased. I don’t have to believe it for it to be settled.

When God speaks a Word, that settles it. It will happen. It doesn’t matter what things look like, doesn’t matter what happens immediately following that Word. It’s settled.

The scripture says, “For ever O LORD, thy Word is settled in heaven.” Psalm 119:89

It is our choice to believe the Word, but whether we believe it or not does not change the validity of the Word.

The story  in the book of John, chapter 10, fascinates me. There is a lot of “preaching fodder” in this chapter, but what I would like to focus on is the faith of Jesus’ disciples.

In the beginning of the chapter, a messenger approaches Jesus to let Him know the condition of His friend Lazarus. Lazarus was such a good friend that the messenger described Lazarus by simply stating, “he whom thou lovest.”

The very first thing Jesus said after receiving the news was, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (John 11:4) So he wont die right? Wrong. Jesus was talking about the motive of the sickness, not the effect of the sickness. Lazarus did die. The disciples had to have been so confused.

Jesus shows up, has two conversations with Lazarus’ sisters, weeps, and then commands the stone in front of Lazarus’ tomb to be removed. He then prays a short prayer before calling out, “Lazarus, come forth.” Of course Lazarus obeys and comes hopping out of the tomb.

Now the disciples, they clearly heard Jesus say, “This sickness is not unto death.” They also clearly heard Him say, “Lazarus is dead.” I have to wonder what went through their mind. Did they ask Jesus about that later in private as they had done before?

The thing that amazes me about this story is that when Jesus says something, it will happen. When He said it wasn’t unto death but for the glory, He meant it. When He says I will get glory out of this it doesn’t matter what happens or what things look like, He will get the glory.

When Jesus speaks you might as well go ahead and start praising Him and thanking Him, because if He said it, it will happen.

When Jairus come to Jesus in Luke 8, his daughter was dying. Before Jesus could get to the man’s house, the daughter had died. Jesus announced that she wasn’t dead, but sleeping and was “laughed to scorn.” But if Jesus says your sleeping, it doesn’t matter whether you have a pulse or not, you’re sleeping. And when He says, “Arise,” you’re getting up!

Let your faith be built today. If God has given you a Word, praise and thank Him, because it’s gonna happen no matter what it looks like.