God's Feminist MovementEbook PDF Download
By Amber Picota
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This is a season for the resurrection of things believed to be dead. Because you're reading this, it tells me that certain things are true about your life. There are things, relationships, dreams, and/or hopes that have died. For some of you it's because you gave up hope due to life's circumstances, and for others you felt as if these dreams, hopes/situations were violently murdered.
I've lived through both, so I know your pain.
I know what it's like to have prayed for something, pleaded with God, and believed with every fiber of my being that God was going to come through and then the devastation when it seemed he didn't.
I wonder if this is how Mary the sister of Lazarus felt in John 11. You see, this is the same Mary that poured out costly perfume on the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. This is a woman who literally wept at the feet of Jesus and kissed his feet with her lips.
It says in John 11:4that Jesus said of Lazarus, whom Mary loved, "This sickness will not end in death."
Jesus had given them a promise that the sickness wouldn't end in death, yet Lazarus died anyways. Let's read exactly what went down once Jesus showed up at the house where Mary and Martha, Lazarus's sisters were.
Pay special attention to the phrases that are bold, the emphasis is mine (you'll notice there are some gaps here in the verses…. I included the ones that were immediately relevant to this prophetic word, but I encourage you to go read all of John 11).
John 11:17-44 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[b] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
32 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."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "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."
40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"
Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 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."
A Prophetic Picture
This is a prophetic picture, and I believe it represents where many are right now in their own lives. Here are some extremely important points I want you to see about this story and how this passage prophetically represents your own situation:
1. Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days before Jesus showed up. This is extremely important because it had never been done before. In fact this is considered one of the Messianic Miracles that actually PROVED that Jesus was messiah. Plenty of resurrections had taken place pre-Jesus and before the New Covenant. But NO ONE had ever raised the dead on the fourth day.
No wonder Mary, Martha and the rest of the family had no idea Jesus would resurrect Lazarus!! It was unheard of!
This is symbolic to you in your situation because similarly, the miracle you've needed was unheard of because it had yet to have been done. It may seem out of the question to even thing that God would do such a thing in your life because you don't know of anyone else who has survived this kind of thing. Or maybe you just don't know if after all this time, God still cares about your seemingly dead situations.
To quote a conversation between Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape: "Even after all this time?"….. "ALWAYS."
2. Jesus told them that the sickness would not end in death, but yet Lazarus died anyways. I personally know the bitter sting of believing God would show up, and it seems He let you down by not coming through. I know it hurts to look back on your life and believe that the thing died and God didn't show up in time to save it. Hear me when I say this. This is not the end. God always comes through. If God gave you a promise, just as He did Mary about her brother Lazarus, trust that He will come through, even if it doesn't look like what you thought it would.
Everyone involved with Mary and Martha (including them) assumed that Jesus just didn't come through. They assumed he was wrong and that He'd missed it. I don't believe it ever crossed their mind that Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead, especially on the fourth day.
3. Jesus weeps with you. The shortest verse in the entire Bible speaks to me the absolute MOST. You think Jesus didn't know He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead? Jesus was not mourning the loss of Lazarus. I believe Jesus wept because of the pain of those he loved: Mary and Martha.
Similarly, Jesus is with you in your pain. He feels your loss with you, and he knows your suffering. You are not alone. He knows the pain in your heart and you are not going through your situation alone. I believe Jesus feels your burden with you and is capable of weeping with you, FULLY AWARE THAT HE'S ABOUT TO PERFORM A RESURRECTION.
4. Things have really started to stink. In verse 39 when Jesus tells them to roll the stone away Mary says something along the lines of "Hey Jesus, Lazarus stinks by now…. Maybe we should just DON'T and say we did"
Maybe in your situation and in your life, there are some things that really have started to stink. Maybe not literally, but figuratively, I get it…. Things stink. The situation really stinks. It seems like no one can win, because things in the natural don't seem to be possible to turn around.
BUT prophetically over your life I believe right now Jesus is saying "ROLL THE STONE AWAY."
I believe this stone prophetically represents doubt and unbelief. Roll it away. Push it aside. Move it out of the way.
This ain't Over Yet
Jesus had promised Mary that Lazarus's sickness would not end in death, but Lazarus died anyways. It had seemed Jesus was wrong, but little did they know that IT WASN'T OVER YET. The end had not come.
I believe that this is a prophetic picture of many of your current season, but the prophetic word I speak over you right this very second is:
ROLL THE STONE AWAY. God is not finished. What you thought was dead is about to rise. Your situation may have seemed hopeless, and it felt like all was lost but that's not true. Jesus is resurrecting dreams, relationships, marriages, hopes, and hopeless situations.
Amber Picota
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