John 11 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

John 11:4-7

When He heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days, and then He said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

Jesus’s love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus never wavered or waned; He never stopped loving them. Yet they had to walk through this very dark time. One of the lies of the enemy is to tell you God doesn’t love you, and that’s why you're going through what you're going through, but my friends, that’s just not true. The Bible is very clear that Jesus loved them despite the trial they were about to endure. He loved them before, during, and after it, and He does the same for us.

As humans, we equate love with circumstances, situations, or outcomes, but we can’t try to bring God down to our level. He is God, and we are not, and His ways are higher than our ways. We must always remember that He is working all things out for the good of those who love Him and are called to be His own! I’m not saying this is easy or to take this lightly, but it is truth and one we must hold fast to. If we let go of this truth, we can develop a skewed view of who God is and what He is about. We will view Him as something He is not and miss the beautiful One that He is!

These may have been some of the darkest days this family ever walked through, but they turned out to be one of the brightest stories of hope in the Bible. Remember, if Jesus can raise Lazarus, then He can raise you and me also, and that, my friends, is a powerful truth we can hold fast to!

Ezekiel 37:12-14- Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”

God bless! I love you all, but His love overpowered the grave! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

John 11:5-7

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days, and then He said to His disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

Wait… what? Jesus loved them, so He waited? To us, this seems backward; if we loved someone who was sick, we would go to them immediately, and we probably think Christ should have done the same. Yet He doesn’t; He waits instead, but why?

There are many things that we can learn from this passage, but the one the Lord led me to share is the fact that Christ didn’t let His feelings override His faithful obedience to the Father. It’s easy for us to say, “Don’t disobey God in your anger” or in some other negative connotation, but what about when the feelings are good, righteous, and of the Lord? Does that give us the right to disobey or take matters into our own hands? Absolutely not!

Here we see Christ’s love, His perfect, holy, righteous, and pure love. Yet He does not let this love drive Him to sin against the Father. For the Father's will was for Jesus to wait and raise Lazarus from the dead so that those who saw it would believe! God had a plan and a purpose, and Christ didn’t let His feelings get in the way.

We, too, must guard against letting a good feeling (like love or joy) lead us into sin. For these feelings are good gifts our God gives us, but they are never to be used to circumvent His will, nor can they be our excuses to do what we want. God’s gifts and His will go hand in hand. He doesn’t give us these things for us to use them for personal gain or to set the standard on what’s right or wrong. We must follow in Christ’s footsteps and be obedient, even when the feelings tell us otherwise. Christ’s obedience is beautiful and a fragrant offering to the Father; is ours?

2 Corinthians 2:14,15- But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

God bless! I love you all, but His love obeyed and ushered in our freedom! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit! 

 

John 11:16

Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

John 20:24,25- Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told Him, “We have seen the Lord!” But He said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

How do we think Christ views Thomas? As a doubter and possible defector or as a devoted disciple who had a moment of weakness? In our minds, we remember Thomas for his doubting of Christ’s resurrection, but I don’t believe that is how Christ views him. Christ bears with us in our weakness and extends grace even in the midst of our doubt.

How thankful I am that Christ doesn’t look at me for what I’m not or what I’ve done but through eyes of love and His payment on the cross. No longer must we be separated from our God but are now welcomed in forever through the precious and priceless blood of Jesus Christ.

Thomas gets such a bad rap for his later doubt, and of course, doubt is not good nor fitting for a disciple of Christ, but it is something we will all deal with from time to time. Just because Thomas doubted it didn’t make him any less of a disciple. He had a moment of weakness in the face of adversity, and Christ was sure to take him back and lead him through it! Our King came and handled his doubt by showing him the wounds, and Thomas immediately worshipped Him.

Jesus is merciful and willing to lead us through our doubt, but we must acknowledge it, and Him, and when He leads us through it let us be like Thomas and come to Him in worship!

John 20:27,28- Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

God bless! I love you all, but His love bears with us even in our weaknesses! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!