He's Never Too Late...

"...It is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 
(John 11: 4)




Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was a good friend of Jesus and His disciples.   And in sharing such a friendship, I am sure that you and I would expect that when Jesus and the disciples get word from Lazarus's sisters of his deathly sickness, that the ONE who heals, his dear friend, Jesus, would immediately come to his rescue and bedside...BUT,Jesus DOES NOT...Actually, when Jesus heard the message from Lazarus's siblings, He replied, "This sickness will not end in death.  No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it" (John 11:4), and STAYED right where he was for an additional two days!


Now let's pause right here...
If I were good friends with someone, whom I knew could help my brother who was on his sick bed, and that good friend lingers on for two additional days, instead of coming right over to our house to console me and possible heal my brother, I WOULD NOT be at PEACE and WOULD NOT be able to take it so LIGHTLY!


I would be anxious...I would be concerned that if He did not arrive in-time, it would be TOO LATE and my brother may die...I would be thinking all types of thoughts, and trying to understand why someone who was so close to our family and loved us so much would not feel that it was imperative enough to stop what they were doing, end their trip early, and come running to our rescue, IMMEDIATELY!  Didn't He realize the time factor involved in His arrival to deliver us in this time of need?  Why would He delay?  Does He really care for us?  How is this going to end?  My brother may surely die now...


I mean, even His disciples where concerned about His actions and reluctance to stop things short and turn around to head to Lazarus's aid.  They begin to question Him and even suggest that His decision to continue on the Judea (instead of heading straight to Lazarus) may present them with some possible danger; thus, He should change the plans and head back to Bethany.  But Jesus, calmly and in no hurry, explains to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep: but I am going there to wake him up...Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad.  I was not there, so that you may believe." (John 11:11 & 14).  And eventually (probably due to the anxiety and lack of faith of His disciples), Jesus decides, "...let us go to him."


And guess what...During all this time of lingering, all this time of the disciples trying to convince Jesus to get right to Lazarus, all this time that Mary and Martha were most likely in deep despair, Lazarus, in fact DIES.  And not only is he dead, but so dead that he has been lying in the tomb for about 4 days and is probably stinking with the bad odor of decay, when Jesus FINALLY shows up!  I know that if I were Mary or Martha, I would have thrown in the towel on this prayer and decided that it was obviously not God's will for my brother to be healed and live.  I may even be a bit upset with God, because I would have felt that He was fully capable to have saved my brother and chose not to.  


So when Jesus does finally arrive, Martha says to Him,  “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21).  And even when Jesus said that Lazarus would rise again, she said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (John 11:24).  She had given up all hope that deliverance and victory were still possible for her NOW, right then and there!  She'd assumed, as I might have, this one is TOO LATE...TOO FAR GONE!  Mary even held the same sentiments as Martha, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died." (John 11:32)


But, you see, Jesus had a plan (as always)!  And although Mary, Martha, and the disciples where all bent out of shape and had considered Lazarus's situation as a time-factored issue, Jesus was not moved.  Time and assumed urgency did not move Jesus, because He KNEW WHO HE WAS and He KNEW WHAT HE WAS CAPABLE OF DOING!  He knew that He had the ability to heal Lazarus not just from his illness, but from DEATH as well.  Time was not a factor with Him, because He was aware of His power over situations of death.  However, it is also important to realize that Jesus was not only assured of His own capabilities in this situation, but He had a greater plan:  His healing abilities after such a delay and Lazarus being dead to the point of foul odor, would result in a greater glory to God, than if He had just shown up right away and healed his friend from a sickness.  


So, as I end this story, we find that Jesus was NOT TOO LATE and will NEVER BE TOO LATE for us in our "near death" situations and circumstances.  Though His coming to our aid may seem so delayed and late, when He does show up, He can speak a few simple words, "Lazarus, come out!", and our "Lazarus circumstances" can instantly come to life and walk out of a tomb, alive, well, and complete!  He is a God of resurrection power and He is NEVER TOO LATE!...He just may have a GREATER PLAN in mind!

Praising Him

Today's blog is a devotional on praise that I am sharing from Girlfriends in God (via www.biblegateway.com).  I enjoyed reading it and believed that it would be a blessing to our readers as well.  To subscribe to these daily devotionals, please go to the Bible Gateway site and sign-up using your email address.  Please be blessed by it!

April 11, 2011
When You Praise Him
Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Cast up a highway for Him who rides through the deserts; whose name is the Lord, and exult before Him (Psalm 68:4).

Friend to Friend
I love the story of the woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today. She did and she had a wonderful day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "Hmm", she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." She did and she had a great day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. "Well," she said, "today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and she had a fun day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "Yes!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!" Now that's what I call having a good attitude.

Attitude can transform anything and everything - thoughts, habits, and perspectives.  We can literally change our lives by changing the way we think. In Isaiah 26:3 (NLT), we find the promise, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you." A mind filled with thoughts fixed on God will produce a heart filled with praise - and girlfriend, praise is a powerful tool in our spiritual arsenal. 
      
Praise brings healing to our spirit. When we honestly express our trust in God, then choose to give thanks, healing begins. Praise provides a highway upon which the Father conveys deliverance and blessing. Praise invites God to take up residence in the midst of our messy lives and becomes a free-flowing conduit of God's very presence and power at work in us. God funnels infinite blessings into a life that praises Him. Stress and anxiety fade as peace floods the heart that is filled with praise. 

Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Cast up a highway for Him who rides through the deserts. (Psalm 68:4, ICB)

But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22: 3, NKJV) 

Don't miss the life changing truth that we can enthrone God in every situation of our lives by praising Him. Praise converts our everyday surroundings into His dwelling place. It is from thatthrone of praise that God dispenses victory. Praise tunes us into His sovereignty and allows us to experience the reality and power of His presence. 

Praise strengthens our prayer life. Prayer is not only a remarkable privilege that we often fail to recognize or understand, it is also part of our worship to God. There is the asking side of prayer when we seek forgiveness, lay needs before God and intercede on behalf of others. Then there is the appreciating side of prayer when we offer praise and thanksgiving to God for who He is and what He has done. Our relationship with God is strengthened through prayer and praise.

Now here is my favorite truth about praise. Are you ready? Praise devastates Satan and his forces. Yes! I love it! In fact,Psalm 20:5 (NIV) promises, "We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God." Satan is well aware of just how powerful praise is and I suspect he absolutely hates it ... which absolutely delights me! I can almost sense his fury when I choose to praise God instead of questioning Him. He hates it when I walk by faith, setting aside feelings and emotions while focusing on God's Word and His faithfulness in my life.

Through continual prayer, through the power of God's Word and through faithful praise, we declare our trust in God to deliver us. Praise lifts up the shield of faith in spiritual warfare.  Praise makes a frontal attack on doubt and fear. Even in the midst of Satan's best efforts, we can find victory when we praise Him. 

Let's Pray
When you can't seem to find the right words to pray - go to the Word of God and pray Scripture. Join me in a prayer of praisefound in Psalm 150.

Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre, praise Him with timbrel and dancing, praise Him with the strings and pipe, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

Now It's Your Turn

• Are you known as a woman who praises God?
• As you begin each day, take time to position your mind and heart for praise. 
• Look for opportunities during the day to praise God - then voice that praise aloud. 
• Begin keeping a praise journal in which you write your praises to God.

More from the Girlfriends
Nowhere in God's Word will you find the directive to praise God when you feel like it. I know. I have looked. Praise that is based on emotions is a shallow excuse for the praise that flows from a desperate heart. Don't wait until you understand it all to praise God. Simply give Him praise, knowing that He inhabits the praises of His children.

Who's Your Daddy?

"But you, o Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." 
[Psalm 86:15]

Those of us who were blessed enough to have our earthly fathers in our lives know that when we are young we think the world of our daddies. If I look at things in the eyes of my 9 year old daughter, her dad can fix anything, can cook anything, can help everybody, can make her day and is the love of her life. When we're young, we tend to put our fathers on a pedestal and they can do no wrong, we trust that they will protect us from harm. We "brag" about who our daddies are and what they can do, and it is not until we get older that we understand that these men are only human and simply do the best that they can to provide for us, to love us, and to demonstrate to us what a man is supposed to do for us. We begin to see the shortcomings and sometimes the failures of our earthly fathers as we get old enough to understand.

When we submit our lives to Christ and accept Him as our personal savior, we then instantly become part of God's family of believers. We begin to know God as our Father and as we read and learn more about God's character, we understand just how flawed we are. The question is: Why is it so difficult to trust God completely-the one who created us? It boils down to the fact that we've been hurt, disappointed, and let down in our earthly relationships, including the relationship with our fathers, if we were lucky enough to have had or currently have one. This impacts our ability to trust anyone or anything wholeheartedly. The only way to overcome this impediment is to read our bibles daily to see the miraculous things that God has done for others, and to learn God's word. As we memorize scripture and learn more about God, there are a few things that we need to remember to build up our faith, belief, and ultimate trust in our heavenly father:

1. God is Omniscient: He is all-knowing. We don't have to explain anything to God, He already knows. He simply wants us to come to Him to seek His wisdom in any situation.

2. God is Omnipresent: He is everywhere. We don't have to worry about God not being available to us--He's never too busy and always accessible.

3. God is Omnipotent: He is all-powerful. There is nothing that God cannot do.

4. God's love is unconditional. We don't have to earn His love or seek His approval. God loves us no matter what because He created each of us in His own image.

5. God is faithful. There is no promise that God makes that will not come to pass. God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore.

Knowing these characteristics about God, how can we NOT trust in Him? What other father has these traits? Knowing also that God is no respecter of persons means that He will not do something for me (or anyone else) that He will not do for you. He has no "favorites". What other father would sacrifice His one and only begotten son for the good and eternal life of the rest of His family??

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

[John 3:16-17]

We need to realize how awesome our heavenly father really is and how blessed we are to have Him! Pick up your bibles daily and learn more about God and build a relationship with Him. The next time you want to brag or boast in someone, boast in the Lord! When you need to tap into His power, ask yourselves daily, "Who's my daddy?!"

Love...Laugh...Live...Life is short ~ Sheree

Surrendering EVERYTHING!

"...but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness." [Romans 6:13]

Surrender:  “to yield to the power, control, or possession of another upon compulsion or demand; to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another; to give (oneself) over to something (as an influence)” – Merriam-Webster Dictionary (Online)

God's desire for His children is that we will fully accept Christ as our Lord & Savior, and surrender ourselves to Him.  In the receiving the gift of salvation, we are to be crucified with Christ, and no longer "live" in our old ways and habits of our flesh, but to allow Christ to live and work in us (Galatians 2:20).  God wants us to yield to Christ's power and control, deny and surrender ourselves to Him, and take up our cross daily to follow Him (Luke 9:23). 

Because God is our Creator and should naturally be the one who knows best about the "product" (each one of us) He created, it's purpose, and it's abilities, it seems logical then, that we would surrender ourselves, our wills, our fears, and our pains to the One who should know us best...the one who is more powerful and capable than us to lead, provide, heal, and protect...the One that holds an unconditional and everlasting love for us~more than any human being on Earth could ever possess.

Our Lord desires peace and abundance for His children.  But we will not truly begin to experience that "shalom" (peace, wholeness, completeness, well-being, prosperity, perfectness, nothing missing and nothing broken) that He has for us, until we surrender all and everything to Him! 

Please be blessed by this poem titled, Everything:

EVERYTHING

As I awoke to the beginning of a brand new day,

It seemed like waves of trials kept coming my way.

Problem after problem was all I could see,

I cried out, "Lord, what is it you want from me?"

The answer that came from the One Most High,

Was nothing but a very simple reply,

It was one unexpected, but yet rang so true,

It's something He desires from me and from you.

He said, "EVERYTHING"

I want you to know Me as your Savior and Guide,

The One who will always be right there at your side.

I want you to serve Me through the good times and bad,

To sing praises to My Name whether you're happy or sad.

I want your faith to grow stronger as each day goes by,

To trust Me when there's no answers to your questions of "Why?"

To learn of My love and to feel My embrace,

When you're called to endure the hardships you face.

I want no one or nothing to take My place in your heart,

In whatever you should do, I want to take part.

Stand on My promises, let nothing cause you doubt,

In the end you will see that all things will work out.

So you see, My dear child, I want to be your all in all,

To depend on My presence when you stand or when you fall,

When you question just what is it that I want from thee?

My answer is EVERYTHING, as you are EVERYTHING to Me.

~ AUTHOR UNKNOWN

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. 
[Luke 14:33]

Mad Luv~Teri

Important Notice:  Readers, I would like to send out my apologies for WoBM not having an inspirational post for you on Friday, April 8th.  Making a long story short, God has finally called me out of my "Ur" and is sending me to a place that He will show me.  Because I have now been given these new instructions by God, over the next week (to two weeks) I will be pulled many different directions.  Currently our blog only consists of two authors. I am making an effort to employ the support of other trusted Christian sisters during this time, so that we will not leaving you "hanging" without the good Word!  Please be patient during our transition.  Thank you!

I Surrender All~by Brian Littrell

Praise Leads the Way!

Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” [2 Chronicles 20:20-21]


Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible we can find references that show us whenever the Israelites were headed on a journey (like the journey in the desert with Moses) or headed out into battle, the one of the twelve tribes that always seemed to be assigned to the lead was the tribe of Judah:

All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first. [Numbers 2:9]

After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?”

  The LORD answered, “Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.” Judges 1:1-2

The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, "Who of us shall go first to fight against the Benjamites?" The LORD replied, "Judah shall go first." [Judges 20:18]

In the Bible, Judah was the fourth son born to Leah and Jacob.  During the time that Leah was conceiving and giving birth to children, she was struggling with the hopes that bearing these children for Jacob would awaken him to find a love and passion for her (as he did her sister, Rachel).  When her hopes and effort seemed to fail with each child, Leah finally decided to drop everything that was emotionally weighing her down and to give God the praise this time (Genesis29:31-35).  With the birth of her fourth child, she decided to name him Judah...meaning PRAISE!

Since our God is a strategic and orderly planner, He knew what He was doing when he positioned the tribe of Judah, the lineage of Leah and Jacobs 4th son, the praisers, to head and be the leaders of the troop of Israelites.  He was setting a precedence for battle...a precedence for strenuous journeys...with PRAISE leading the way, and trust in Him, the Israelites victory would be inevitable!

Have you considered that God's battle orders and strategies for victory for your life and struggles is the same strategy He designed for the Israelites?

  

Have you considered that although the idea of singing and praising God in the midst of feeling like you're in the pit or when you are about to face a difficult situation, may seem simple, ineffective, and ridiculous, BUT IT IS ACTUALLY THE BEST STRATEGY TO PAVE THE WAY FOR GOD's DELIVERANCE FOR YOU?!!!

God ways are not our ways and His thought patterns are so far above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9).  And although singing and giving Him praise just may not seem like the most strategic and logical solution to our gigantic problems and troubles, it is exactly what God desires for us to do in order to get into gear for the action and victory that He will surely bring about!

Remember, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).  God's choice of weapons in our battles will not always seem like something that makes sense to us; but we cannot rely on the typical and logical weapons that we would use in "this world".  God's weapon of choice for us is PRAISE...and we must let our PRAISE LEAD THE WAY!

Mad Luv~Teri