The Mystery Of Prayer

SCRIPTURE

“Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”

~John 11:21-22, NLT

QUOTE

God answers all true prayer, either in kind or in kindness.

~Adoniram Judson

I love John 11: in verse 3 we have the sisters prayer request–So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” Then in verse 4 we have Jesus response —“Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” Jesus delayed his coming for two days and when He gets to Bethany, Lazarus is physically dead and in a tomb. Then we have the sister’s response to Jesus not coming immediately or in time to heal Lazarus.

1. They blame…“Lord, if only YOU had been here, my brother would not have died.” {Both said the same thing}
2. They are disappointed.
3. They are bewildered: they do not understand why Jesus was not there when they needed Him most.
4. They are filled with grief.
5. Mary may have been depressed: she did not leave the house to met Jesus.

Lesson from the story:

1. Jesus answered their prayer but just not as they had imagined. God’s plans are much better than our expectations. Actually, His plans are better than our dreams.
2. The sisters wanted a ‘healing’ but Jesus gave them a ‘resurrection.’ A resurrection trumps a healing.
3. We all experience the same negative emotions when Christ does not respond to our prayer in the way that we had imagined–disappointment, grief, doubt, fear and despair.
4. It all boils down to FAITH in CHRIST. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died but even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” “Yes, Lord, I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who has come into the world from God.”
5. Mary’s devotion was off the charts but it was Martha {the OCD pot banger} who had the greatest faith. Never underestimate the Martha’s.

• Gary is making slow progress: he is extremely weak.
• Kane Hogan: {from Michelle at 8:30 pm last night…9/12/15} The steroid is really playing with Kane’s blood suger. We are going on a week in the hospital. The insulin keeps getting increased but the blood suger still climbs in the evening. We will be in the hospital until they get the right combination. They tell us it is all medical. They have done this. Now we wait for the chemo to hit his system they say it is ruff stuff. He feels fine and we are thankful for that. He takes 3 to 6 shots of insulin a day right now.
• Today’s schedule: Coffee, Biscuits and donuts at 9:00, LCBS at 9:15, Worship at 10:15 and 6:15. AWANA and VISITATION at 5:30.
• LORD willing, we will be in REVIVAL at Belleview today through Wednesday night.
• What about this weather. I went for a walk around 6:00 last night and came in at dark and my hands were cold.
• I got home at 1:30 am Friday night and that is why there was no EXTRA.
• I think you are going to love the PARKING LOT. One caution: do not park on the areas where you see the wheat straw; we have back filled those areas and reseeded them. Your not going to need a shade tree to park under today.