John 11:43-44 -- When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Lord, thank You for continuing to walk me through each day and continuing to heal my body from sickness. I give this time over to You Lord and simply follow You wherever you lead. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
I'm still walking through one day at a time with the Lord of recovering from being sick the past week. I'm trying to be wise by not overdoing things and resting when I need to. So, I just go back to one day, one step at a time following the Lord through it. I know I won't ever go wrong doing that!
As we moved into the Word one thing that still jumps out to me is nowhere do we find Jesus praying aloud for Lazarus' resurrection, healing, or restoration. There is no long drawn-out process, prayer, or checklist of things, just His simple prayer to thank the Father for hearing Him, then He cries out to the lifeless body inside the tomb.
"Lazarus, come out."
Now, He doesn't just speak these words. No, it says, "He cried out with a loud voice". Now these seven words are actually only three words in the Greek.
"He cried out" in the Greek is just one word, kraugazō and it means: to cry out, to shout.
"with a loud" in the Greek is just one word, megas and it means: great, big, used of intensity and its degrees: with great effort, of the affections and emotions of the mind, of natural events powerfully affecting the senses: violent, mighty, strong.
"voice" in the Greek is phōnē and means: sound, voice, speech.
Being a bit silly here if you look at the Greek, kraugazo megas phone, we see Jesus was the first person to use a megaphone around a crowd to be heard. LOL.. Yes yes I know, silly, but I guess you can see where we got the name megaphone from, straight out of the Greek.
Make no mistake Jesus wasn't screaming here, He shouted in a mighty, strong, and violent manner, "LAZARUS, COME OUT.".
It just gives me goosebumps thinking about that! All these people crowded around. Mary and Martha standing to the side. They have been weeping, wailing, pouring out their hearts over the past four days. Then through all the murmuring, the whispers, the crying, the BOOMING, MIGHTY, STRONG, VIOLENT voice of Jesus crashing through it all and into the darkness of the tomb.
"LAZARUS, COME OUT."
Jesus wasn't just commanding some infirmity, sickness, or condition. NO. He was dealing with death. Before Him wasn't a blind or lame man, it was the dead physical shell of Lazarus. This wasn't just restoring or healing something that was broken physically, this cut through the physical world into death and beyond.
Christian, I know we know Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave is a big deal. Right? BUT… do we really, honestly, truly let it sink in and feel the enormous weight of the fact that death is NOTHING in the face of our Lord?
Beloved, amid the crowded turmoil of your everyday life, with all the good, bad, and ugly of your personal world, stop, look to Jesus, listen for His booming, strong, mighty, voice that doesn't just speak over the noise of your life, its crushes the noise of your life if you are willing to not just hear Him, but to really listen and HEAR Him.
That's all there is for today. Have a great weekend.
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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