God has given us a roadmap that will lead us in the way He has instructed us to live. We can’t take different Scriptures we will live by and dismiss the rest. The Old and New Testament is for our learning and for our guidance. In order to follow the guideline, we must first read the Bible and then take time to study what the Scriptures are saying. Be prayerful and ask the Father for understanding so that you may live according to His instructions and not by intellectual knowledge. The Bible is for you to learn how to know the Father, live according to Scriptures and to live in His power for both the natural and spiritual.

John 11:23 – Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again – Jesus had been preaching in the villages beyond the Jordan when He received the news of Lazarus’s sickness but waited two days before returning to Judea, He knew Lazarus would be dead when He arrived in Bethany, but He was going to do a great miracle.  When He arrived at Bethany Martha met Him and told Him if He would have been there her brother wouldn’t have died. She had enough faith to believe that if Jesus would pray to the Father, He would hear Him and answer His prayer. Jesus told her, her brother should rise again.

John 11:24 – Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Martha was looking into the future when all the saints shall rise. She didn’t have the “Now faith”, although she probably had seen and heard of the other miracles Jesus had performed.

John 11:25 – Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall live. Jesus has power over life and death. This is because He is the Creator of life, He who is life can surely restore life.  Whoever believes in Him has a spiritual life that death can’t touch or diminish in any way.  Jesus Christ is the resurrection of those who believe and are physically dead.  He is the life for those who believe and have not yet died. In order to have eternal life, a person must place his or her faith in Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of God who came into the world to bring eternal life to those who believe.  Because Jesus is the resurrector, as children of God, we can go to the Father in Jesus’ name asking for all things that have died that can be resurrected to be resurrected. Jesus is the giver of life and the sustainer of life. The same miracle Jesus performed on Lazarus if the saints of God would have faith, live according to His Word, Jesus will resurrect the dead in this age. The Word of God never changes, it’s the same yesterday, today and forever!

John 11:26 – And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, Believest thou this? Jesus’ reply to Martha was he or she that is living and will continue to believe in Jesus shall never die. Life sometimes can hit so hard even the very best Christian will lose faith.  This is why Jesus has admonished the believer to live and keep His Father’s commandments they don’t have to worry about death, death is just a closer presence of being with the Lord. Now He asks Martha, do she believe His reply to the resurrection.

John 11:27 – She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God which should come into the world. Martha is best known for being too busy to sit down and talk with Jesus, but here we see her as a woman of deep faith. Too many times believer think they have to have big faith in order to receive an answer to their prayer. The Bible admonishes the believer if they had the faith of a mustard seed, it would move a mountain. Sometimes we have to be like the Centurion and say “Lord, I believe, but help thou my unbelief”. Sometimes we stagger in our belief, but the Father wants us to know it’s Him and His Son that gives the blessings of answered prayers, all we have to do is believe He can do what we need Him to do. What is impossible with us, is possible with God, He works in the impossible.

John 11:28 -And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth thee. After she made her reply, she left Jesus to go get her sister Mary. After she stepped out of the temporal, she peeped into the eternal and her faith was in Jesus and not what she was seeing. What we see will make us lose faith, but we have to get our attention off what we see but what we believe and know God can do. When faith is weak, get your Bible and find Scriptures that designated to your situation and speak them out loud until you encourage yourself in the Word of the Father.  Unbelief will not move God, His Word and our faith in His Word is what moves the hand of God. He watches over His Word to perform them.

John 11:29 – As soon as she heard that she rose quickly, and came unto him.  When Mary first heard that Jesus was coming, she didn’t move. She sat and most likely was praying for the impossible knowing when He came, He would make the impossible, possible.

John 11:30 – Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.  Jesus hadn’t made it to Mary, He was still in the place where He had been speaking with Martha.

John 11:31 – The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.  The Jews who were comforting Mary thought when she arose quickly and went out of the house that she was going to Lazarus tomb to mourn. They didn’t realize the Master was summoning her, and she rose to the occasion. When the Spirit of the Lord gives us an unction to say something or do something, we must not hesitate but be willing to do what He asks of us.

John 11:32 – Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at this feet, saying, unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Mary said the same thing to the Lord as Martha had, no doubt they had expressed this thought to one another often in the previous days. They both had faith in Jesus that if He would have been there their brother wouldn’t have died. Neither one them thought He could have sent His Word and healed and resurrected Lazarus.

John 11:33 – When Jesus, therefore, saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. Groaned means to be deeply moved, troubled means to be stirred up, disturbed. Jesus was moved by the mourning of Mary and indignant at the hypocritical lamentation of His enemies. The groaned also could have been Him talking with the Father regarding this situation.  People who have a consistent prayer life and living according to God’s Word will sometime groan as they are talking to the Father. Jesus was concerned about Mary and Martha. He didn’t want Lazarus to die but in order to do a miracle, something had to happen. This is a good example of people requesting a miracle from the Father, miracles will be given, but what has to happen in order to receive a miracle. It’s something else to ask for a miracle when something has happened like with Lazarus or other critical matters, but just requesting for a miracle and nothing is wrong, we must be careful! Jesus is life, the Creator, the sustainer, intercessory, and Savior of those who believe in Him.