Among all those who have wielded the power of God and done mighty works by prayer and faith, no one has ever done as many exploits as Jesus. Therefore, it is wisdom for us to take a lesson note from Him. Fortunately, for us, Jesus taught us faith—not just in theory but practically.
In the 11th chapter of the book of John, Jesus had the following conversation with His disciples:
[11]…”Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” [12] Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well.” [13] However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. [14] Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”
From the above conversation, we could deduce that Jesus knew very well that Lazarus was dead; yet He said, “He sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
But why did He make such a misleading claim, as it were?
Early on, when Jesus was informed that Lazarus was sick, He said,
“This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” John 11:4 [NKJV]
That wasn’t His personal declaration; it was God’s very word about the sickness of Lazarus.
How did I know this?
Jesus said of Himself.
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” John 8:28 [NKJV]
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” John 14:10 [NKJV]
He spoke just as the Father dropped it in His mind.
“This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” That was all that Jesus needed to hear God say, and He was so sure that Lazarus would never die that even when he died, He still said, “He sleeps!”—That’s the meaning of faith: trusting what God says in His word beyond anything happening around us.
But What do Christians do Today?
If an average child of God today were in Jesus’ shoes, the greatest demonstration of faith they would make is to panic, burst out into tears and say, “Father, you said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” I trusted you and said it to everybody around me, and yet he died. Why have you put me to shame, Father?
Did you see the issue there?
Jesus knew that what God said was true and done from the moment God said it. He didn’t need God to do any other thing before he would know His word was done. Therefore, irrespective of what happened after He got God’s word, what God had said was done.
However, on the contrary, the latter—the modern-day believer—receives God’s word concerning any issue of life. Then they start waiting for God to do something so they will know what God has said is true and done. Ergo, if anything happens in favour of God’s word, that proves to them that God has done what He said. However, if circumstances go contrary to the word of God they have known, that becomes a proof that God has failed.
For so long as you continue that way, you won’t get any result by faith!
You see why many believers are frustrated trying to get results by faith? If you ask them, they had all the faith, but God failed them. But in actuality, they never had faith for once.
You must spend time to learn how to demonstrate faith indeed. And fortunately, in as much as there are many false teachers out there, there is still a remnant of genuine, great teachers of faith that you can learn from—I learnt from someone—you just have to be circumspect. However, I recommend that you pick any of my books on faith as a way of support and also because I’m sure of what is written there.
See you on the victor’s side.
