"God says his plan is for an expected end in other words a good ending not a dead ending..."

What Is Your illness?

Definition //

sickness, disease, ailment, disorder, complaint, malady, affliction, attack, infection, contagion, disability, indisposition; bug, virus; ill health, poor health, infirmity, valetudinarianism; British informal lurgy; Australian informal wog. ANTONYMS good health -

John 11: 1 - 3

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)

3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When it comes to any dead situation, the first thing the doctors or people want to identify is the “CAUSE OF DEATH”. What happened for this person to thing to die? In this passage we understand the cause was SICKNESS, which we have defined as Illness above.

When any area of your life is being attacked, not functioning as it is suppose to be, exhibitor signs of ailment and not being healthy then we have every right to conclude that the area is sick. It could be finances, if you are in debt your finances are sick, it could be in a relationship, if there are constant fights, no trust, no love then that relationship is sick. According to the passage if that sickness is not attended to in time, the inevitable is death, that area of your life will die, it will fail.

The Who Knows About Your illness Matters?

One of the biggest mistakes most of us make when we go through SICKNESS, is telling anybody and everybody that seems to be willing to hear. The problem with that is, some people do not carry the wisdom and knowledge that your sickness needs to be healed. They do not have the Capacity to Speak to your sickness and as a result they go on to Speak about your sickness, which then adds on to our problems.

John 11: 4

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

What we learn from this verse is that when Jesus heard about Lazarus sickness, He refused to talk about it but instead he spoke to it. He said , “This Sickness, is not unto death.” Everyone knew the inevitable outcome of sickness is death so when Jesus declared the opposite he was disarming the power the sickness had on Lazarus. What you also need to pay close attention to is the fact that he said, “it will not END, in DEATH.” Jesus didn’t say he will not die, no, he said the END will not be DEATH. This then becomes another teaching point. Who has the Final say in your life? Even if things look and feel bad , what is the END you have in mind. In Jeremiah 29:11 God says his plan is for an Expected END in other words a Good Ending not a DEAD Ending.

Faith Talk vs Fail Talk

One of the biggest mistakes most of us make when we go through SICKNESS, is telling anybody and everybody that seems to be willing to hear. The problem with that is, some people do not carry the wisdom and knowledge that your sickness needs to be healed. They do not have the Capacity to Speak to your sickness and as a result they go on to Speak about your sickness, which then adds on to our problems. Even when the news that Lazarus was dead , Jesus refused to utter the words his dead , instead he said he sleeps.

John 11: 11 - 14

 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

One The is a language of faith that speaks the outcome the expected end result, our friend is asleep, let us go wake him up. Then there is a word of Failure, of Fear, the one the passage calls Plainly which speaks of the situation the current status. Now sharing your problem or situation with people that do not have the word of faith that can speak into your situation and call forth the outcome we expect instead of reinforcing the current state with speaking plainly will result in you also losing hope and giving up, like the two sister had given hope because they told Jesus, if you were here, our brother would not have died so they had accepted failure, it was over it was done it was to them a DEAD END.

How you speak To your situation is very important for your breakthrough. For example one can chose to say I’m in a transition instead of saying I am done. The one carry prospects of progress and the other say I have reached a DEAD END. Now don’t go into reasoning with a stubborn mind on this as they will change your mind on the revelation that you already have.

Delay is not Denial

John 11: 21

 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

How many of us feel that way sometimes, not just towards God, but maybe to our family, “Dad if only you had been here, then I would not be struggling with this.” Or it could be a brother, friend or even partner that you counted on and they did not show up for you and as a result you feel like your dream is dead, the opportunity is gone and the business failed to launch.

This kind of disappointment makes some of us start to blame the people we expected to help us. Just because we called on them , we feel like they must come when we call and they must do what we ask. In this passage we learn that Jesus took FOUR DAYS to respond to the call of Mary and Martha. To make it worse the bible tells us he was only TWO Miles away which is not more than 3km (John 11:17-20) .

In this case, Jesus delaying to come resulted in Lazarus dying. Fortunately Martha didn’t blame Jesus for her brothers death, but she just hoped he had been there sooner. According to them, Jesus coming was no longer important because they had concluded that their brother is dead and it is finished. To them Jesus delay meant the denial of their brother to live. Jesus how ever asks for the location of the burial site, and in John 11:35 it is stated Jesus wept. The remark of the people to this expression was LOOK HOW HE LOVED HIM. What we learn from this is that Jesus is truly touched when things in our life die. His desire for us is to have life and have it more abundant (John 10:10) For that reason he chose to die so that nothing of us or any of us would have to die (John 3:16).

None the less, this becomes a teaching moment, which we all should learn and apply in our lives. Sometimes things come to a point of death, but it doesn’t mean it's a DEAD END.

Jesus is both Resurrection and Life

It is the believers choice to experience a DEAD END, because even if something was to die, he can raise it up, and if something is alive and committed to him, it needs not to ever die. So no matter which angle you look at your situation, Life is the only possible outcome. Whether through resurrection or not having to die.

John 11: 25

 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

The closing statement Jesus makes is the one that makes me fully convinced that the choice is ours. He asks, Do you believe this? Our ability to take God on his word is the base on which God can take us on his word. God will not manifest anything in the believer’s life that the believer him or her does not believer. So the level at which your believing is realised is the level at which God’s giving will be related towards you. If you believe that there are DEAD ENDS, then you will surely see things die in you life and END in death. But if you believe that Jesus is both resurrection and life then whether it dies you can Call it forth back to life. Finances, Come forth!, Health, Come forth! Joy, Come forth! Anything that is dead in your life, call it to come forth!

What did Jesus tell you?

Most believers have a tendency of forgetting the WORD of the Lord when they experience challenges or hardships. Instead of facing the challenges through faith, they start facing it based on fact. Allow me to explain Faith and Fact in this way :

Faith - is the supernatural reality of things based on Gods word.

Fact - is the natural reality of things based on what is seen in the physical.

What we mostly call reality, in essence is FACT and what we call crazy in essence is Faith. In Romans 4 Paul mentions how Abraham believed God who called those things that are not as though there where. Abraham also believe that even if he had offered up Isaac God was able to bring him back, so according to Abraham with God there is truly no DEAD ENDS. He expected to come back with Isaac which he consequently did. Now in our lives, we seem to constantly forget what God has said in his word and like Martha we give excuses like he stinketh.

John 11: 38 - 39

 “Lord,Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.”

Jesus gave an instruction, but Martha had a reason or an excuse not to follow the instruction. Mind you earlier on in John 11:25 Jesus told her he is Both, the resurrection and the life. Also earlier Jesus had told her if she believed she would see the Glory of God. So clearly Fact had affected her Faith and consequently her speech had changed and Jesus had to remind her …

John 11: 40

 “Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

The obvious outcome for this teaching is not necessarily about Lazarus coming to live, but it is mainly about how us as believers fluctuate in our faith when we experience sickness, delay, negative voices etc. Jesus seeks to teach one thing in this encounter and this is , Can We Still BELIEVE him even if the thing we are facing looks very different from what he said. And also remembering what he said in the beginning, this sickness is not unto death, but it is so that the glory of God might be revealed. If we can understand this story, then we will also understand that there is no GLORY in DEATH, because Jesus said , God’s Glory is revealed through life, it is not a DEAD END. So if you are faced with any dead situation, take God on his word , speak life and let it come forth because it is through life that he Gets the Glory and people get to see his glory through us. But the Question is, Do you believe this? Or do you still think there is some glory God gets because you are suffering or because you are struggling? The choice is yours, do you want Life or do you want DEAD ENDS. Over and over God has given us the option to chose, from Joshua in Deuteronomy 30:19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

David also writes in Psalm 118:17, I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

Thank you, HAVE A BLESSED WEEK.