Crisis of Faith: Lazarus, Delay, and Divine Deliverance

Devotional

Day 1: "He Whom You Love Is Sick"

Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus: “Lord, the one you love is sick.” Lazarus couldn’t speak for himself. His sisters interceded, trusting Jesus’ care. But Jesus stayed two more days. The crisis deepened as death approached. Their plea seemed ignored, yet God’s plan unfolded beyond human timing. [01:08:26]

Jesus delays but never abandons. He allowed Lazarus’ death to reveal greater glory. The One who raised corpses can transform your darkest hour. His love operates beyond panic, working resurrection where hope seems lost.

When prayers go unanswered, do you trust His heart? You may feel like Lazarus—silent, surrounded by mourners. But Christ sees your crisis. Who can you ask to intercede for you today? What broken situation will you place in His hands?

“Lord, the one you love is sick.” When Jesus heard this, He 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.”
(John 11:1-4, NIV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to reveal His purpose in your waiting.
Challenge: Call or message one person to pray for your unmet need.

Day 2: Delayed but Not Denied

Jesus received Martha’s message but didn’t rush. For two days, He lingered. Meanwhile, Lazarus’ body grew cold. Martha’s “Lord, if You had been here” echoed every believer’s anguished “why?” Yet Christ’s delay became the canvas for divine power. [01:11:19]

God’s calendar confounds human urgency. He permitted Lazarus’ death to dismantle death itself. The same hands that waited then hold your crisis now. His timing—though painful—prepares miracles no hurried prayer could achieve.

How have you judged God’s silence as neglect? Like Martha, you know He could’ve acted sooner. But resurrection requires a tomb. What situation have you declared “too late” that God calls “ready for glory”?

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days.”
(John 11:5-6, NIV)

Prayer: Confess one area where you’ve doubted God’s timing.
Challenge: Write down a “delayed” prayer and read Psalm 27:14 over it.

Day 3: “This Sickness Is Not Unto Death”

Jesus declared Lazarus’ condition wouldn’t end in death—yet Lazarus died. The disciples murmured. Martha’s theology clashed with her grief. But Christ’s words held a deeper truth: physical death bows to eternal purposes. [01:32:59]

God permits temporary losses to secure eternal gains. The Savior who wept at Lazarus’ tomb weeps with you, but His tears fuel resurrection. Every crisis becomes a crossroads: Will you trust His character over visible outcomes?

What “death” have you mourned that God calls a sleeping season? Like Martha, you recite doctrines but struggle to believe. Where do you need fresh courage to declare, “Even now, I know”?

“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.’”
(John 11:4, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for His hidden work in your apparent defeat.
Challenge: List three fears about your crisis and cross each out with “But God…”

Day 4: Rolling Away the Stone

Jesus stood at Lazarus’ tomb and commanded, “Take away the stone.” Martha protested: “He stinks.” Death’s odor couldn’t deter the Resurrection. Christ confronted decay with three words: “Lazarus, come forth!” [01:40:05]

God enters stench-filled places. What you’ve sealed off as too rotten, He calls ripe for revival. The same voice that summoned Lazarus shakes off your grave clothes. No situation is beyond His “come forth” command.

What “stone” have you left sealed to avoid the mess? Like Martha, you want resurrection without confronting decay. What area of life needs fresh air and His light?

“Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.’”
(John 11:38-40, ESV)

Prayer: Beg God to open what you’ve kept hidden in shame.
Challenge: Physically open a window/door while praying for breakthrough.

Day 5: Unbind Him and Let Him Go

Lazarus emerged bound in grave clothes. Jesus told the crowd: “Loose him.” Resurrection required community participation. The miracle wasn’t complete until others removed the burial strips. [01:33:39]

Christ’s power frees, but He invites us to dismantle bondage. Your liberation may require others’ hands. Just as Lazarus needed help shedding death’s residue, God sends people to unwrap His work in you.

Who still sees you as “the dead one” despite God’s revival? Like Lazarus, you carry remnants of past trials. Who can you permit to help remove lingering shame or doubt?

“The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’”
(John 11:41-44, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to send helpers to affirm your new season.
Challenge: Text someone: “God is freeing me from ___. How can I pray for you?”

Sermon Summary

John 11 speaks first. “Him whom you love is sick.” The text shows that love does not cancel sickness or delay, and friendship with Jesus does not erase hard days. Jesus answers the report with a word that carries the whole journey, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” The crisis of faith appears when delay stretches into burial, when prayers seem unanswered, and when those who love Jesus find themselves at the tomb, not at the table. Mary and Martha stand as intercessors when Lazarus can no longer call; their appeal teaches that a believer needs a praying circle when personal strength is gone.

Genesis sets the backdrop. God created humanity to be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue, and dominate. Sin opened the door to sickness and loss, but Christ restores authority so that sickness and hardship do not have the last word. The crisis of faith is not a rare storm; it is the ordinary arena where trust is tested. Abraham waits twenty five years. Isaac digs well after well until Rehoboth. Rachel is loved yet barren. Daniel prays three times daily and still enters a lions’ den. Zechariah and Elizabeth walk blamelessly yet grow old without a child. Ecclesiastes whispers behind their stories, “He has made everything beautiful in his time.”

Jesus holds the center. His delay is not neglect; his timing writes glory. His word reframes the grave, and his presence walks into places others call stinking and closed. No problem is automatically a punishment for sin; many battles are promotions in disguise. The counsel stands firm: do not give the devil attention so he cannot give direction. The waters believers pass through are real, but the Lord passes through with them.

The declaration answers the crisis. “It is not over when God is involved.” The word over the house is not denial of pain; it is the promise that pain will not define the ending. Integrity may cost a job for a season, but righteousness positions a believer to be set above those who once pressed them to compromise. Mary’s costly devotion becomes a pattern: sacrificial love toward Jesus draws Jesus into family pain. The same Jesus who wept at a grave calls a bound man out and looses him. Glory follows.

Key Takeaways

1. Crisis of faith tests trust [01:07:38] A crisis does not prove God absent; it reveals what the heart believes when outcomes delay. Mary and Martha’s intercession shows how God often works through a praying community when a sufferer cannot speak. Faith may feel stretched to breaking, yet the text insists the stretch is unto glory, not ruin. The believer’s task is to hold the word Jesus already gave. [67:38]
2. Dominion shows in five indicators [01:16:12] Fruitfulness, multiplication, replenishing, subduing, and dominion describe the believer’s original design. Sin fractured that pattern, but Christ restores it so sickness and lack do not set identity or destiny. Spiritual authority looks like order breaking out in places that were chaotic. The indicators become a mirror for prayer, not a scorecard for shame. [76:12]
3. God’s timing turns delay to glory [01:20:19] Isaac’s Rehoboth, and Zechariah and Elizabeth’s late joy, teach that divine sequence often hides mercy in long corridors. Delay can be severe without being a verdict. When God arrives, space opens, and what was contested becomes settled ground. The heart learns to read time by promise, not by pressure. [80:19]
4. This sickness is not unto death [01:32:14] Jesus names the purpose before touching the problem. The word does not deny the grave; it declares the grave will not own the story. Death, debt, and shame can be real, yet they bow when Christ speaks into them. The believer lives by that voice, not by visible decay. [92:14]
5. No grave is too stinking [01:40:05] Jesus walks into places people avoid and calls life out of rot. Respectability fears the smell; resurrection does not. The Spirit meets believers in their worst rooms and turns testimony out of what seemed unfixable. The courage is to roll the stone and let him speak. [100:05]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[58:12] - Greetings and thanksgiving
[60:07] - Amazing Grace and gratitude
[64:52] - Prayer before the Word
[67:38] - The crisis of faith
[68:01] - Reading John 11 on Lazarus
[75:12] - Five indicators of blessing
[78:22] - What crisis of faith means
[82:24] - Fear not: Isaac’s Rehoboth
[85:45] - Daniel and the lions’ den
[88:07] - Zechariah and Elizabeth’s delay
[92:14] - “This sickness is not unto death”
[96:46] - Lessons from crisis of faith
[103:31] - Prayer session and declarations
[109:28] - Prophetic blessings and sending

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
John 11:1-4 (ESV)
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” When Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Observation Questions

What specific phrase did Jesus use to reframe Lazarus’ sickness, and what was its purpose? (John 11:4)
The sermon mentions five “indicators of divine blessing” from Genesis 1:28. What are they, and how do they relate to humanity’s original design? [15:34]
According to the sermon, what do stories like Isaac’s wells, Daniel’s lions’ den, and Zechariah’s delayed child reveal about God’s timing? [20:19]
How did Mary and Martha’s actions demonstrate the role of community in intercession when Lazarus could no longer pray for himself? [10:24]

Interpretation Questions

Jesus said Lazarus’ sickness was “for the glory of God” (John 11:4), yet Lazarus still died. How does this tension between delay and ultimate purpose challenge our understanding of suffering?
The sermon states, “No problem is automatically a punishment for sin” [37:42]. How does this truth reshape how we interpret personal crises or societal hardships?
Why might Jesus’ delay in responding to Mary and Martha’s plea (John 11:6) be described as “severe but not a verdict”? How does this apply to prolonged struggles in our lives? [20:19]
The phrase “Rehoboth” (Genesis 26:22) means “room.” How does Isaac’s persistence in digging wells until he found “room” reflect the believer’s journey through contested seasons? [21:35]

Application Questions

When have you experienced a situation where God’s delay felt like neglect? How can Jesus’ words in John 11:4 reframe your perspective on that season?
The sermon emphasizes that “crisis of faith is the ordinary arena where trust is tested” [18:22]. What current challenge is testing your trust, and how can you actively “hold the word Jesus already gave” in it?
Identify one area of life (health, relationships, work) where you feel “bound” like Lazarus. What practical step can you take to “roll away the stone” and invite Jesus into that situation? [40:05]
The five indicators of dominion (fruitfulness, multiplication, replenishing, subduing, ruling) [16:12] are meant to be “a mirror for prayer, not a scorecard for shame.” Which of these do you need to pray over most urgently, and why?
Who in your life is in a season where they “cannot speak” due to exhaustion or despair? How will you intentionally intercede for them this week, as Mary and Martha did for Lazarus? [10:24]
The sermon declares, “It is not over when God is involved” [47:57]. What area of your life needs this declaration today? Write it down and pray it daily.

Sermon Clips

At that moment, Lazarus cannot pick his phone and call Jesus that I am sick, But he has sisters. He has people that can call on Jesus for him. That is why you need to be born again. There will be a time in your life that even to pray will be so hard. There will be a moment in your life even to go out will be so difficult. There will be a moment in your life even to say you want to call someone will be very difficult. But around you, you must have people that can intercede for you. [01:10:15] (31 seconds)

No grave is too stinking that Jesus cannot visit. Amen. You know, when Jesus appear at the tomb of Lazarus, Mary and Martha that were that have been praying before. Were they not supposed to be happy that Jesus is going to that tomb of Lazarus? But they were the one telling him, at four days you have buried him, he's already thinking, what what are you going to do there? You are a holy man. Don't go there. Don't go and, you know, smell the the the you're already stinking. [01:39:47] (29 seconds)

Everyone looking at him. Maybe when he appear outside, he was looking like a man that is healthy, that is good, but inside of him, he was sick. You are seated there, you are looking good, you dress fine, I don't know what you are passing through. I don't know what you are experiencing. I don't know the situation in which you are before you come here this morning, but Jesus knew. Or should I say Jesus knows because you are here. The problem of Lazarus, Jesus knew and he delayed his coming, but before he came, Lazarus has died. The crisis of faith. [01:11:48] (39 seconds)

I'm not talking about the hepatitis B sickness now. I'm not talking about the malaria sickness now. I'm talking about the situations around you that is giving you sickness. That sickness is not unto death. It's not unto physical death. And it's not unto your spiritual death. It's not unto your financial death. It's not unto your family death. In the name of Jesus. That sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the son of God might be glorified thereafter. [01:32:38] (36 seconds)

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Crisis of Faith: Lazarus, Delay, and Divine Deliverance

Devotional

Day 1: "He Whom You Love Is Sick"

Day 2: Delayed but Not Denied

Day 3: “This Sickness Is Not Unto Death”

Day 4: Rolling Away the Stone

Day 5: Unbind Him and Let Him Go

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Crisis of Faith: Lazarus, Delay, and Divine Deliverance

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