Lazarus Come Forth!

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.’ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’”  (John 11:41-43)
 
At Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus’s prayer begins thanking God… that You have heard Me.
 
This public prayer at the tomb was not His first concerning Lazarus’s death. From the moment Jesus received the news his friend had died, until the moment He declared “come forth!” Jesus’s oneness with God the Father was locked in to, ultimately, command the supernatural outcome.

But Jesus’s words also reveal another layer of spiritual truth: “Because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” In the Kingdom, events occur precisely at the millisecond the heart receives them—as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. From conception, God’s plan goes into motion, and words place human and spiritual entities on notice of a divine, eternal outcome. 
 
Prayer matters. Heart-belief matters. Words matter. 
 
Amen. 
 
John 11:41-43 | Proverbs 23:7 | John 6:63 | John 14:10 | Proverbs 8:22-24 | Verses@Once