A Belief Stronger Than Death
Imagine: Your brother has been dead for four days. The grief is so overwhelming that every part of you feels numb. Your tears have run dry, but the pain is far from gone.
Then, Jesus—your friend, the one thought to be the prophesied Messiah, the Savior of the world, the one who’s been doing astonishing miracles—shows up. Only … He wasn’t there to stop your brother from dying in the first place.
But then He does something that’s completely unexpected: He tells your dead-for-four-days brother to come out of his grave … and your brother listens. Lazarus walks out—alive.
Jesus knew that the raising of Lazarus was merely a foretaste of what was still to come. He’d eventually conquer death—for good. In the end, the grave would not have the final say. Those who believe in Him will never truly die, but go from this broken world to something much better.
That’s why the same words Jesus spoke to Lazarus’ sister, Martha, just before Lazarus’ miraculous moment are the same words Jesus would speak to you…
“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26 NLT
Martha probably had a billion questions and possibly just as many doubts. But she had been with Jesus, she had seen His power, and she couldn’t deny His love. And that’s why Martha responded with:
“‘Yes, Lord,’ … ‘I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.’”
John 11:27 NLT
Though our earthly bodies will die, God has more in store than we can dare to fathom.
Do you believe this?
Let us echo Martha’s heart—to believe that the Lord is exactly who He says He is. Let’s trust God with more than what our eyes can see. Let’s have the faith to follow Him to the end.
Healed by His Wounds
Brokenness. We see it all around us. We experience it ourselves—in our relationships, in our dreams, in our bodies. And yet, something happened over two thousand years ago that still has the power to heal that brokenness.
1 Peter 2:24 says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."
Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, took the weight of our sins upon Himself. He carried them to the cross, giving up His life not because of His own wrongdoing, but because of ours. This is the essence of the Gospel. Through His sacrifice, He offered us a path out of darkness and into His light—a life transformed by His grace.
Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we’ve been given a profound healing of our spirits; new life taking the place of sins and darkness that separate us from God. Through His wounds, we are offered forgiveness and a new relationship with God, healed and ...