You may have heard the story of Lazarus in scripture and how much Jesus loved Him. He was Mary and Martha’s brother, and Jesus had spent time in their home. They were close friends. Well, Lazarus became ill, and Jesus wasn’t around. Mary and Martha knew that Jesus could do a miracle, so they sent word to Him. Before He arrived, Lazarus died. In fact, he’d been dead four days by the time Jesus got there. As you can imagine, the sisters were mourning, and Martha said to Jesus, "If You would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!" Jesus replied to Martha, "Only believe."
Lazarus had been buried in a tomb, and Jesus said to roll away the stone. The people questioned Him saying, "It’s been four days! He stinks!" But they rolled away the stone anyway.
Then in John 11:42, it says that Jesus lifted His eyes and said, "Father, I know that You hear Me and You always hear Me, but I’m saying this for the crowd that’s around Me so that they can believe, too."
See, He acknowledged God with His words, not for His own sake, but for the sake of the doubting crowd around Him.
Have you ever felt crowded out by doubt? Have you felt your circumstances crowding you? Have you felt like some things in your heart have crowded out your faith? Jesus is setting the example in this story to declare our faith in God, not just for our own sake, but for the crowd around us. Pray and say, "God, I know You hear me, but I want this doubt to hear me; I want the forces of darkness to hear me; I want these circumstances to hear me. I believe in YOU! I am trusting in YOU!"
Do you know that when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, life came forth out of that tomb? When you call on God, life will come out of the dormant places.
Today, don’t let the forces of darkness crowd you out. Don’t let fear crowd you out. Don’t let doubt crowd you out, and don’t let unforgiveness crowd you out. Instead, speak life, speak faith, speak God’s Word, declare your trust is in Him. Speak life and see life and live as an example of God’s glory everywhere you go!