Key Thought

Sometimes we have no answers and all we can do is cry out to Jesus and ask for his help! We don't know what he knows. We can't see to the end of the matter. Everything looks lost from our end. So in our desperation, we cry out for help. But why does it take desperation to cry out to him and ask for his help? Why don't we start each day by crying out to him for help, asking him to enter into our world, our homes, our lives, and our hearts? The reminder that Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks wasn't written to the lost, but to the saved who had begun to take their walk with Jesus for granted. So let's not wait till desperation sets in to cry out and to invite him in!

Today's Prayer

Today's Verses in Context

There was a man named Lazarus who was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany. This is the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived. (Mary is the same woman that later put perfume on the Lord (Jesus) and wiped his feet with her hair.) Mary's brother was Lazarus, the man that was now sick. So Mary and Martha sent a person to tell Jesus, "Lord, your dear friend Lazarus is sick." When Jesus heard this he said, "The end of this sickness will not be death. But this sickness is for the glory of God. This has happened to bring glory to the Son of God." (Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.) When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. Then Jesus said to his followers, "We should go back to Judea." The followers answered, "But teacher, those Jews in Judea tried to kill you with stones. That was only a short time ago. Now you want to go back there?" Jesus answered, "There are twelve hours of light in the day. Right? If a person walks in the day, then he will not stumble and fall. Why? Because he can see with the light of this world. But when a person walks at night he stumbles. Why? Because there is no light to help him see." After Jesus said these things, he said, "Our friend Lazarus is now sleeping. But I am going there to wake him." The followers answered, "But Lord, if he can sleep, he will be well." Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead. But Jesus' followers thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was really sleeping. So then Jesus said clearly, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad that I was not there. I am happy for you, because now you will believe {in me}. We will go to him now." Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other followers, "We will go too. We will die with Jesus {in Judea}."

— John 11:1-16 (ERV)

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