He wanted them to love him, to be identified with them. Instead, he felt like an outsider as his brothers’ hatred and anger kindled against him. The pent up anger and hatred culminated in an event which will forever be retold as long as life lasts. He cried as the carriage took him farther and farther away from his homeland, away from his brothers and yes, away from his father who loved him. “How could God allow this to happen?” he must have thought, “I did nothing wrong.”

No matter what your situation may be, our Jesus who resurrected Lazarus, will bring resurrection power to any problem in our life. We can take back our life from the enemy and share our testimonies wherever we go. Jesus will give you the strength to be His true witness. Whatever you’re going through, you are His witness. Lessons learned are not to be kept – they are to be shared. Witnessing will open the way for others to come see Jesus. You are a witness of His goodness. Be a faithful witness.

am reminded of other instances when persons from foreign lands came to God’s people desiring to learn more about Him but were deprived. King Hezekiah had visitors from Babylon. Instead of showing them the God of Heaven, who delivered him from his enemies, he showed them the riches of Israel. Perhaps in a bragging attitude, he showed them everything in his house. He got the opportunity to introduce God to these people; but instead, he showed them material wealth.

We run the risk of our eyes being blinded and our hearts hardened when we refuse to believe God’s words. We are admonished that we should “Believe in the LORD your God; so shall ye be established. Believe His prophets; so shall ye prosper.” (2 Chronicles 20:20) When we refuse to believe God’s words, our behavior is comparable to Cain’s, Pharaoh’s, and all examples listed in the Bible. When we believe, our actions will ‘fall in line’. True belief is followed by acceptance and change. We will order our lives after God’s words.

Was Peter wrong in not wanting Jesus to do the servant’s job? It was a natural reaction. John the Baptist had similar reaction when Jesus came to him to be baptized. John forbade Him as he felt he needed to be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around. But Jesus’ gentle words reminded him that history was in the making, as all righteousness would be fulfilled. Jesus knew, though He had no sin, that His baptism was an essential act in the plan of salvation. At His words, John gladly baptized his Master.

There are times in life when our problems seemed to crushed us; when all we can do is cry, and cry, and cry some more. Like Mary Magdalene, even though we have often sat at Jesus’ feet, yet in the time of testing we sometimes forget the lessons learnt. We allowed our troubles to cloud out the view of our Master, of our hope and dreams. In the face of our storms, we weep thinking it’s all over, that there’s no way out. Just as how Jesus called out to Mary, so He’s calling out your name. He’s calling your name saying, “Weep no more, I am not dead!”

The ability to read another’s thoughts is amazing, yet frightening! If you could, you would know everything about other persons. Nothing would surprise you as every thoughts lay naked to your all knowing mind. This is scary! Even though we have the desire to know, with the main aim being to control, it wouldn’t be fun knowing everything.

The Bible is filled with experiences of persons that could easily be grouped into either garlic perfume or a sweet-smelling perfume. Can you think of some examples? All life experiences do leave a lesson about Christ, good or bad. What lesson was taught from Job’s experience? What about Judas? Can you recall a time in your life when your victory in your testing turns out to be a testimony for Christ?

The first book of Samuel, the twenty-fifth chapter, recorded the death of Samuel the Lord’s prophet. People loved and admired him; now that he was dead, they all felt hopeless since King Saul, their other leader, was considered to be a mad man. Why? He was obsessed with killing the only person who gave him the victory over the Philistines. He spent many days chasing after David, his designated successor, because he wanted him dead.

It’s one thing to have a death threat hanging over your head by the government or anyone else. But a death threat from within the body of believers is frightening. Such was Lazarus’ experience. He was the next best choice since he was responsible for many Jews believing in Jesus. In Jamaican Creole we say: “If yu kian catch quako yu catch im shut”, meaning if you are unable to get to the person you need, you will take the next best. Since Jesus was proving to be so ‘slippery’ to their grasp, they would take Lazarus instead and make him a public example of what will happen to all who believe in Jesus. Imagine that, the leaders of the Church, who are appointed to be the intercessors between God and man on Earth, planning to murder?