hen Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?¡± Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man come out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." John 11:33-44(RSV)

The life we live on daily basis, is full of challenges that must be conquered, problems that must be solved, troubles that must be overcame, questions that must be answered, discoveries that must be made, truths that must be told and facts that must be frankly faced.

However, it is nothing but delusion to think that humanity can always handle all of life's confrontations and get the real answers and solutions without hope, faith and dependence on the one who is the Master of the universe and Master solution to all of life's Problems; the one who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and ending; who forever remains the same. By Him and through Him and for Him were the world and all things in it made for the bible records that without Him was nothing made that was made, who alone upholds all things by the word of His power. Heb 1:3

His name is Jesus Christ the son of the living God; the name that is exalted above every other name. At the mention of that name every knee bows of things in heaven, in earth and under the earth and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is the Lord.

The death, funeral, and burial of Lazarus as we read in Jn 11:1-35 showcased chaos, confusion and crisis of life but in the midst of all that Jesus showed up with a different approach, attitude and language. When men give up and resort to mourning, weeping, helpless commiseration and pity party, Jesus comes up with a solution; hear what He says, "If you believed you would see the glory of God".

The glory of God in most cases is concealed in the shrouds of life's ugly situations and circumstances; and revealed when God supernaturally intervenes. It is like a nugget of solutions but buried in the grave of seemingly impossible situations; only your belief in Jesus Christ can manifest it. Here¡¯s the reality; Lazarus is dead¡ªyes, Mary and Martha weeping ¨Cyes, The Jews around weeping with them¡ªyes, Lazarus is buried -yes The funeral had begun ¨Cyes; Lazarus is Four days already in the grave --yes Lazarus might have started decomposing and smelling ¨Cyes BUT IF YOU CAN BELIEVE, YOU SHALL SEE THE GLORY OF GOD.

Perhaps you are still a wretched sinner lost in sin and unbelief, condemned and gravitating down to hell but right now if you believe, you shall see the glory of God. You might have lost that Job, business, career or opportunity in the face of excruciating and adverse global economic down turn but if you believe you shall see the glory of God.

They may have told you, you can't make it again because you lost that relationship, friendship, connection and have been declared in solvency and bankrupt but if you believe, you shall see the glory of God.

ROLL AWAY THE STONE

For us to see the glory of God we must come to a place where we see ourselves working together with Jesus in agreement to His will and for the ultimate realization of His goals for our lives.

There are things God could do but wouldn't because we could do them. When we begin to do what we can do, God will begin to do those things we cannot do .For Jesus to bring Lazarus out of the grave, the people must roll away the stone.

The first step to your miracle is the rolling away of the gravestone. The gravestone is rolled over the mouth of the grave, the very channel from where Lazarus is expected to emerge out of the tomb; therefore the gravestone is an impediment and obstruction to the glory of God.

If you don't roll away the gravestone it will continue to intimidate you as an impossible task and your Lazarus will continue to stink in the grave. Ladies and gentlemen, the gravestone is an enemy of victory. It is a cog in the wheel of progress. If we must see the glory of God we must roll away the stone of doubt and unbelief. We must roll away the stone of fear and discouragement. We must roll away the stone of negligence and deliberate disobedience to the word of God.

The gravestone is a threat to purpose. In Mk 16:3 the women going to anoint the body of Jesus at his grave on that resurrection morning suddenly stopped and realized that they would have problem reaching their goal if there was no one to roll away the stone from the mouth of the sepulcher; But God who sees the problems that confront us ahead had already seen the stone and realized that for Jesus to come out of the grave on the 3rd day, the stone needed to be rolled away from the mouth of the sepulcher, and so before the resurrection power rocked the foundation of the tomb, He first sent an Angel, who came down and rolled away the stone; and to tell you that the angel understood the danger posed by the stone, he did not only roll it away but also sat upon it to make sure no body rolls it back again Matt 28:2. In the same way Jesus understood that behind the facade of glittering gravestone lay the possibility of a miracle that would show case the glory of God; that was why he challenged them to take away the stone if they would see the glory of God.
Rev.Basil & Eby Ukaere Senior Pastors: Oasis of His Presence International Church /i>