I Prayed And They Died Anyway
"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
John 11:21 (KJV)
You prayed harder than you've ever prayed in your life, and you stayed on your knees until there was nothing left to say.
The phone rang anyway with the news you were begging God to stop.
Now you're sitting in the quiet after the funeral, and there's a thought you haven't said out loud because it scares you.
If God was really listening, they'd still be here.
Right behind it comes a worse one.
Maybe they're gone because I didn't have enough faith.
You ever wonder if your prayer bounced off the ceiling because something was wrong with you?
Like if you'd believed a little harder, or said it the right way, the outcome would have changed?
Let me show you a woman who said the quiet part out loud, right to Jesus' face:
Her brother Lazarus got sick. She sent for Jesus.
Jesus loved this family, and He still didn't come in time.
By the time He showed up, Lazarus had been in the grave four days.
Martha walked out to meet Him on the road and didn't soften it one bit:
"Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
That's an accusation. That's her saying "where were You, I called and You never came."
Here's what He didn't do:
He didn't correct her or call her faithless. He didn't hand her a tidy verse and keep walking.
You can say "where were You, God" and still be standing on holy ground.
What did Jesus give her instead of a rebuke?
Himself.
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
John 11:25 (KJV)
He doesn't answer her grief with an explanation. He answers it with a Person.
Notice He says I am the resurrection.
The thing she's crying for is standing in front of her wearing skin.
Watch why Jesus cried.
We read "Jesus wept" and figure He broke down because death is just that sad, because He's standing there feeling our pain right along with us.
"Jesus wept."
John 11:35 (KJV)
Read the verse right before it:
"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled."
John 11:33 (KJV)
A whole crowd standing around that grave, crying like it was finished. Like the One who made Lazarus couldn't do a thing about a tomb.
This is the part that should stop you.
What hurts Jesus most isn't the death. It's the unbelief standing next to the death.
The heaviest thing for the most faithful man who ever lived to watch is people deciding He can't do the very thing He came to do.
Telling Jesus a grave is the end is telling Him there's something He can't undo.
He can do all things. That dead man walked out of the tomb a few verses later still wrapped in his grave clothes.
Hear me out before you carry one ounce of guilt.
This isn't about your tears. Cry as hard as you need to.
The tears were never the problem.
What troubled Jesus was a heart that already nailed the casket shut on what He's able to do.
Here's what I want to set you free from today.
You were never in charge of when they died.
When it's somebody's time, it's their time, and that clock was never in your hands.
Prayer was never a vending machine where the right amount of belief buys back the outcome you wanted.
That is exactly why their death was never your faith's fault.
What you do get to decide is whose hands you put them in now.
You can stand at the grave and call it the end, or you can place them in the hands of the God who raises the dead and leave the verdict with Him.
Stay with me on their soul too, because this is where people torture themselves for years.
You don't know everything that passed between them and God.
You weren't with them every second of their life, and you for sure weren't in their head at the end.
You don't know what they heard, or what they settled in a moment nobody else was in the room for.
Even somebody who told you straight up they didn't believe, you don't get to be the final judge of their heart.
That was always God's call, never yours.
The Bible even says your faith reaches further than you think:
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
Acts 16:31 (KJV)
Believe Him for your house. Put the ones you've lost and the ones you love in the hands of the One who can do all things, and lay down a judgment that was never yours to make.
Jesus walked out of His own grave, so death doesn't get the last word over anybody He holds.
The goodbye is not the end of the sentence.
Here's how to start handing this over today:
Hand them to the only One who can actually hold them.
You couldn't choose the day they died. You can choose whose hands they rest in now. Say it out loud and leave them there.
Say the angry part to God, not about Him.
Martha brought her "where were You" straight to Jesus and the conversation didn't break Him. He can hold yours. Don't take it to everybody except the One who can actually carry it.
Plant yourself somewhere you'll hear the resurrection promise on repeat.
Get around people who keep pointing you back to the empty tomb when your grief tries to tell you the grave wins. You won't out-think this one alone.
PRAYER
Lord, I prayed and it still happened, and I've been scared to tell You how angry and confused that left me.
I've been wondering if I didn't believe hard enough.
Today I lay that lie down.
You are the resurrection and the life, and my prayer was never strong enough to be the savior.
That was always Your job.
Thank You that You cried at a grave too.
Hold me in this until the morning comes.
In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Johnny Chang
"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
John 11:21 (KJV)
You prayed harder than you've ever prayed in your life, and you stayed on your knees until there was nothing left to say.
The phone rang anyway with the news you were begging God to stop.
Now you're sitting in the quiet after the funeral, and there's a thought you haven't said out loud because it scares you.
If God was really listening, they'd still be here.
Right behind it comes a worse one.
Maybe they're gone because I didn't have enough faith.
You ever wonder if your prayer bounced off the ceiling because something was wrong with you?
Like if you'd believed a little harder, or said it the right way, the outcome would have changed?
Let me show you a woman who said the quiet part out loud, right to Jesus' face:
Her brother Lazarus got sick. She sent for Jesus.
Jesus loved this family, and He still didn't come in time.
By the time He showed up, Lazarus had been in the grave four days.
Martha walked out to meet Him on the road and didn't soften it one bit:
"Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
That's an accusation. That's her saying "where were You, I called and You never came."
Here's what He didn't do:
He didn't correct her or call her faithless. He didn't hand her a tidy verse and keep walking.
You can say "where were You, God" and still be standing on holy ground.
What did Jesus give her instead of a rebuke?
Himself.
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
John 11:25 (KJV)
He doesn't answer her grief with an explanation. He answers it with a Person.
Notice He says I am the resurrection.
The thing she's crying for is standing in front of her wearing skin.
Watch why Jesus cried.
We read "Jesus wept" and figure He broke down because death is just that sad, because He's standing there feeling our pain right along with us.
"Jesus wept."
John 11:35 (KJV)
Read the verse right before it:
"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled."
John 11:33 (KJV)
A whole crowd standing around that grave, crying like it was finished. Like the One who made Lazarus couldn't do a thing about a tomb.
This is the part that should stop you.
What hurts Jesus most isn't the death. It's the unbelief standing next to the death.
The heaviest thing for the most faithful man who ever lived to watch is people deciding He can't do the very thing He came to do.
Telling Jesus a grave is the end is telling Him there's something He can't undo.
He can do all things. That dead man walked out of the tomb a few verses later still wrapped in his grave clothes.
Hear me out before you carry one ounce of guilt.
This isn't about your tears. Cry as hard as you need to.
The tears were never the problem.
What troubled Jesus was a heart that already nailed the casket shut on what He's able to do.
Here's what I want to set you free from today.
You were never in charge of when they died.
When it's somebody's time, it's their time, and that clock was never in your hands.
Prayer was never a vending machine where the right amount of belief buys back the outcome you wanted.
That is exactly why their death was never your faith's fault.
What you do get to decide is whose hands you put them in now.
You can stand at the grave and call it the end, or you can place them in the hands of the God who raises the dead and leave the verdict with Him.
Stay with me on their soul too, because this is where people torture themselves for years.
You don't know everything that passed between them and God.
You weren't with them every second of their life, and you for sure weren't in their head at the end.
You don't know what they heard, or what they settled in a moment nobody else was in the room for.
Even somebody who told you straight up they didn't believe, you don't get to be the final judge of their heart.
That was always God's call, never yours.
The Bible even says your faith reaches further than you think:
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
Acts 16:31 (KJV)
Believe Him for your house. Put the ones you've lost and the ones you love in the hands of the One who can do all things, and lay down a judgment that was never yours to make.
Jesus walked out of His own grave, so death doesn't get the last word over anybody He holds.
The goodbye is not the end of the sentence.
Here's how to start handing this over today:
Hand them to the only One who can actually hold them.
You couldn't choose the day they died. You can choose whose hands they rest in now. Say it out loud and leave them there.
Say the angry part to God, not about Him.
Martha brought her "where were You" straight to Jesus and the conversation didn't break Him. He can hold yours. Don't take it to everybody except the One who can actually carry it.
Plant yourself somewhere you'll hear the resurrection promise on repeat.
Get around people who keep pointing you back to the empty tomb when your grief tries to tell you the grave wins. You won't out-think this one alone.
PRAYER
Lord, I prayed and it still happened, and I've been scared to tell You how angry and confused that left me.
I've been wondering if I didn't believe hard enough.
Today I lay that lie down.
You are the resurrection and the life, and my prayer was never strong enough to be the savior.
That was always Your job.
Thank You that You cried at a grave too.
Hold me in this until the morning comes.
In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Johnny Chang
I Prayed And They Died Anyway
"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
John 11:21 (KJV)
You prayed harder than you've ever prayed in your life, and you stayed on your knees until there was nothing left to say.
The phone rang anyway with the news you were begging God to stop.
Now you're sitting in the quiet after the funeral, and there's a thought you haven't said out loud because it scares you.
If God was really listening, they'd still be here.
Right behind it comes a worse one.
Maybe they're gone because I didn't have enough faith.
You ever wonder if your prayer bounced off the ceiling because something was wrong with you?
Like if you'd believed a little harder, or said it the right way, the outcome would have changed?
Let me show you a woman who said the quiet part out loud, right to Jesus' face:
Her brother Lazarus got sick. She sent for Jesus.
Jesus loved this family, and He still didn't come in time.
By the time He showed up, Lazarus had been in the grave four days.
Martha walked out to meet Him on the road and didn't soften it one bit:
"Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
That's an accusation. That's her saying "where were You, I called and You never came."
Here's what He didn't do:
He didn't correct her or call her faithless. He didn't hand her a tidy verse and keep walking.
You can say "where were You, God" and still be standing on holy ground.
What did Jesus give her instead of a rebuke?
Himself.
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
John 11:25 (KJV)
He doesn't answer her grief with an explanation. He answers it with a Person.
Notice He says I am the resurrection.
The thing she's crying for is standing in front of her wearing skin.
Watch why Jesus cried.
We read "Jesus wept" and figure He broke down because death is just that sad, because He's standing there feeling our pain right along with us.
"Jesus wept."
John 11:35 (KJV)
Read the verse right before it:
"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled."
John 11:33 (KJV)
A whole crowd standing around that grave, crying like it was finished. Like the One who made Lazarus couldn't do a thing about a tomb.
This is the part that should stop you.
What hurts Jesus most isn't the death. It's the unbelief standing next to the death.
The heaviest thing for the most faithful man who ever lived to watch is people deciding He can't do the very thing He came to do.
Telling Jesus a grave is the end is telling Him there's something He can't undo.
He can do all things. That dead man walked out of the tomb a few verses later still wrapped in his grave clothes.
Hear me out before you carry one ounce of guilt.
This isn't about your tears. Cry as hard as you need to.
The tears were never the problem.
What troubled Jesus was a heart that already nailed the casket shut on what He's able to do.
Here's what I want to set you free from today.
You were never in charge of when they died.
When it's somebody's time, it's their time, and that clock was never in your hands.
Prayer was never a vending machine where the right amount of belief buys back the outcome you wanted.
That is exactly why their death was never your faith's fault.
What you do get to decide is whose hands you put them in now.
You can stand at the grave and call it the end, or you can place them in the hands of the God who raises the dead and leave the verdict with Him.
Stay with me on their soul too, because this is where people torture themselves for years.
You don't know everything that passed between them and God.
You weren't with them every second of their life, and you for sure weren't in their head at the end.
You don't know what they heard, or what they settled in a moment nobody else was in the room for.
Even somebody who told you straight up they didn't believe, you don't get to be the final judge of their heart.
That was always God's call, never yours.
The Bible even says your faith reaches further than you think:
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
Acts 16:31 (KJV)
Believe Him for your house. Put the ones you've lost and the ones you love in the hands of the One who can do all things, and lay down a judgment that was never yours to make.
Jesus walked out of His own grave, so death doesn't get the last word over anybody He holds.
The goodbye is not the end of the sentence.
Here's how to start handing this over today:
Hand them to the only One who can actually hold them.
You couldn't choose the day they died. You can choose whose hands they rest in now. Say it out loud and leave them there.
Say the angry part to God, not about Him.
Martha brought her "where were You" straight to Jesus and the conversation didn't break Him. He can hold yours. Don't take it to everybody except the One who can actually carry it.
Plant yourself somewhere you'll hear the resurrection promise on repeat.
Get around people who keep pointing you back to the empty tomb when your grief tries to tell you the grave wins. You won't out-think this one alone.
PRAYER
Lord, I prayed and it still happened, and I've been scared to tell You how angry and confused that left me.
I've been wondering if I didn't believe hard enough.
Today I lay that lie down.
You are the resurrection and the life, and my prayer was never strong enough to be the savior.
That was always Your job.
Thank You that You cried at a grave too.
Hold me in this until the morning comes.
In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Johnny Chang
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