Carter Conlon | Daily Devotionals

John 11:43, three of the most powerful words in the New Testament: Lazarus, come forth. Are you feeling today empty with no life to give? But did you know that even death is not beyond the reach of God? Lazarus was not just struggling, he was completely dead, beyond what anyone thought could be restored. Yet just these few words from Jesus changed everything.

You may not feel anything, but you don't have to. If you can hear His voice, there's still hope. God is able to call life into what feels dead inside of you. Don't accept emptiness as your final state. Listen for His voice and respond. Let Him bring life back into the places that you thought in your heart were gone forever.

Join with us every Wednesday night, 7 p.m. Eastern Time, at itstimetopray.org, where people from all over the world are beginning to hear His voice, and you can hear it too, because it's time to pray.

John 11:3-4: 'Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick. When Jesus heard that, He said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'

Lazarus knew that Jesus loved him. He had once welcomed Jesus into his home. He heard His word. He knew His words were life and truth. Many in the church world today can say the same thing. Jesus is welcomed. His word is heard. But that's still the first table, the place of hearing, not yet at the place of resurrection.

Then one day Lazarus died and Jesus let him die. And he said, "his sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God". Something was about to happen that only God could do.

If all you have known is this place of hearing, ask God today to bring you into the place where only he can raise in you what has died. Talk to him about it.

My brother, my sister, it's time to pray.

Reading to you from Psalm 107:1-3. 'Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south'.

It's time now for us to remember what God has done for us. It's time for us to remember that it was the inner cry of our hearts that brought us out of darkness and into this marvelous light of God. Some of us have been brought out of drugs into sobriety, out of anger and into forgiveness. God has brought us into the light.

We're now facing a darkness that's trying to swallow up our nation and throw all of our children into confusion. It's time now for you and I to rise and cry out again to the Lord.

My brother, my sister, if ever there was a time, it's time to pray.

Luke 10:38-39 tell us, in part, that Martha welcomed Him into her house, and Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. Before Lazarus sat at a table as a man who was raised from the dead, there was another moment. Jesus entered the village, and Martha welcomed Him into her house. Mary sat at His feet and heard His word, and Lazarus, we assume, was there as well.

This was the first table, the place where Jesus was invited, His word was heard. Later, there was another table where Lazarus sat alive after having been dead. The first table is hearing His word. The second table is living evidence of what His power can do.

Don't remain only today at the place of just hearing. Allow Him to work in your life so that others can see the difference that only God can make.

My brother, my sister, it's time to pray.

In John 12:9-11, speaking of Lazarus after he was raised from the dead, the Scripture says many of the Jews knew that he was there because on account of him, many of them went away and believed in Jesus. Now, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was who had been raised from the dead. They made Him a supper and Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Many came not only just to see Jesus, but to see Lazarus, the man who had been raised from the dead. Because of Lazarus, many went away and believed in Jesus.

Now, this is a legitimate question for today's church. Because of you and I, are many going away and believing in Jesus Christ? When someone visits your house or speaks with you, do they see something in you that would convince them that Jesus Christ has all power and can change and transform any life?

If you can't honestly say yes, talk to God about it.

It's time to pray.

There must come a place where you stop listening to every argument that tells you that God can't use your life. Every reasoning, every voice, every reminder of your past tries to convince you that your future is limited. But those voices are not truth. They are lies and must be rejected.

Refuse to give them weight. Refuse to entertain them. Refuse to consider them as even possible. When the enemy speaks, there must be something in you that rises up and says, "I do not believe you." Do not spend your life debating lies. Walk away from them.

Fill your heart with what God has said and stand on it. Let your confidence be built on His truth and not on your past.

Join us every Wednesday night, 7 p.m. Eastern Time at itstimetopray.org where people from all over the world are rising up saying, "God, take my life, use it for Your glory."

It's time to pray.

I want to remind you today that it's not by might, it's not by our works, our careers, our success, or even our eloquence. We live by the mercy and grace of Almighty God.

The church of Jesus Christ that comes out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved has heard the voice of Jesus Christ calling us. We've gotten up from where we used to be. That's where life begins. As with Lazarus, the old clothes that wrapped around us begin to unravel. Our strength returns. There's new breath in our lungs and new strength in our step. The life of Jesus Christ within us is our hope for the future.

This is not a season to draw back. It's not a season to hide behind a stone. It's a season to hear His voice and come out of darkness and weakness. My brother, my sister, lean on Him now and move towards the sound of His voice because He's calling His church once again.

It's time to pray.

There's so much darkness in our generation. There's so much drug addiction and violence. There's a whole generation now being raised without God. Our young children are being confused on every conceivable level.

It's time now for you and I to begin to cry out to God for this generation. It's time to cry out for our children. It's time to cry out for our families. It's time to cry out for the opiate addicted in our society. It's time that the Church of Christ stands in the gap and begins to intercede for this nation.

We have to drop our pride and not be concerned about what people are going to think. It's only our cry to God that is now going to make the difference. We are in desperate need of a spiritual awakening in America. We need God's intervention in this present situation. It's time now to cry out.

It's time to pray.

This country and this world needs the Church of Jesus Christ, but they don't need us just at the first table of only association with Jesus Christ. As with Lazarus in his story, this alone is not enough. Lazarus could one time say, yeah, I know Him. Yes, I know Jesus, He's come to my house. Yes, I know His word. Now this can get you into heaven, but it's not the testimony that will win this generation.

The testimony that will win this generation is simply this, as with Lazarus, I used to be dead, but now I live. I used to be blind, but now I see. I was a captive, but now I've been set free. The person that I am is only because of Jesus Christ and His life inside of me. And what God has done for me, He can also do for you. This is the testimony this world needs.

If you can hear His voice today, don't harden your heart to it.

It's now time to pray.

Can you say today to the people around you, I once died, but because of Jesus Christ, I live. I was dead in this area of my life. I was dead to the future. My marriage was dead. My heart was dead. My hope was dead. And in fact, my future itself was dead. I did not feel like I had any hope for anything that was ahead of me.

But Jesus Christ touched my life, and I came back to life in the same place where I had once died. Do we have a clear story of being brought out of one state of being and into another by the power of God? If we do, this, my brother, my sister, is called a testimony.

Can the church of this generation say to the society around us that I once was dead, but now I live? Let your life today clearly show others around you what Jesus Christ and Christ alone has done in you and what He's doing through you. Talk to Him.

It's time to pray.