The Lazaroo FAQ
“This is what the LORD says: ‘In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you.’”
(Isaiah 49:8)
Q. What is Lazaroo?
A. Lazaroo is a live grenade that arrives in your life first thing every morning.
The moment you see it, grab it. As long as you grip it tightly, you’re safe.
This next may be a bit counterintuitive.
Pull the pin and let go.
By now you’ve gathered that those looking for an occasional supplement to their “quiet time” have come to the wrong place.
The goal of Lazaroo is to trigger within you a spiritual explosion that will leave the old you in shambles.
Q. What’s different about Lazaroo?
A. Lazaroo is designed to instantly plunge you into the heart of God. It wastes no time with the meaningless prattle that clutters so many prayers.
It contains no religious jargon. Every nonessential word is pared away until what is left is pure prayer concentrate.
Lazaroo is searingly personal. It goes straight for your spiritual jugular.
It is designed to mess with your mind, to set in motion powerful Biblical truths that will reverberate throughout your day…and your life.
Q. Sounds like Lazaroo should come with a warning label.
A. Before I write a single word, I get alone with God for several hours in His Word and in prayer. It is in this deep dive environment of total surrender that I attempt to capture the vision for that day’s Lazaroo.
The benefit is that Lazaroo doesn’t start you off at a spiritual standstill. You’re plunging into a fiery passion that is already at white hot warp speed.
The danger comes if you open Lazaroo thoughtlessly, without offering yourself to God in total spiritual submission.
The sudden acceleration will snap your head off.
Q. How long does each day’s Lazaroo take?
A. 60 seconds.
Or less.
Q. Why so short?
A. Because if it was any longer, there would be too many days when you’d skip it.
Q. Shouldn’t people spend a lot more time than that with God each day?
A. Absolutely. But here’s the key:
If I can free you to experience 1 electrifying minute with Jesus every day, you’ll never stop.
If I try to guilt you into praying an hour every day, you’ll never start.
Q. Is 60 seconds long enough to accomplish anything?
A. Jesus thought so:
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
How much time did it take Jesus to teach this powerful principle and demonstrate exactly what He meant?
60 seconds.
1 minute or less each day inside the Holy of Holies with Jesus is plenty of time for Him to completely transform your life.
Q. How does it work?
A. Quickly:
1. Early each morning, you will receive a single Bible verse and a short prayer.
2. Open it the moment you see it.
3. Fully absorb the verse and passionately pray the prayer.
That’s it.
Q. After spending hours on each day’s Lazaroo, why would you invite people to comment on it – or even rewrite it?
A. If I weren’t such a flawed, sinful Christ-follower, each day’s Lazaroo probably wouldn’t take me so long to write. That same depravity explains why even though what I send you each day is my best…it’s still far from perfect.
So I invite you to continue the process I have only begun. For the sake of the entire Lazaroo community, I urge you to improve it, correct it and rewrite it, in response to the surge of the Holy Spirit rising up within you.
Q. How will you deliver Lazaroo to me?
A. Choose the delivery method you are most certain to see every day, as early in the day as possible.
Q. Why do I have to open it “the moment” I see it?
A. Your 1on1 time with Jesus is the most important moment of your day. It’s the biggest of your big rocks that absolutely must go in first.
By comparison, everything else is a pebble.
If you establish a deep bond with Jesus today, you’ve won. No matter what else happens or fails to happen in the next 23 hours, 59 minutes, your day is a success.
But what if you FAIL to deeply connect with Jesus? Then today is a loss. Whatever you accomplish will be but a pale shadow of what might have been.
“…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.”
Satan is the enemy of your soul. He will fight with all his might to keep you and Jesus apart. He knows that if he can get you to postpone your 1on1 time with Jesus just five minutes he has greatly increased the likelihood that you will never get around to it at all.
Don’t let him win.
Make it your personal rule:
“The moment I see Lazaroo, I open it – and act.”
Q. Why do you send Lazaroo every day?
A. That’s how often you’ve got to die to yourself and come alive to Jesus.
“I die every day – I mean that, brothers – just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:31)
This on-again/off-again relationship you barely have with the Lover of your soul is killing you.
You eat every day.
You sleep every day.
But neither of those is essential.
This is.
Decide now and make it stick:
Jesus FIRST.
Every.
Day.
Q. How long do I have to try Lazaroo before it “kicks in?”
A. Everyone’s different…and Lazaroo is intensely personal.
It may not happen on your first try. It may not happen the first week. But decide now:
“I will grab hold and not let go until I experience a Face-to-face encounter with God.”
One day it will happen.
You will finally fight through the last of your old habits, distractions, self-consciousness, traditions and hang-ups.
In that instant, everything will change.
You will experience breakthrough.
He guarantees it:
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Once that happens, you’re toast. Wrecked. Ruined for life. From that moment forward, there will be no turning back.
You will never again settle for anything less.
Q. You’re scaring me just a bit.
A. I intend to.
“…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
Q. Suppose I want to give it a try. How do I “pull the pin?”
A. Great question.
1. Read the verse aloud. God says Faith comes by hearing His Word
2. Pray the prayer aloud. That’s what David did and the LORD heard him (Psalms 3:4).
But please, please, please:
Don’t just “read” the verse and prayer. Don’t merely go through the motions. Don’t fool yourself into rattling it off, thinking you’ve done something.
You haven’t.
This isn’t a hoop to jump through, a base to tag, a box you check each day, so you can deceive yourself into thinking, “I’ve done the god thing.”
Instead, lock onto today’s verse and ABSORB it into the pores of your skin.
INHALE its life-changing power into your lungs.
Allow it to wash over you, cleanse you and drench you, as though you had just stepped under the full blast of a hot shower.
Do that and these holy words direct from the mouth of God will open you all the way up to the depths of your soul and prepare you for unprecedented life-change.
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
After you’ve imbibed the verse, you’re ready to pray Lazaroo the way it was meant to be prayed.
But for God’s sake, don’t just “say” the prayer.
Fervently PRAY it!
EXHALE the full power of the verse you have just breathed in.
Fiercely eliminate every distraction, block out every satanic intrusion and focus on the meaning of every single word. Pour everything you’ve got into it.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Take it all the way down to the very marrow of your bones. Open a vein and bleed it from the deepest depths of your heart.
That’s how to pull the pin.
That’s when you’ll experience the “oo” of Lazaroo –
When you pray it as though your very life depends on it.
It does.
__________
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Steve