Be Loosed and Let Go
Let’s also understand the effect that the stench of those grave clothes has on everyone who knows us and everyone we come in contact with. Are you worthy of the title HYPOCRITE? If a weak brother or sister in Christ saw you drunk or using foul language would they think it’s OK to follow suit? How about more subtle things like stretching the truth or lying by omission? I knew a brother many years ago who testified to an old girlfriend about his new life in Christ, then got drunk and spent the night with her. His testimony lost any credibility in her mind or heart. We must conduct ourselves knowing that someone’s Eternity is at stake.
The stage was set for the resurrection miracle as explained in the
last blog, see https://lnkd.in/genACZS
John 11:43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a
44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Lazarus was all bound up in the clothes of death. Weren’t we all
when we first came to the foot of the cross? When we were born again we arose
from death and we arouse in newness of life as expressed in water baptism.
We’ve been loosed by resurrection power from the wages of sin. The letting go
is where we sometimes get bogged down. The Word says,
2 Corinthians 5: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have
become new.
So, my friends, are you still bound in grave
clothes? Does your lifestyle still have the stench of death? OK, the big
obvious sins that others can easily see may be long gone but do you still have
a stinky death rag in your pocket? Or do you have a pile of them hidden in a
drawer in your heart? Perhaps people have let you go and you’ve launched out into
a ministerial role, you’ve seen mighty miracles and achieved great things for
the Kingdom. Be warned you won’t last long without continuous repentance of
those things Holy Spirit is tugging on your heart about. A
whiff of that death rag is like an aphrodisiac stimulating the enemy of your
soul to lustfully entice you back into his evil grasp.
1 Peter 5:8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy,
the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
Fear not, my friends, God will rescue
you again and again and again as you turn back to him in repentance.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be
content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake
you.”
Fear not, the Word gives us hope and the Spirit gives the power to
always be victorious when we surrender to Him.
Romans 8:1 There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of
sin and death.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life.
Luke 12:32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Romans 10:13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.”
The stench of those grave clothes is washed away by the blood of Jesus. The
Let me share a testimony of something the Lord did very early in
my Christian life. I was at a gathering at the Christian commune where I had met
Jesus a few months before. We were sitting in a large oval. The Pastor (Scott
Ross) was at one end and a very large fireplace at the other. Holy Spirit was
always in that place, hovering and touching hearts. All of a sudden Scott said
that the Lord was dealing with someone about cigarette smoking. I was shocked
by these words that hit me like a ton of bricks. Then he said that the Lord
wanted him to deal with it publicly. Without hesitation I got up, threw the pack
that was in my pocket in the roaring fire and went up for prayer. The power of
God loosed me in an instant from that death rag. I have hated the smell of
tobacco ever since.
Though this was 48 years ago I can assure you that God’s not done with me yet; nor is He with you. He loves us too much to stop the process of making us more and more like Jesus. I pray that all I teach about What Makes Jesus Tick helps us all along this life long process. God’s grace is sufficient to help us tap into the power of God that set us free from sin and enable us not to fall into the enemy’s traps. It’s crucial that we stay steadfast concerning everything the Lords has set us free from and not return to the bondage. We Are the slaves to what we yield to so let’s be careful only to yield to Holy Spirit. Eternity is at stake.
Let’s also understand the effect that the stench of those grave clothes has on everyone who knows us and everyone we come in contact with. Are you worthy of the title HYPOCRITE? If a weak brother or sister in Christ saw
you drunk or using foul language would they think it’s OK to follow suit? How
about more subtle things like stretching the truth or lying by omission? I knew
a brother many years ago who testified to an old girlfriend about his new life
in Christ, then got drunk and spent the night with her. His testimony lost any
credibility in her mind or heart. We must conduct ourselves knowing that
someone’s Eternity is at stake.
BE LOOSED AND LET GO. There’s a line in a song we sang in church
recently that I love. “HE called my name
and I came out of the grave!!!” Your salvation experience was no less
glorious an experience as Lazarus coming out of that grave.
Galatians 5:1 Stand
fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be
entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that
you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not
under the law.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanses us from all sin.
Prayer: Lord, we are
dependent on the power of Your Spirit to keep us from sin. We acknowledge that
our own will power is insufficient. You called us out of the darkness of sin into
Your light that is pure. You called us to be the Light of The World.
Intentional sin dims that light, preventing people from seeing You in us. We
live in troublesome times and recognize that eternity is at stake for many
people and nations. May your church shake off all complacency and rise up in
love, in purity and fervent prayer. Its Your church, your people, who can set
the standard of life and freedom above what we see on the news every day. It’s
time the tide of deception, violence and disease goes out and the flood of
revival fills our land to overflowing.
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