Remove the Grave Clothes!!!

It is funny the things your mind turns to the instant your eyes open and the fogginess of sleep begins to clear from your mind.  Many times my mind goes to the worries of the day, or the things that I feel I must complete for the day.  Whatever your first thoughts of the day are, pretty much sets the tone for your day.  But then there are those mornings when you awake and scripture fills your mind, and how sweet it is to know that as David quoted in the psalms, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.”  (Psalm 63:6)  that even as I slept I couldn’t help to think of God and his promises throughout the night as I slept.  I know this to be true especially when I wake up and when there is a verse or a portion of scripture on my heart, I take notice.  I know that it is the Holy Spirit trying to convey a truth to me.   I had such an experience this morning as I woke up.  The portion of scripture I woke up was when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus told Martha in John 11:25 that he is the resurrection and the life, then proceeded to raise her brother from the dead!  Can you imagine the scene?  What reverence and awe must have hushed the mourning party that was going on!  Then shouts of joy of looking at a life resurrected when all hope had appeared gone.  WOW!  I just want to make a statement at this point of the story.  No matter how dead things seem to look whether it is your marriage, your financial situation, your relationships, our culture, our country, and even your faith—we need to remember that Jesus is the Resurrection and Life.  He can call back to life those things that we have lost hope.  We have to trust Him and turn those things over to Him.  We need to stand on the truth of His word and not waver even when everything around us has seemingly died.  God is a good God.  He is good when things are alive and thriving and He is good when things seem to have died.  I just want to give those out there that are struggling the hope that Jesus is everything we need.  He can call back to life those things that are dead, and He can and will make good come from those things if we just allow him.  Which brings me to the second part of this post.   The 2^nd verse that came to mind immediately was in this same portion of scripture.   After Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and Lazarus came forth from the grave in John 11:43, Jesus says to the relatives and friends standing around witnessing this awesome event:  Take off his grave clothes, and let him go!”   This verse leaped out at me and this is why:  many Christians have been given resurrection life, but so many of us struggle with taking off our grave clothes!   Jesus said in John 8:36 that who the Son has set in free, is free indeed and in John 10:10 Jesus said that He came to give us life abundantly. Both of these verses just agree with Jesus words that He is the resurrection and the life.   But those grave clothes keep us from walking in that freedom.  Grave clothes were bound around a body with many different cloths, can you imagine the restrictions it imposed upon on Lazarus as he came from the tomb?  Jesus had brought Lazarus to life but he knew that he would have needed to be freed from those grave clothes.  You notice Jesus didn’t free Lazarus from those grave clothes?  He commanded that Lazarus community to help him.    Grave clothes take on many forms:  bitterness, fear, addictions of many kinds, un-forgiveness, depression, and myriad of other things that keep you from living life with joy, love, faith, and hope.   The key to obtaining that abundant life is allowing others to help us remove our grave clothes.  That means admitting that you are struggling and asking for help.   Allowing others to help you walk through the pain of whatever grave clothes you are trying to shed.  It is ok as a Christian to seek counseling, go to support groups, attend Celebrate Recovery groups or finding someone and just confessing your struggles.  I believe the church has to be much better in helping those who struggle with these and mental illness but it has to become an issue of dialog.  It is something that can’t be swept under the pews and not acknowledge.  I truly believe that Jesus can resurrect any life no matter what society says about that person.  When we receive Jesus we become new creations, the old is passed away and the new replaces it, but even Jesus knew that we needed to help one another in removing the grave clothes from the old dead life.  If you are struggling I implore you to seek help.  We were never meant to do this life on our own, and allow others to help you remove your grave clothes, so that you can walk in the freedom that Jesus promised we could have!  Have a great day everyone, lots of love to you!