Ready to Die For Him
Remove the Grave Clothes
(#054 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
The Stone Removed
Has not the stone of death been moved?
The stench replaced by living.
Has not the promise of Him been proved?
Your sin… He is forgiving!
Come out I say, remove the cloth,
Let those who see regale.
Strip off the layers, remove the wrap,
Fruit of righteousness prevail.
Baptized into His death…Buried with Him…Raised from the dead….Walk in newness of life…United together in the likeness of His death…Be in the likeness of His resurrection…Our old man was impaled with Him…Sin is done away with…No longer slaves of sin….He who has died has been freed from sin…If we died with Messiah, we shall also live with Him…Reckon yourselves to be dead to sin…but alive to the Mighty One…Not instruments of unrighteousness to sin…Instruments of righteousness…Sin shall not have dominion over you…Set free from sin…Slaves of righteousness! (Romans 6:3-18) Meditate again on this promise! When He died you died; When He resurrected you resurrected with Him to a new life. You are no longer a slave to sin; you are a slave to righteousness.
Was it harder for those around Lazarus (the begging soul helped by Yahweh) to believe he was alive, then for Lazarus himself? Was it a bad dream Lazarus had risen from? “I can’t breathe; what’s this cloth on my face? Help me; I feel like I am suffocating.” Put yourself there; imagine being in his place. You are you know! As the pangs of death surround your soul and mind, you cannot possibly see a way out. Your whole being could simply crumble like dust and vanish. Have you ever been forced in your mind to birth a new reality of a better place, a better way, a higher calling? This is that time!
Arise! I say, arise! Did He not promise that if you lost your life for His sake, you would find a new life (Matthew 10:39)? Lazarus had to die before he could resurrect. And let there be no doubt that once his grave clothes were removed, Lazarus had a mind that could become a slave to righteousness. There was no more uncertainty in him; his life was no longer his own. His new life was purchased for a hefty price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20); the result: he was no longer a slave to sin.
Have you had your own Lazarus experience? Have you come to terms with your total depravity? Have you had a death of self and begged for a resurrection? There is no doubt that, if asked, both Lazarus and Yahshua would both produce the same testimony about their deaths; “My new life is worth the death of my “self.” For the joy set before me (Hebrews 12:2), I would do it again, a thousand times over.” Won’t you?