“Loose Him and Let Him Go”
An insight into the story of Lazarus, and how it applies to us in difficult circumstances as Acts 29 believers. Circumstances where we might be tempted to forget the truth that, “…With God, nothing shall be impossible,” (That’s another blog post for another day.) In any case, the Lord shared this with me earlier this year, and I felt impressed that someone might need it today. For background text, read John 11 (which tells of Lazarus’ illness, death, and raising back to life by Jesus, since all my Brit’s remind me “Not everybody knows the story,”) and you may draw some parallels in your own life, or in the life of others you know…
We tend to bind dead situations.
Places.
People.
Sometimes they are so dead it’s hard for us to imagine them alive.
We often, like Martha, imagine that if Jesus could do it, He would have done it before.
He would have touched my situation before it was too late.
Before it was hopeless.
Before my children walked away from the Lord.
Before my marriage was in trouble.
Before my financial or work dilemma was out of control.
Before friends chose to follow another religion.
Before my depression, my illness, my isolation got so deep.
I mean, the timing was PERFECT before…
But my thoughts are never as perfect as His…
He was the one who said “He will make everything beautiful in HIS time…”
Even the deadest, most barren of places…
The Winter season teaches us this principle… no matter HOW much snow, eventually, Spring must come… whether that’s Feb 1st in FL, or May 16th in Denmark or in Michigan, or North Dakota the season can’t last forever. Even if it felt like that last Winter here in UK!
The Daily ritual of life teaches us this, for “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:2-3) and the message they speak is one of renewal and hope, no matter how dark the night, “You cannot hold back the dawn,” (Japanese Proverb,) and each sunrise is a reminder that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy? joy comes in the morning,” (Psalm 30:5 AM Version)
“You cannot hold back the dawn,”
IF THOU WILT my brother will live again,
We start limiting God… “Maybe in heaven you can fix this,” forgetting our earliest prayer of “on earth as it is in heaven,”
We try to figure out ways He can maybe make it just ok…
Not great. Not like it was. Like it used to be.
After all, we with our own hands bound this body up…
We mixed the frankincense, the myrrh, the deep ointments of mourning.
We told all of our friends, it’s to late.
God won’t show up.
I called and He didn’t answer.
We sealed up our hopes and dream in the rock, never expecting to see them again…
When ALONG comes JESUS
Walking, not running, to get there…
Like, why now God?
Sometimes in loss, we tend to bind, physically and emotionally the dead things.
If he’d just relaxed more, if he’d taken care of his health, I’d not be weeping (for these women, Mary and Martha, their brother was their provider, their importance and identity as well, their protection, so amplify the depth of that loss in your mind.)
We bind it up. All the hurts, the failures, the disappointment…
Because it’s too late.
It doesn’t matter now.
Sometimes we do that with the calling God placed upon our lives.
Sometimes we do that with our relationship with Him
Some of us have done that with situations in our personal life…
Sometimes I am the person, standing at the door of the tomb, knowing Jesus is there, but hesitating when He says,
“Roll the stone away,”
But God, this STINKS!
But God, this is IMPOSSIBLE!
But God, you are too LATE!
We laugh at them, like, “Uhh, Jesus is standing right there,” but we do the same thing all the time.
He speaks then, as He is speaking now into somebody’s life, “LAZARUS, COME FORTH”
When God speaks, things change.
Immediately.
Lazarus means “GOD IS MY HELP.”
And we have bound him up,
We have said it’s too late for help, and bound him up…
That’s why Jesus speaks to us, after God’s help starts moving.
“LOOSE HIM AND LET HIM GO”
We have to loose Him to do the impossible in our lives.
To contradict the disappointment of the past with the power of the present.
To take off the bitterness, the bondage we’ve left on the help of God.
The sweet perfume of our lamenting, or complaining and realise,
That JESUS is HERE.
HE is ON TIME.
AND HIS HELP IS WALKING TOWARDS ME.
IT’S TIME for US to LOOSE HIM and LET HIM GO.
Loose him in your marriages.
In your kids.
In your home.
Because sometimes we spend so much time looking at the problem, we fail to realise the truth of what God can do…
It IS our choice…
God WILL do the miraculous, but He allows us to be a part of it so we Remember.
There’s nothing too hard for God.
Nothing too decayed that He can’t restore.
Even the body of Christ…
Even my personal life.
So go ahead and begin to unbind the help of God in your life.
Begin to unbind the carnal Vessel so new Life can flow and move.
God is speaking to YOUR situation right now.
He’s speaking creative words, just like He did in Genesis, in the beginning of your walk, in the beginning of the earth, He speaks Life now…
In His time that dream, that vision WILL come to pass.
In HIs time that promise you thought had passed you by WILL come to pass.
In HIS time that revival you thought would never come WILL flow
So pray to God…
Pray together for and with the people you love…
Because the dichotomy, the division between the bondage of a deadman and a living man inside has to be taken away.
Between my doubt and giving up and the FACT that Jesus is here to help me, HAS to be taken away…
But I need my brothers and sisters to help me…
Loose him and let Him go.
Note:
I pray this blesses and strengthens someone who feels like they’ve been waiting a long time for an answer. God is always on time, and He never forgets His own. Be encouraged.
Remember, Jesus tells us in Hebrews 4:16, to “…come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
I leave you with one more promise, “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16)
