BOUND BY GRAVE CLOTHES
There are children of God who speak in tongues, but are still bound. They have their grave clothes on, like Lazarus. Jesus has set them free, but they are still in their grave clothes. This is the sad condition of many people today. A lot of Christians are still bound by their past failures, past sins, guilt and materialism.
Many believers are bound by traditions, that is why you see Christians going for chieftaincy titles and they allow evil people access to their heads, which are the symbols of their destiny.
Many believers are still bound by bad habits. Lazarus was alive, but constrained, he could see, but through a veil; he could hear, but not dearly. Why? He was still in grave clothes. Perhaps, you have been born again for years and you still cannot see, it means that something is blinding your spiritual eyes. You have to pray for the grave clothes to be pulled off. Remember, when Saul preached in a particular place, and the people fought and argued that he was speaking lies, he said, “I have one last thing to tell you before I leave.
In John 11, we see one of the most interesting stories in the Bible. The friend of Jesus had been sick.
They called Jesus, but He did not show up, until four days after the man had died.
“Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.” John 11: 38-44
LOOSE HIM
Lazarus was raised from the dead by the power of God. Likewise, all that believe in Christ have been given a new life. They have been lifted out of the graveyard of sin and sorrow. Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.” It means that he could not go, unless they loosed him. He could not go, because he was bound. Although Lazarus was raised from dead, he was still bound. He experienced liberty, but not freedom. Captivity was over, but he was still bound. The grips of death upon his life had been broken, but he was still bound. It is a double tragedy, that many believers are still walking around with grave clothes on.
Remember, that what is happening to you is what was written by the prophets, that “Behold, you wander and you perish, for it is written I will send my words unto them, but hearing they will hear but they will not understand, they will behold, but cannot see. Their heart is already hardened, so that my hands cannot deliver them, so that they can perish.” With that, Paul concluded the sermon.
If you have read through the whole of the Bible, and decided to continue to be evil, a popular passage in the book of Revelation says, “Continue,” and if, you want to continue to do good, it says, “You may continue. But, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me, and my reward can be bad, or good, to give to every man, according to the works of his hands.”
EVIDENCE OF GRAVE CLOTHES
Many people go to churches, where they do not understand the language, which their leaders speak. After the meetings, they come out, bring out their cigarettes and begin to smoke. As far as they are concerned, they are serving the Lord. That is bondage. Also, sex outside marriage is evidence, that a person is bound in grave clothes. A believer, who is working with a fake certificate is bound in grave clothes. Obtaining sick leave papers, when you are not sick is an indication, that you are in grave clothes. Sleeping and pretending to be pretending, is a sign of being in grave clothes.
If you are the worst of human beings, when you are angry, you are in grave clothes. Masturbation, chronic impatience, and constant fear are evidences, that there are grave clothes on. That is why Jesus said, “Loose him and let him go.” The Lord said the same thing to Pharaoh. Unforgiving spirit, sexual sins and failure to break all connections with the devil are evidences of grave clothes.
THE CARNAL NATURE
The truth is that the percentage of those, who are ready for the rapture is very little. Many people, who have seen visions of the rapture, but did not go up discovered that it was, as a result of grave clothes on them. Grave clothes can be in the form of hair and other body attachments.
A certain man was in a very big trouble. He was sacked from five jobs. When he could not feed his family again, his wife ran away, leaving him with three daughters. To worsen his sorrow, his first daughter became pregnant, while in form three. When he tried to beat her, she said, “Daddy, all the time I did not ask you for bus fare to school, where do you think the money I was using came from?” The man was very sad, so he cried unto the Lord in prayers.
He really cried to God, and you know God never rejects the cry from the heart. The Lord Jesus
appeared to him, while he was praying. The man was very happy. He wanted the Lord Jesus to sympathise with him. He wanted the Lord to promote him, and give him deliverance from all his troubles. He wanted comfort, fairness and divine justice. But, to his amazement, the Lord pointed at him, and said, “Your problem is rooted in you, and not in the enemy.”
The Lord told him, that was the hardest part of his Christian life. “You have not, even, agreed that you are your own problem. You are only deceiving yourself by blaming the devil. I am the Almighty. I am not struggling with the devil. I desire that your flesh must submit to me. I want to dethrone you from the centre of your life, and be your Lord, but you have not allowed me to do so.
“You must contend with this power of your flesh, which is hindering my work, and preventing me from doing, what I want to do in your life,” the Lord said. The man was surprised, but for the first time he got the blunt truth, which they say, is sometimes very bitter.
You claim to be born again, but still keep complimentary cards of your former boyfriends, it means, that the grave clothes are still on. If not, why are you keeping them? Failure to confess every sin, envy, backbiting, and not yielding every are a of your life to God, are evidence of grave clothes.
If God is your lover and you believe the Bible, which says, that your Maker is your husband, you will not be in a hurry to get out from His presence. Rushing out of the service, without sharing the grace is evidence of grave clothes. Not having on the whole armour of God, means there are grave clothes on.
You see, the devil is not really the issue, as much as the power of the flesh. It is the flesh that is hanging grave clothes onto the body.
“For the flesh lust against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5: 17
The flesh is fighting against the spirit, and the spirit is fighting against the flesh. Two of them are contrary, so that you cannot do the things you are supposed to do. Here, lies the secret of victory against any form of satanic attack. Here, lies the victory for you to make heaven, without anybody pulling you down. If a dry fast is declared for seven days in the church, what do you think will happen? Some people will protest loudly. Some would say, “Do you not know that we would go to work?” Some would say, “They want to kill people in this place.” Others might say, “I have been telling you about that church. You see, now they want seven days dry fast.” That is the power of flesh. They forget, that there is something called the bread of heaven. Once you eat that one, you lose the desire to eat the one that is here on earth.
THE FLESH
If for example, you go on three days dry fast, you find out that by the third day, even, if someone is abusing you, you are not able to talk too much. The secret of that is, that Mr. Flesh has been weakened. That is the value of fasting. It does not change God, it is you that has to change, because the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit, too, lusts against the flesh. The two of them are always
fighting. When you begin to starve one, say the flesh, your spirit man now becomes stronger. That is the value of fasting. You can pray with more concentration, with more fire, and, then, you get result.
anything, that is
not energised by
the Holy Spirit, and
is always fighting
you … To get rid of
our grave clothes,
the bottom-line is
that God should
rule our flesh.
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