Good morning!
I wanted to share my
prayer for this upcoming study. It's the
prayer that I often pray for people I love, people I want to see grow into
Christ their Head, women like you on this list who desire to see TruthHimself and
follow Him. It's based on this
Scripture:
"When he had said
this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet
wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them,
'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'" ~John 11:43-44
A little background,
so bear with me, please :-)
Throughout my 20 years
of homeschooling, I have learned that I cannot bring my children (or anyone for
that matter) alive from the dead, spiritually speaking. As we learned in our last study about prayer,
I can set the table through prayer and discipleship in my own life so that
people I love have not only the choice of walking away from Jesus but also the
life-giving choice of walking to the feast He offers (Psalm 34:8). But ultimately, each person I love must
choose to respond to Jesus' calling them out from their spiritual deadness; I
cannot choose for them.
Once the people I
love, those in my sphere of influence, are responding to Jesus' call, I love to
be used by the Lord to help them see where they are still bound with the death
clothes, the strips of linen, that either cover their eyes and keep them from
seeing Jesus or bind their hands and feet, which keeps them from walking with
Him (if bound too tightly) or keeps them walking along at a hobbling pace once
the binding strips are loosened but still hindering (Hebrews 12:1).
I love that in John
11:44, Jesus asks the people standing there-- those who have seen His marvelous
work in the life of Lazarus-- to take off the grave clothes. Jesus Himself doesn't do it. He invites those
who love the once-dead Lazarus to free him from what binds.
And so my prayer for
this study, based on this invitation from Jesus:
Father-God, give each
of us on this list-- each woman who has responded to the call of Christ to come
forth from the dead-- a fresh view of You.
Help us, Lord, to recognize the death clothes that keep up from seeing
You, the Treasure hidden within, and the death clothes that hinder our
walk. And, Lord, I pray that as we
communicate via posts throughout the study, Your Spirit will come alongside us
as we read each other's comments and insights and reveal to us grave clothes
that we need to release. Once those we
love are being released from grave clothes, give us, Lord, that perfect peace
as we let them go and point them… to You.
We pray in Jesus' Name.
Linda
Moderator
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TruthHimself/
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