Our Father in heaven, I thank you that you have led me into the light.
I thank you for sending the Savior to call me from death to life.
I confess that I was dead in sin before I heard his call,
    but when I heard him, like Lazarus, I arose.
But, O my Father, the old grave cloths bind me still.
Old habits that I cannot throw off,
    old customs that are so much part of my life
    that I am helpless to live the new life that Christ calls me to live.
Give me strength, O Father, to break the bonds;
    give me courage to live a new life in you;
    give me faith to believe that with your help I cannot fail.
And this I ask in the name of the Savior
    who has taught me to come to you.

prayer from Taiwan

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John 11:38-44 

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. 

It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 

    “Take away the stone,” he said.
    “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 

    “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”  

Then Jesus said, 

    “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. 

Then Jesus looked up and said, 

“Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, 

    but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, 

    that they may believe that you sent me.”

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.”

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Questions

What experiences from your past still bind you 

    and prevent you from following God as you know you should?