Daily Devotional: 6/13/2018 - LAZARUS PT. 2

"Boy I hopped up out of the grave, good morning!" Trip Lee - "Lazarus"

Now it is time to compare literature with literature, keep your Bibles open to John 11 and open your technological devices to Rap Genius Trip Lee: Lazarus. We first looked at the story in the Bible, now we look at a song that is inspired by the story. Trip Lee is the man. A man with many talents and many titles; he is a pastor, blogger (http://builttobrag.com/), writer, rapper, and father. He was one of the first to join Lecrae over at Reach Records, back in the day where overly baggy shirts and overly baggy pants were the thing (the early 2000s were an interesting time). So far he has written two books, The Good Life (in the progress of reading) and Rise (read, it is such a great read). He has racked up six albums If Only They Knew (2006), 20/20 (2008), Between Two Worlds (2010), The Good Life (2012), Rise (2014), and The Waiting Room (2016). The song Lazarus is from the Rise collection. Now what I am going to do is take the song, pick some bars, try my best to explain and interpret and I pray drop some knowledge. Lets get this show on the road.

The song opens up with Trip Lee's first verse. Lines 4-8, 12-14, and 16-17 say, "Disbelief like 'How he breathin? He was six feet deep!' What ya sayin? Hold up shut ya mouth, Dead man can't holla what you talkin 'bout? Cause once you through that door it ain't no walkin out…People crying, I'm missing, Obituary been written, My face pale, They can't tell…Close the coffin, call the preacher, he's so gone, It's over can't nobody reach him, say so long." Trip goes in to the perspective of the world. There is always going to be disbelief that come from the world. They are not going to believe us the same way they did not believe Jesus. People doubted Jesus all the time, and that disbelief was not shy in the story of Lazarus (look at verses 21, 32, 37, and 39). People constantly doubted his powers and constantly doubted why he did anything. We still do, we fall down and we doubted. We do not feel his "presence", but the thing is he is always there even if we do not think he is. Everything happens for a reason, all that God does or does not do is for a reason and for our benefit. He does all things for his glory and for us to understand his powers and grace. The world throws doubts our way to knock us down, to try and catch up slipping; but we have to keep faith. We have to trust in Jesus. Lines 9-10 say, "I know you smell it in the air, Cause I been in the grave for too long I swear." Immediately we can compare this line to verse 39 in the Bible. We are all born "dead." This meaning that we are natural born sinners. Some of us do not kill our "old self" until a late age. For me I did not get baptized until I was 19, I know people that waited longer. That is 19 years of rotting in the world. Lazarus was only dead for four days. Martha warned of the bad odor. Imagine that the strength of the smell when Jesus removed the rock, probably knocked them back a couple of feet. The same is for us and we have to get rid of that odor. We do not get rid of that odor by just showering, but we get rid of it by being baptized. Line 15 says, "Your boy 'bout to be risen." This line connects to verse 43, where Lazarus is risen from the dead. Romans 6:3-4 says, "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." We have to wash away our lines. We have to take a bath in Jesus. We wash our earthly bodies on a daily basis. We shower in the morning, after work, after working out, at night after a long day, and we wash our hands after getting them dirty; but we do not wash our soul. Our soul is the most important part of the body. That is what draws close to God. If it is full of dirt and much from the darkness of this world it will continually pile on until we are fully submerged in the darkness. We have to take a spiritual shower and wash our spiritual hands. We have to grow close to Jesus and wash away the earthly desires (Luke 11:39). Lines 18-19 say, "Hey but hold on, before you cry and run out, Cause somebody coming saying something yelling come out." This voice we hear is the voice of truth. Someone is constantly talking in our ear. That someone can be known as "something," the funny feeling you get, the butterflies, when you hear your conscience; that is God talking in you, he is working in you. Remember, coincidences are just God's way of stay anonymous. Verse 43 and John 7:37a, "Jesus called in a loud voice." We have to be conditioned to his voice the same way we are conditioned to our parents's. We can always hear our parent's scream, it has to be the same for when God yells or whispers at us. This connects to the first four lines of the hook, "Wake'em! Wake'em Up Now! Wake'em! Wake'em Up Now! Wake'em! Wake'em Up Now! Wake'em! Wake'em Up Now!"

Lines 6, 10, and 13 of the Hook .1 says, "I been sleeping for too long, I'm yawning, From Now on you can call me Lazarus, Former deadman walkin Lazarus." On a daily basis we sleep on Jesus. We under estimate him and his powers. We do not appreciate all that he does for us. We lack faith. Luke 9:32 says, "Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him." We need to wake up and smell the coffee (of Jesus), because when we are sleepy and not paying attention we can miss a lot.

Now we move to the second verse, this one is written and rapped by This'l. He opens his verse with, "They got a missing person report and they can't find the body, Let 'em tell the story, I was shot up at a party, Or was I high-speeding on a bike?, Head on to a truck, high speeding through a light, You can tell it any way you like." These lines talk about the world and the media. The media shapes the way we perceive life growing up. Media says they show us "everything," but that is one of their biggest problems, because they do not.  I live in Newburgh, NY we are always at the top of the list for "Most Dangerous Cities in America". We have the highest murder rate per capita for New York. The media only shows us what is "entertainment" and nothing but the bad in the world. They try to show us that we are living in a bad evil world and there is no way out from all the evil. But they are wrong we have a perfect way out, Jesus. The media, along with us, are guilty of playing the game "Telephone." Something is always changed or skewed from the original story, and this is something we have to be careful of. Just look at verses 36-37, the Jews had no idea what was going on so they just speculated and played Telephone. But if we look at line 6, "End story homie I was raised up by the Christ." We get the real story. Jesus saves and he will raise us all up from the dead, we just have to go to him. Line 8 says, "Go and check my grave it's been cleaned out." When we are baptized and saved by Jesus we are dead to our old self (Ephesians 4:22, Colossians 3:5). Lines 9-10 say, "Now come and look into my eyes bro, You can see the fire go." When we are baptized we are made new in Jesus (Romans 12:1-2). We are consumed with the fire and love of Jesus. We have to spread and show the fire and love, when we have it nothing can hold us back. We can do anything we the guiding almighty hands of God. Lines 11-12 say, "Full of power like a wire bro, God connected to me like some cables and I'm fired up." God is our power source. He is the one that gives us life. He is the creator of all things. He is the one that breathed breathe into our lungs. He is the ultimate power source, he is the director of our movie (our life). Jesus was moved in the Spirit in verses 34 and 38. God can move us in the same way, and he can do some amazing things through us and with us. Lines 14-15 say, "they signed off, On my death warrant but I was raised before it dried off." The devil is constantly trying to buy our soul with the temptations of the world. He is trying to drags us into the darkness of the world. The devil hits hard, but do not lose faith, Jesus hits harder. Jesus will always win, he is always faster.

Now we move onto the last couple points from the bridge and Hook .2. In the bridge Trip says in lines 3-5, "The Captain, The Almighty Lord, Setting captives free, all aboard (all aboard), Can't stop Him when He got His mind made up." We serve the Ultimate, Almighty God. There is nothing above him, there is nothing that can stop him. We need to follow him, we need to trust him. Hop on the boat and allow God to be the Captain of your ship. Line 7 says, "He make the blind see and got the lame up." Jesus was a miracle worker from the early days all the way up to his death and beyond. He gave the blind sight (John 9:1-7, Matthew 9:27-31, Mark 8:22-26, John 9:29 and Psalm 146:8) and he helped the lame to their feet by giving them strength (Matthew 9:1-8, 15:30, 21:14; John 5:1-13). Jesus was a more than just a man, he was a healer. He was our savior. Line 8 says, "So it's no surprise He can raise us." Jesus beat death, and with him we can do the same. He can do absolutely anything. He defeated death in his resurrection and he defeated death in the raising of Lazarus, he can defeat death by saving us from our graves of the world. In lines 2-4 of Hook .2 Trip says, "Believers when your life is lookin' tough now, When you at your all time low, Don't forget that power that He already showed." Seasons come and go. Nothing matches the power of our God, all we have to do is trust him, believe in him, and follow him. He is the Great Shepherd, he is the Saving Grace. God has laid out the cards on the table, and he is "all in". All we have to do is "call".

Lord, thank you for all you do. Thank you for being our saving grace. You are the ultimate savior, the ultimate guiding hand. You are here forever and always. Allow us to come to you. Allow us to come to you, so that you can raise us from your grave. Allow us to wash ourselves of the evil and dirt of the world. Make us brand new. I pray all this in your son's name, Amen.

#LetsBeAMovement