I'm Laying it Down for the Joy of the Lord!!

Have you ever been carrying something so heavy by yourself that you felt like if you carried it one more step, your arms were going to give out and you were going to literally fall out? Isn’t that how some of us are in the spirit? We’ve been walking around with old anger and bitterness or desires for someone to get their lives together or whatever it is, for so long that we are on the brink of death. You’re so tired and heavy that you don’t even realize it’s changed you. We get mini breakthroughs or have an emotional response at church and think we’re all better, only to have the heaviness return a few hours, days, or months later. It happens to the best of us. There’s no title that exempts us from struggles but there’s a God that releases us.

I know some of y’all think I am pure crazy because I use myself as examples for most of my blogs. But God has encouraged me to be transparent so that someone else can see beyond reputation and name and find release. I recently went through a dry season. I wasn’t depressed but I was heavy. You wouldn’t even have known if you weren’t looking at me with spiritual eyes. It seemed like whenever I praised, it turned into travail, a crying out instead of praise. I kept getting word from God about breaking through but I would think it didn’t really apply or I had already done it. But the truth of the matter was that I had made the struggle my friend. I had welcomed it into my spirit so much so that I didn’t recognize it.

Well, my friends, I am here to tell you that God is a good God. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.” (MSG) I made a decision that I was ready to come out of my dry season. I went through a fast and asked certain things of God and He answered. I got free and I mean FREE! I felt the breaking and I won’t go back.

I say all of this for one reason, it’s time to move forward! We’re not staying in bondage anymore. “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong” By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.” (Phil. 3: 12-14, MSG) God has something greater in store for you! Job’s “friend” Bildad didn’t even mean to be encouraging when he told Job “Where you began will seem unimportant, because your future will be so successful.” (Job 8:7, NCV)

We’re coming out and going forward. We are no longer going to be confined by the weights of this world. We are going to walk in the freedom that God has for us. We are going to put all those bags away!  In the words of Erykah Badu, “Bag lady, let it go!” Does the Lord live in you? If the answer is yes, then you are free! That’s what the Word says! “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Cor. 3:17) Ask the Lord to set you free and EXPECT Him to do it…you will see results!

Be blessed…AMEN!