Baggage Fees: God is trying to lighten your load

Matthew 11:28 - 30 reads:

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

There's a song whose lyrics say, I'm climbing up on the rough side of the mountain and I'm doing my best to make it in.  Those lyrics always make me laugh because I try to image someone climbing up the smooth side of a mountain.  You thought about that right?  It makes no sense.  What makes a mountain climbable is the fact that it is rough and you have something that you can grab onto to pull yourself up.

Interestingly you never see professional mountain climbers carrying a lot of stuff.  They're not carrying huge baggage.  They have their equipment, water, something to eat and maybe a tent, but they can fit it all into a back pack.  As you are ascending to the next level of your life, God wants you to divest yourself of your baggage.  He so wants this that He assess baggage fees.  Yep.  That's right.  The air lines didn't think of it first.  God did.

He charges fees for the issues that you don't want to put down or let go of so that you can sore higher in Him.  For some of us that baggage is a person or some people in our lives.  God has been telling you to let it go.  He's been saying it loud and clear so He begins to assess fees.  The person starts to act uncharacteristically terrible, treating you horribly.  You just get to a place where the fee is too high and you let it go.  Guess what that was God's fee!  Or maybe it's a job, a house, a car, a pet, I do not know what your baggage is, but God wants you to let it go.

How do I know?  Because the scripture referenced above tells me.  God said, for those of you who have a lot of baggage and it is weighing you down come and bring it to me in exchange I will give you my yoke and my burden, which are light.  With the tools that God has for you, you can soar.  It's like the hiker's backpack.  God's yoke and burden are the things you need to help you climb up the rough side of the mountain.  You may find a word of wisdom in that bag.  You may find prayer in that bag.  You may find anointing in that bag.  Whatever is in that backpack is what God is trying to get to you so that you can soar.

So don't be afraid when folks start falling away from you or when God begins to speak to you about divesting yourself of some of your poor relationships.  Don't be upset if you lose some material things.  Don't get all caught up in stuff, when God is trying to take you to a new level in Him.  So today, I say, when you see me getting rid of some people, some stuff, paring down my lifestyle, don't mistake me for someone whose lost it, instead understand that God is teaching me to lighten my load because that stuff or those people can't go with me where I need to go.  They're too heavy and God needs me to be svelte.  He needs to be neat and fit so that I am prepared for the climb.

Today, think about what you are trying to hold onto and the fee that you're paying to try to keep it in your life.  Is it worth it?  I'm believing not.  Instead, drop all that and take up God's burden and yoke.  It will fit better and you'll be able to travel faster. 

It's Fair

Luke 12:48 reads as follows:

But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The context of this entire chapter is Jesus sharing with the crowd that had thronged him as well as with his disciples how to prioritize, be aware, watch and prepare.  But this particular verse seems a bit unfair at first blush.  When I read the verse I was reminded of my 6th grade teacher Stella Fiddemont.  As a matter of fact, earlier in the week, I shared with a friend about my fractions moment at the board in Ms. Fiddemont's class.  We were studying fractions and we all had a turn at the board to solve problems that she had given us.  It was my turn along with several other students and I was struggling.  It was adding fractions with differing denominators, you know, where you have to figure out the least common denominator before you can add?  Anyway, the students next to me were struggling too.  But I watched Ms. Fiddemont help each of them.  I raised my hand for help too and she said, "No.  You can do this on your own."  I had a whole gamut of emotions.  I couldn't believe that she would help the students next to me and not me!  And what did she mean I could do it?  If I could then why couldn't the kid next to me do it without help or intervention?  I only recently understood and it's because of the context of this chapter.

One might ask themselves if the servant didn't know what was going on, why would he be beaten with few stripes?  I get it.  It's the same reason that Stella Fiddemont didn't help me that day.  God deals with each of us differently.  We each need a different level of motivation which is connected to our personality, our learning style, or ability to hear, listen and comprehend, our maturity and our gifting from God.  When God gives you  a gift, He requires productivity from you based upon the gift.  When He leaves something in your hands He expects for you to do something great with it.

When I was standing at the board frowning because my teacher wouldn't help me, I didn't realize that she didn't help me because she saw in me the ability to solve it myself.  She saw me in a place and a space where I didn't see myself.  I saw myself in a weaker place; in an ignorant place, but she knew that I had the knowledge and the skill.  Now, nearly 30 years later I see that and I see what God was building in me.  When I experience something with God it is like a journey of "self discovery" to use a phrase from my sister, Minister Sheila Walls.  When I go through it, then I have more compassion for others.  I see what God wants others to experience in Him and its beautiful.  I can see that He wants people to know that He loves them so.  I can see that He wants to reconcile them through the blood of His son.  When I experience a feeling of helplessness like I felt at the board, I know how other people feel when they reach that same place and it is the drive of that burden that makes me love people.  It is what makes me the Elder that Bishop and Pastor Woods appointed me to be.  When I walk a path, I immediately search for others who are also experiencing the same hardships and I give them the Word that was given to me.  That's how God deals with me and why He has to take me on my self discovery journey the way that He does.  I will no longer see the stripes that I have to bear as part of this process as a negative thing or as me missing out or not getting the help that I need.  Instead I will see it as me taking my few stripes because God has given me much and is holding me responsible for producing based upon the gifts that He has provided.

Think about your gifts today.  What has God given you?  Are you a giver?  Are you an encourager?  Do you teach, preach, pray for others?  Do you play an instrument?  Can you sing?  Are you good ad administration, evangelism or helping?  Whatever God has given you and in whatever way He has provided it to you figure out how make productive use of it.  God is waiting on you to become what He has always seen you as being.

Ready. . . Set . . . WAIT!

I remember a song I used to hear when I was a little girl titled, "When the Lord gets ready, you've got to move!"

I was sitting in service at Urban Empowerment this past Sunday, thinking, "Lord why do you have me in a season of waiting?"  It feels awful to cognitively realize that you cannot move.  But there is such a lesson in being still and I so need to hear from God right now and learn what I need to learn in this season.

God gave me some encouragement to help me through my waiting and I hope that sharing it with you will also helping you if you are in a season of waiting too.  He told me that there are somethings that I need to stop doing, there are somethings that I need to start doing and there are some things that He will do.

Stop wondering why you have to wait and why you are where you are.  I have a friend who has found richness in stopping to pick up coins.  He says that it's really not even about the coin at all.  It is about being obedient to God to stop, reach down and pick it up.  I found that interesting because that's how God works with us right?  I mean we see something that catches our attention.  We have the option to stop and address it or to keep going on past it.  When we stop and address it, say bend down to pick up a coin, we never know what we just ducked from and missed as a result of our obedience and to boot, we are now richer and more edified for having been obedient.  God places us strategically where we are for His glory and for our edification.  So instead of asking God why you're stuck where you are . . .

Start asking God what you need to learn while you are where you are.  God is trying to get you to gain something.  He is trying to add something to your life.  He is trying to prepare you for your next move.  Rest.  Be still and she His salvation.  And while you are in the midst of learning what you need to learn and being prepared for your next level . . .

Stop telling everyone else around you about your credentials, your background, your qualifications, your education and your expertise.  Evidently, all of that is not what you need to get to your next level.  We desire to glow, go and grow, but God has to qualify you for His promises and His blessing so until He refines you, learn to be still and take the heat.  Stop trying to rush God.  He knows how old you are, He knows your biological clock is ticking, He knows you feel lonely - maybe He does too.  Maybe He misses intimate time with you.  He knows you're awake in the midnight hour, He's the one who woke you up to get you on your knees and in His word so that you would spend some quality time building a meaningful relationship with Him that will allow Him to move on your behalf.  He's trying to purge you of your old mind and stinking thinking. He's trying to help you by allowing the Holy Ghost to sit on you in your loneliness.  He's trying to make you over again.  He's trying to restore your finances.  He's trying to get you to pray.  He's trying to get you to put off your old ways so that you can be prepared for your new spouse, your new car or your new house.  God is trying to work.  LET HIM!!!  And while you are allowing God to work on you, you will find that you are . . .

Starting to be patient.  Recall the story of Abraham and Sarah.  God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that his seed would be innumerable like the sand on the sea shore. Abraham shared this promise with Sarah and they knew it was going to happen.  See God will reveal your end to you.  He will show you the promise.  What He doesn't reveal is what you have to go through to get to the promise because if you knew you wouldn't endure it.  God is always working things out for your good and for His glory.  This is a principle that we need to grasp because when we neglect to grasp it we create issues for ourselves that interfere with the timely delivery and enjoyment of our promises.  Remember that Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 years old when the promise of Isaac was delivered.  The issue though was that before the promise, Sarah looked her her situation with natural eyes.  She thought about it.  She looked that the logic of it and decided that the promise was true, but maybe she wasn't going to be the vehicle.  So she offered her hand maiden to her husband.  But what happened in Sarah's impatience is that she didn't allow God to work in His time and in His way.  God meant for Abraham's seed to be born into freedom.  Haggar was a bondwoman.  Her child was the child of a servant.  That's not what God destined for Abraham.  And I imagine that as long as there was no Isaac, Ishmael was cool.  Sarah watched him grow and may even have loved him.  But when her promise showed up, Ishmael became a problem.  This is what God so wants us to avoid because we can get ourselves into some Ishmael situations that we may never get out of.  Our Ishmael may cause our promise to be delayed or may make it not as enjoyable.  Eventually, Sarah wanted Haggar and Ishmael to go away.

Interestingly, in this blog about waiting, you also need to be able to recognize when it is your turn to go!  Hence the song, "When the Lord gets ready, you've got to move!"  It is through prayer, supplication, meditation on the Word, speaking the Word, declaring the Word aloud, applying the Word and living the Word that we learn to recognize our diving appointments.  We must keep them.  Each is a building block and a proving ground.  If we want to really experience the favor of God, we have to know when He is moving and nudging us to move and we have to be ready, willing and able to move when He says to do so. 

Ask God today what you need to learn while you are where you are and when He wants you to move.

That New Math

Luke 9:12-17s states:

12And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.

13But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.

14For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.

15And they did so, and made them all sit down.

16Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.

17And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

We are in the beginning of an outstanding Bible study series at Urban Empowerment about prayer.  Bishop and Pastor Woods often say, much prayer, much power, little prayer, little power.  That saying is so true.  When you pray effectually, fervently, consistently,  continually and you are committed to having a prayer life and constant open communication with God, you begin to experience what feels like new math.

Take the text of Luke above.  The disciples felt the need of the crowd that had gathered.  The people wanted, no needed to hear what Jesus had to impart to them.  They needed the Word.  But when it was time to feed them naturally, the disciples began to think of how this need could be handled so they asked Jesus if they could disperse the crowd so that they could go and take care of their needs.  Interestingly, Jesus told them to feed the people.  I imagine that the disciples were confused and that they wanted to be obedient, but had no idea how they were going to do it, so they pointed out to Jesus, just in case He wasn't aware, that they didn't have enough for everyone.  They pointed out that they could go get more.  Jesus simply instructed the disciples to divide up the crowd of men into companies or rows of 50 per row.  The disciples asked no more questions.  They got busy doing what Jesus told them to do.  There's so much there, but that's not my assignment today.

Jesus then took the five loaves of bread and the two fishes and looked up to heaven.  He blessed them as He would have done with any other meal.  He began to break them and give to His disciples for distribution.  The disciples then gave it to the crowd and the crowd ate and were filled.  After everyone finished eating, there were still twelve baskets of fragments.  That's new math.  God can take what we have, break it up and based upon our obedience to His command, make it be more than enough.  In man's hands five loaves of bread and two fish may be able to feed one family, but when you speak the name of Jesus over your situation, little becomes more than enough.  

Bishop Woods is teaching us that prayer is really to bring our will in alignment with God's will.  It is really to help us to put on the mind of Christ.  It is really to bring me into order so that I am prepared to carry out the command of God at a moment's notice, for example, when God's people need to be fed and there's no opportunity to try to go and get something and God doesn't want them sent away because He has something more in store for them.  As an Elder, Minister, Deacon, Armor Bearer, Evangelist, Teacher, or whatever role we have, God needs us to be ready to carry out His will.  In order for me to carry out His will, I have to know what it is.  I have to hear from Him.  I have to be in order and in alignment with Him.  So I have got to pray, supplicate, meditate both day and night, praise, worship and hear from Him.  I have to put myself into submission so that I can hear when it is time for God to work some new math in my life.

I pray today for God to be able to perform some new math in your situation.  Where you have been feeling like you don't have enough, I seek God to break up your situation into fragments and to feed you until you are full and have fragments left over to gather up.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.