let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Heb12:1b Weights are spirits. They make so much of what you do an effort and a struggle. As I was reflecting on my day I was thanking God for the joy I had today. I was thanking him for his promptings and his leading. Today, I cooked a meal, washed my bathroom rugs, bleached my bath mat, windexed five windows without effort, without somebody telling me it had to be done and all with such joy that God loves me so much. Many would think it strange that my housework brought me to such a place of joy but the truth is, it did. It did because there was a time I would not think of doing any of those things, that my wife would have to coax me to do them, that because there existed weights in me, it would be a real effort. It would not be done with pleasure and it would not be done very well. Do you know what I am talking about? My neighbor, for instance, lives with weights. Though he is retired, though he should be experiencing joy, life is a weight. Life is a burden. He had an eleven day vacation just recently, but he tells me he needs to desperately go on a retreat. Why? Because he lives with weights. He is not free and his religion is doing him no good. I, too, lived with weights: anger, lust, and fear to name a few and they held me down. I was bound and I did not know why. Only when the appointed time had come was I delivered, only when the appointed time had come was I made free. That is why my housework brought me such joy. Not only did I do what I would never have done on my own, it was God who prompted me to do it and I said yes and the yes brought me real joy and happiness. Where when my wife gave me my list of chores, it caused anger and frustration, when God placed in my spirit the need to do my housework, all I said to God was, “I can do this” and doing it brought joy and satisfaction. Where are you? Do you live with weights? Is life a burden? Are you shackled hand and foot? If so, recognize you live with weights and you need deliverance. Recognize that life need not be a burden and work can be productive and pleasing, not frustrating and infuriating. Let us pray: Father, I speak to the weights and sin that doth so easily beset my friend and by faith I cast them out. By faith I speak freedom and joy and peace to my friend and I ask you to wash him or her and cleanse him or her in Christ's sacred blood and to not leave the room empty but I ask you to fill him or her with the Holy Spirit so they may walk in victory today. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing and that from this day forth he or she will walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh in Jesus name amen. And by faith I call it done! Praise the Lord. Blessed be his name amen |