Morning Call to Worship – Day 7

Morning Call to Worship – Day 7

What if you let go of the baggage?

Read Matthew 11: 28-30

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Most likely if you have emotional baggage, you have already suffered (paid) much for it. Each offense (like an ill-fitted shirt) in the bag may look like one event, one statement, one wrong done, neatly carried. Yet, every year, something changes. And ultimately the unchecked baggage continues to grow full, heavier. Then, rather than discarding garments that no longer fit (a changed life), the simple carry-on is often added.

Thus, if times are turbulent, while there remains a full bag in the cargo bay (memory), the carry-on tumbles into the aisle (emotion) from time to time with a tag that says, don’t forget your other bag. And now in the midst of a turbulent voyage, it is difficult to discard what should have been left with the airline “host” (God). Finally, leaving the airport, one recovers those “items” (the unforgiven), only to re-package them at home for later wearing (you down), leaving behind an opportunity to travel light.

When it comes to life’s baggage, God is like an airline offering you the freedom to soar without it. If you choose to keep the baggage, you may have to pay an additional fee (some kind of trouble, trial or tribulation).

Are You Moving Too Fast?

If I take time to notice, I can see God’s handiwork. However, it is all too easy to spend an entire day running from one care of the world to the next, whilst I risk allowing my praises to God to fizzle until when I have no joy left. Here are missed opportunities to run with God in a lifetime view, by shortening vision to a “sometimes” view. Some would say that crossing the finish line – like heaven at last, will certainly be a glorious triumph. Yet, God is perfectly willing to give victory in this life, if we take time to run with Him now.

With the world moving at the speed of imagination itself, it is easy to get swept away with gadgets and time demands that keep taking a slice out of our “quiet time”. What’s more, the giving heart is often so unaccustomed to denying others’ requests that he (or she) feels neglectful when at last the answer must be, “No.”

Have you been working on something BIG, which keeps getting interrupted? The phone keeps ringing. The email box is a bottomless list. The mail just “IN” has its own ZIP. And another one cries; and is that dinner [almost] done on fire?; and another day bites the proverbial dust. The twenty-third hour never seems to stretch far enough. And here you are just one person, right? Not exactly.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, determine whether you can do what you “need” to do; and take a break; or delegate. Even in serving the Lord, God does not want you to burn out. His oil of joy (Hebrews 1:9) is to keep your lamp shining no matter what challenges you face – even (and perhaps especially,) in dark places. If you do “need” to do this or that,” you are not just a person working alone.

Understand that an anointing is a divine empowerment to do whatsoever the Lord has given you His anointing for. If you do not need to do what you are doing, do you also feel that your light is not shining as it should be? Now here is where I talk to myself. Careful, now. Be sure that your answer is not mere jealousy from a fancy shoebox. Sometimes our heart – easily biased to our comfort – guides us to the notion that our missed opportunities are not the result of any lacking discipline, or immaturity, or misunderstanding, and certainly not (God forbid) pure laziness; but tells us that we are not in any possible place to use our gifts because someone or something else is hindering us and there is nothing that we can do to change that. Ouch. I had to pry that one off with a shoe horn.

Better to have a bare foot than a broken tow – can’t get the job done because there is no anointing to pull the weight (been there too).

If and when we are truly hindered by externals, the weariness felt for the mundane could be the prompting of the Lord to illuminate a better use of the tool(s) He has provided. This is an amazing avenue for improving a faith walk. Opportunities to seek God for guidance are also times to grow closer which will always be helpful when facing tough choices.

Dare I say that more hours in the day may not solve the world’s ills? If you feel like you need a hero just to get through the day (as I sometimes have) – Apply within. There is a door.

Read Jeremiah 29:11. Good thoughts can help you travel light.

Are You Stil Angry?

Whether you have experienced severe trauma (as I have, but now I AM FREE. PRAISE THE LORD, I’M FREE AND NO LONGER BOUND!) or minor hurt feelings, your emotional wellness is important to God. Most of us have heard that we should stand “still” and see the salvation of the LORD when a battle is raging in life. What is sometimes overlooked is the condition of the heart whilst one is standing. Standing still does not mean attempting to stand on the promises of God while STILL hanging on to negative emotions. Consider the weight of stones in a barrel. How heavy would you imagine are the stones of hatred in a heart cart? Weight cannot always be put on a bathroom scale – though it can lead to a heart attack in more ways than one.

The feeling of anger can be so consuming, that the heart confuses revenge with reparation. Just because one event precedes a second event, does not mean that the second event is a direct result of the immediately preceding event. And though many options can follow any one event (that is, you can choose how to respond), the operative word is choice.

When the Word says, bless and curse not (Romans 12:14), it is not to undermine the fact that someone hurt you and perhaps so without cause. It is not to belittle any pain that you have experienced. It is not a statement of nonchalance, asking you to take an action (forgiveness) without knowledge of what it was that incited your intense emotion (since God knows exactly who you are and what you have experienced). It is not to excuse the evil that has been done or its wicked merchant and instead punish you with memory. It is to protect you. We do not know the day or the hour when the wicked may find that place of repentance – to which we have also come; and there be received with a contrite heart (and as such shall be unworthy of the curse of our lips (for which we will reap the Word if we do not repent – and there we will have given power over us that should not be relinquished)) though we may still be hurting.

It is easy to paint a picture of a God who is forgiving. It can be difficult to see people who have hurt us as worthy of forgiveness. It can make some uneasy to think that the forgiven are the ones who personally wronged them. We forget that God specializes in reconstruction. Consider Moses who murdered a man before he ever parted the Red Sea with God’s own power. God took Moses into a wilderness training camp – and when Moses emerged, he was a different man.

When it gets personal, that is where the nerves are most exposed. God never said, “Do not have an emotion about anything.” Rather, He instructs that even in anger, we should not add sin to our “choices” of response (Ephesians 4:26). God in His infinite vision is able to see beyond the actions that we would take. He knows what the outcome would be, though the mind in an angry cloud sees only the current moment of fog.

Anger is emotional baggage, which attracts the carrier to its kin elements of hatred and vengeance. Emotional baggage is easily attributed to what someone else has said, or what someone else has done. The concept of letting go, however, is the other side of when things get personal. When situations get personal, they affect the spirit within you. You do not have to allow an emotional affect to become a spiritually negative infection. What most people know about an infection, reads something like a medical dictionary…

Infection: /in·fec·tion/ (-fek´shun). 1. The invasion and multiplication of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites that are not normally present within the body…[2.] An infection may remain localized, or it may spread through the blood or lymphatic vessels to become systemic (bodywide). 3. Microorganisms that live naturally in the body are not considered infections. For example, bacteria that normally live within the mouth and intestine are not infections (Medicine.Net).

Does that sound familiar? 

A perpetual anger breeds more situations to disturb the path to emotional well-being. When anger becomes infectious, it infiltrates our thinking, behavior, and something that may not have been considered – our future. Here is what was removed from the above definition and is still often overlooked:

2. An infection may cause no symptoms and be subclinical, or it may cause symptoms and be clinically apparent.

Just because a negative emotion comes to disrupt your emotional health, does not mean that you have to put out the welcome mat. To overcome evil with good is within your power when you take your emotional health personally. It is not about what someone else says or does. It is based on your communication with God who is our healer. He wants you to have spiritual healing which includes emotional well-being. Anger is an influence – something that carries a potential to do something in your life. It is a spirit. YOU can cause anger to be a malignant (synonyms: evil, malevolent, virulent or infectious, hateful, spiteful, malicious, wicked…) cancer in your life; or you can cause anger to be benign (benevolent, favorable, gentle, mild, beneficial, congenial, good, gracious) when you cast it out by rebuke from the Holy Spirit.

How can one chemical produce two different reactions? The litmus test depends on what you mix the base with. Anger becomes more acidic when you add it to itself. One may intend to pour it out on others; and yet it also destroys the container. Anger becomes diluted and its negative power is transmuted when you add living water (The Holy Spirit) – which is powerful for good both when drank and when poured.

Read Psalm 30:5. If pain and sorrow still exist after anger is transmuted for good, God has a plan for that too. Be healed and travel light.

D.N.A.

The war of the world (you could call it good vs. evil) has wreaked havoc on many hearts, causing some who are kings according to the grace of God, to feel like paupers. What would happen if you believed the good before it came to be? If you’ve never had a problem, been rejected, fallen down, … maybe you don’t need to be picked up. But everyone needs hope to go forward no matter where they begin.

The Oedipus effect, or what is more widely known as the social theory of self-fulfilling prophecy, was first formalized by Robert Merton in 1948 (The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology). The concept has since been severally re-defined including the following laymen terms: to cause an event based on a belief that it will come to pass.

Self-fulfilling prophecy is commonly described in terms of negative circumstances. For example, statistics show that a teacher who is told that a student lacks capacity to perform at a high level, often expects substandard behavior from the student and responds to any behavior according to the expressed belief of incapacity. In the same vein however, a student with perceived geniality is approached and reacted to according to that perception of genius quality. Self-fulfilling prophecy as a formal theory, requires the confirmation of two or more persons interacting in a given belief in order for a subsequent event to be deemed a manifestation of the belief.

If truth is established of two or three witnesses, then reality is highly subjective. It is not a mockery of truth. It is to say that though you may not be called a prophet, you have the power to influence your future beyond even the sight of present time, by your claim – of either legs or links. That’s not a lunch order. Think of natural legs. In our context, they can only go so far before they will eventually tire. And there are some spaces where even if strong, the use of legs must be unconventional else they will have a different (unnatural) bearing or no bearing at all –(like perhaps, in skydiving, where moving forward could require more than “one foot in front of the other.”). A link is a connection. Some connections are interchangeable – like a watch with varying colored wrist-bands. Some connections seem to be finite, though a mind expansion can reveal something amazing about things once thought impossible – case in point: a man dying of cancer received a bone marrow transplant, changing both his diagnosis and his blood type.

If TWO beliefs can manifest reality, then the parable of the students is understood. A first belief was imputed by the source of the student’s categorical placing. A second belief though provoked by imputation, was held by the teacher. The ripple effects all. The perpetuation of a belief – right or wrong, again requires only two believing minds. If the student internalizes the imputed belief – whether to genius or incapacity, then for him or her it becomes a self-truth. Though you may have held a negative belief that kept you in a state of self-deprecation, if at any time your belief is disconnected from that negative belief and becomes there single-minded (James 1:8), you open yourself to unity with a higher belief of positive proportions.

Right living can save your life. Right living begins with right believing. Before you can overcome the world –  or your circumstances, you must first conquer your mind. Right believing will loose your mind from emotional baggage. Once two minds are synchronized, they become ONE – and stable (solidified in whatever state exists; not necessarily good). Be joined then to a positive rather than become a solid downer. Since you need only TWO beliefs to agree, you can change your manifestation of self, even if you have exhausted every other friendship *i.e. you have no more “favors” to call in, could not get a sole to join you for a cup of java, etc…) you can still synchronize your single-mind with a positive belief – and God has a positive well for everyone who thirsts (Matthew 5:6). Imagine a cup filled with dirty water.

The cup itself is a vessel only. With the filth being removed, you could potentially use that same (though in a different state (clean)) cup for something else – and that without contamination. If you are the cup being filled, you can remove “dirty water” (negatives), by pouring in more “freshwater” (positives) (Romans 12:2). The magic (infinite potential) is in understanding the value of the vessel (believing that it can be refurbished), and the power of the water. Self-deprecating belief causes hope deference, which makes the heart sick(Proverbs 13:6). Instead of this baggage, carry the clarity that God knows your value – a vessel of infinite potential; and because His Holy Spirit is the water, He knows what it can do. Sometimes, life occurrences seem like coincidences. Yet, the Word clarifies this: you cannot find God unless He first invites you (John 6:44). Thus, if you so much as wonder (whether or not you know the conclusion of the matter) who God is, you are a pearl of price. He is drawing you to Himself.

You have been drawn to God for some purpose if only to establish (to awaken your believing mind to the fact that there is a second (though it was first) believing mind with which you can synchronize and manifest reality) the truth that you are loved. Your self-fulfilling prophecy then should begin with notice, regard, honor, preference, and esteem for your immortal creator – the great I AM (Exodus 3:14).

Who is before, beyond or above God? Nothing, no place, and no one. When God declared the state of His own union with himself, He said, “I AM that I AM.” God declares Himself to be I Am, because it fulfills all of the attributes of His character. To those who need deliverance, He is their deliverer. If they need peace, He is peace. He can be all things to all people.

Your adversary needs you to reject the grace and favor that is already yours through Christ, by linking what you are not to your personal pronoun. Negation of this attack is the purpose of affirmations: so if you do not employ them and you find yourself asking, “Who am I?” – you might want to try them..(*Understand that what you are not could be what you were yesterday. (In other words, a depressed person (for example) needs to confess, “I AM joyful,” though it may not be yet manifested in the physical world; it can and will with right believing. Right speaking produces right believing.) God wants you to receive His definition of I AM for you – a transfusion of HIS own *DNA – Define (specifically declare the) Native (source) Ability (of power – to manifest life, wellness, and all things good) to give you abundant LIFE.

Read Romans 8:28. Refresh your *DNA and travel light.

Me Me Me Me Me…

If your morning sounds like you are tuning up for a solo and you don’t have a stitch of a song in your head, maybe it’s not music that you’re prepping for. The Psalmist David was loved by God (called, “a man after God’s own heart – beloved because he did praise God wholeheartedly when he kept focus; and because he was not unwilling to repent when he realized the necessity). David, some would say, “had it all.” Still, he was sometimes discontent and felt that God was silent toward him.

We know that David was a praying man and God spoke to Him often. So, we can reasonably say that David was familiar with many of God’s ways. However, there were times even in David’s life full of many anointed occasions, that David made mistakes and sometimes made flat out made wrong choices. For David to have been so revered of God as to be “a man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), we must conclude that for all the lamentation we read in the first books of Psalm, David must also have spent countless more time in praise and worship – but here we have only a partial view of his life. We should take from these introductions that God is not grieved by your having questions. Wanting clarity does not have to stop you from believing. Having a question should not be the same as having a complaining spirit.

If you call someone every day and only talk of your complaints, this person will likely take fewer calls from you after a while (if not, you have a rare friend indeed – or you may notice that your friend also spends much time complaining). Consider a special friendship: sometimes God does not return our messages after we flood His line with only complaints. He gives us some time to re-focus.

We know that God does not “turn off” His ringer. He hears us even when we are speaking to others and not directly to Him. But God has called us friends (John 15:15), not servants only (Our service is a manifestation of love and not a response to bondage. Therefore also in calling God Master of our free souls, we do embody His relationship to the Father and recognize His Teaching Lordship. For He desires us to be like Him. This likeness is a compliment above even service – it shows a greater understanding when works are done of obedience in love (as when your children do behave well even without your telling them to do so), rather than by commandment only (*though this is better than disobedience).

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15). The Amplified Bible phrases the latter part as, “…I have related to you everything that I have learned from Him.” Christ wants us to learn and grow.

When we speak of a complaining spirit, we are not saying to avoid asking God for help (Matthew 7:11). People have emotions. If we do not renew our minds (Romans 12:1-2), we will lack many virtues and often most prominently by impatience – an underlying cause of much misbehaving. If one does not practice contentment, it can feel not far from torturous to wait for God’s timing. Remember there is always the seed, time, and harvest. God may be working related (and of necessity preceding) elements of which we are unaware, whilst we wait. That does not mean that we can not zap the situation like a microwave, with our instant injections and nuke the product (time (instead of waiting)) into being “done” right now. However, asking for a gift outside of God’s perfect and divine will is asking for trouble – literally. What you will get if He grants your request, is His permissive will – where He permits you to get what you want and its consequences. But before you know it, “DING!” It’s not just done; it’s over, and you have fast-forwarded to the consequence(s) that could have been avoided.

An “I want it now” mentality exposes two unwanted elements: first, patience has run out in that situation. Second, since patience is gone, the soul need not be truly suffering in order to feel injured..Without patience, everything seems a little worse than it is. If you are already “Fed Up,” everything gets on our last nerve. In this condition, selfishness is often a more accurate revelation than what is being complained about. This is a hard lesson (I certainly had to learn that one). A person may survive with far less than what constitutes a “living,” in some places, while some people can not grin and bear it when they have to “settle” for steak nachos instead of bacon-wrapped sirloin.

Why me? What about me? Are you even listening to me? Do you see me? These are the sometimes lamentations of the Psalms of David – a KING no less. In the midst of these “songs”, you do not need x-ray vision to get the picture that God was not saying audibly much intermittently (seed: lamentation; time: prolonged silence; harvest: blessing void (which is easily interpreted as more potential for complaining)). A man rich enough to have it all, need not be poor to be thankful. And you do not need the material wealth of a King to start being thankful.

God hears everything we say. Yet, He does not inhabit (dwell in) our complaints. God inhabits the place where His people praise Him. A complaining spirit is an excess baggage. Have you ever noticed that one complaint leads to another? It is like adding weights to a barbel. Being a champion complainer is nothing to brag about. Carrying this weight from day to day burns your life energy and leaves you feeling drained since the spirit is refreshed and fueled by encouragement. Complaints, though you may not notice at first, are spiritually discouraging. If you think only of instances where you have been “let down,” how difficult do you imagine it will be to believe that something good will happen? What if you focus on what went right – even if that is not a long list?.

If we are not intentional in our communication, we may unwittingly give God only the sharp snippets of our conversation when consumed with a negative thought, we complain about what should have, could have, would have been. It takes a conscious effort to not just hit God with the “lowlights” of the day since those little annoyances often get the most attention and when we go to prayer, they are the first to come to mind… Lord, if she says one more thing… Lord, I can’t believe these people – who taught them how to drive?”… What? That’s not prayer? Oh, but it is. (While some try to complicate prayer to sound anointed, prayer is “talking to God.” If you were really in distress and could only say, “God have mercy,” He would not miss it because it was not as long as this post. Sometimes the “pains” that fill our talks with God are temporary squeaky wheels getting the grease; and not that these are the prime subjects of importance to our lives. And while the trivial gets most of our attention and takes up valuable time, it is easy to overlook the “highlights” – the things we can be glad about. Ungratefulness is a complaint. Complaining keeps the mind walking circles in a felt wilderness, rather than moving forward and out of negativity.

If you awaken to a new day and go on without being thankful, you may notice that you do not have to look for things to get grumpy about. Specifically, the energy you emanate is the energy that is attracted to you. Without thankfulness, the mind focuses on lack – as if there is actually nothing to be thankful for. In this state, complaints grow roots and branches as your mind is tuned in to what could go wrong and what can make you unhappy. It can be difficult to notice what is going right when thoughts are focused on potential mishaps and past disappointments. Reality may not seem kind at all times. However, the fact that you can think about that, says that you can think – this alone is something to be grateful for. Did you know there are millions of people in the world who cannot think for themselves? If you can think, you can change your mind. If you can change your mind, you can change your life.

God has established many “automatic processes” of the mind, body, and spirit. Consider the natural process of digestion. Not everything eaten remains with the body – and this is as it should be. But that portion to be used or stored remains and the waste is cast off. That the mind can be programmed is evidence of an automatic process capability. But we do not become God-like by osmosis. And we must intentionally, on purpose, program our minds to praise God continually, giving thanks, lest we become retainers for the waste that we are supposed to be casting off. God has an infinite vision in all situations whereas our sight may be limited. Simply thanking God first thing in the morning, can actually help you to have a good day. Prayer often begins with thanksgiving. Bombarding Heaven with thanks ushers in the atmosphere of worship.

Having a good day does not necessarily mean that there are no challenges. Yet, you understand that there is no challenge too great for God. Complaining is actually effortless. It takes purposeful action to be grateful; yet, when you are grateful, you call in the grateful harvest (seed: gratefulness; time: growth phase; harvest: various fruits (which will enrich your life)).

Read Philippians 4:8. Think and grow enriched: plant good seeds and travel light.

When You Turn Around…

Have you ever heard someone say, “Every time you turn around…” and the next thing you hear is something about what went wrong for the um-teenth time? It’s true that life’s pesky nuances can make you bitter if you allow them to. Fortunately, you may notice the little foxes trying to destroy your joy and go bountifully forward as you easily push them aside. You may even feel glad – as you should – when you realize that you have not allowed yourself to “sweat the small stuff.” But what happens when you face something that you define as big?

The same God who handles the ants in the garden is King of the jungle, too. While we may not pray over every “little” situation throughout the day, it is important to remember that every problem of yours is another opportunity to experience God’s power and there is nothing too big for Him. Sometimes our distress is fueled by the realization that there is something we simply cannot handle. It’s OK that you understand your humanity. God is not limited to the realm we live in, or the body we inhabit (since you are a spirit and live in a body). He wants you to trust Him for all that you cannot do, and realize that even what power you have is an extension of Him. The enemy wants to see you frazzled, before saying, “That’s what happens when… ” and end with something tragic. But, God has a better conclusion that starts unfolding when you put your trust in Him.

Have you ever had what some would call a “thankless” job? Maybe you don’t get birthday cards in the mail, or pats on the back, or are always passed up for the promotion you want. Or, maybe it seems you have it all, but you’re still not happy – or you know someone like this. Each time you give your best and get zero on the score board, the coach may say, “Dig deeper.” What happens when you’ve dug to the depth and it seems there’s nothing more to give? Your opponent may snicker with the thought, “Ha. That’s what happens when you face me.” But God’s strength is made perfect in your weakness. When you’ve reached the end of your own power, that’s when you start to understand grace.

Living for the applause may sound good, but there must be something deeper to keep you going when no one says, Amen – or good job, or thanks you.  A parent who cooks and cleans and makes the home swell with love and is ever greeted with, “do this, do that, and can I have… ” needs a hug sometimes, too. A spouse who works hard (or works smart) and is faithful is no less worthy of honor, even if he or she’s no billionaire. Money is not the only thing that makes a family rich. When life seems to fall apart, there are several likely culprits though there’s typically one person the mind seeks to blame – and it’s usually not itself. That’s when the finger points away and is followed by the quoted chant, “I told you. That’s what happens when…” and you already know the rest.

So what really has to happen when life is going down the wrong road? You have to turn around. You may not be able to turn a whole situation right this second. Yet, when you turn yourself from going down a wrong road, you set the force in motion that can ripple and change the world in your view, or change the world beyond your reach.

Turn around: that’s what happens when God intervenes in a dysfunctional family. Hearts get healed. People get delivered from emotional bondage. Baggage gets delivered to the God who can lift all burdens, and people never have to carry it again. Turn around: that’s what happens when God is praised in the midst of chaos. When the praises go up, God tears down the strongholds. He makes rivers in the desert and ways in the wilderness [a way out of no way]. Turn around: that’s what happens, when you put your trust in God.

Read Isaiah 43:19. If you’re on the wrong road, turn around and travel light.

Travel Light by Shenica Graham is a practical and faith-grounded look at various causes and effects of emotional baggage. Learn how to let go of the baggage and travel light.

Thank you JESUS! Hallelujah!

• Down By The Riverside feat. Grandpa Elliott // Playing For Change // Song Around The World – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ1gHm8v3ek
• Riverside // Kirk Franklin – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG5XfdQKMOA

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