Leave your baggage behind

During a group worship time this week I saw this picture.

It was of a person carrying an old suitcase. The person walks to the kerb and in a short moment a bus comes along. The person, 'leaves that old case on the kerb', gets on the bus with a looking forward not looking back. The doors shut, and the bus pulls away on to the next destination.

It was a picture where people can at times carry a bag holding things of the past and still be defined by them; shame, things that created pain, memory of sin, etc.

So, to me it was an encouragement for people in their journey with Jesus to leave those things behind. I love the word in Isaiah..."don't remember the former things, don't consider the things of old, behold I do a new thing" (Is 43:18).

Sometimes it seems hard to not pick up the old stuff again, and sometimes, to even let it go in the first place. But trust God's word when He says you are a new creation. Let Him do the work in you.

So if you are carrying some stuff, step into the freedom that is yours in Christ. Leave that old case there on the kerb.... don't look back and don't go pick it up again.

And for some help, some lyrics of an old song came to my thoughts as I wrote this..
If the enemy starts to remind you of your past (don't listen), you just remind him of his future.

(Carman - Revival in the Land).   :)

 

We Are In The New

Imagine this...

John the Baptist is standing in the Jordan. He has been sent by God to water baptize people in preparation for the coming of a new Kingdom. He knows that he will witness the coming of the Messiah.

One day he sees Jesus coming to him and he knows in his heart (revelation) that this is the Lamb of God (the sacrifice) who will take away the sin of the world. No one else could do it.

Jesus and John talk; John is hesitant to baptize the Messiah, well aware of his own need to be baptized and cleansed by Jesus.

So John baptizes Jesus to fulfill all righteousness, and as God has told John to watch, he sees the Spirit, the Holy Spirit descending from heaven and remaining on Jesus, revealing in certainty that Jesus, who stands before him, is the Christ!

And in that moment, John says....he knows... that Jesus is the One. The Christ who has ALL authority; authority to save people from their sins, and power to baptise with the Holy Spirit. And there, John, in knowing, gives witness that Jesus IS the Son of God.

And John's journey here is near it's end.

The handing over of a prophet under the old covenant to He that was prophesied of, as Saviour to bring in the New.  The beginning of the 3 year journey to Calvary. A journey of love. Signs and miracles following Him. A witness to His being the Messiah. A Saviour, a Friend. The only One who could set the captives (that's you and me) free. Free by way of the cross, His death for our sin. And to think, that as you believe in your heart, by a divine act of God, the Holy Spirit comes to live in you. The Spirit birthed in power in you, make this all a reality; yes, you are free!

You are His. Forgiven. Restored to God. Free. Death defeated by the Righteousness of One, the Christ. That which had been prophesied years before.

So, as believers we have the very Spirit of God; the same Spirit at creation that hovered over the waters; the same Spirit at the Jordan the day Jesus came forth, remaining on Him and raising Him from the dead. The same Spirit poured out at Pentecost.

His very Spirit is living in you and me.

His very Spirit baptizing you into resurrection life.

Wow!!! Imagine! The works He did; The witness, the salvations, the healings, the lives changed, the one's, the two's, the hundreds, the thousands. Think about His disciples; the prayers and the worship to God. The works, the witness, the salvations - God working through them. Nothing has changed, He is still the same; same heart, same power, same mission.

Believers..... His blood, His body, His Spirit!

The same Gospel, call and mission.

His desire is that none perish, and all come to repentance in Christ the Son. Restored to the Father.

To all who worship in spirit and truth!

To God be the Glory

.Amen