Releasing Your Burdens and Finding Rest: Keep Pressing On

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - (Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

Happy Stompin' Saturday!!!

Do you feel like throwing in the towel?

Are you still suffering from past events or current ones in your life?

Do you ask yourself: What is the point of going on, when life keeps on throwing me curve balls?

Are you tired of being weary and angry?

Are you tired of carrying these burdens, which seems to overtake you?

If you are, I'm glad you stopped by to read this message. In today's text, it's talking about casting your burdens to The One who is able to set you free and leaving your problems in His Hands. You're probably wondering why I'm writing this to you today. It's because the Lord showed me there are people who are feeling weary and they’re wondering when will their storms end. But I've come to tell you to look no more, as God's Spirit is upon me, He wants you to know you are not alone and He will see you through. When Jesus was talking about our problems, He never mentioned about what type of problems we should bear to Him. Thank God.

God wants you to know He is here for you. He doesn't want you to carry your burdens alone. He didn't design us to bear our struggles and situations alone. He desires us to seek Him in everything we encounter. Why? Because He knows how to solve the unexplainable and He takes pleasure in assisting us, as we sincerely reach out to Him. He delights in us when we let down our guard and swallow our pride, and to acknowledge this-is-too-much-to-handle-on-our-own. Our disappointments become God's Divine Appointments.

Beloved, it doesn't matter what people are saying behind your back. It doesn't matter if your plans go twenty steps backwards instead of forward. It doesn't matter if the doctor says you only have six months to live. It doesn't matter if recession is kicking you left-and-right. And it doesn't matter if it appears that all hope is gone. You need to know within your heart that God is able to meet your every need above all you can ask or think.

Sometimes, it's easy to get sidetracked when we take a day-cation or vacation from our original plans. And it may be due to the fact of hanging around with the wrong crowd, or life-altering events swallowing us whole. It may be due to the fact that we're seeking consolation from other sources when life gets unbearable for us. We seek other people to fill-in what we're escaping from, or we’re trying to over-indulge in possessions, which is only a temporary-fix, to keep us feeling valuable, or we seek for other solutions like prescribed medication, alcohol, drugs, and any kind of addictions to keep us from losing our minds.

I'm being honest here. If we take a deeper look within our hearts, we all know that life happens. And it's sad to say, we actually have some people who can't accept, or don't want to believe, that life really does happen.

Not everything goes according to our plans. And if we're being real with ourselves, for one minute, we can actually say, "It sucks."

And yes, it does!

Just when we think we're delivered out of one scenario, here comes another one and another one, and another one until we hit rock bottom. And that's where we become unglued. This is where our true feelings come to surface about what's really going on in our lives. We begin to grumble and we become unpleasant, and we find ourselves losing every battle because we, as humans, hate to admit defeat.

Precious heart, I want you to know there is nothing wrong with admitting defeat, especially when our trials and tribulations are overtaking us. If you can relate to what I'm saying, at least give a "that's true" nod while reading this. We love to solve things for ourselves because society molds us to believe that if we ask for help, then it makes us appear weak, which equates to us being as "losers."

Thank God, this isn't true. When we come to the end of ourselves, it’s because we can't keep running forever. At some point-in-time, we need to stop and regroup ourselves. We need to get a new focus on life. We need to discover where we're making errors and when we need to eliminate those negative-spewing folks who love to rain on our parade, when we're motivated to do something new in our lives. That's when we need to run far away and get in a circle with like-minded folks who believe the way we believe.

Dear heart, not every person who is with you, is for you. Not every person wants to see you live beyond your wildest dreams. Why? It's because God gave you a dream to live your life to the fullest, and your life brings Glory to Him. Not every person wants you to discover the secret things God placed in your heart to find, when you're going through and getting to. You see, once they see you realizing the very thing they're trying to keep you from, they want to make sure you don't look better than them. (Don’t get me wrong—everyone has his or her season. When it’s your time to shine, allow yourself to shine wholeheartedly.) They believe they should always be number one! They believe that everything is all about them and they don't owe anything back in return.

Here's a little secret I want to share with you: People who believe it's all about themselves, finds themselves by themselves. Why? Because they believe they don't need help. They believe they're invincible and they can hurt whomever they please. They believe the more they get, the more they'll be respected.

Here's what I want you to ponder about, but what if a person does achieve everything he or she desires, and the people who entered in his or her life, along the way, recall how unpleasant he or she was to them? Does that sound like a truly successful person to you? No.

This is a severe care of narcissism. This type of person believes he or she will sit on top of the world forever, and he or she is convinced that he or she is exempt from frustrations, tribulations, illnesses, losing finances, and the list goes on and on. If you know anybody like this, you know what you have to do. Run! Run! RUN! Run away from people who want to devour you and want to keep you trapped when God has already appointed your season to flourish the way it's supposed to. Run away from those who have-not, and they don't want you to have because they don't have. Run away from those who always try to outshine you because they believe they are smarter than you, prettier than you, richer than you, or faster than you. Run away from those who don’t want to encourage you and from those who think you're a-nobody. Run away from those who always find negativity in everything.

Just because you're in your pit right now, it doesn't mean you'll always be there forever. There's a season for every situation that comes your way. But know when these pit-seasons arrive, they have a wonderful purpose; they are to refine you, mature you, bless you, and give you a new perspective on things you never knew was there before. And this is where we meet God at the altar.  Now, church folks believe the altar is only within the church. I want to clarify there is a difference between religious person and a true believer. Religious people believe wholeheartedly that it's their religion dignifies them and they actually believe they're “made right” in God's eyes, and they're already positioned in Him. Oh, boy, they're in for a rude-awakening! They believe once a person falls, there is no redemption and the person deserves to be punished for his or her deeds forever, and the person should never be forgiven.

A true believer knows that religion doesn’t save you, but it's a personal relationship with Our Savior who is up in Heaven, sitting on the Right Hand throne of God, to be our Intercessor in our time of need. We also know we make mistakes and others make mistakes as well. We also know that God’s Redemption is available to all who believe and need it. We also know that God makes the impossible, the unexplainable, and the unbearable into possible, explainable (once we’re coming out of our storm or still enduring it.), and bearable.

The altar, beloved, can be also in the privacy of your own home where no one sees what you have to endure. The altar is that secret place only you and God know about. He longs for us to confess the root of our problems. He wants to know everything we're feeling. And God won't take offense, because He understands and knows all! Believe me, whenever I go to God, praying about everything I'm concerned about, I say, "Lord, please forgive me for feeling this way about such-and-such, but this is how I'm feeling at the moment, and I want You to know I'm livid about what happened to me. And it isn't fair at all!" And He pardons my anger. In Ephesians 4:26 (NIV) tells us, "In your anger, do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry." God wants us to release how we feel, as long as we don't proceed with wrongful actions, which causes us to sin and end up in prison or dead somewhere! If anger is not handled properly, it can be misconstrued, and it can control us when we least expect it. And this is why we carry everything to God in prayer. At least, when confess our deepest fears and thoughts; it's safe with Him.

As we go to the Lord, He's allowing us to be ourselves in Him. He's giving us another opportunity in life while we’re in our secret closet (praying to God), when others say it's over for us. With God, it's never over because He's the Author and Finisher of our faith.

And this is what God wants to do with all of us. He wants us to come to the end of ourselves, so He can remove the wrong qualities we're possessing and replace them with His lovely attributes. He wants us to learn from our situation. He wants us to re-examine what went wrong. He wants us to pour our hearts to Him and fight our battles for us. He desires to orchestrate miracles on our behalf in the spiritual realm, while we're going through in the natural realm.

Beloved, it's in our darkest hours is where God reveals His Light to us. He wants us to see our situations in a new light like never before. He wants to equip us for the blessings He has in store for our lives. He longs for us to release our cares to Him because He truly wants His best for us: the gifts He puts inside you and to live your purposed life.

And while we release our concerns to God, this is when He blesses us to come out as pure gold after being tried through the fire. And then, we become wiser, we become less irritated when our blessings are on the waiting list. Remember: Our blessings are delayed—not denied. And when God doesn't answer certain prayers right away, He gently opens our eyes to see it wasn't for our best interest, and then we thank Him for not even permitting some of our requests coming in to fruition. Every thing that looks good to us is not good for us.

So, keep pressing on and don't give up or give in. When God wants to bless you, He's giving you His very best. If we have to wait for a little while, then let it be. There are precious treasures of insight He wants to share with us when we're doomed and trapped in our current situations. He wants us to see clearly about the people we hang with, about ourselves, about our emotions and why we feel this way, about our turmoil, and about our plans.

If you need prayer today about your troubles refusing to move, you're at the right place.

Let's Pray: Lord, I lift my hands to You in complete surrender about everything I'm enduring. I will be honest with You. I don't like where I'm at right now, but Lord, I’m asking you to lead and guide me of where You want me to be. I'm tired of being held back by others who don't want to see me succeed. I'm tired of everything going wrong in my life. My situation is getting the best of me and I'm not ashamed to ask for Your help. Lord, keep my perspective right before You and help me to recognize when You are moving on my behalf, even when it seems like nothing is working out for me. Bless me to trust in You, even when I'm afraid. Please don't let bitterness and anger overtake me. Instead, let me feel Your love. Bless me to walk by Your Mercy and Grace each day. I understand and realize that I don't get it right every time. And I also realize that I need You constantly in my life. Right now, I release my cares to You and even though I'm afraid, I'm asking You, in Jesus' Name, to reassure me that everything will be all right, and You are in control no matter what. I decree it by faith is done, In Jesus' name, Amen.

If you believe in this prayer, and that God is working it out for your good, God will provide a miracle for you. Be patient, if it doesn't come right away. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. He may not come when you want Him, but He'll be there right on time! He's always-on time and that, my friend, you can count on. Know that I love you with the love of Christ. Until next time, be blessed.