Travel Light
22 August 2009
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“Tomorrow is a new day,” is a common expression. It is not a new day to its full extent if we carry yesterday’s burdens into tomorrow. How do we put those away?
I’ve been speaking about money in this current series. Most believers think that they have given all they have to God. At least all believers know that they should give everything to God. I have seen with money an odd thing that our enemy uses to attack us all.
Burdens can be a subtle thing. Learning double entry bookkeeping is something I have never mastered. However, I do understand that the total of your assets is a balance sheets having assets on one side and liabilities on the other. They are supposed to equal zero when we add the positive and negative together.There’s almost an assumption among Christians that if we have burdensome debt we were stupid and have to pay it off. That is true. There is a transcendent truth that is higher. If we give our assets to the Lord but retain our liabilities to self, have we given it all to the Lord? There is a clear answer.
People who ever see this truth have gotten true healing in the heart. Why? Because they cast their burdens upon the Lord, and they understood what the burden was. In most cases the burden wasn’t the money, it was the fear and shame connected with money. This is probably true for any burden in some fashion. Ask God.
It works like this: in the Wisdom literature the Bible teaches that we should save and invest, not become indebted and be wise. That is all true as I said. I spent years of my life teaching these principles to hundreds of my clients. It works. Yet this is not the pure experience of everyone in their lives. Most of us get into debt at some point. If all went smoothly in our lives, and we made no mistakes, we would not be human by divine. There is a transcendent relational truth that supersedes the wisdom we “should have” lived. God covers our errors. They are factored into the relationship. He is our FATHER. Jesus said he wanted us to move from being His servant to being the friends of God. (John 15.)
Then, we take this burden on because we were stupid (at least in our minds we are, and we beat ourselves up.) Because of that we think that our liabilities belong to us; but our assets belong to God. Because of this crazy thinking, we are still carrying a burden and think we gave it to God.
“Casting all your care upon him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 NKJV
“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22 NKJV
We could get in our mind that we have mastered the passages above when we make this mistake. God gave me a key to breakthrough in this area several years ago. It is the truth in Psalm 34, many truths. But here is one:
I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from ALL my fears. Psalm 34:4
This includes the fear of bankruptcy, the fear of hunger, the fear of poverty and all other fears. This Psalm is revolutionary. It speaks of being delivered from fear. But it speaks of the removal of shame. These two things are connected and pervasive among Christians. We are afraid of being shamed (by self and others, especially by the Body of Christ,) and we are ashamed because we are fearful! It is a negative feedback loop.
So cast whatever burden you have upon the Lord; let God reveal to you what the burden REALLY is: fear, shame, helplessness, hopelessness, grief or just pain. These things are the glue, the bond to our surface burdens like health or money. Our pride is a burden too. So cast pride to God, too. Some of us are so proud of our money, when we lose it and get in to the debt debt, we transfer our pride to the debt. “I’m going to pay this off someday if it kills me. I’m good for my word.” That is a burden we can give to God, too. We can even cast the burden of our word upon God. He is good for His word.
When God chased you down and started a relationship with you, all of your mistakes in the future and in the past were factored into that relationship. He already knew you were going to stumble. This is how God gives us our story to tell of His greatness and His power-of His everlasting love. If you think you were reckless and got into health problems by it, the same truths apply. In anything this is true. God can correct. He is a God or restoration and healing. The entire literature of the Bible screams this out softly.
If you have a burden right now, give it the Lord right now. I’m praying that as you read this you will do it now. You may be saying you don’t know how. You may be saying I have done this before, and it works for others but not for me. That is not true if you’re still carrying the burden and if God is God.
Ask Him to take it and I am praying right now as you do, that God will speak to you in a way that convinces you that it is gone. His ways of communicating to people are so varied I cannot tell you how that will work for you. Yet, wait until something is done to let you know it is released and taken. He is not tricky. He does not say, “Cast you cares…” and then not let you do it. He will confirm it. Does it still feel it is there is the real test. If not, ask until you know it is effective in your heart as God intends.
You might just feel better. God might give you a picture of something very encouraging and peaceful. You might feel a spiritual or angelic presence in the room. A thought might come to your mind and you can hear it so softly you might think it’s just your own thoughts. If the burden is gone in that thought it is the Holy Spirit. He will demonstrate to you that you have effectively cast your burden and He has it now. As long as you own it, you have to deal with it. The weight will slow you down and eventually overwhelm you. Give it up.
I have found God to be much better than me at dealing with money, especially in the paying off of debts! I have not found a burden yet that God would not take. Read the passages of Scripture above. They are true truth. Share you story with people after He takes it and resolves it. That will bond this peace and joy into yourself like glue, too.
(editor note: please forgive the imbalanced paragraph breaks and such details. Software problems! The message is there, so thanks for not noticing too much.)
Hi Bob, This is a profound message that certainly speaks to me personally. I am going to do just as you say. Thank you for sharing these words of life. Your wisdom is profound. Blessings, Randy
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