Unpack That Suitcase

Hebrews 5:7-9 “While Jesus was here on earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to The One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God. 8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. 9 In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.” ~NLT

It is that time of year again. That time of year we say, “Next year is my year! I’m claiming my year!” But when the year comes around, it feels like the same old year. We go through the new years thinking things do not change. Well, there is good news: your blessing IS there and available, as it has been in the years before. There is no question that what God has for you is ONLY for you.

Thing is, God will not allow us to have His special 'resurrection power' gift when we are not ready. You see we keep going into the new year with ‘old’ stuff. And if we are filled with old ways, old worldly feelings of selfishness and unforgiveness, we have no room within ourselves to receive the ‘new’ God has for us. Before we walk through that door to the new year, we must leave many traits, feelings, routines and ways behind. Don’t leave them in your spiritual ‘suitcase’. 

Unpack that suitcase, leave it unzipped and open. Walk through that door to the new year with your soul empty and ready to receive what God has planned for your life. Take those beautiful ‘new’ gifts God has for you, put them into your spiritual suitcase and never let them go! These new tools will help you endure what you have been going through in the previous years. They will help you be able to see that you are not where you are forever! 

The text says that, "...Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered." With these new tools God is going to 'gift' to our empty spiritual suitcases, will allow us to endure while we learn obedience from the things 'we' suffer, like Christ did.

And after you have let these ‘new’ gifts work for you in the coming year, you will realize your new spiritual maturity. It is in that maturity where God will bless you with the ‘resurrection type’ power of blessings that will move you out of your current situation into the abundance of life Jesus talked about in John 10:10! Just as God '...qualified..." His son, we will also be qualified in what He has called us to do!

So, let us prepare to empty our spiritual suitcases, and walk empty and bold into the next year. Because God is ready to bless us in what we need to heal and make us strong. So that we may be able to spiritually repair the damage in our own little part of the world. Happy New Year, and may God continue to bless you as you walk in Jesus’ name.

Amen

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