Wed.’s Devo - Deliverance is Coming

Read: Isaiah 66”1-24; Philippians 3:4b-21; Psalm 74:1-23; Proverbs 24:15-16
God gave Isaiah the image of childbirth to show him what He was going to do in Israel. Their deliverance was going to come so fast that there would be no labor pains, just the joy of new birth. They had been pregnant and heavy for a long time but suddenly God was going to turn everything around.
I have noticed that he has done the same kind of thing in my life. His deliverance was always coming on that day, but it took me by surprise when it happened and it was so swift that the memory of the yuck before it was almost surreal. That is why God tells us over and over in his Word to remember what God has done in the past and remember the wilderness and the hard times too. Both are our teachers.
Paul packs a lot into his letter to the Galatians. He begins by giving them all of his earthly credentials and then tells them that they amount to nothing compared to God’s kingdom and his salvation in Christ. His desire was to be like Jesus but in order to do that he had to understand what Jesus went through in death and what he experienced in the resurrection. They are opposites. In Christ’s death he laid it all down; in his resurrection he gained it all. The dying must come first to receive the power to rise again.
This is true in life. We die to our desires and dreams so God can resurrect our dream as he planned it.
I woke up thinking about this concept. When a ship is going through a storm, the first thing they throw overboard is the baggage. We are constantly riding the storms of life and we need to get rid of our baggage to lighten our load so we won’t sink. That baggage could be resentment, pain, fear of the future, regrets of the past, unforgiveness toward God, ourselves, and other people, disappointments… fill in the blank. The truth is that we need to be a citizen of heaven here on earth and I’m pretty sure we are not going to be able to take any of that baggage to heaven, so we need to get rid of it, now. It sounds hard but it is very simple. It’s just a prayer to give it all to Jesus. He knows just what to do with it.
Lord, help us to empty our lives of baggage that we have held on to. Remind us of things that we have stuffed in our hearts and let us be free and light so that we can freely love and let your presence into our hearts, and others into our boat.