One thing I have discovered is that we can’t drag the baggage of the old season into the new. Often we can’t let go and move forward and we end up so consumed with the baggage of the past while trying to accommodate it in our future. We need to start with a clean slate – if you are given a clean slate, you can start something again.
Recently I stayed at a property that had a large London Plain Tree at the one end. On one of the branches a parasite had taken over and this large parasite had taken root on this branch and the branch was laboring under the weight of this foreign, invasive plant and the very life seemed to be drained out of this majestic tree. One evening as we were walking around, we heard a strange sound. It sounded like an acorn falling on a tin roof. My daughter and I stopped and we wondered what it was, but it was silent again, so we strolled on further. We heard the sound again, and again we wondered what it could be as there was no wind and everything was still. As we walked further, suddenly this branch, with the large parasite, came crashing down from the tree. The noise we had heard was the branch breaking and the whole branch came away and the parasite was removed in one moment. Fortunately we were a safe distance away, but as this happened it was as if the Lord spoke to me and said that He wants to cause those things that have taken root, those things that have sapped the life out of us, to fall off us. Today, let it be a day when you let those things that are holding you back drop off of you. Let your Heavenly Father come and let Him remove the burdens and the baggage. Let Him come now and remove the weight of the burdens, the weaknesses, the life-sapping foreign invasions in your life. Let us walk free, unhindered and untethered into the freedom He has for us.

MAKE A DECISION TO ENGAGE
This is not a time to disengage. It is time to make a decision to engage. I was recently standing in the waves on the beach, enjoying the cool refreshing water, when I noticed a helicopter flying down the beach, just above the surf in my direction. I stopped and stood in the waves watching and imagining what it would be like to fly low-level over the beach. As it approached I could see into the cockpit and I could clearly see the pilots looking down at me. Then, the one pilot raised his hand and waved at me. Instantaneously I waved back as we acknowledged each other and they passed over my head. I thought to myself, the people on the beach must think I am crazy, a grown man waving at a helicopter? But I did not care, because even through this God was speaking to me. God wants us to engage with Him. There is an old song with the following words: Reach out and touch the Lord as He passes by. You’ll find He’s not too busy to hear your heart’s cry. He is passing by this moment, your needs to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord as He passes by! Sometimes we are so worried about what others will say. Perhaps some will say that we are fanatics. But don’t let that influence you. It is time to engage with God. It is time to engage with the work of the Lord. It is time to engage with His chosen vehicle, the church. It’s time to get involved. It’s time to get committed. It’s time to start making a difference and doing something different. Like the gears in an engine that come together and interlink or interlock and produce results, it is time for you and me to engage and interlock our lives with God, His people and His church.

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