The Process of Baggage, Onions and Shoes

When my mom was a little girl in Texas it was a normal practice to push kids into the creek to teach them how to swim.  It was believed that the shock experience would ignite the natural ability to swim.  While many many people in her generation validated that theory, she was one of those that proved it incorrect and was traumatized by large bodies of water.

Some of us were pushed in the pool yesterday on the Victory Call[1] and you may feel like you’re drowning, because the baggage or layers that you have been carrying around for YEARS and/or DECADES “seem to” have kept you afloat but they didn’t.  You functioned as a broken, dysfunctional and uncomfortable person, sometimes wounding others because you “were” wounded. 

Your “new normal” seems a little uncomfortable (like a new pair of shoes), it’s a distraction, don’t get

lured back to the state of bondage (baggage).  You are not drowning, you are not suffocating, you were liberated and it simply feels different because:

·       You don’t have the baggage;

·       You peeled back some layers;

·       Your heart is being circumcised causing nakedness, vulnerability, a level of discomfort that is a normal part of the process;

As uncomfortable as it may “feel”, it is absolutely necessary in order for you to be: 1) a living testimony as you share with others through your words or with your lifestyle and 2) it is essential for the Journey so that you can move to a new “glory”;

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.  2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)

That is one of the reasons you have been in the same place, because you were trying to take that stuff with you on your journey and you cannot – take several seats please ma’am, please sir.

You felt liberated in the moment when we were on the Victory Call or in the Victory Room but the release for some is a perceived challenge because you have nurtured grief, shame, blame, confusion, hurt, anger, etc. for so long the new normal space is uncomfortable.

In closing, to say the circumcision process is painful is an understatement, I am sure.  Though it is an option today it is widely accepted and promoted in the western culture but in the Old Testament it was pertinent for the men of the Jewish nation.  It was an outward sign that they were God’s chosen people in covenant with him.  Today, our circumcised hearts represent the same thing but from a spiritual standpoint – we are a chosen generation, royal priesthood called by God, if and only if we serve him with our WHOLE heart, mind soul and body.  John 4:23-24 says: But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.  You absolutely cannot fake with God, it is impossible!  Truth comes from the heart, thus the heart must be circumcised of the old stuff that weighs us down, prevents us from growing and living in our purpose.  What stuff are you holding onto? Aren’t you tired?  Let it go, it may feel a little odd for a minute, but you will get used to your new normal.  

   

Circumcise:  to remove the prepuce of (a male); to remove the clitoris, prepuce, or labia of (a female); to purify spiritually. 

Deuteronomy 10:16 (ESV):  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

·       NLT; Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.

Deuteronomy 30:6 (KJV):  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

·       NLT: The LORD your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

Jeremiah 4:4 (KJV):  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

·       NLT:  The LORD your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

Be committed to your commitment no matter how it feels, what it looks like or what people say.

In His Humble Excellence

Tania

---

[1] The Victory Call is a nondenominational prayer call that takes place every day, seven days a week at 6:00 am PDT