Do You Want Me To Carry That For You?

I was walking back from the beach and there was a little boy about 3 years old carrying a yellow plastic case by its handle. The case was apparently a little heavy for him as he waddled like a little penguin and leaned to the right to offset the weight of the heavy case on his left.

His mom saw this and asked him "Do you want me to carry that for you?"

The boy immediately replied "No!"
He seemed very determined to carry the case on his own. His mom watched him waddle for a few more steps and asked again, "Do you want me to carry that for you?"
And again he replied "No!" and held on tightly to his case and continued to waddle onward.

It was cute because he wasn't doing anything dangerous or life threatening.
We are like this little child.
We want to do things ourselves,
We want to carry the big thing and be a "big boy".

However, God wants us to LET Him be our God.
He wants us snuggle up to Him,
He wants to hold us close,
To be our secret hiding place, our refuge,
And to say YES when He asks,
"Do you want Me to carry that for you?"

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."



When you have financial stress and you're feeling crushed,
When the dollars coming in doesn't match the dollars going out,
When the expenses blow up this month,
When the income shrinks like a dried up raisin,
And God asks "Do you want Me to carry that for you?",
Just say YES.

When your relationship with a spouse or child is on the rocks,
When nothing good is coming out of your heart,
When you want to give up,
When you think it's better to make it all go away,
And God asks "Do you want Me to carry that for you?",
Just say YES.

When your health is turbulent,
When your body is not responding the way it should,
When you're failing to sleep,
When you're tired of being tired,
And God asks "Do you want Me to carry that for you?",
Just say YES.

Don't be like the 3 year old boy saying,
"No, I want to carry this" and keep struggling and wobbling,
Don't wait until you get exhausted and desperate,
Don't wait until you've destroyed health and relationships,
To say YES,
When God asks "Do you want Me to carry that for you?".

"There is a way which seems right to a person, But its end is the way of death."

God is waiting for us to finally surrender ALL things to Him,
He wants you to sit back and enjoy the show,
He's going to take care of everything for you.
All you have to do is LISTEN and OBEY.

"The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."

When you LET God be God,
He will take the thousand pound gorilla off your shoulders,
You will feel so much LIGHTER,
You will have so much more JOY,
You will be SMILING without reason for the first time in a long time,
And you'll say "Why didn't I do this sooner?" ^_^

"For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

But us humans do the silliest things.
When we regain the slightest bit of strength,
We say "Lord, I'll carry this bag now. You can give it back to me."

God says "No, no. I'll carry it. Look at your tattered hands and your worn feet. You need to rest."

"But, but..."

"No buts... just REST."

We rest for a short period then say,
"Lord, how about THAT bag? I think I left something in there, I need..."

"No, no. You have everything you need. Let it go. I'll handle it."

"Yes Lord, You're right."

Another short time passes and we poke at it again...

"Lord, that bag over there is really small. Can I..."

"No, no. It's heavier than you think. Just rest, child. Go to sleep."

"Yes, Lord. But... I'm... not... Zzzzz...."

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you"

We keep wanting to DO things,
We keep wanting to HOLD onto things,
But we need to just STOP,
We just need to LET GO and Sssshhh.

"Be STILL, and know that I am God"

EVERY day we need to say YES,
When God asks "Do you want Me to carry that for you?".

What does that look like in real life?

Did you know that there is ONE thing that will start changing everything?

ALONE, QUIET time with God. DAILY.

That's more important than charging your phone every night.
It's like charging your SOUL every morning.

"He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the STILL waters... He restores my SOUL"

Alone time with God is a RESTORATION time,
It's a time for CALMING and HEALING,
It's also PROTECTION against worry and anxiety,
A SHIELD against stress and fear,
It's putting on your ARMOR for the day.
It allows you to say YES when God asks "Do you want Me to carry that for you?".

You're in a spiritual BATTLE,
And the primary battlefield is your MIND.
You must check the doors and locks of your HEART daily.
You must bolt the doors and replenish your battle gear.

Let me super CLEAR on this...
You will NOT win the Spiritual BATTLE for the day without connecting with God.
He is the KEY.
He is like oxygen,
A non-negotiable,
Necessary for living in VICTORY.

Did you know that Christians were first called "Jesus FOLLOWERS"?
By definition, that means you need to FOLLOW Jesus. ^_^
It starts with your PERSONAL QUIET time with Jesus.
To SEEK Him and ASK Him where He wants you,
To FOLLOW His lead in all decisions in life, big or small.
To say YES when He asks "Do you want Me to carry that for you?".

Satan is doing all he can to prevent this,
There's a HUGE spiritual battle around this.
It's the battle for your MIND-space,
Because EVERYTHING starts in the MIND.
Wake up and see how critically IMPORTANT this QUIET, ALONE time is.

If you're not CONNECTED to God,
You're a sitting duck in the middle of battle.
If you're not SEEKING God,
You're a rogue soldier with nothing but good intentions and a loose cannon messing up battle plans.
You're of NEGATIVE value if you're not SEEKING God for battle plans.

The good news is that SEEKING God is simple.
Start with 5 minutes a day.
5 minutes is INFINITELY better than zero. ^_^

Steps to Starting QUIET time with Jesus:

Step 1) Set an ALARM for your God time. Treat it like your most important client appointment. Pick a time when you can be UN-distracted.
Better yet, close your eyes and ask "Holy Spirit, When should I spend time with You?" Pause and wait. Sit in the silence. A time will come to mind. If it seems right, feels right, then try it for 1 week. Think of it as a 1 week experiment with God.

Step 2) Put the phone in AIRPLANE MODE and start a 5 minute timer.

Step 3) Keep it SIMPLE. Start with a quick prayer "Come Holy Spirit, come. Let's hang out. In Jesus name, Amen."

• Option 1: You can just say "Hello Jesus." and just close your eyes, relax, breathe deeply and enjoy the silence with Him.
  
• Option 2: You can READ the Bible. If you don't know what to read, 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 is ALWAYS a good idea. If you just read that daily it will do miracles. After reading it, ask "Holy Spirit, what do you want to say about this today?" and close your eyes, WAIT and LISTEN until a thought surfaces and write it down.
  
• Options 3: You can listen to MUSIC and worship. Ask "Holy Spirit, what song do you want to listen to?" Close your eyes, WAIT and LISTEN until a song pops into your head. Play it. Imagine Holy Spirit being right there with you and you're listening it together. Enjoy!