Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…Philippians 3:13
I love keeping documents for a long time, let me elaborate, I have my Polio certificate. All the Report forms from my Primary school are intact, if that is not enough, even the Letters we used to get from School to buy books or call Parents for an Academic day, for over 20years all are intact in a file somewhere, nimegusa mtu roho?
Lets be real, aren’t we not like that, keeping and guarding stuff close to our hearts so closely? things that happened long ago, miaka za twende turudi, bado you have them so alive in your heart.
Talking of which, some other scripture comes to mind; Hebrews 12:1 “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us…” This is one of the clearest pictures of spiritual decluttering in Scripture. The writer tells us to lay aside every weight. In other words, there are things we cannot continue carrying if we want to move forward with God.
Notice that Scripture separates “every weight” from “the sin.” That means not everything we need to remove is necessarily sinful. Some things are simply old things. Old habits. Old ways of thinking. Old disappointments. Old relationships. Old fears. Old identities. Old attachments. Old patterns that belonged to a previous season but have followed us into a new one.
There comes a time when we have to look at our lives and ask, “Does this still belong in the person God is making me?”
We cannot keep bringing everything from the old season into the new season. There are things God wants us to leave behind, not because they were always bad, but because they are no longer necessary for where He is taking us.
Sometimes God is saying, “Let it go.”
We cannot run effectively while carrying everything from yesterday. We cannot embrace everything God has ahead of us while our hands are still full of what He is asking us to release. There are things we need to put down, things we need to forgive, things we need to stop revisiting, and things we need to stop giving our energy to.
Philippians 3:13 says, “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”
Decluttering is not always about losing something. Sometimes it is about making room. God may remove something because He is preparing space for something greater. John 15:2 tells us that the Father prunes the fruitful branch so that it may bring forth more fruit. Pruning can feel uncomfortable, but the purpose is greater fruit.
So perhaps this is the season to ask God, “Lord, what needs to go?”
Psalm 139:23–24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart… and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David is asking God to look deeper than what can be seen on the outside and reveal what has quietly taken up space within him. Sometimes we become so used to carrying certain things that we no longer realize how heavy they have become.
Sometimes the greatest breakthrough is not God giving us something new. Sometimes it is God helping us finally release what we have been carrying for too long.
There are things we have held onto because they are familiar, even though they are no longer useful. There are hurts we keep revisiting, fears we keep feeding, memories we keep living in, and habits we keep excusing. God may be saying, “You cannot take everything with you into where I am taking you.”
Allow the Lord to search your heart. Remove the bitterness. Remove the fear. Remove the unnecessary distractions. Remove the relationships that are pulling me away from You. Remove the habits that are keeping me stuck. Remove the weight of yesterday. Remove anything that is occupying space that belongs to You.
In other words, what we are trying to say is; Declutter your heart. Declutter your mind. Declutter your life. Lay aside every weight. Make room for God.
Sometimes God wants to fill a space that we are still occupying with something from the old season. Before He brings the new, He may ask us to release the old. Before He fills our hands, He may ask us to open them. Before He leads us forward, He may ask us to put down what has been keeping us looking backward.
What God is bringing into your next season may require space, and sometimes before He fills the space, He asks us to clear it.
Are you ready to – DECLUTTER!!
please do so, Unangojea what??
