God has something for you here. There’s something he’s doing. Something he’s aligned just for you. However, if you don’t have room to receive what God has for you, he cannot give it to you. You cannot embrace new things if you hoard old things.
I’m talking about old things like:
• The settling you have done in the past that has caused you to be stuck today.
• The guilt and shame you feel for what you’ve done or what was done to you.
• The regret that replays in your mind.
• All that heartache.
• Those triggers of feeling invisible, left out and not included.
• Those trust issues.
• Worry and fear.
• The resentment you carry because deep down you feel unloved.
• The anger that rages within you because it hasn’t been fair.
• The loneliness. The depression. The anxiety.
• The pure exhaustion from the journey.
• The brokenness.
• The desires you feel that have been twisted and confused.
• Frustration over the long long wait and questioning when and how it will ever change.
These are the old things. Old things which have been brought into your day and they’re taking up space. GOD WANTS HIS SPACE!
We often question how to hear clearly from God. How do we get to this place of knowing what God is prompting us to do and where is he leading. I’ve petitioned God on your behalf, my sister, and I’ve asked him how you can hear from him and how you can heal from these old things and his answer to me was this:
GIVE ME THAT SPACE.
But how exactly do you do that since God doesn’t seem to physically show up and sit down at the table or move into the spare bedroom? How do you give God the space of your depression? How do you give him the space of your fear? How do you give him the space of your regret, your shame, your questioning?
First, you must understand, everything takes up space in your life. There is no free rent in your mind, in your heart, or in your soul. It’s costing you something and it’s crowding out something else. God simply wants to crowd out the things that are not serving you and with this him in that space, draw you into the life he came to give you.
It’s really that simple. God is trying to crowd out that stuck feeling and replace it with his divine guidance for your next steps. He’s trying to crowd out the justified anger and resentment you carry and replace it with his unspeakable peace and joy. But honey, if you won’t trade what you have for what he’s offering, you can’t receive it. There’s not space.
Let me tell you, I’m a girl who loves clothes. I’m currently on a total kick of loving everything bright, happy, floral and flowing. The brand Natural Life and their big ol’ rompers and sundresses are pure happiness to put on. But, I have a problem. I am homeless by choice. My husband and I travel full time and live a drastically simplified lifestyle. Every piece of clothing, including shoes, must fit in 2 suitcases. TWO y’all.
Have you heard my story about the year of 2010 when God revealed to me my cluttered and overwhelmingly materialistic life was cheating me out of the future I most desired? I had built the huge dream house in Texas, and I had filled it with the prettiest things. I had a binder of clippings I had collected for years of the dream furniture, and piece by piece, I had gotten it. All of it.
And my massive closet was filled to overflowing. This overflow of stuff made me feel overwhelmed each day. And although I had it all, I felt incredibly unsatisfied with it all. So, one day, I took an inventory of the clothing items in my closet. I stopped counting at 508. Next, I did something drastic. I choose 10 clothing items, moved them to my linen closet, and locked the door on my big closet for one month.
For the next month, I wore the same 10 things. Not 10 outfits, 10 pieces. This simple challenge changed me and I’ve never gone back. I learned how to make space for what God had for me, and yes, I learned in my closet.
God will meet you in the middle of whatever your overwhelm is, and he will ask you to make space for him, and if you do, everything will change.
Here’s my rule of keeping space:
- If I want something new, I must get rid of something old.
- When something is no longer working for me, I immediately fit it or toss it. I never have anything in my suitcase that doesn’t serve me. I simply don’t have room for that.
Now, God is asking you to do this in your life! Not necessarily with your closet, but with your heart, with your mind, and with your soul. If you want to hear from him, if you want to be guided by him, if you want to receive his healing in your life, you must get rid of something old.
What’s old is all this crap you’ve been piling up inside that isn’t working for you. Anger, guilt, shame, worry, fear, resentment, regret, questioning … none of that is serving you and it’s taking up precious space in your life. GOD WANTS THAT SPACE.
You’ve been trying to hear from God, but your life is so cluttered with all that old stuff, there’s no space for his voice and his prompting. Offer the space the old stuff has been taking up in your life to God.
God, I’m releasing my regret and I’m offering the space it once filled in my life to you.
God, I’m evicting this fear and I’m offering the space it’s been taking in my life to you.
I’m making space for you.
God has always asked for space so he can give his people what he has for them. No space, no breakthrough. No space, no healing. No space, no change. No space, no progress. No space, and we stay stuck where we have been wandering.
In the Old Testament, God’s people had been wandering in the desert for 40 years. Moses had courageously and supernaturally led them out of captivity in Egypt, and they were on an 11 day journey to the land God had promised them. But they got stuck along the way. They began questioning, and complaining, and dwelling on how unfair their journey was. They grew angry, resentful, bitter, overwhelmed, anxious and discouraged. These things crowded out the offerings of God. There was simply no space for God to lead them when they were holding on to all these old things.
11 days turned into FORTY YEARS. After 40 years of wandering and being stuck, God empowered Joshua to speak to the people. Enough of this wandering. Enough of this being stuck. GOD WANTED SPACE!
Joshua 7: 12-13 MSG, “I can’t continue with you if you don’t rid yourselves of the cursed things. So get started. Purify the people. Tell them: Get ready for tomorrow by purifying yourselves. For this is what God says: There are cursed things in the camp. You won’t be able to face your enemies until you have gotten rid of these cursed things.”
My sister, your regret, your shame, your fear, your resentment, your anger, your doubt, your coping mechanisms, your unforgiveness of others and yourself have become cursed things in your life. God is clearly telling you these things are cursing your life and he can’t move you forward with them. GET RID OF THEM AND GIVE GOD THAT SPACE.
If you don’t have room to receive what God has for you, he cannot give it to you. You cannot embrace new things if you hoard old things.
Releasing these things may be a daily choice. Heck, it may be a moment by moment choice in the beginning. Clear your closet. Make the space. Receive God’s best for you. You can’t receive his best if you’re holding on to what has become a curse.
Hear God now as he speaks to clearly and directly: GET READY FOR TOMORROW BY PURIFYING YOURSELF. THERE ARE CURSED THINGS TAKING MY SPACE AND I WANT IT NOW.
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