WANNA BE FREE FROM PAST STRONGHOLDS? Read this little tale that may serve to encourage you to “drop the "baggage"....
A mother fox gave birth to several pups in a farmer's barn, and then promptly abandoned them. Taking pity on those poor babies, the farmer began to bottle-feed them, and basically raised each one, himself. They were cute, playful and full of life as they began to grow; and he loved them all. The extra work they caused didn’t bother him.
At some point, they began to play with the farmer by grabbing hold of his pant legs, and hanging on with all their might, as he playfully dragged them around the barnyard on their bellies.
While this was cute and a lot of fun, there came a point after a several months where those constantly growing little foxes became harder to drag along. Eventually, the farmer couldn't move at all anymore, because they were simply getting too heavy, rambunctious, and downright rowdy; and - truth be told - they sometimes accidentally drew blood around his ankles with their sharp little teeth. (One of them, the little “Alpha” pup, often seemed to do it on purpose in his attempts to show the farmer “who was the boss”…)
The time came when the game had to end for the well-meaning human "Dad" as the "wild" started to show in the foxes' nature. But, instead of attempting to force them to leave, he kept feeding them and devised other games to play. And yes, even though the farmer ended up getting scratched and bitten on occasion (one of those bites once landed him in the Emergency Room, to get stitches in his right hand), he didn't have the heart to make them leave.
Matter of fact, he didn’t even make them leave when they kept killing his chickens! He thought about “getting rid of them” when they – clearly instigated by the “Alpha fox” – ultimately killed one of his new-born calves out in the pasture one night. It pained him greatly to see the carnage and to hear the mournful bawling of the dead calf’s mother – but, in the end, the farmer decided that those foxes couldn’t help it; they were simply “being the creatures God had created them to be.”
And so, they continued to live together in a strange kind of harmony … the foxes and the kind-hearted farmer, all of whom viewed each other as a “forever family”…
QUESTION: Do YOU have "little foxes" in your "barn" that you are feeding and dragging around to the point where you cannot move anymore? Beware, for they WILL become BIG "foxes" that can eventually harm, or even destroy your life!
Clinging to the “baggage” of your past (bad choices, tough times or situations that caused you severe emotional distress) serves only to weigh you down, to the point where you can no longer move because it has taken over your entire life. As hard as it might be, you can CHOOSE to let it go! Don’t allow it to rule you to the point where you keep making the same bad choices that come back to "bite your ankles!" DROP THE BAGGAGE! Kick it to the curb, while there’s still time ... before you become too “attached,” and you still have your sanity.
REMEMBER: The Holy One of Israel cannot use someone who is bogged down by “baggage,” because "baggage" has a way of forcing itself in between you and Him. Pray and ask God today to help you recognize what’s keeping you from having a true, unencumbered relationship with Him, and then free yourself from whatever has been holding you hostage! (And if Satan attempts to bring it back - which he definitely tries to do, every chance he gets - quote Scripture passages to him, just as Yeshua did when "tempted" in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)...
Psalm 23: 1Adonai is my shepherd; I lack nothing. 2 He has me lie down in grassy pastures, he leads me by quiet water, 3 he restores my inner person. He guides me in right paths for the sake of his own name. 4 Even if I pass through death-dark ravines, I will fear no disaster; for you are with me; your rod and staff reassure me. 5 You prepare a table for me, even as my enemies watch; you anoint my head with oil from an overflowing cup. 6 Goodness and grace will pursue me every day of my life; and I will live in the house of Adonai for years and years to come. (CJB)
