© Ayo Omolayo
“So today being the 3rd day of the program, we would be looking at the remaining two. Yesterday, we looked at the things that stops spiritual growth and we mentioned 3. We looked at compromise and the ways through which it stops spiritual growth.
Today, we would be looking at WEIGHTS. What exactly are weights? Before I give a definition, I need to establish the fact that weights are not actually sinful actions we do in our day to day lives. So if that is what you’re thinking, remove it far from your mind today. Weights are the things you do from day to day which makes you too heavy in your spiritual journey and slows you down. Weights do not stop you from praying, but they stop you from having prayer points. Weights do not stop you from reading your Bible, but they make you want to rush it and run off.
Weights do not stop you from observing your quiet time, but they make you doze off while observing it. They don’t stop you from fasting, but they make you keep checking the time to know when your fasting period would be over.
You need to understand that weights slow us down. Now how many of us can run 200 meters race with a bag of rice on our shoulders? I guess that explains why a lot of Christians are nothing but spiritual babes. When everyone has taken off. Climbed into heights and deeper dimensions, they are still behind. Way behind! They’re still dragging that thing that is so precious to them. That thing that they find do difficult to do away with. That thing that looks so harmless and is not a sin, but distracts them when they pray.
They are still lagging behind, dragging that idol in their heart. That thing that has the ability to make them even cancel their appointment with God. They can schedule to meet with God by 8pm and that 8pm happens to clash with Chelsea versus Manchester city. That’s it! Lord, I’ll see you after the match! This is a very important match I cannot afford to miss. And the best part is that after the match, they will be true to their word. They would come back to pray, but it’s a kind of hurry up prayers. They are more interested in rounding up than praying the prayers.
Some don’t even border coming back. They just climb their bed and doze off for the night. These are the little secrets that the Devil uses to slow us down without our knowledge. That’s why Apostle Paul said that we should not be ignorant of the devices of the Devil. Satan has so many devices and weapons and we are to guard ourselves against them.
Please give me Hebrews 12:1″, I said and immediately, it appeared on the screen.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Now, Apostle Paul tells us to do what? Lay aside every weight. Lay them aside. Take off that bag of rice from off your shoulders. Take off that weight and run this race the way you ought to run it.
Yours may be friends. Friends that always show up at your door steps whenever it’s your hour of prayers. Friends that have no passion for God or the things of God. Friends that don’t want to pray with you. They don’t love prayers. All they have for you is gossips and gist. Gist that add no value to your life.
Yours may be movies. You keep watching and watching and you’re trilled by the talent of the actors or the creative imagination of the script writer. You just can’t get off that chair or turn it off to pray. One more episode and I’ll turn it off. Soon, you want more and more and more. You won’t know when your desire to pray will keep diminishing. By the time you are done with the movie and kneel down to pray, you’re extremely tired. You just cannot do the prayers the way you should do it.
You just mumble the words and are more eager to see yourself taking a nap than enjoying the presence of God. Let me tell you one thing about weights that you don’t know. Weights are passion killers. What did I say?”
“Weights are passion killers”, the church chorused.
“If you have passion for God, you better do away with all those idols in your life, because they will make sure anything passion for God in your life dies.
Now the question is HOW DO WE LAY ASIDE OUR WEIGHTS?
That should be the question on your minds right now. Yes! Weights are to be laid aside. Now understand what the Apostle Paul said, lay aside. He didn’t actually say these things are not important to you. Sometimes these things that are weights to us are very important to us. But the word lay aside is a spiritual statement.
To lay aside means to bring under subjection. There are some things that are so important to us that we still need them in our lives. Like sleeping, eating, sometimes social media, based on the spiritual benefits we derive from it.
But just as Apostle Paul taught us, we are to lay aside so we can run when it’s time to run. Understand what we are saying. Laying aside is a statement of controlling. Remember what I said earlier. Weights are not sin, but they have the ability the slow you down on one condition, if you do not learn how to lay them aside.
Is football match wrong? No! But if you cancel attending an alnight in order to watch a match, then it becomes an evil thing. Is eating a sin? No! But if you cancel your fasting program because of your eating appetite, then it becomes evil. The fasting was supposed to give you a spiritual boost. But the weight or should I say idol of food, slowed you down and stopped you from moving at such great spiritual pace.
I don’t know if I’m confusing anyone this evening?”
“No ma!” The congregation chorused.
“There are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit and each one of them are unique. But the last fruit is what I want to call your attention to here. It’s the fruit of the spirit called self control. That’s exactly what we need in order to handle these idols and weights. Weights are just the same thing when Jesus said that no man can serve two masters. That’s exactly what Jesus was teaching everyone of us.
We must lay aside that phone when it’s time for prayers. We must lay aside that food, when it’s time for fasting. We must lay aside that mattress, when it’s time for prayers in the night. So it’s not necessarily no more sleeping, no more television, no more social media, but laying it aside when it’s time to be with God.
It’s the key word Apostle Paul is bringing here. But if you can go the extreme mile and say no more to certain things in your life due to the lack of control you have for them, you’re still not wrong in doing so. But when you finally get a control over yourself as you grow spiritually. Don’t see it as backsliding when you are picking it up and using it again. A man on fire for Jesus uses whatsoever he lays his hand upon for the glory of God.
So that social media that once controlled you and ate up your time with God, is now under your control. You pick it up and use it to hunt souls for God. That’s how the weights or should I say idols become your servants. The bible says ye are gods. So if you are truly gods, creation, both man made and God made are supposed to serve you, not you becoming a slave to your phone.
Food is supposed to serve you not you serving food, or should I say your belly. Sleep is supposed to serve you, not sleep grabbing you like a master whenever it feels like. Whether you want to sleep or not, it forces you to sleep whenever it wants. No!
But only the person who has spiritually developed himself that can fully manifest the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Because as you grow, these fruits start manifesting in your life. People start getting to see the newness of life you carry. Because the baby Jesus inside of you, is gradually turning into an adult.
So when you first received the new life in Christ, don’t forget that the life you have received must grow. Yes it must! That’s the reason why the scripture says in John 15:8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
God is serious about your spiritual growth. He wants to see the fruits germinating. The fruits of the Holy Spirit or should I say, the character of Jesus. That’s what the fruits of the spirit are. The character of Jesus! The behaviour of Jesus. How Jesus behaves when he is provoked. How Jesus behaves when he is insulted by men in his place of work. How Jesus behaves when a seductive lady makes advances towards him. How Jesus behaves when someone oppresses him and disgraces him publicly.
That’s what germinates in you. The more you grow, the more you begin to see yourself loving people so easily. The more you grow the more you begin to notice how kind you are. The more you grow, the more you notice you are always happy. That’s the fruit of the spirit called joy. No matter what happens, a smile never disappears from your face. You are always smiling no matter the circumstances. You see smiling as a normal thing. Happiness as a feeling that you cannot explain. Why are you excited? I don’t know why, but I just noticed I’m super excited these days.
As you grow, you start noticing you can endure hard stuffs. Pain doesn’t frighten you anymore. Long-suffering or should I say endurance. It’s a fruit of the Holy Spirit, one of the character of Jesus. No matter happens, you can bear and smile have that cool smile and joy in your heart. Nothing like pain, can take you out of the mood. Pain cannot stop you.
As you grow, soon you discover you have this inner peace within you that is beyond human comprehension. There’s chaos out there. Everyone is fidgeting and screaming in terror. But there you are, calm, peaceful, quiet, not a single iota of fear tormenting you.
With time, you start seeing you are a completely different person. That’s the great change that happens with being born again. That’s the great change that follows a believer who allows the baby Jesus in him to grow. That’s the experience of the newness of life in Christ.
But we must understand that all these would not be possible if we do not lay aside every weight or idols in our lives. What is that thing you love so much that is competing with God in your life. That thing that has the ability to shut down your prayer life and make you skip your appointment with God. That thing that has grown so much that it can make you miss bible study and you will deliberately watch it eat down the time you’re supposed to spend with God.
This is the time to lay them at the feet of the master. Come and put him back on the throne. There’s a throne in the heart of every man. Every man on earth have something so special to them. So much important to them. So special and when touched, they flare up. That’s the thing sitting on the throne of your heart.
God wants to be the only one sitting down and there. He wants to be the one occupying the throne of your heart. Why not give it to him tonight. Why not allow him be the ruler of your life?
Go ahead and begin to surrender all to him tonight. Go ahead and begin to tell him he can have your all. Can you begin to cry to him this evening?”
All over the place screams of groaning could be heard as hearts were surrendered to God.
To be continued……
Here I am
All my intentions
All my obsessions
I wanna lay them all down
Into your hands
Only your love is vital
Though I’m not entitled
Still you call me your child
God you don’t need me
But somehow you want me
Oh how you love me
Somehow that frees me
To take off my hands off my life
And the way it should go
Oooo! God you don’t need me
But somehow you want me
Oh how you love me
Somehow that frees me
To open my hands up
And give you control”
Go ahead and let Jesus have the control button. Don’t allow anything take his place in your life. Give him the throne and dethrone every idol or weight sitting on God’s chair.
