When people travel, they always ensure that they pack everything that they need before they start the trip. My problem is, I pack EVERYTHING! Even what I don’t need. As a recovering overthinker, I always plan for the What ifs. What if I fall somewhere and need a change of clothes? What if I need 20 pairs of socks because I might get stuck in the mud? What if I need to pack snacks because I don’t like the food there? Last year I went for a 2 week trip to India which was very refreshing. But it was not until the end of the trip that I encountered an issue. I wanted to buy souvenirs and gifts for my family and friends but I quickly realised that I didn’t have enough room in my suitcases to do so. Because I had carried so much stuff from home, I didn’t leave any room to hold much from this place I had come to visit.

Isn’t that what life is like sometimes? We are carrying so much baggage from the past season that we literally have no room to hold the blessings from the new season. It might be a heartbreak that prevents you from opening up to love again. It might be childhood trauma that plagued you with insecurity that you don’t embrace new opportunities. It might be a rejection at work that scares you from applying for any future promotions.

You would be surprised how many passengers end up missing their flights because they had excess baggage and had to step aside to unpack and repack their belongings. This is the same for our lives. If we insist to carry excess baggage with us, we put ourselves at a risk of missing out on the right opportunities when they arise.

Hebrews 12:1 says that we need to lay aside every sin and weight that slows us down in running the race of faith. Sometimes travelling light means that you need to drop sinful habits and patterns that slow you down and affect your relationship with the Lord. However, sometimes the weight you need to lay aside is not necessarily sinful. It might be laying aside the weight of people pleasing and telling your family that you can no longer carry certain responsibilities that you did before. It could be going to therapy and addressing the trauma of the things that happened to you as a child. 

Travelling light means that in every season God has you in, you are fully equipped to carry the assignment for that season and you don’t have anything weighing or slowing you down. 

For you to travel light and get ready for your next destination, there are few things you have to unpack:

1. Unpacking familiarity/comfort

What you have relied on in the previous season will not be enough to sustain you in your next season. Yesterday’s manna cannot sustain today’s hunger. The resources you had and some of the connections you made served who you were but will be inadequate for who God is calling you to be.

This is the pattern all through Scripture. Look at Abraham, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Esther, Jesus and so many more people who God’s call on their lives required them to leave what they had become familiar with. Maybe life is good where you currently are but if you don’t take a leap of faith, you will never realise how much better life could actually be. We settle for what is familiar and comfortable because we want to avoid the anxiety and frustration that comes with trusting and waiting on God.

I don’t know about you but I refuse to live a bare minimum life. I don’t want to leave anything on the table. If God has assigned me to it, then I want it!

2. Unpacking idolatry

When God called Gideon in Judges 6, He gave him the charge to save Israel from the Midianites. However, before he could do so, God instructed him to tear down the altar of Baal and pole of Asherah, the gods that his people worshipped. Because you cannot defeat the enemy that you are still bowing down to.

An idol is anything that you love more than your obedience to God. Anything can become an idol if it affects your full submission to God. What you are used to can become an idol in your life. A place, a relationship, a career or even a specific standard of living. Over and over again in the Bible, we see Israel facing severe consequences for their idolatry. There are so many blessings that God has in store for His children that He won’t release until we choose to tear down the idols in our hearts. The only way to go from rebellion to revival is through repentance. Through repentance, we come out of agreement and turn away from idols and fully turn to God.

3. Unpacking self-reliance

Some of the disciples like Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John had been fishermen before Jesus called them to be fishers of men. As fishermen, they relied on their own skills and abilities to sustain them. However, when Jesus was sending them out, He gave them specific instructions:

Travel light, and don’t even pack an extra change of clothes in your backpack. Trust God for everything, because the one who works for him deserves to be provided for.

Matthew 10:10 TPT

Most of us want to see God move powerfully in our lives but don’t want to let go of control and fully depend on Him. We ask for miracles and in the next breath we ask Him to not allow us to be in any situation that we desperately need a miracle. We want Jesus to heal us supernaturally but want Him to never allow sickness to be part of our story. We sing that God is Jehovah Jireh, Our Provider but we ask Him to keep us out of any season of lack that will require us to depend on His provision. Unpacking self-reliance means that you fully let go and allow Jesus to take the wheel. Surrender is when we let God do whatever He wants, whenever He wants and however He wants.

You may never know that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have.

Corrie ten Boom.

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for your conviction and gentle rebuke to remind us that we need to travel light. We repent for filling our lives with unnecessary things that we don’t leave room for You. Holy Spirit, please help us to unpack. To let go of the things that we have held on to that no longer align with the version of us that You created. Help us to fully surrender, to let go and to let God. In Jesus Name, Amen.