Weight equipment 3Do you lift weights? I have from time to time. I tend to go through cycles in my workout routines.

For a long time I was doing weight training, then shifted to cardio workouts and then was into running for a while. Workout routines bore me after a while so I have to change to something new.

We’ve recently decided to get rid of our home gym. Since my son went off to college, it has served as a table, a rack, and a dust collector more than a home gym.

It’s in great condition, like new in fact. So why get rid of it? We’ve moved on and we need to get rid of the old to make room for the new. More specifically, we need to move it out of our garage to make room for my husband’s car.

There are many times people walk around all doom and gloom, complaining about what’s missing from their spiritual walk. They see things in other people’s lives, spiritual gifts or blessings from the Lord, and they want them also.

My question is this, Are your hands empty? Or are you carrying around bitterness, a broken heart, resentment, a grudge, an offense, and so forth. You get the idea. Is there something bad or negative you’ve held onto and carry around like a security blanket? If so, how can God give you something else when your hands are full?

1 Corinthians 12:31 says,

But eagerly desire the greater gifts.”

You can desire them all day long, but if you are loaded down how can you receive them? This is one reason it is so important to spend time with the Lord each day. Ask Him to see if there is anything you need to deal with, unload. One of my favorite scriptures, and one I pray often, is Psalm 139:23-24,

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

When we take time to sit before the Lord, and allow Him to search our hearts and clean out what doesn’t belong there, it sets us up to receive. We can grasp hold of what He has for us, because our hands are no longer encumbered.

Are you eagerly anticipating what the Lord has for you?

Are you ready to receive it?

Are your hands empty?