'Take Your Burdens To The Lord' by Travis Wiginton

"Take Your Burdens to the Lord...and Leave Them There". Those are the words to an old song ....and another song says, "Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary". Several Scriptures that deal with burdens are: Psalms 55:22: "Give your burdens to the Lord. He will not permit the Godly to slip nor fall." Matthew 11:28-30: "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (get in the harness with Jesus) upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I Peter 5:7: "Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you." In fishing, it takes a lot of 'casting' (fishing)...before 'catching'. So in getting rid of burdens, a lot of praying....and faith brings the 'lifting of burdens'. Let's look at some burdens that we need to take to the Lord and leave with Him. 1) THE BURDEN OF SIN What it can do, if we don't have them lifted through God's forgiveness: Soils the soul...... Saturates the mind...... Strickens the conscience...... Saddens the heart...... Sickens the body...... Sours the spirit...... Seals the lips...... Separates from God.... (separates lost person from relationship and saved person from fellowship) So you see, it would be a sin to take our sins to the Lord and not leave them there. No need to carry around the burden of sin, for I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." In the Old Testament, God used the sacrifice of animals once a year for the forgiveness of sins. In the New Testament, God used the Cross and the Blood of Jesus for our sins. Hebrews 9:22: "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." I like that old song, "There is power in the Blood"....for ANY sin in your life. 2) THE BURDEN OF SALVATION: (If....not the Bible and 'the Jesus Way') If man does the saving through good works, man is fallible and how much work is enough? Therefore, he continues being burdened. So you ask, 'How can you be sure that you are saved?' First: Re-examine your initial experience....was there repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ? Acts 20:19-21 Secondly: Was there child-like dependence? Matthew 18:1-4 "Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." John 1:13 "As many as received Christ, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on His name." This is called a 'miracle' like a birth, hence salvation is called 'The New Birth' (John 3:1-18) I like the chorus of the old song, 'Once for All': "Once for all, o sinner, receive it. Once for all, o brother, believe it. Cling to the Cross, the burdens will fall... Christ has redeemed us, once for all" 3) THE BURDEN OF SECURITY: I believe in the security of the believer for 3 reasons: First: The Scriptures overwhelmingly teach "if saved, always saved". Second: The Great Shepherd Jesus will not lose one of His sheep (John 10 is a great chapter on this) Third: The Spirit within the believer is greater than any power in the world (I John 4:4) Paul said in Acts 20:22, "I go bound in the Holy Spirit". He believed that the Spirit that was able to save him, was also able to keep him. You ask people, 'Are you saved....and ready for life AND death?' Some will say, 'I hope so'....or....'maybe so'. Two Scriptures in Romans 8 speak to this: Verse 16: "The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we ARE the children of God." Verse 14: "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these ARE the children of God." 4) A BURDEN BORNE BY MANY (needlessly) IS REGRETS. These are all in the past and the Bible speaks to this in Philippians 3:13-14, "Forgetting those things that are behind, we are reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus." Hebrews 13:8 tells us that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." So let Him take care of your yesterdays. He can take care of these through forgiveness and the power not to repeat! Do something about it...and shape up. Don't spend the rest of your life saying, "Wish I had"...."If I had only"....or..."Why didn't I?" There are many regrets that people have, but let's only list three. 1) PRAYER-LESS-NESS (or not praying more): You can not undo the past lack of prayers, but you can start now. Our youngest son called recently, referring to something that he learned at Youth Camp, wanting to know what ACTSS stood for. He remembered parts of it..... It means: Prayer is ADORATION, CONFESSION, THANKSGIVING, SUPPLICATION and SURRENDER. 2) RELATIONSHIPS: The regrets here are primarily because of lack of communication with family and especially parents. You can't undo this, but start now to do better. To a retired parent or grandparent, nothing is more disheartening than an empty mailbox....or a phone that never rings with calls from children or grandchildren....or others. No one likes to be forgotten! 3) BURDENS: There can be regrets because of burdens that we have placed on others, due to insensitive actions or words. We may 'speak before we think'....and say something that we regret later. Once words are spoken, they cannot be brought back, but an apology is never 'too late' and can have healing power. Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Please read the rest of this chapter. One of the definitions of regret in the dictionary is: 'A polite expression of regret as in 'declining an invitation'. We may decline an earthly invitation and regret it, but don't decline your Heavenly Father's invitation! Over 1,900 times in the Bible, God says, 'Come'! So whatever your burden, God says, "Come, bring your burdens to Me and leave them with Me." We could list many more burdens or regrets, but the Holy Spirit will help you to see your's. Then confess, receive forgiveness and press on, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Be sure that you don't 'pick your burdens up again' once you have left them at His feet.