“Empty Yourself”

|¹⁸"Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. ¹⁹Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.”| Isaiah 43:18-19

God is in the business of doing something new each and everyday. The problem is that we are so engrossed in our troubles and problems until our eyes are blinded and we cannot what God is doing. The hustles and bustles of this world have turned us into some sorts of robots and all we think of is what’s next? We are not careful to look back and appreciate what God has already done for us and also helped us to accomplish but we are so forward focused. Even God took time to look back and appreciate what He had created. Problems will always be there as long as we are alive, but the good thing is that we have God on our side who will help us solve them.

At times we are so full of some of negative feelings and thoughts and we are so confused on what we need to do next. For some of us; our past is so bad, filthy, hurting till we do not wish to remember whatever happened; yet, in the bottom of our hearts and the back of our minds, we have held on to the repercussions or outcomes of the incidences that happened to us and we are unable to move on in one way or another. The bible reminds us that we need to forget the past and move on. Some of us, we have great potential to break forth into a whole new dimension and excel in our lives, but we are held back by the failures we encountered when we tried and failed… Break forth from that cocoon and advance. You need to know that God is ready to move with you and do a new thing in your life, but He wont move till you move yourself.

When God does a new thing, you can never fail to see it; unless you are not alert to see it. God speaks through prophet Isaiah and says “Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it?” You need to tune yourself to be attentive to God and know what is in his mind and when he does something new, you will be able to recognize it. But you need to know that God can not do something new in your life if you are still holding on to the past. You need to empty yourself of the past and start afresh and be ready for him to fill you afresh. One thing that is important for you to note is that God cannot use filled up vessels. You have to empty yourself so as to be used of him. He cannot fill up a vessel that is already full. It doesn't matter how effective you are in whatever the area that God intends to use you; if you are filled up, he wont use you.

In Jeremiah 48:11-12, this is what the Lord says of Moab… “Moab has been at ease from his youth; He has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent has not changed. “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I shall send him wine-workers who will tip him over and empty his vessels and break the bottles.” Note of what the Lord was saying about Moab. He got contented where he was like wine and thus he didn’t bother to empty up himself and thus, God was to send people who would empty him of the and get the taste or flavour in him. When you get contented with where you are and you do not do something to empty yourself; God will instead send situations, circumstances and people to press you till you are empty thus He will be able to use you.

When you empty yourself, you do not remain the same. God renews you. In the verse above, you can see that God was saying that Moab has remained with his taste inside of him and his scent too has not changed. When God changes/refreshes/Renews you, you cease to be the old person that people knew and they see you in a new dimension. Your face Value increases as well. Your aroma and influence increases… why” Because you have emptied yourself and you are renewed. You get refilled and you give out something fresh. The bible says in Ecclesiastes 11:3 “If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth;…” This is the reason why we have rain. when it rains, the vapour rises up and forms new clouds and when they are full, we have rain again… and the cycle continues.

When you learn to empty yourself, you set yourself ready for something new. A new lease of life, grace, a new impartation, exaltation to a new level name it. But for you to receive or partake of this, you have to go through/accept the whole process. Take an example of a Sugar. Sugar is an extract of sugarcanes, and there is a process to get sugar from the sugarcane - This is the same as emptying yourself. The sugarcane is pressed and from it, sugar comes out. We use the same sugar in tea and making bread/Madazi. After eating, you got to go and relieve yourself and from the human waste/animal wastes and the wastes of the pressed sugarcane, we get fertilizer which the farmer will use to grow more sugarcane.. and the process continues.

When we fail to empty ourselves, we block blessings for other people. In the sugar process, if one of the processes fails, it means the whole chain fails. Thus, you need to know what role you have in the chain and make sure you do your part so as not to block the blessing of the other person. When you go through the whole process, you accept to be pressed and release the juice, taste, aroma and in the long run, you become a blessing to many.  You need to realize that before there is an overflow of anything, there must be pressing down. Pressing down is not easy because it is not easy… it’s painful; but once you allow and endure the pressing down, whatever is in you overflows. (Luke 6:38)

Inside of you, you have many ideas which when you release them, they will not only benefit you alone but others as well. The more you remain with the ideas and not releasing them, sharing them or even implementing them, the more you block their blessings and yours too. You need to know that you have a seed of greatness inside of you and until the seed falls/is released, dies on the ground and empties itself, it will remain to be of no benefit. When something dies or it’s broken, it means that nothing is left or withheld. We do not receive new things or new blessings simply because we are full of the past. You have to forget the past and embrace the new things that God is doing in your life. (Isaiah 43:18-19). If you dwell in the past, you block yourself from advancing and partaking of new blessings that God has in store for you. God will be looking at you and He will see that you are not ready for new blessings since you got content with what He gave you the other time.

If you do not empty yourself, there will be no progress. Again, if you are not careful, you can empty yourself and remain the same or go backwards. The secret is that every time you empty yourself, ask the Lord to Fill you… else, you will be filled with something else.

Empty Yourself!!