Letting Go of People

Pharaoh was a Control Freak and had kept God’s people in bondage for years. The Lord sent Moses to him with a message, “Let My people go!” (Ex. 5:1). Perhaps a “difficult person” is keeping you in bondage through an unhealthy relationship. The one tormenting you is living in your mind rent-free! Either you are trying to control and change that person, or that person is trying to control you. Both ways create bondage. God told Pharaoh to let go and He’s also telling you to let go. 

1. If you don’t LET GO, you cannot be spiritually free. You can hold on to something with your hands, but you can also hold on to something with your heart. To “let go” means to release in your heart the person or situation into God’s hands and to let Him make the corrections needed. Jesus wants you to be “free indeed” (John 8:36).

2. If you don’t LET GO, you cannot move on to the next new thing.  For a trapeze artist to reach out and grasp the new bar, he or she must let go of the old bar. The new bar is just far enough away so that you cannot grab it while still clinging to the old. If you don’t let go, you’ll keep swinging in the same old routine and nothing will get better for you.

3. If you don’t LET GO, dysfunctional people will continue to control you. Dysfunctional people can act like Pharaoh and will get upset and angry if you don’t do exactly as they say. The disciples told Jesus the Pharisees were offended by His teaching. Jesus instructed His disciples to “Leave them alone” (Matt. 15:14). In other words, “Don’t let them manipulate you with their domineering attitudes but keep following Me and what I tell you to do.”

“Letting go” doesn’t mean that you stop caring but that you want freedom more than bondage. How to LET GO: Keith Miller said, “Imagine putting the person in your cupped hands, then coming before the Lord, who also has His hands cupped. You place your hands inside His hands and gently take your hands apart, leaving the person in God’s hands.” Once you let go, let the Lord deal with that person and stop letting him or her live inside your mind.

To read more about letting go read SlayingYour Giants. ($5.99)

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett

My Wife's Lost Diamond

My wife Cindy was crying as she called me from the bank where she worked.  In a panicking voice she said, "The diamond has fallen out of my wedding ring and I don't know where it is!" Finding that diamond would be like finding a needle in a haystack. She could have lost it in our house, or in the restaurant where she had lunch, or somewhere in the bank. 

I prayed, "Lord, you know where Cindy lost her diamond. Please show me where it is." Immediately I felt prompted to go to the bank parking lot. The first place I looked was inside our minivan. It wasn’t there. When I scanned the parking lot, I saw what looked like a piece of glass laying in a crack in the pavement. It was Cindy’s diamond! 

I snatched it up and ran into the bank yelling, "I found the diamond!"  Bank customers turned around, wondering why I was shouting. Cindy burst into tears and came running out from behind her teller window. As we embraced in the lobby, it looked like the ending of a romantic movie.

We called our friends and told them how I found the diamond against all odds. Then I finally understood the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-9). The woman who had lost a silver coin called her friends with joy after she found it. Sometimes we don’t realize something’s value until we lose it—and then recover it.  

The diamond hadn’t increased in value, but our perception of its worth had changed dramatically. I learned the secret of thankfulness: the value of something isn't determined by how much it appreciates, but by how much it is appreciated.

If you want to enjoy life, you will need to reexamine the value of what you have. You may have lost the appreciation for the things you once desperately wanted!

www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Receive these devotionals (free) by email: You can subscribe in the box on the right at www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com (Your email will not be given out. You’ll receive an email when the new devotional is posted)

Making Life Count Ministries

P.O. Box 680174

Prattville, Alabama 36068-0174

www.makinglifecount.net  Twitter: @KentCrockett