Let Go of Your Past: Dropping Your Hindrances, Being Transformed, and Standing Strongનમૂનો

Piercing the Stratosphere

The meetings that our ministry team held after experiencing that enormously difficult season before, during, and after the pandemic became known as the “As One” meetings. We all began to seek the Lord for more direction about what it meant for us to undergo metamorphosis.

In the midst of our search, I had a vision of a rocket ship going to the moon. I felt compelled to watch footage of NASA’s first manned moon launch, which was Apollo 11. I found several YouTube videos and watched them over and over again. Although I was enamored by the moon shot, I wasn’t sure why I was watching these videos until a profound theme began to emerge, which I will reveal in a moment.

I was excited to share my discovery with the team, so I brought a YouTube video of the Apollo 11 launch to the next “As One” meeting and cued it up on our big-screen TV. Without any explanation, just as our seventy people got seated, I turned off the lights, cranked up the sound, and pushed play.

Lift Off!

If you’ve never experienced the awe of the Apollo 11 launch, I highly encourage you to explore the incredible footage available on YouTube. But, for now, let me bring the moment to life for you. Imagine the NASA control room filled with engineers and scientists dressed in white lab coats. Their gazes are fixed on the TV monitors, viewing the rocket ship on the launchpad, which is preparing for liftoff. One by one, various members of the launch team check their given area of responsibility and verbalize their approval, affirming that everything is a “go.” As each one presents their verbal authorization, the excitement in the room grows exponentially more intense.

Finally, after all the members have signaled their approval, the countdown begins, narrated by NASA’s chief of public affairs: “Ten, nine…Ignition sequence starts…” The sound of the boosters fills the air. The narrator continues, “Six, five, four, three, two, one, zero! All engines go.” The rocket bursts to life, shaking the ground as it lifts off. The narrator exclaims, “LIFT OFF! We have lift off!” The rocket climbs higher and higher, piercing through the clouds and pushing past the Earth’s atmosphere with unstoppable force. Flames trail beneath as it ascends toward the edge of space.

Flamed Out

About two minutes after the launch, something profound happens. Something I never understood before unfolded right before my eyes. The lower stage boosters, now spent, detach from the rocket and fall away, tumbling back toward Earth as mission control confirms their successful separation. What I discovered that morning is that, when the rocket leaves the stratosphere, all the fuel in the boosters has been expelled; thus, the boosters have served their purpose and need to be ejected. What was necessary to propel the rocket to that point is actually a dead-weight deterrent beyond the stratosphere. The boosters must be released for the rocket to reach its ultimate destination.

My mind began to explode with revelation; metaphorically speaking, I understood for the first time that we aren’t going to reach our divine destination if we don’t let go of encumbrances that were necessary in the previous epoch season. Those “boosters” have expelled their fuel and have flamed out in the greater purpose of our divine providence. In fact, not only are the boosters no longer propelling us forward, but they don’t even have the energy to carry their own weight! They must be released to the ocean of irrelevance as a relic of significance from a former season of life.

In tomorrow’s devotion, we’ll talk further about what it means to set aside our encumbrances so we can move forward in life with freedom.

Thought: We aren’t going to reach our divine destination if we don’t let go of encumbrances that were necessary in the previous epoch season.

Prayer: Lord, please reveal what has been holding me back in life and enable me to let go of it out of love for You.