Think of the many agonizing circumstances you have gone through, situations that have caused you to change the way you think and even look at life. For example I have been deeply wounded and hurt by people who have called themselves my friends. These situations caused me to wear garments that said “don’t come near me”. I have then kept a safe distance, so I will not be hurt again. However I long for friendships, but because of the garments I am wearing and the barriers I have subconsciously put around myself, my friends distance themselves from me as well. These garments are weighty and drip with heaviness. In the event you are able to identify with what I am trying to communicate, then you too need to change the heavy garments you are wearing.
Romans 13:14 says – … instead clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
Take a look at the weighty garments you are wearing. Could they be a lost dream, maybe a lost hope, garments of bitterness, hurt, rejection, pain because of a painful divorce, separation, is it garments that say you’re not good enough, could they be despair, what could it be?
It is important we change what we are wearing. These heavy garments will not permit you to move at the pace you need to move. They will slow you down and will be evident on your face too. However when I realised that I was wearing garments of heaviness that held me back, I chose to remove them and put on Jesus Christ and He surely has changed everything my life.
Scripture says “don’t make any provision for the desires of the flesh”. When we give into our feelings and clothe ourselves with heavy garments or when we enjoy a great big pity party and feel really sorry for ourselves, we are giving into our flesh. This form of heaviness causes us deep emotional damage. How can you run the race God is calling you to run, wearing heavy clothing? A runner for instance, would wear lightest outfits; garments that will help a runner pick up speed and run faster. In the race that is before us, we need to remove all of our heavy garments and put on the lightest clothing, put on Jesus Christ and His character and run. He will surely give us the speed and help us run with ease the race that is before us.
Consider another aspect of wearing clothing. Let us look at Joseph in the Bible – he was often clothed in garments of favour and did great, until the enemy came and stripped him off his clothing.
Initially his jealous brothers stripped him off the coat of many colours, next came Potipher’s wife, she lusted after him and stripped him off his garment. This young man seemed to have difficulty keeping his clothes on. His clothes for a season were garments of favour, however due to the many circumstances people represented themselves as satan’s agents and stripped him off favour. In our lives today too satan uses circumstances and people to strip us off our garments of favour. What have you been stripped off?
Joseph walked in favour one day and the next day he lost that favour and this continued to happen, until he had learned to keep his clothes on. Then he was able save himself, his family and the entire nation.
So you see you can either put on garments of heaviness and drag them around finding it difficult to move around easily or you can allow someone else to strip off clothing that actually carry the favour of God on your life. What is it? Is your favour being stripped off and are you putting on garments that satan has decided you should wear? My friend change your clothes!
