We are in the process of moving house right now. Yesterday as we were clearing out our old house, our little 6 year old boy got upset because we were throwing out things that he wanted to keep. These were clothes that don't fit him any more or toys that he has grown out of, and yet he wanted to hold onto them because he had grown attached to them. I explained to him that we had to throw them out to create space for all the new things I wanted to get him in the new place we were moving to.

It's similar with us. Even though some things in our lives don't fit us any longer, or we have grown out of them, sometimes we hold onto them. This can be for security or sentimental reasons, sometimes we think we need them more than we do. There are some things that no longer serve a purpose in our lives and yet we don't want to discard them. But the reality is, the Father has so many new things for us - incredible gifts, fresh favor, blessing for the new place He is taking us - but He won't give them to us until we make room by clearing out the old things. We need to let go before we can take hold.

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Philippians 3:7-9,12-14

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ---the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

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Malachi 3:10

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

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Hebrews 12:1-2

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.“