Weight, Load, or Burden?

Do you ever feel weighed down and held back or frustrated and frozen in your walk? If that's you now, I wouldn't begin to explain why you feel that way. But, here's at least 3 reasons.

It could be a weight. The Enemy wants to oppress us. When he can't control us he resorts to discouraging, distracting, and tempting us in hopes to weigh us down. Also, our sin leads to bondage and feel like a weight. So do you feel like you have a ball and chain holding you back from all God wants you to be?

It could be your load. Galatians 6:5 says, "Each one should carry his own load." You and I have a load to carry... our responsibility as a husband/wife, father/mother, son/daughter, or employer/employee. Your load is like your backpack on a hicking trip. Are you just frustrated at the backpack you have to carry in this season of your life?

OR, it could be a burden the Lord has placed on you. I'm learning lately that God can burden my spirit to serve, love, forgive, confront, witness, obey, surrender, wait, act, and a whole other slew of verbs. My flesh doesn't always like it because it usually means sacrifice or discomfort and it may not be what I want to do, but I know it's what He wants me to do. So a burden from God could look like this pen if He wants you to reach out to someone for the first time in years. Picking up that pen might be the heaviest thing you pick up all year.

These aren't the "end all, be all" explaination to why you are feeling held back or frozen in your walk, but it's helped me know what my next step is in being free.