It’s officially Conference month! September has come in full bloom bringing new baby flowers, swooping magpies AND the heightened buzz of Ignite Conference just around the corner. Unleash is a cool theme; it’s bold and it’s desirable. ESPECIALLY after the last two years of feeling quite tied down by COVID restrictions in our homes, in our location and maybe even in our current state of life. I reckon we’re all desiring to be unleashed. We’re all desiring freedom. We’re all desiring newness. Itching to get out of the ordinary. Of course, we want to be unleashed…. But what from?
As we prepare for Conference, it’s about time we ask ourselves the next big question after “do I want to be unleashed?”….
What is your leash?
What’s holding you back from being unleashed?
What’s tying you down? Weighing you down? Take a minute to soak that in, to really think about it.
Yeah, I mean it, whip out your journal, open the notes in your phone and make a list, close your eyes for a second and put your head back…
Sometimes it’s hard to identify the leashes in your life, especially if you’ve been living with them for a while! Here’s a list of some different types of leashes you might want to think about and ask yourself if there’s any of them in your life this year:
1) Am I being held back by my comfort zone?
Are there things you keep yourself tied to because they’re comfortable, known, sturdy? These things might not be the most satisfying, not the most amazing, but it seems a lot safer being tied to them than not.
When I was in my first year of university I grew quite attached to a couple of comfort zone leashes in my life. I leashed myself to the idea that I was completely happy and content working in a workplace that didn't make me feel a lot of purpose or drive. I leashed myself to the idea that I needed to go headfirst into the next three years of uni with no breaks, no time for a gap year, and certainly no dropping out. I even leashed myself to the idea of feeling like I needed to be in a relationship because being with someone was way more comfortable than being alone.
The thing I've learnt about comfort zone leashes is that they come from fear. Fear of leaving a stable job to pursue something I love and watching myself fall flat on my face. Fear that dropping out of Uni or taking a gap year would make me 'fall behind' in life or that I wouldn't be at the same level as the rest of my friends. Fear that without a relationship I would be alone, that I would never find someone and that I was undesirable as a person.
Never did I ask God to take a look at these leashes. Never did I ask God about all the things that he could make possible without my leashes. But God wants us to be unleashed for greatness, not for failure. And he never made us for a life tied to a limiting comfort.
“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness” - Pope Benedict XVI2) Am I leashed to my emotions?
Self-worth, insecurity, worry, stress, anxiety, grief, shame… Maybe you feel stuck to a certain feeling like it will never go away. God wants to free you from these things; for you to live a life unbound by feelings that weigh you down. You are never too stuck in something that God can’t move and shake and create newness in your life again.
· Is there anything that I tell myself I can’t do because of the way I feel?
· What voices/feelings do I listen to instead of God?
Jeremiah 29:11 - “For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” 3) Am I tied down to my physical abilities?
Maybe you feel stuck in a place or stuck in an injury. This leash is slightly different. Where you might feel ‘leashed’ to a physical inability to do something, you might have also leashed yourself to the idea that God is unable to use you or change your life for the better because of that inability. Perhaps you might want to be unleashed from believing that your inability is bigger than your God and live in the freedom of believing that anything is possible through our Father in Heaven.
Do I think that God can make my life beautiful and amazing even when my circumstances don’t look like it?
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 4) Am I stuck in my habits?
Habits or patterns that you find yourself falling into again and again and again. God WANTS to free you and unleash you from these things because he has such a bigger purpose for you and your life beyond the constraints of these habits.
These habits could be something like continuously scrolling through Instagram and comparing yourself and your life to other people. Or it could be an addiction. Or perhaps you know a certain group of friends are a bad influence on you and yet the FOMO gets you every time and you end up doing things with them that you normally wouldn’t do.
· What are some habits in my life that are stopping me from reaching my FULL potential?
· What are some habits in my life that are stopping me from getting closer to God?
“God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:135) Have I limited myself in my identity?
Things we can’t leave behind or feel like we couldn’t live without because we feel like we wouldn’t be us without them. God knows the depth of you. He knows who you really are and he knows who you were made to be. Often when we take our identity in things it limits our true potential of the kind of person that perhaps we are truly meant to be. God wants to unleash us to be completely and exactly who we were made to be without ‘things’ and without limitations.
· Is there anything in my life that I feel like I take my identity in?
· Is being a son or a daughter of God enough for me?
"Be who you were made to be and you will set the world on fire." – St Catherine of Siena 6) Have I put limits on my relationship with Jesus?
This is a big one and a deep one. Maybe some leashes in your life are in your faith. Maybe you have a hard time trusting Jesus or maybe you limit the way you can encounter him. Or perhaps you feel like you’ve made your mind up about Jesus. He can’t be real. Or maybe He is but you’ve decided He doesn’t want to help you.
· Do I believe that my trials are bigger than my God or my God is bigger than my trials?
· Do I have a hard time trusting that Jesus wants good things for me and His plans for me are going to be even better than my plans?
· Have a put limits on how God can speak to me? (E.g. Do I think God can only talk to me through prayer teams or big encounters?)
· Is there something stopping me from being open with God?
As you go through these questions and start to identify the leashes on your life, don’t be discouraged! For God desires to give you a life unbound and free from all these leashes. And whilst some of them might be hard to let go of, Our God has new strength and grace to give to us every morning.
A prayer to finish:
+ Jesus, we pray as we lead up to Conference that you would show us the leashes in our life and the things you want to unleash us from. We pray that you would free us from all the things holding us back from living out our full potential and purpose with you. Amen.