Weight

There was a popular thing growing up that people use to wear to help them gain more muscle and work out while they are doing their basic work. They are called ankle weights. I wanted some of these until I tried them on. They didn't feel good and made me want to sit down more than move around.
I feel we all can walk around like we have ankle weights on. The daily grind gets to us or even huge problems start weighing us down, making us feel like stopping. It can be a struggle to move around to do anything. Sure, I smile on the outside and my character is to optimistic, but inside there can be a struggle. Maybe it can be just certain people that I have to be around or a particular task that I have to do, but really it keeps me from moving forward.
Today, there was a change in my thoughts. Cast off the weight. It comes from Hebrews 12:1, where it says, "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,". It is on my heart to cast off the things that hinder. Cast off the burden that would hold me back. Some people say they are trying to shake something. This casting off is more than just a shake. It is pulling it off and throwing it. 1Peter 5:7 says also to cast all of your cares on Christ.
You might ask what this looks like. I had that same question. Then there was a word in my prayer time that came to my heart in reference to this. Speak it! If there is one thing that God used throughout the Bible from creation to the very end is speaking. He spoke things into existence and in the end He will defeat our enemies with His words. In Romans 4:17 it says, "..He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were." He also calls us to carry out things in the same way. In Matthew 21 and Mark 11 He tells us to speak to the mountain and it will be moved.
So today, I ask you to speak to your weight, your mountain, your struggle and cast it off. Throw it away. If you find it back on again, throw it again. Keep throwing it so that you can run.