{"id":15922,"date":"2025-09-04T09:20:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T14:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=15922"},"modified":"2025-09-08T09:25:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T14:25:03","slug":"lay-it-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/15922\/lay-it-down\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLay it down\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi John,<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to thank you again for your message last night; it was so good and it really touched my heart, and stirred up the holy Ghost in me.\u00a0 I didn’t want to\u00a0forget what it was that\u00a0was so good, so late last night I \u00a0watched the meeting again and listened to your whole message again.\u00a0 I love what you said about hearing\u00a0the voice of God and how that\u2019s going to save us, and to stay right with the\u00a0things we know came\u00a0from Him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Less than an hour before the meeting last night, I felt the Lord speaking to MY\u00a0heart, and telling me to go grab the music for \u201cHere Comes Jesus\u201d, and to start with a particular verse.\u00a0 So, I had it ready, and when the time felt right, I sang it.\u00a0 I think it was appropriate for the moment, and I thanked the Lord that I was ready with it.\u00a0 (I had a different song in mind, and it would\u2019ve been fine, I believe, but it would not have been as good as listening to Jesus.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, last night, and today, I keep hearing these words: \u201clay it down”.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe they apply just to me, (but they do apply to me.) A week or so ago, Song and I got into a sharp disagreement about something.\u00a0 (Our disagreements over the course of 40+ years have been few, thankfully).\u00a0 But I could feel this disagreement was deep. I don\u2019t know why; it was no big deal.\u00a0\u00a0But I knew I was right; I had all the reasons, and I had all the explanations.\u00a0 That night of the disagreement, we went to bed without resolving things, which I almost never do, as that has been one of my inner rules to follow when there\u2019s something between us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I tried to go to sleep that night, I ruminated over all the things I could say, and all the reasons I had to justify my position.\u00a0 That went on for a while, until I heard the voice of the Lord.\u00a0 The words were clear and short:\u00a0 \u201clay it down\u201d.\u00a0 But, I started to fight with God about that a little,\u00a0planning how\u00a0I would try to end the disagreement,\u00a0 and\u00a0prove my point, etc.\u00a0and after that, I heard the words again: \u201clay it down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In my heart, I said, \u201cLord, help me lay it down.\u201d\u00a0 And although I did not hear the actual words, the feeling was, to lay it down completely and remember it no more.\u00a0 Not every disagreement needs to resolve this way, but this one would because the Spirit said so, and I knew it.\u00a0 Right after that, I fell asleep.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I woke up in the morning, I made the point to not say a word about anything, and to act\u00a0normally.\u00a0\u00a0And when I did, I realized Song did not buck\u00a0or have an attitude; it was gone, and we would not have to discuss it at all.\u00a0 It was over.\u00a0 Our hearts were one again. What a relief!<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a spirit of strife in the world today, and without God\u2018s help, it\u2019s bound to affect us.\u00a0 You have been saying several times now, \u201cAre you willing to be healed?\u201d \u00a0If we have to be made \u201cwilling\u201d, that means there\u2019s something in the way. (And usually the thing in the way is ourselves.)<\/span><\/p>\n

I do believe the spirit is saying to some, \u201cLay it down.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u201cAre you willing to be healed?\u00a0 Or are you going to hang onto how right you are, and remain in your\u00a0affliction?\u00a0 Lay it down.\u00a0 Lay it DOWN!”<\/span><\/p>\n

I just wanted to share that experience because it made a difference for us.\u00a0 And it had to do with what you were talking about last night.\u00a0 There may be strife in our world\u00a0right now, but for us,\u00a0there is healing right now.\u00a0 I pray that we will be the ones to take advantage of what Jesus offers us, and to follow his voice.\u00a0 It\u2019s OK.\u00a0 Just go hug the person you\u2019re in conflict with, and lay it down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you, John.\u00a0 Your messages are always so very timely for us.\u00a0 When we got home, Song told me. \u201cJohn always has what we need to get excited in Jesus.”\u00a0 I\u2019m paraphrasing it, but that\u2019s what she meant!\u00a0 And I agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gary<\/span><\/p>\n

Scriptures used by Pastor John during his message:<\/span><\/p>\n

Hold On to What God Gives You<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi John, I want to thank you again for your message last night; it was so good and it really touched my heart, and stirred up the holy Ghost in me.\u00a0 I didn’t want to\u00a0forget what it was that\u00a0was so good, so late last night I \u00a0watched the meeting again and listened to your whole […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15924,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15922\/revisions\/15924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}