Cleaning House…
James 4:7-10 (Amplified Bible)
7So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. 8Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]. 9[As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins]. 10Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].
My Spiritual daughter (Tracy) and I always laugh about the fact that it never seems as if we can get on top of the house work. If we clean house something happens, or (in both our cases), someone happens and the house is in a state of disarray and the process starts all over again. Whether it is a busy week, or just normal wear and tear it seems like constant picking up, cleaning and realigning is necessary. My children say I don’t give them a break, about chores and picking up, and they said I go into psycho mode when people are coming to visit. But it is the nature of the process; it is never ending and necessary.
But how often do we forget that this same process is necessary in our Spiritual walk? We often think when we are saved or have accepted Christ that is where the work ends. That is a false statement and thought. The real work begins after we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead. We should be consistently checking our living, our thinking, our confessions and our associations. We should be constantly working to draw near to Christ so that He has access to correct and clean anything that needs it. But all too often we let stuff get piled up in these areas and our hearts become filthy and cluttered with stuff that is contrary to the will of God. We start to allow our own ideology to be formed based on what we have been told, how we have lived and what we see around us, instead of allowing God access to lead, guide and direct us in the way that we should go. We make alliances, covenants and associates based on what people have done for us or what they can do to advance us. We don’t give God enough time or space in our heart and lives to be able to show us what stinks before Him or is just a mess, because we would rather get it right and have it clean in our own thinking than to find out our house is a cluttered, smelly mess, and we have become a hoarder of things that God has nothing to do with and is not pleased with.
When was the last time you laid prostrate before God and called on the name of Jesus and asked Him to search you and know you and if there is any thing displeasing that He would deal with it and clean us up? How often are you reading the Word of God and asking God to reveal truth on the inward part of you in order for you to stop being double minded or in some cases multi-minded? How often do you pray Psalms 51 over yourself and actually wait on God to move in those areas? It is time to clean house. We have become a group of people hoarding and living in squalor in our spiritual lives. We are writing our own plan of salvation and living by it and we feel that it will all work out okay and we will be accepted in God’s kingdom. But if we would just allow God a real visitation and if we spent real time in His presence, we would realize that our living, our thinking, our speaking and even our associates and affiliations are far from what God is calling for in our lives. It is time to break out the Mr. Clean, and get our house in order, God’s order not our own! It is time to get real with God so He can get real with you!
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