Cleaning House

Tomorrow I am expecting (and hoping for) a lot of visitors! I want to be sure the house is clean and the food is perfect!!! Anytime company comes, I get very anxious - is everything clean? Will they like their visit? Will they see God in our lives? etc. etc. etc. As a general rule, women spend a lot of time and energy making sure their house is in order but how much time and energy do we spend making sure our lives are in order. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says that "(our) body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." So, is your house clean or dirty? If it is dirty, it is time to clean it up!!!

It's Clean Up Time!!!

Evaluate your house. What rooms need to be clean and what areas need improvement? Is everything around your house pleasing? Cleaning out the junk is always necessary when we are cleaning our house because if junk is laying around it will affect our lives. Mark 7:21-23 tells us "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, . . . ." If our hearts are filled with evil things then when we speak and act, that is what will come out from us. These things get in the way of reaching our highest potential.

Get the tools ready to clean these areas we have noted that need cleaning. Our main tool is the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 describes the word of God as "living and powerful . . . piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit . . . it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." When we get into the word, we see what we need to do to improve our lives to better glorify our Heavenly Father. We can use other tools to help, like Bible study books, but our main tool should be the Bible.

Gather your cleaners to scrub everything clean. There are 3 different kinds of cleaners we can use to get ourselves clean from the evil things in our lives. Forgiveness from God is one of them. 1 John 1:9 reminds us that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteouness." Mercy is also used to cleanse us. Titus 3:5 tells us through "His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." Grace can also help us get rid of those things keeping us clean. Jesus' blood was a gift we did not deserve but we receive it to wash our sins away.

Now that we have our tools and cleaners ready we have to do the work. We can have all we need but if we don't do anything with them, they are useless. We have to take the tools God has given us, open the word up, dig in there and take advantage of the cleaners he has given us. We need to take God's word and as the Psalmist said, "(hide it) in my heart, That I might not sin against You." We need to daily get our cleaning tools and cleaners out to get clean and to stay clean. We have to be determined to keep and stay clean but it is a decision we have to make. "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Galations 5:16

I pray that your house is clean and will remain clean so God's light can shine through you to others.