It’s Spring (thank God) and time for Spring cleaning! Let us not be like the Pharisees who merely cleaned the outside of their cup (life), but let us take care to de-clutter the inside of our life as well.
The next portion of this blog is taken from my book Thirsty Heart, (which by the way, is almost out of the rewrite stage and is simultaneously being edited—it will be For Sale really soon!).
“The process of seeking God first and Him adding all things to us (Matt.6:33) is done by de-cluttering our heart and life. Removing the clutter that crowds our heart—the obstacles that keep us from living in close proximity to Jesus—junk that holds us back from a victorious, intimate life with Him—a life free of self and all the worries that accompany a selfish lifestyle.
This clutter includes bad heart attitudes, un-submitted self-will, emotionalism, unbelief, offences, un-forgiveness, pride, bitterness, judgments, mindsets, double minded-ness, self-limitations, self-disqualifications, labels, past failures, fears, independence (doing my own thing) and addictions, etcetera. It also may include other things such as relationships, activities and hobbies that are not necessarily sin but they do crowd our heart leaving little room for relationship with Jesus.
I like to illustrate removing the clutter with this story:
In my house when I’m not sure what to do with something, I usually (much to my husband’s dismay) put it in the garage. Out of sight out of mind right? Well almost.
When my kids were young we drove a huge dark grey suburban—it fit the whole family! In Idaho it’s best to park your car in the garage during winter—this way you do not have to scrape the frost off your windows every time you want to go somewhere. Well, our huge, old ranch style house had a little tiny one car garage. Our massive Suburban and all the clutter could not co-exist—there just was not enough room. In order to park in the garage, the junk needed to be cleared out. This meant we, my husband and I, (mainly my husband) were going to have to deal with this clutter—the stuff I did not want to deal with before—now had to be removed.
Are you starting to get the picture? God wants to fully occupy our heart—so we must make it vacant of all else.
We begin to de-clutter our heart and life by first choosing to live a lifestyle of submission to Jesus.
The word and concept of submission is usually something people oppose. It definitely brought conflict to my flesh! I like to call it the “S” word, because when people hear about it they treat it like a curse word—I know I did! But that was mainly because I misunderstood its true meaning and value. Don’t fret, if someone as strong-willed as I was, can learn to love submission you can too!”
Please be encouraged to take time to pray, asking God to show you any clutter in your heart, soul and life—then do a little spring cleaning!
To learn more about submission check these blogs out: The S Word and Submission as a Lifestyle
THIRSTY? 