“Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:24).

If we’re being honest here, that verse alone ought to give us all pause, as we take a long look into the mirror and ‘examine ourselves’ which we are admonished to do in 2 Cor. 13:5.

Welcome back to Part II on ‘how to clean house’, taught by yours truly…which only confirms that God still ‘uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise’. Just a bit of irony here that I’m giving tips on how to ‘clean up clutter’ in your home. If you don't believe me, ask my wife. ;- )

But on a more serious note, we are looking at how the Holy Spirit first begins to move in our lives after we have had a genuine ‘come to Jesus moment’ where we come to terms with our true wretched condition as ‘sinners’ …which brought us to a place of genuine repentance in search of a Savior; who we find of course…in Jesus. He even invites us to come to Him so we can find peace and rest for our souls. (Matt. 11:28-30)

And if/when we come to that place of brokenness…we are told we can expect a ‘time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord…as He in turn draws near to us and ‘lifts us up’ (Acts 3:19; James 4:7-10).

If you find yourself asking…”Have I ever truly experienced that?”…then I would be inclined to say…’probably not’; but that doesn’t mean it can’t still happen for you. I’m just saying that if/when it does…you will for sure know it; trust me on that one.

So what happens after that? Great question, and let me be the first to tell you that God is not in a big hurry to get you singing in the choir or playing in the band or teaching a children’s Sunday School class. There are some more pressing matters that first need to be ‘dealt with’; and while I don’t mean to suggest that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are some ‘maid cleaning service’…rest assure…there is a thorough and spiritual ‘house cleaning’ that is about to take place in your life. Welcome to the ‘wilderness’ where your heart is about to be tested to see how serious you were about all this ‘repenting’. (Deut. 8:2; 1 Thess. 2:4).

In yesterday’s message, I laid out a scenario where one might have returned home from a vacation to a house in much need of a serious cleaning, as there was much ‘clutter’ to be dealt with. I likened this ‘clutter’ to being the ‘sins of the flesh nature’…that we are told needs to be dealt with…lest we ‘die’ (Rom. 8:13, 7). And when I say ‘dealt with’, I don’t mean we cover it up, stash it away where it can’t be seen, nor organize it into 'neat piles' of clutter. We are to ‘get rid of it’ once and for all. I would also suggest this is where the lines get blurred quickly when it comes to dealing with ‘sin the camp’, or in our ‘church circles’. And I understand why this is so…because we have been taught that we are always going to have ‘cluttered filled lives’ as we continue to live/practice sin, which is contrary to what the Bible actually teaches. Yes, we were... all ‘sinners’ when we first come to Jesus; but we don’t remain or stay that way. If you do…then you ‘remain a slave to sin’ and we know a slave does ‘not abide in the house forever, but a child does’ (John 8:34-35). Jesus said that.

So let’s use the example of taking on one mess at a time as we tackle this 'clutter-filled home'. I should point out here that when the Israelites were going into the Promised land, the people did not have the luxury of getting to decide who they would first go in and conquer and overthrow; this was God’s call since He’s the one doing the ‘leading’. First on the list for them was Jericho (Joshua 6). So as sincere and ready as you may be early on about dealing with all kinds of ‘issues’ in your life, it’s best to let the Holy Spirit do the leading here as He is the only One who is going to provide you grace to overcome your ‘sin issues’.

For me, back in those early days, one of the first areas in my life that God began to deal with was my immorality and the sin of fornication. I was not married at the time, and I thought nothing wrong of my lifestyle with my then girlfriend, and I had no idea that I was living in sin; that is until the Holy Spirit began to convict me and lead me to scriptures that brought this to my attention. And there was some serious soul-searching that began to take place as to how serious was I about ‘following Jesus’. This was not a case where God backed off and decided we could ‘address that sin later’ and would just ‘extend extra grace’ my way as we 'worked on other areas' in need of attention.

We don’t really have a ‘veto option’ and get to tell God that we’d rather work on some ‘other sin’ in our lives. When God says ‘this particular sin’ needs to be dealt with and turned away from…He means it. And the longer we delay confessing it, and then turning away from and overcoming it…the longer our walk with Jesus will be delayed. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but we cannot continue practicing a sin (that God is shining His light on) and also continue walking in His peace. It is impossible to do; and if you believe otherwise, then it is a ‘false peace’ you are walking in and you better deal with that sooner than later.

But let me encourage you by pointing out how when you do this God’s way…and cooperate with the leading of His Spirit…the door of abundant blessings awaits for you to walk through. This I know and I have evidence to prove how God is so faithful when we obey Him. To confront a sin in our life, and then agree with God by confessing it and repenting, or turning from it…is what it means to ‘walk uprightly’ before Him…and ‘No good thing will God withhold to those who walk uprightly before Him’ (Ps. 84:11). Also, ‘those who walk uprightly enter in to peace’ (Isa. 57:2 NIV).

One mistake we can easily fall into... is trying to ‘negotiate’ a deal with God where instead of repenting of a particular sin in our life that we are reluctant to turn from (for whatever reasons)…we want to go and ‘offer up some special sacrifice’ (or service) to God, sort of like what King Saul did which only made matters worse for him (1 Sam. 15). Do you remember the rebuke he received? “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams…” (22). The prophet went on to remind Saul that ‘rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.” (23).

And yet, many people continue to do this very thing…they continue to practice sin, claiming they just ‘can’t help it’ because they are ‘flawed human beings’… but remain busy and active in ‘church life’. These are those who Paul addresses as ‘walking in a form of godliness while denying the power thereof…’ (2 Tim. 3:1-5). Jesus was a tad more harsh calling such folks ‘hypocrites’…and a ‘people who draw near to Him with their mouth and honor Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him’ (Matt. 15:7-9). He actually goes on to say that people who do this…their ‘worship is in vain’. I know…serious words right there.

So let’s say we first take on picking up all those papers and junk mail and other forms of paper clutter laying around the house. It’s a start and one thing we can ‘check off the list’ before we move on to the next thing. Oh…did I forget to mention we better not get too comfortable thinking we have ‘arrived’? Join me tomorrow?