It happens about once or twice a year.
People wash walls, clean windows, wipe cupboards, defrost the fridges, wash curtains, clean the carpets, sanitize the bathroom, clear out the rubbish, reorganize the cupboards,…
We’ve dubbed it spring cleaning (even though we do it in winter).
It’s a time where we get all out stuff together, we sort out our lives.
It’s often time consuming, dirty, hard and often draining.
But, once you’ve complete your cleaning session. You sit back and think; “From now on, I will NEVER let anything lie around again. I will NEVER let those drawers get filled with rubbish again. I will NEVER allow myself to mess up my cupboards again. I will definitely stop collection and hording just! Why? Because this, new and clean look, make me feel happy!”
You feel like a new person! Everything looks, feels and smells better.
You start enjoying your living room again.
Bad smells no longer exist in your cupboards,
And you aren’t afraid of something biting you when you open the fridge!
It’s an awesome feeling!
Today, I want to talk to you just about Cleaning Your House.
When is the last time you cleaned your house?
Now, I'm not talking about what I described as the good ‘ol fashioned spring cleaning… I'm talking about the kind of cleaning that stops Satan from having a hold over you.
Let me give you an example:
Think about your house…
Have you borrowed something form someone and you haven’t returned it yet, for a looooooong time? (take a CD for example).
Technically, until you return it, you’ve stolen it. Making you a thief.
And no matter how much you try honour God in your house and want Him to bless you, He won’t because you are living in sin.
The 10 commandments states: “Thou shalt not STEAL”.
I’ve lost countless CD’s to friends who have borrowed them. Moreover, when I look for them, I can’t find them or remember who borrowed them.
In 2007, I went on MAJOR spiritual spring clean.
I found loads of items that I borrowed but never returned.
My options were:
Keep them or Take a full day and take everything back to their rightful owners.
I figured if I had to keep this stuff I would be no different that a common thief.
So, I took everything back.
Every delivery I made – I felt my soul get happier and i found myself smiling so much that my cheeks hurt! It was weird!
This week, when God gave me this subject to preach on, I reflected on that day.
And this is what I learned:
Proverbs 3:33 “The Lord ’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.”
Righteousness = right standing with God!
Do I want to be cursed by God or do I want to be blessed by God?
Obviously I want to be blessed. We all do!
But It depends on how we run our house.
Let’s take our “permanently borrowed Item” again.
If you have not returned that item, which does not belong to you, you are allowing yourself to live in wickedness and, in turn, giving Satan a back door into you house.
Think about it…
If you do not want Satan in your house, then get rid of anything that will give him access into your house.
Holding something that’s not yours, over the reasonable borrowed time, is theft! That is Satan’s department – Not Gods.
So who are you pleasing in that situation?
Yourself? God? Satan?
You see how something as small as that plays a huge part in your spiritual life?
Matthew 12:22-30
Jesus in a Synagogue and he is being questioned by the Pharisees. (It was as if he was on trial.)
· Reading divided into two: other part Next Week.
22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.
23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. (Put this into your memory bank for the sermon).
26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?
27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man? Then his house can be plundered.
30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Jesus makes a statement:
“…every city or household divided against itself will not stand”
What could potentially divide your house between the Holy Spirit and Satan?
If we want the blessings of God to fill our households, then we need to find those things that prevent them and get rid of them.
Personal story: Mens health Magazine and FHM.
I asked God why he wasn’t blessing me finalcially? He answered me, “why must I bless you when you are sponsoring Satans Campaign of lust?”
Other examples: Show books…
What is in your house that needs to be cleaned out for you to live in the Blessing of God?
That’s all outside stuff… Clean your House!
Now, the inside stuff…
As I have illustrated earlier, what is in our houses is VERY often connected you our spiritual wellbeing. (Remember the “borrowed” CD = Thievery?)
Allow me to help you understand the meaning of the word house in this context:
Psalm 135:19,20
“19 House of Israel, praise the Lord;
house of Aaron, praise the Lord;
20 house of Levi, praise the Lord;
you who fear him, praise the Lord.”
Explain: House = The nation of people whose founding father was… (Israel, Aaron, etc.), not a physical house.
When you become a Christian, you become the Children of God. God becomes your Father and you then have the privilege to house the Holy Spirit within you and your body becomes known as the…
1 Corinthians 6:19
19) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
Temple = Holy Living place (house) of God.
Your body is the house of God.
“House of God, Praise the Lord”.
The thing is… Satan wants to divide and destroy this house of God – Globally.
DO NOT SHOW HANDS this time: How many of you clean out your spiritual lives regularly?
Often, our spiritual lives, our souls are a mess!
There are things in our everyday lives that we really need to be careful of so that the sly snake of Satan doesn’t get in a ruin us.
We need to be vigilant as to what we allow into our spiritual lives… our houses!
List a few: (books, astrology, lotto, symbols, other beliefs,…) = people put their faith into these things and not God.
When that happens, we divide our souls. Our House is divided between the Holy Spirit and other rubbish.
ANYTHING YOU PLACE BEFORE GOD BECOMES THE IDOL YOU WORSHIP…
Astrology: Deuteronomy 4:19 – “And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. (NIV)
We need to be smart and do things which encourage our growth with Jesus and the Body – not divide it.
Here is the crux:
Speak about Satan’s Gateways = Backdoors he uses to get in. A foothold. A foot in the door. (Any metaphor you like) – To get into your physical house as well as you spiritual house (your body).
Why?
To prevent God’s blessing upon your life.
To hold you captive.
We all need a spring cleaning… SO…
Conclusion:
Two things I want you to do:
1. Do a spring clean of your physical house: Find anything that is not supposed to be there, and get rid of it.
2. Do a spring clean of your spirit: Get rid of anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God.
You WILL be amazingly blessed by God when you do this…
Remember:
Proverbs 3:33 “The Lord ’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.”
You feel like a new person! Everything looks, feels and smells better.
You start enjoying your living room again.
Bad smells no longer exist in your cupboards,
And you aren’t afraid of something biting you when you open the fridge!
