Spiritual Cleaning ~ Episode 259

When was the last time you did spiritual housecleaning? In this episode, we will explore why many of us struggle daily and the unnecessary burdens we carry around. Many of these can easily be trashed.

Thanks to Media Angels, the sponsor of today’s episode. You can visit MediaAngels.com for books and classes. Many products are available for immediate download.

The Lord gives us such an amazing compacity to feel. We are blessed with five senses, and we use these in our daily lives, often without thinking. However, it is those senses that can get us into trouble. It is time to take stock of our lives and get rid of the trash that does not belong. We can do this in several ways.

The first is to look hard at our lives and happiness. If we are in need of spiritual cleansing, we may feel a burden or heaviness. This is the first sign that something isn’t right in our lives. Before we cast the blame on someone else, let’s look interiorly first and see what we can change. This is not an easy task and may take some serious introspection. It also takes time, a commodity many of us do not have.

By identifying why we carry around specific burdens, we can hone into the issue and then figure out the remedy with the help of prayer. Some baggage is too hard to remove on our own and may take a Christian counselor or therapist. We are blessed to have the Wholeness and Holiness Podcast and Margaret Vasquez on the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

For most of us, it may be a matter of identifying an issue, such as turning to food when we are stressed or bored. Watching inappropriate shows or reading inappropriate books. Or a host of other things we do that can lead us into sin and guilt.

The God we serve is the Creator of the Universe, and we tend to forget that! David said it beautifully in the Psalms, and in Psalm 19:1-2 we read…

Psalm 19:1-2
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

If even the heavens declare the glory of God, shouldn’t we? This righteous God leads us clearly in His word to avoid evil, yet evil can be so tempting. Many of us have John 3:16 memorized. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

But what about John 3:17? “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

And what do we need to do? John 18-21 (read on air).

And that is why spiritual cleaning is needed. We often need to tune up our faith and belief that God is a righteous, fair, and honest God, but we must believe in Him to have everlasting life with Him and believe He is the redeemer worthy of honor and praise.

John 3:19 goes on, (read on air).

How stark and scary! Jesus is the light, and Jesus came into the world for those chosen by God — the chosen ones of God were the people of Israel. Their leaders were interested in keeping their power rather than opening their eyes to Jesus – who was the fulfillment of prophecy. We are blessed to have the Bible and many Bible studies where we can see this so clearly. The Old Testament and the New mess together, and we see such evidence of this. Yet those people, the Israelites who the Almighty God took out of Egypt and slavery, continued in their slavery, their sinful ways> These religious leaders denied He was the Christ and hated light. Why? Because of the fear that their deeds would be exposed. Not all of them, we learn later that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council (John 3:1-2) were the ones to take Jesus’ body and place it in a tomb.

John 19:38-42 (Read on air.)

Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.

So while not everyone denied that Christ was the Redeemer and Savior, their fear kept them from acting. Thankfully we know the end of the story and Jesus rose from the dead, but still, this miracle is denied by many today. If we deny God we can do whatever we want, in theory, but the burden of sin rests on the human soul, and that is what causes the guilt.

Who can hide from God? None of us. He sees all that we do, He knows our hearts and our motivations, and while we can fool ourselves, we will never fool God. When our kids were younger, my husband used to explain to our children when they were denying they did anything wrong that what they were doing was lying to themselves. I thought that was such a great analogy.

When we lie to ourselves, we make excuses or deny that our actions are wrong. Things like, “I’m not that bad compared to other people.” or “I would never do the things that this person or that person does.” We consider that if we work hard enough, we can earn a ticket to heaven. And, while works and faith go hand in hand, they are not exclusive. You can not love God and act in sin; you can not act in sin and say you love God.

Spiritual cleaning is so important to root out those sins that take over like weeds when we are not watching or aware of what is happening in our lives. And like those vines with the tenacles, I have them in my yard; when I pull one stem, five more come up with them. It reminds me to take stock of my life and examine my conscience from time to time.

Take the time to look at your life, if you need some help, I have several podcasts on this topic that may be helpful:

1. Examination of Conscience here.
2. Reexamine Your Conscience here.
3. Avoiding Sin here.

As the scripture says, the reason we don’t want to look into our sinfulness is because then we have a fear of being exposed. But as John 3:21 states – “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

No matter if we fear it or not, it will come out in the end. This life is fleeting, and we consider the ramifications of sin because of our eternal life. Taking the time to clear out unhealthy habits, whether stress eating or binge-watching a show instead of doing something worthwhile, can make us lighter and happier in the end. I don’t know anyone who felt good after overeating, and there is a reason for that! These things while minor (after all, if you are listening to this podcast, you are on the road to seeking a closer walk with God), yet we all need to be an encouragement for each other!

Confession is good for the soul, and I pray that you take stock of your life this week and throw out the trash that has you burdened!

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