Cleaning Up…
“But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” ~ Matthew 19:26 (ESV)
To be honest with you, the idea for today’s thoughts came from a post by Laurel entitled “Where to put all this ‘stuff’“. Although Laurel is talking about household and material stuff, it made me think about the spiritual ‘stuff’ we accumulate over a year…Do I ‘process’ everything correctly? Do I make up my own doctrines? Are my thoughts right and ‘theirs’ wrong?
You see, only One holds the answers to all my questions. Do I always like His answers? I have to admit, not always. Looking back at 2006, I have to say that God has grown me in areas I thought would never be possible. And other areas — well lets just say, I failed to listen to Him…Especially forgiving people.
As I am looking forward to 2007, I am hoping that He will use me in areas that I never have thought of before. Even if it means for me to step out of my comfort zone. I want to be more forgiving, I want to be more loving (not only love the lovable), I want to be more like Jesus. If it means to read books of the Bible 20 times (like my friend Carol), so be it. I want to grow and I want to be obedient to my Lord and Savior…As Oswald Chambers said:
“When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God…”
Lord of Heaven and Earth. As I am starting this new year, help me to clean up my spiritual junk I have accumulated last year. Remind me every single day that You are much bigger than I like to think. I always try to put You in a little box and only take You out when I am desperate. Lord, help me to be obedient to You and Your Word. Show me Your will for my life. Here I am Lord, Your servant is listening. I am trusting in Your mercy. I pray this in the name of my Lord and Savior, I pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen
Did you accumulate spiritual ‘junk’ in 2006? Do you need some cleaning? Then let us clean together and search His Word more often in 2007…
Blessings on your day and 2007…
I too, have been on a cleaning binge at my house so I can relate to the comment “Where do I put all of this junk?”. I like though, your turning that question into a spiritual one. I’m going to reflect today on the “junk” in my thoughts that is cluttering my mind. Let’s get rid of it and let’s get going! 🙂
Oh amen amen amen. It has brought to my attention that I too can put God in a box (by several sweet people, =) But I think that was the Lord speaking to me through them. This will be my goal this year, not to limit God. To move step out into the “scary” and know the Lord will carry me.
Happy New Year. Thank you for all you do.
Blessings.
I’m with you sisters. Onward and upward… let’s go! Happy New Year.
That’s such a fitting post for the first day of the year. Happy New Year to your whole team!
Iris, this is a wonderful thought. I will think about all the spiritual stuff as well. For me this is putting into practice all the good things that I’ve learned over the year, as well as filtering out all the bad.
I want to be more like Jesus!!!!
What more could we strive for in 2007. Thank you… 🙂
Count me in for some heavy-duty spiritual housecleaning in 2007! Loved your post–it’s causes us to look upward with exceedingly great joy!
Amen. (Wow, I feel like that must be all I have to say this morning but everyone has such true and wonderful prayers on their sites, sigh. :))
I find that spiritual “junk” accumulates when I have been away from the Sustainer of All… just like I would reach for some sugary or salty junkfood when I am too physically hungry. So, when I face my spiritual “junk,” I want to ask, “Where was I hungry and why, that I was willing to take this into myself and feed on it?”
Good words. The Bible has the power to sweep out impure thoughts and motives. Praise God for His choly haracter. Sometimes I realize just how far I have to go… fortunately, life still stretches out ahead of me a distance! There’s still hope. :~)