Posts
Friday, August 14
Have you ever been asked this question before… If you were a book, what would your title be?
I have, several times, and my answer has always been…Taking Out the Garbage!
Having junk in my life that displeases the Lord is of great concern to me. I want to take out the garbage!
So, I ask myself…
* Do I recognize all the garbage that I allow in my life?
* Do I know how to rout out the unholiness and get rid of it?
Holiness is not an option, for, without it, the writer of Hebrews says, “Seek to live a clean and holy life, for one who is not holy will not see the Lord.” (Heb. 12:14 TLB) Yikes!
As God fills each of us, as His temple, with His holiness through Christ’s salvation, He cleanses us of our sins. However, the upkeep of holiness depends solely on us.
The book of Hebrews also says, “We Christians are God’s house - He lives in us!” (Heb. 3:6b TLB) So, then, do we give Him a clean place to live, or is it all filled with trash? If we are His temple, we must be diligent in routing out all unholiness in our lives.
Hezekiah knew how to get rid of the unholiness in the temple.
When King Ahaz ruled, his tenacious mission consisted of destroying and removing all things holy. He turned away from his religious heritage and built heathen altars to worship Baal and Molech, which he did by sacrificing his firstborn son by throwing him into the fire.
When it came to the temple in Jerusalem, short of pulverizing it, he rummaged through it, gave away its treasures, removed all the sacred utensils, and bolted its doors.
After his death, his son Hezekiah, obviously not the firstborn, was made king. In the first month of his reign, he called all the Levites and priests back into service and told them, “Our ancestors were unfaithful to the LORD our God and did what was displeasing to Him. They abandoned Him and turned their backs on the place where He dwells. They closed the doors of the temple, let the lamps go out, and failed to burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the temple of the God of Israel.” (2 Chron. 29:7 GNB)
Hezekiah then reopened the temple doors and repaired them. After he commanded the Levites and priests to cleanse themselves, he told them to cleanse and purify the house of Jehovah and to “carry out the filth from the Holy Place.” (2 Chron. 29:5 Amp) The Message version states it this way, “Give this much-defiled place a good housecleaning.”
What did they find when they entered the temple?
* The court permeated with garbage and vermin.
* The altars absent of their aroma of burnt offerings for sin and for worship.
* The sweet smell of the incense of prayers dissipated.
* The laver’s bowl depleted of its last drop of water.
* The table emptied of its fellowship of sacred bread, the crumbs carried off by rats.
* The lamps stood cold and dark, doused by an evil blast of air.
* The vessels of service no longer adorned the veiled recesses.
The house of God had been ransacked, stripped of its illumination, revelation, and glory.
Haven’t we all done the same thing at times to God’s temple within us? We permit looters to ransack and haul off His precious treasures from our hearts; we slam the door shut and bar His presence, allowing the world’s garbage to accumulate and quenching the Holy Spirit by dousing His light.
We disregard the well of Living Water, letting it go unattended and dry up. We acquiesce to the snatching of the Bread-Word right off the sacred table by the rat-enemy. We ignore burning the sweet incense of prayer or offering the sacrifice of praise, leaving our altar empty.
After the Levites and priests made a thorough housecleaning, they took all the debris from the temple to the Brook Kidron to be washed away.
Are our efforts exhaustive enough to rid ourselves of all the unwanted garbage in our lives? Have we taken the debris and dumped it in the stream of God’s forgiveness to be washed away, never to fish it out again?
When all had been cleansed, including the people, Hezekiah told the people to bring their sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. So, the house was returned to its holy order.
After taking the garbage out and cleansing our temple, do we return it to its holy order…
* asking for forgiveness through Jesus’ sacrifice,
* refilling the well of Living Water,
* replenishing the table of fellowship with the sacred Bread of Life,
* relighting the lamp of the Lord with the oil of the Spirit,
* and returning to our knees to fill up the heavenly, golden bowl with the incense of our prayers, offering the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving on God’s holy altar?
May our hearts be so averse to the slightest thought of unholiness that we constantly keep our temples swept clean and in holy order.
Lynn,
This post has really shook and rocked the core of my soul....
I was at a place where I was dead inside. My flesh alive, but my soul was dead. My marriage was two days away from being gone... God had been using so many things to put a puzzle together and reveal its truths the me and my husband. My garbage carried into our marriage had created this stinch and basically our marriage was a dumping group of refuse... God used all of this and more to reconcile my marriage within a 12 hr period revealing an enormous amount to me... we basically "cleaned house". We are two new people in the Lord. Our marriage is new... I'm almost speechless in HIS awesomeness to us.
We're going to write a book of our experience and hopefully use it to help other Christians in trouble.
Praise the Lord for this post!
Good morning, Lynn!
Your comments on taking out the garbage really used a good analogy. Unfortunately we do not need to be an evil king to tear down the holy place in our soul. All we need to do is - nothing.
Coasting along without intentionally seeking to be in God's presence will have the same results as turning away from Him and seeking evil. Our lives will fill to the brim with garbage. Taking out the garbage periodically is not as effective as never letting it build up in the first place.
After removing the garbage, it is most pleasing to God to build a daily bond with Him.
Be blessed!
Lynnda
Kimberly, I am so humbled and honored that this post would be such an important puzzle piece in your life. I am in tears and overwhelmed by your comment. How precious the Lord is to use my words to touch your heart. Oh, how I praise Him! And I will be praying for your marriage! May the Lord bless you both!
Lynnda, I totally agree. Being apathetic certainly shuts the door to fellowship and allows the garbage to pile up. And while this is true, it was not my point of this particular post, although it may be in a future one. Thanks so much for the additional point. I appreciate it deeply. Blessings to you!
"Taking out the Garbage"-this is a daily event for me. Some like to wait till Sunday when it's all piled up & the odor is unbearable then they walk into Church & wonder why they cant find any peace the other 6 days.
Some days God has to chissel the garbage out & other days he has to use a 900lb jack-hammer on my heart. Scripture says that on my best day I'm still filthy rags.
So glad that God is loving, patient & doesn't want anyone to perish. Sanctification reigns!
God Bless You for this amazing post!
Melinda, Some days are harder than others, aren't they? LOL! It's a constant effort we must make. And you're so right. I agree. I'm so glad God is patient and kind...and has stopped up sinuses! Blessings to you!
You are so clever and right on target spiritually, Lynn. I always am moved to a deeper walk with God after reading your posts. Have you written a book? If not, you should! You definitely have an authentic voice for our Lord.
Aw, Dawn! Thank you so much! You are such a sweetheart. You have no idea how much it touches me to know that the Lord uses my words to touch your heart, and others. I always try to follow His lead on what to post and I always pray that it will touch at least one precious heart! May the Lord bless you with all that you need.
Dawn, I was half asleep last night when I responded to your comment. I forgot to add that, yes, I am working on a book. Thank you so much for asking! Bless you!
Taking out the garbage is a great theme for a book, Lynn! We all have so much garbage in our lives and need this reminder that we are God's temple and need to keep that temple clean and holy for the Lord. Thank you for another inspiring post!
Great posting Lynn. We have the same heart to constantly take out the garbage. I am always asking the Lord to reveal in me anything that is not pleasing to Him or could hinder my walk. I love how faithful He is to show me and then give me the strength and wisdom to take out the trash even when it is a process.
Keep up the great work sister..xoxo's
Lynn, you're getting pretty "salty". I love this :-)
Lynn, a great post! When I am having such days, I turn and look at a prayer hanging on my wall~
~Trust Him~
~Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, Trust him when thy strenght is small.~ Trust Him when to simply Trust Him seems the hardest thing of all.~Trust Him, he is ever faithful, Trust Him, his dear will is best, Trust Him for the Heart Of Jesus is thy surest place of rest.~Trust Him,, then in storm and sunshine all thy cares upon him cast, Till the term of Life is over and thy Trusting days are past~
"Sacred Heart of Jesus in thee I place My Trust"
Many Blessings Lynn, thank you for great directions~
Thanks, sweet Connie! It is such a pleasure to have you as a faithful reader. I am so blessed. Thanks for your comment. Be blessed!
Dearest Lisa, With all you have to do, you still had time to read this. You are such a sweetheart! Thank you! Blessings to you!
LOL! My sweet friend Lorrie, you are such a hoot! I guess I am getting pretty salty! You make my heart happy. Thanks! May the Lord bless you!
Erica, I'm so happy to see you here. Thanks for taking time to read and comment. And thanks for sharing the poem. I love it! Blessings to you!
I always enjoy reading your blog, Lynn. Thanks for sharing another great post.
Hi Lynn,
I'm the twitterer for Tyndale House. I'm not sure if this is where you wanted me to write about you featuring "Becoming a Family that Heals" by Drs. Tom and Beverly Rodgers or not. It would be wonderful if you could post up a summary of the book, maybe link to the first chapter, put an author bio, cover image, author photos, etc. on your site. I could also ask the authors if they'd be willing to write a guest blog post if you'd be interested in that. If you email me, I can send you more promotional materials and I'd also be able to send you a copy of the book if you give me your mailing address.
Thanks for this opportunity!
Christy Wong
Tyndale House Publishers
christywong@tyndale.com
Wonderful blog! My garbage is things like being too harsh, speaking before thinking, or allowing the sticky, dirty substenance of judgement to dirty my testimony. I like to periodically shake out the grime and dust mites from my house and open the windows to let in the Lord's light. It is a breath of fresh air to let go!
Oh Lynn, thank you for pointing me to this post. It was perfectly timed for me! Yes, I'm in the midst of "taking out the garbage". And it's harder than I thought. It's not so much physical items but attitudes and trusting 'self' instead of relying on the Lord. The weight of all that weighs me down and frankly, I'm tired of it. I want to be free to allow Him to work in and through me.
I appreciate your friendship. I hope one day to meet you in person.
Love,
Debbie