Spiritual Spring Cleaning

It's that time of year, Ladies. Have you started yet? Scrubbing baseboards and ceiling fans, cleaning out closets and sweeping cobwebs. There's something about pretty weather that makes us want to see our homes looking just as fresh and beautiful as the outdoors. Today, I want to talk about a different kind of spring cleaning that's been going on around here--spring cleaning of the heart.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about what the Lord had shown me about discretion, and my lack thereof. That was the beginning of a season of soul-searching for me, one that I hope never ends. Towards the end of his life, the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that he was still striving to attain all that God had for him in his spiritual life.

***Philippians 3:13-15 (King James Version)

13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Now, if a man like Paul, full of the power of the Holy Ghost, whom God took up into the third heaven and showed him wondrous things that could not be uttered, felt like He still had room to grow, how much more do we need to improve on our hearts? Have you ever heard the little children's song, "He's Still Working On Me?" Here are the words:

He's still working on me to make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars,
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and patient He must be, He's still working on me.

1. There really ought to be a sign upon the heart,
Don't judge her yet, there's an unfinished part.
But I'll be perfect just according to His plan
Fashioned by the Master's loving hands.

2. In the mirror of His Word reflections that I see
Make me wonder why He never gave up on me.
He loves me as I am and helps me when I pray
Remember He's the Potter, I'm the clay.


For quite some time, I've been longing for revival in my life. The kind that produces fruits and gifts of the Spirit. I just got sick and tired of being in the same place spiritually for SO SO long. It is SO very important that we be not lukewarm in this hour. It is a very dangerous place to find one's self in. So I asked God if He would show me areas in my life that were acting as walls between myself and spiritual progress. Guess what! He showed me! And like I said in the post about discretion, it wasn't pretty! The corners of my heart are thick with dirty cobwebs that provide a home to the creepy-crawly spider of carnality (the enemy of God).

Do you have any of these cobwebs in your heart?:

* Too much computer time
* Wordly TV shows (you don't have to own a TV to watch these, ya know)
* Romance novels (even "Christian" ones)
* Selfishness
* Laziness
* Lack of an effective prayer time
* No time for the Word

I know some of these things may seem a little extreme, and are harmless in their own right. But God knows us better than we know ourselves, and He knows what He is doing when He says "no". Don't we get frustrated with our children day in and day out when we tell them "no" about something and they fight us on it? Their little innocent minds cannot comprehend the danger that we try to steer them away from and they stubbornly insist on having their way. There's a reason why we say "no" to candy and soft drinks and excessive screen time and playing in the road. Because it's harmful to them. "But Mom," they cry, "candy is so good and this computer game is so much fun and there's no cars coming!" In much the same way, our heavenly Father tries to show us the danger in things that seem perfectly innocent. I bet He wants to pull out his spiritual paddle and give us a good whipping! :)

If you want to read more about the cobwebs I've swept out of my heart, and the results, look for Spring Cleaning The Heart, Part 2--coming next week (hopefully) ;).