MAKING YOUR HEART CHRIST'S HOME

2005-10-20T17:11:00.000+10:00

One of the most remarkable things I find about Christianity, is that Jesus Chris Himself, through the Holy Spirit, will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there.

JOHN 14 : 23 says "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

As we invite Him into our hearts and lives, we basically give Him the grand tour of our lives. I dont know about anyone else, but when I invite people into my home and give them the 'grand tour', I invariably apologize for 'the mess' (even though I have spent hours cleaning). When someone else is there in our home, we tend to look at things differently.

This is exactly the same as when we invite Christ into our lives. We suddenly become conscious of areas in our life which need a little 'spring cleaning'. But do you know what Gods response to us is? "Dont worry about that for now. I am here to stay and theres plenty of time to look at that later. Just come and fellowship with Me."

The important thing that we must remember is not to shut the door (and padlock it) on any room (area) in our lives. We need to give God FULL ACCESS into every room, so that when it IS time to go and do some cleaning, we havent shut Him out. Some things in our life, God will want to deal with immediately, however there are many things which God gently guides us to in time.

My parents divorced when I was 13 years old and my sister and I never saw our father from that moment. I had a lot of questions about him : whether he thought about me, whether he knew where I was, etc and God showed me that these were wounds in my life (a room which would eventually need cleaning). It wasnt until 12 years later, though, that the Holy Spirit really began to stir my spirit again in regards to my father. It was as though He was saying, "Its time, Donna, to come and clean out this room WITH Me; freshen it up and throw away the things that are being horded up (and causing pain)."

I am 5 months pregnant at the moment and nesting!! Many of you women will know exactly what I am talking about. Most men, however, much like my husband, will have no concept of this overwhelming feeling. "This whole cupboard MUST be cleaned TODAY. Yes, I know it has been like this for years and it is time to get dinner ready, but I MUST do it NOW."
You may also have had the experience that once you begin cleaning, you often end up with more mess that when you actually started. This has to happen, though, so that things can then be sorted and thrown out. If you are anything like me, you will get half way through the project, and think to yourself "Why did I start this?" Once you remain committed, though, and see the task finished, you feel so much better at the end : a real sense of achievement.

You know, this is exactly the same in God. When He begins a cleanout in our lives, it often looks and feels more of mess than when He began. Our thoughts may be "Lord, why didnt you just leave things the way they were?" He gets half way through and we often just feel like packing it in. "This is all too hard. I cant deal with anything else."
If only we would just let Him "complete the good work which He begins in us". How wonderful we feel at the end, when old attitudes, negative thinking, etc. is dealt with and we are transformed!!!

I encourage you, that if God is dealing with you at present, and wanting to do some spring cleaning, just hang in there, "that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." Colossians 4 : 12

Donna's desk

MAKING YOUR HEART CHRIST'S HOME