Is God
Comfortable in Your Home?
Several years ago while listening to the Pastor’s sermon,
I felt an overwhelming prompting from the Lord. I sensed that HE wanted me to “clean up” my home since there
were things that were displeasing to Him. I wasn’t aware there was a problem
but I knew that I needed to take inventory as soon as I got home from church…
and this prompting had nothing to do with the Pastor’s message, so I knew it
was a “God thing!”
That night I prayed that the Lord would show me what needed
to be purged from the house and I felt a strong impression to read Joshua 7…
here’s the paraphrased version of what occurred in that chapter.
Joshua had just led the Israelites in conquering
Jericho. The people were ecstatic,
and probably overconfident. The
next town to be conquered was Ai, so insignificant that Joshua only sent a few
thousand men to fight them. The
men were ambushed and killed, and the people were shocked and extremely
fearful. The scripture says: “The
hearts of the people melted and became like water. And then Joshua and the
elders tore their clothes and fell down before the Ark of the lord.” Joshua cried out to the Lord, “why
would you give us such great success with Jericho, and then make us run from
our enemies?” He pleaded and
begged God for an answer and God said, “Get up…Israel has sinned by keeping
things from the battle of Jericho that were devoted to the Lord. That is why they are running from their
enemies and being defeated.” And
then the clincher: The Lord spoke to Joshua and said, “I will not be with you
anymore unless you destroy whatever is among you that is devoted to
destruction.”
Immediately I knew what the Lord was saying. There were things in my home that were
devoted to destruction….things that were potential hazards with my relationship
with God. Let me say that these things were snares for MY household and for me
as a worship leader and are not necessarily applicable to anyone else. Each
person must determine what the Lord directs them to do respectively.
I asked the Lord to reveal anything in my home that was
devoted to destruction, and as I took out a pen a paper, these snares were
quickened to my heart. Here are a
few from the list that the Lord prompted me to remove quickly:
Videos that had language or inappropriate behavior
Videos for the kids that promoted spiritualism, innocent
toys/pix, actually of demons
Music that had lyrics promoting ungodly lifestyles
Toys that promoted spiritualism and dabbling into
anti-Christian themes
Books that propagated answers to problems that were
contrary to the gospel
TV shows we watched that were not appropriate for a
consecrated Christian.
The list went on.
Once we purged our house of these destructive items,
something dramatic literally happened overnight. Because we chose to consecrate our house to the Lord, it
affected our kids’ spiritual lives, as well as Grace and mine. Anyone who
entered my home from that point on said, “This is a house of peace”…there was
something special you felt when entering the home. I believe it was because the Spirit of the Lord was
comfortable there.
God requires all of us to make sure that our homes are
pleasing to HIM. As we prepare to face the years ahead,
I pray the Lord would reveal those things “devoted to destruction” and anything
else that could hinder our relationship with Him. The challenge for us is simple…is God comfortable in your home?
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