Cleaning Out the Excess-Part 1

When you think of excess, do you think of an overflow of stuff? Excess seems to be something we battle in all areas of our lives. In our hearts, in our thoughts, in our homes, in our jobs, in our to-do lists, and on and on and on.

So how do we cleanse ourselves of all the excess?

By starting in one of the most important areas. Our thought life.

If we fill our thoughts with the lies of Satan, and the world over and over again, it goes in, takes root within our hearts and begins to sprout and overflow into our daily lives, in our homes, in our relationships, in our jobs etc.

"It is the thought-life that defiles you. For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God." Mark 7:20-23

Our thoughts are powerful. They have an enormous effect on our lives. It only takes one thought to fill us with an excess of many other thoughts.

Let's look at some examples.

One of the most common thoughts we all have, is a negative thought.

Let's look at an example of what happens when we take that thought in and digest it.

Do you see how it begins to sprout? Now imagine your heart filled with this plus more.

Do you see why we need to clean out the excess of stinky thinking? It spreads like a wildfire.

So how do we cleanse, purge, renew, prune and purify our thought life.

1. We ask God to make us aware of every displeasing thought.
2. We take every thought captive and place it under the obedience of God's Word.
3. We then acknowledge and confess it.
4. Then once we remove it, we have to replace it with God's truth.

This will take time, and is not something that can be done in one day. Therefore, we will spend a little more time cleaning up this area before we move on.

I believe, before we can do anything, before we can even begin to clean up any other area in our life, we have to clean up our thought-life. And we have to be intentional about doing it.

We never want to begin a project only to quit or turn around and see that it has filled right back up more  junk, clutter, and chaos.

So, today, focus on your thoughts. Ask the Lord to reveal to you what kind of thought-life you have. As He does, I recommend you write them down, so at the end of the day, you can go back and see what you are filling your heart up with.

This will make it easier to know what needs to be purged, kept, and placed in a particular area.

I promise at the end of this, it will be one of the most rewarding things you have ever done.

Stalker

"Teacher, he said, we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you. Jesus replied, I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:2-3

How well do we know Jesus? I mean how well do you really know Him? Do you know what makes Him laugh? Do you know what makes Him joyful, sad, and or angry? Do you know His laws and commandments? We want to learn all about others when we first get to know them, but what about Jesus? 

Are you getting me? Jesus lays it all out for us in His Word! He shares His emotions with us!

Maybe I have it all wrong! How can we understand love if we don’t even know about Christ? There is so much more to whom He is then the stories we have been told. He is alive and real, He is holy and pure. We have to get to know Him from the inside out! We have to become His stalkers. Don’t people who stalk others pretty much know there every move, their favorite color, etc. We need to become that way about Jesus. We should absorb ourselves in His word and get to know all there is to know. Once we learn who Jesus is, then, it will be that much easier to reflect Him. We should want to wear what He wears, do what He does, and say what He says.

Nicodemus was a Jewish religious leader, a Pharisee in the high council. Nicodemus new the Old Testament better than you know your favorite song. He knew all the laws and all that was required in order to follow and obey the law. But do you know what Nicodemus did not know? He did not know who Jesus was and what made Him so important.

Do you know what Jesus knew about Nicodemus? Everything! Nicodemus was different than His other leaders, in the fact, that, deep down inside of him was something that made him intrigued with who Jesus was. So one night he went to visit Jesus himself. Throughout their whole conversation Nicodemus shows His lack of knowledge of Christ, and Christ shows us His patience, His importance, His love, and His sympathy towards people who are living in the darkness. Nicodemus also shows his desire to understand Jesus better. And because of that by the time their conversation was over, Nicodemus left a new man, and He left realizing the significance of knowing Christ. We need to be like Nicodemus and go directly to Jesus ourselves and find out who He is.

Open up His biography and start reading it and meditating on it. Get to know who Jesus really is!

Jesus today we cry out asking for You to come down and show us who You are. Lord we want to know every little thing there is to know. Don’t leave anything out! Amen