I am a wife, a mother, a singer, a songwriter, and most of all, I am an adopted child of God who wants nothing less than to be His vessel to share His light and His hope, love, and joy!


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Cleaning House!

Dear Friends, Family, and Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When I get new revelations, I love to share for two reasons: 1) to give God the glory and show you how much He is changing my life all of the time, and 2) in hopes that God is using me to plant or water the seed of growth in you too!

The Lord is teaching me to clean house, literally and figuratively! For the first 30 years of my life, it was pretty much impossible for me to be a clean and organized person. I’m not quite sure how this happened, but I imagine it’s just a pattern of stinkin’ thinkin’ that resulted from some hard knocks and poor habits in life. But the devil likes to tell us that we are what we are! We are a product of our childhood, our circumstances, and our personality, and we cannot and should not try to control it or change it! We should just embrace it. This is a LIE! Yes, the Lord gave us each special gifts and purposes in life, and we should not pursue things that are not of God, BUT Jesus has died for us and left us with the Holy Spirit so that we can be saved and renewed! The Holy Spirit is our guide! There is a lot in the scripture about renewing ourselves through Christ:

John 10:10: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Romans 12:2-3: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ephesians 4:22-24: You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Titus 3:4-8: But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

My father (earthly father) said something very wise to me once that I never forgot! He said that discontentment sometimes comes from God to try to take us out of our comfort zone and to make a change in our lives.

Of course discontentment is bad when you covet what someone else has and are not satisfied and thankful with your blessings. However, discontentment can be good when it is the Lord doing a new work in you! How can you know that you need to change or move forward if you are not convicted by the Holy Spirit with a sense of discontentment with the way you are acting or thinking?

Sometimes when we are convicted by the Holy Spirit, we let pride talk us out of responding and we become hard hearted and unable to hear from the Holy Spirit; or the conviction turns into self condemnation and depression because we realize that it is a problem but out of fear or whatever reason, instead of acting on it, we keep living with it. We need to realize that when the Holy Spirit convicts us, Christ has given us the power to change and be victorious!

Romans 8:37: We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Ephesians 3:20: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.

Mark 9:23: Everything is possible for him who believes.

Philippians 4:13: I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

When the devil tries to speak lies into your mind, you need to expel them and replace them with God’s truth and with positive words. Say it loudly and repetitively!

Proverbs 13:2: From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things.

Proverbs 18:20-21: From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

I started to say out loud a couple weeks ago, several times a day every day: “I am organized! I am clean!” The more I said this, the less I believed and repeated the devil’s lies that I was an unorganized person! I grew more confident every time I repeated “I am organized! I am clean!” I’ve heard this principal taught by Joyce Meyers and other evangelists and I have seen my dad live his life this way. But I have never really put it in to practice. I was blown away at how powerful and effective this really was!

A little over a week ago, the transformation started! The Lord gave me the time, motivation, energy, and tools to get my house organized and clean! Over the past week, there are some new truths in my house that NEVER were for the past 4+ years of home ownership: my kitchen sink is empty! My counters are cleared, clean, and organized! My laundry is under control. No more mountains of dirty laundry, nor baskets or piles of clean laundry to put away. No more tripping over clutter. It’s been an amazing and unbelievable change. God is cleaning house for me on the inside and out! To God be all the praise and glory!

I hope you are encouraged to live positively, with faith, and by the Holy Spirit. I leave you with this powerful scripture:

2 Corinthians 3:16-18: But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

God bless!
Love,
Sarah

P.S. For those who have not, check out my new song, "You Were Always God". It is available on iTunes and you can listen at http://www.myspace.com/sarahvministry.