Spiritual Housekeeping Series
“Get Rid of the Clutter”
Luke 12:2 (NIV) ; Eccl 3:1,6
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
We are 15 days away from the top of the new year. I heard the Lord say that we need to do a spiritual check and take a good look at ourselves and do some cleaning. So housekeeping is needed
Housekeeping- the management of household affairs. the work or activity of cleaning and preparing
In my early 20’s I had a job as a housekeeper at Hampton Inn on Haywood Rd. Me and my former best friend worked their together. We would start early in the morning and our boss would give us a list of what rooms we had to clean for the day.
We had a strategy on how to get all this work done in a timely fashion, so we could leave at a certain time of the day. So because my former best was good at making the beds and I was best at the bathroom, we would combine our work and do our rooms together.
Know your strength!
When entering a room you never knew what to expect! Some room people would leave them clean and would put all the dirty lien in one spot. Where some would leave the room completely dirty and trash everywhere.
But no matter the condition of the room, our job was to clean up that which was dirty and make it suitable and ready for the next guest to reside in.
Housekeeping can be a difficult task based upon who all lives in that home with you. When you have the responsibility of keeping the house in order it can become overwhelming.
• You have the bills to pay
• Rooms to clean
• Food to prepare
• Kids to get dressed
• A job to get to get to
With all of this you find yourself exhausted and stressed from having so much on your plate that now some things begin to get neglected.
• Not cleaning your house as often as you use to
• Paying your bills later than normal
• Your physical health suffers
• Your mental health suffers
And you find yourself suffering in silence!
Look at this from a spiritual stand point
When you begin to neglect your spirit man
• You don’t read your word like you use to
• You fast less and less
• You eventually can’t find time to fit God in your day
And now because of the neglect your physical home and your spiritual home is filled with clutter.
And all of the clutter has gotten in the way
Clutter: to crowd, to fill or cover with scattered or disordered things that impede movement or reduce effectiveness.
We have become Spiritual Hoarders
When someone gives you something and you love it dearly It is in our nature to cling to what we love. We all have the natural tendency to cling to what is familiar even if it proves to be detrimental for us.
Letting go is one of the most difficult task for humans to do.
We hang on to
• Toxic relationships
• Certificates we earned in school
• Books
• Magazines
• Letters
• Cards
• Shoes,
• Clothes
• VCR tapes
• Cassette tapes
• Hurt and abuse
Why? Because letting go of it feels like we are losing a part of ourselves. And living in it is comfortable
The difficulty we have in freeing ourselves from physical clutter is parallel to our difficulties getting rid of spiritual clutter.
Hebrew 12:1 Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares you.
Colossians 3:8-9 (AMP) But now rid (depart) yourself completely of all these things anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene abusive filthy vulgar language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another for you have stripped off the old self w/its evil practice.
But we have become Spiritual Hoarders instead of getting rid of these things we hold on to them and continue to add to the mess.
Hoarders are known to keep everything they own until it becomes harmful to their surrounding, but because they have such a connection to these things it becomes almost impossible for them to let go. It now has become a sickness that has overtaken their lives.
Not letting go caused their life to become full of clutter
I ask you? What are you still holding on to?
In the midst of the clutter is some valuable things that is needed for your next level.
But you can’t access it because it has been overshadowed by the clutter
• Anger
• Malice
• Hatred
• Evil thoughts
• Depression
• Back biting
• Fornication
• Fleshly desire
When there is so much clutter you can no longer see the value of what’s beneath all the clutter!
I want to give you three things you need to do to begin clearing the clutter
Point #1 – Be willing to be exposed – Take the Mask Off
You have to be honest about where you are.
We put on make up to sometimes cover up what we don’t people to see
We don’t want them to see our flaws.
We want to gives the illusion to others that you are okay you find yourself wearing a mask.
You wear this mask on a daily basis because you don’t want anyone to know that you don’t have it all together.
The mask allows you to go through the motion of everyday life without them knowing
• I’m being beat at home by my spouse
• I’m over my head in debt
• I don’t have running water at home
• I’m sleeping in bad conditions
• I am miserable
If there was ever a place to say, I don’t have it all together should be the house of the Lord. Because here
• You find your joy
• Find your peace
• Find you hope
• Find your healing
• Find restoration
• Get the help you need to be free.
Who the son set free is free in deed.
But because we don’t want someone to look at us strange because I am a minister or because of my position in the church we keep on the mask to cover up.
Take off the mask – (take off mask)
The mask is a form of Godliness
2 Timothy 3:5 Having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof; from such turn away
? Exposure is not a thing anyone wants to do to themselves.
? Because exposing yourself requires that you take off the mask.
? And taking off the mask puts you in a variable place.
Behind the mask lies
• Shame
• Guilt
• Past hurt
• Depression
• Hatred
• Malice
• Jealousy
• Strife
• Addictions
And your spirit is begging to be free. You have to be willing to expose
• your hurt
• your shame
• your guilt
Because exposing the enemy is the 1st key to being delivered.
Pont #2 Go through the pain of separation
Once the mask is removed and the clutter is exposed it’s time to start the separation process
This is the hardest part of the process.
When it’s time to start the clean up process emotions gets stirred up and that person starts to dealing with separation anxiety
Separation anxiety – the excessive fear or anxiety about separating from home or an attached figured
You have to be willing to go through the pain of separation
With horder, they will see something that they really don’t want to let go of so the best remedy of really keeping it in their lives even from a distance. They give it to one of the children and say you keep this.
Spiritual speaking, you are passing a generational curse to your children because of something you don’t want to be separated from.
Pont #3 Fix the damage the clutter left behind
After you are done pulling off the what was behind the mask and separating yourself from the clutter
You will see that the clutter left some damage behind for you to fix
If your not careful the enemy will make you see the left over damage as un-repairable
And try to get you to cover it up again
You have to remind the devil
• That I am a new creature, old things have passed away and behold all things have become new
• Going back to the way it used to be is not an option
• I’m moving forward
• I’m not perfect
• I have some flaw
• But God loves me flaws and all
