3 ways to spiritually clean your heart

The last thing I ever expected to make my life easier was garbage day. Yep, garbage day.

For the past ten years, our local waste management company has helped me organize my life by picking up our garbage every Monday.

What’s so special about Monday? Nothing really, except it’s the start of a new week.

On Sunday, I clean out the refrigerator and collect all the trash in the house. In the evening, my husband takes the full, and sometimes heavy, garbage cans to the curb where they sit and wait for the garbage truck the next day.

When I leave for work in the morning, the cans are filled with accumulated garbage. But when I return at the end of the day, the cans are empty. It’s a satisfying feeling knowing that the house has been cleared of all garbage.

But the results of this weekly ritual do not last. Within a day, more garbage is starting to accumulate, and by Sunday, we start the process of removing the trash from our home once again.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. – Romans 12:2 (NIV)

In Romans, we are instructed to remove the trash from my spiritual life. When we listen to the ways of this world, we accumulate garbage.

Here are five ways we can remove all of the trash and renew our hearts.

Confess your sins to God

Our sins weigh us down and hold us hostage. But the healing power of confession restores our relationship with God and sets us free.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

Read scripture

Immerse yourself in God’s word. They are alive and will clean the depths of your heart and renew your spirit.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. – Psalm 51:10 (NIV)

Forgive

When we refuse to forgive someone who has hurt us, we become bitter. It drains our emotional energy and can affect our health. More importantly, God cannot remove the garbage of our sins unless we forgive others.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. – Ephesians 4:31-32 (NIV)

Following God’s path for your life

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I stood before the automated soda fountain. It seemed simple enough. The machine’s instructions had me navigating the touchscreen with ease. Only a few simple clicks stood before me and my favorite soda.

But then something happened. My finger stopped mid-air, unwilling to press anymore buttons.

On the screen before me were logos of over one hundred different brands and flavored drinks to choose from. I didn’t realize that many existed.

I realized my choices were endless and began to rethink my decision. Should I choose something different? Maybe I would enjoy a drink I have never tried before? I became lost in a soda world full of choices.

I eventually decided on my favorite cola.

We make many decisions on a daily basis. No wonder we become overwhelmed sometimes.

What will I watch on television?
What’s for dinner?
Should I make dinner, order a pizza or go to a nice restaurant?
What shall I wear today?
What time shall I wake up in the morning?

These are just some of the small things we all have to decide every day.

There are also big, life-changing decisions.

Who will I marry?
How many children will we have?
Where shall I work?
Where will I live?

Decisions can sometimes be stressful and hard to make.

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. – Proverbs 2:6 (NIV)

Luckily, we don’t have to become exhausted and confused with all of the choices we face. There are scriptures to help us.

Clear your mind

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NLT)

Pray for wisdom

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. James 1:5 (NLT)

Isn’t it comforting to know we only need to ask God for wisdom, and He will provide?

Let God lead

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

God will never leave us in the dark. He is forever our guiding light.

Trust God

Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:21 (NLT)

God is always right beside us.

Rooted in the Word of God

3 / 22 / 16

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. – [biblegateway passage=”Ephesians 3:17-18″ display=”Ephesians 3:17-18″]

Change can lead to happy occasions such as graduating from high school or having a baby.

It can also be bittersweet like saying goodbye to a loved one who is leaving home to pursue their calling from God.

Other changes make you stop and reflect on what was and what now is.

Recently my parents moved from the town they had lived in for more than twenty years. It’s the same town I call home even though I have not lived there in years.

On the day they moved, I experienced an emotional separation from this small and quiet town. I thought about the memories and the friends we made over the years – those friends who are still part of our lives today.

Until now, I returned every week to visit mom and dad. When I entered the city limits, I knew I was home. The sights and landmarks are as familiar to me as my family.

I love that I can walk into the grocery store and know all of the faces that greet me. And I love that I can sit in mom and dad’s backyard during the annual fair and visit with passersby.

Even though I no longer live there, it was comforting to know I could always go home to this place filled with many memories and still feel part of it.

When I moved away many years ago, I kept my roots planted there with mom and dad. It was my way of staying part of this wonderful town. But now that they are no longer there, what do I do with those roots?

[biblegateway passage=”Jeremiah 17:7-8″ display=”Jeremiah 17:7-8″] (NIV)

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Jeremiah has taught me that my hometown roots provide wonderful memories of family and friends that I will always cherish. But I need to focus on growing other roots that are much more important.

Roots are the part of a tree that grow downward into the soil. They keep the tree anchored so that it does not fall over in the wind and provide water and food. Without roots, a tree cannot survive.

God’s word is our root. The more we read His word, the deeper our roots will be planted. These roots provide spiritual food, sustain us in the storms of life and keep us strong when temptations come our way.

The author of this[biblegateway passage=” Psalm 1:3″ display=” Psalm 1:3″] compares us to a tree. Planted by the water, a tree’s thirst is quenched through its roots, keeping it healthy and always bearing fruit.

When we study the word of God, we are fed and nourished through our roots, keeping us healthy and always bearing fruit.

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How great is our God

11 / 24 / 15

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I thought I would share with you two reflective passages from Psalms that remind us how great our God is.

Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 95:1-7
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.