Housecleaning and Hard Truths

Over the last couple days I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning in my room and in the rest of the house. I wanted to start this new year, 2009, with a clean house. Now I have things in the house all cleaned and organized, but is that good enough?

I wrestled before the Lord this morning during my personal devotions…praying about various things. And God showed me a few things in my own life that could use some attention. Now that my house is clean of dust and clutter, some items that my family and I own could also use to be “cleaned up,” as in they need to be introduced to the garbage. Like I’ve written in previous posts, I can’t say it’s anything out rightly wicked. That’s not how the devil works. He slyly sneaks things that seem “okay” into our lives, under the guise of being “Christian.” But are they really? As I’m searching my own life, God is showing me that things I thought were “okay” aren’t “okay” with Him.

I feel an inner battle raging inside me. And I tremble with these thoughts. I think Judgment Day is going to be a rude awakening for many of us “holy” Christians…those of us who presently think we were in good standing with God. I quiver to think of the things I thought were okay and would be approved by God, and now He is showing me otherwise. And who knows how many other things He will bring to light as I ask Him to show me!

This morning we got together as a family and disposed of a few things that we didn’t feel were pleasing to God. Our good “Glad” CD’s. You know, I have to admit that I like the hymns CD. If you just heard the music you’d think it’s fine. Then one day I looked inside the cover and saw a picture of men in black, sloppy clothing, with longish hair, standing in what looked like a construction site at night. The whole thing radiated “WORLD.” That was a real shocker, considering I was picturing godly-looking men in sharp suits, clean-shaven, with trimmed hair. After that, the music never sounded quite the same to me. Then I remember one day a few years ago when I was telling a friend of mine about this group of men who sang acapella. I turned the CD on for him to listen to, and suddenly I heard that music with different ears. I felt embarrassed. Something inside me (perhaps…just perhaps the Spirit of God?) said that there was a problem. There were no drums. There was nothing that could be specifically pointed out as being wrong, but there was something that just wasn’t right. I shrugged it off as nothing, ignoring what God was trying to communicate to me. Now I’m realizing that when I have that feeling that something isn’t RIGHT, then it’s probably WRONG! There can’t be middle ground. It’s either one or the other. Well, on Saturday we were listening to the “Glad” CD, which we do on occasion. Once again, there was a song that just wasn’t right. No drums. No electric guitar. It just wasn’t right. The tone of voice. The emphasis of the singer, not on the words he sang, but the way in which he sang them. It was fleshly! And let me tell you!!! This old flesh needs NO ENCOURAGEMENT WHATSOEVER!!! We turned the CD off. And this morning after a short discussion, it was a unanimous decision that the CD would go. Like much Christian music today, the “Glad” project started out great. The hymns were beautiful. But as they became famous, the music changed. It was no longer meant to please God, but to please man. A vain show. That was the goal. Seeing as this singing group has changed their music/style, there must have been a spiritual instability from the start…from the very first CD that was made…even though there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. If music is not consistently good as each CD is released, then there is an underlying problem, a SPIRIT problem, that was existent from the very beginning. We’ve adopted a new principle in our house: If it isn’t good from start to finish (from album #1 to album #10) then don’t listen to it at all! Better to be safe than sorry!

Several years ago we listened to “Sound Doctrine” very regularly. Other CD’s would be played, but we always had “Sound Doctrine” cassettes ready to be popped in the tape player. For years we listened to their music and loved it. It really “pumped us up.” Then we rediscovered a few Marshall tapes we had, and those replaced “Sound Doctrine.” For months and then years we listened to the John Marshall family. Then we found a dusty “Sound Doctrine” CD one day and somebody played it. Suddenly, after “Marshallizing” ourselves for quite a while, we heard “Sound Doctrine” with different ears. Something wasn’t right. There wasn’t that same spirit of prayer and holiness that we sensed in the Marshalls’ music. Suddenly it bothered me that the song “Nothing But the Blood” was being played so fast (and with such irregular rhythm) that the words barely registered. We’re talking about THE BLOOD! The precious blood of Jesus Christ that washed away our filthy, vile sins. As the Spirit of God inside me was strengthened with Marshall’s music, “Sound Doctrine” lost its fleshly appeal. We haven’t touched the “Sound Doctrine” CD’s since we came to that realization. And now it has become apparent that “Sound Doctrine” isn’t as doctrinally sound as everyone thought. This morning all the “Sound Doctrine” CD’s and cassettes were disposed of, because we don’t feel that God is getting glory when we listen to that music, and since we aren’t going to listen to it, there’s no point in having it around to cause us to stumble in a moment of weakness. Did I like it? No. There are two songs in particular that I really loved--“What Love!” and the wedding song (“Her Mother and I”?). Sometimes…no, most of the time doing what is right isn’t easy, but it’s better to do right the hard way than to do wrong the easy way. See what this man of God has to say about it (here).

There were several other CD’s and also DVD’s that we removed from this house today. Why? Because we don’t want to grieve God!!! When He shows us light, we need to act upon that light…with haste!!! Last year, around this time, I received a book from a friend, which I was told was very good. I read that book, and Hannah liked it, but the Spirit of God IN Hannah did NOT like it. The book appealed to my flesh. The book was sensual and carnal, and put ideas in my mind that should never have been placed there. As if that wasn’t bad enough, God was a last resort for those in that book. God was a crutch. You heard His name when the problems came, but never at any other time. I read the book out of obligation because it was from a friend, but the whole time I was asking myself why I was reading it. I knew I wasn’t right with God and He did not approve. After I finished the book, my heart smote me. The Spirit of God inside me was grieved, and my flesh was well-fed and feeling healthy. Let me tell you something, this wicked flesh of mine is stubborn enough and willing to do great damage, let alone when I make “provision for the flesh” by reading/listening to things that encourage it!!! I repeat. This old flesh needs NO ENCOURAGEMENT WHATSOEVER!!! I have enough ideas in my mind that need to be suppressed, without reading something that helps my imagination form clearer images of things I have no business thinking on!!! GOD, HELP ME! I let that book sit on my bookshelf for a few months. Then the Lord impressed it on my heart to throw the book in the garbage. I had no intention of rereading it or lending it out to anybody. Then I began thinking that since that was the case, why keep it? I pondered this thought: If I was raptured today and left all my belongings behind, would I want somebody to find that book on my bookshelves and know I had read it? NO! I would be ashamed. So, I took the book and tossed it in the trash, and I can tell you that any other “romance” I receive from the author Dee Henderson will join it. I cannot afford to encourage my flesh, therefore estranging myself from God. I cannot afford to let ANYTHING interrupt that tender stream of communication between us. It’s only too easy for that to happen! God, forgive me! God, forgive me!!!

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
1 John 2:15-17

As if you can’t tell, this has been a pretty intense day for me. This is quite an intense post. As I said earlier, I feel an inner battle raging inside me. Most assuredly, Judgment Day is going to be a rude awakening for many of us. I tremble and quake with these thoughts. The things that most Christians think are “Christian” could very well be a perfect trap set to ensnare us. Is what we consider “Christian” REALLY Christian? Would the Lord Jesus Christ approve? I fear that many of us are so accustomed to grieving God’s Spirit by listening/reading things that in truth are anti-GODliness and pro-flesh, that we have lost our sense of discernment. So much “Christian” music today starts out softly, working on our emotions, drawing us into the song. We become moved and weep, thinking it’s the work of the Spirit of God. And then a little further into the song the drums start up and the tone of the singer changes, singing in your personal space. We get so caught up in the emotion of it all, that our discernment of the spirit behind it is numbed; our flesh is so busy feasting that we fail to hear the Spirit trying to awaken us to reality. When we listen to “Christian” music, often what we think of as spiritual emotion for God is, in fact, fleshly emotion responding to fleshly “Christian” music. Our wicked flesh cloaks itself as “God’s Spirit.” This is the greatest danger of most music today. As we continue listening to this music, the Spirit of God becomes weaker and soon we cannot differentiate between the two spirits--the spirit of the flesh or the Spirit of the Lord. The flesh overpowers the Spirit, stifling His ability to scream out a warning. Soon we become altogether immune and can’t discern what is right music and what is wrong music. And Satan has tricked us into believing we are worshipping God when in truth we are feeding our human nature. The flesh has scored another point, but we honestly believe that God has been glorified…because the words are good. Good words don’t justify a song. Good words don’t justify a song!!! GOOD WORDS DON’T JUSTIFY A SONG! Satan has us so deceived. And we can’t even see it. We are blinded, because our flesh, in the form of “God’s Spirit,” has taken control.

How can we escape the strong grasp of the flesh? Once we have lost our ability to discern the spirit of the music, how can we reprogram our minds to know what is right and what is wrong? I want to propose something. Without even meaning to, this is how we came to recognize godly Christian music from “Christian” music that is flesh-feeding. We listened to the John Marshall family for over a month, and the Spirit of God inside us became so strong that we lost the desire for music that was less than holy and worshipful. I can pray to ANY song the Marshalls song. It never fails to amaze me that when I am in the middle of doing house work, and I hear the Marshalls singing, I have to fall to the floor and pray. The Spirit of God fills my being, and the kitchen linoleum becomes holy ground. I’m telling you…there is something about that music!!! God is IN it!

I remember a time when my daddy was out fixing the CD player in our van. A young man, our neighbor boy, was also helping Dad out. The two of them got along well. I remember Dad asked Lydia to grab a CD from inside so he could try the CD player out. Lydia came back with their album “Peace.” The first song on the CD is “I Could Not Do Without Thee.” Before the first verse was finished, Sjaak was so deeply under conviction that he was practically tripping over his words, grasping for any reason to escape. GOD is IN the Marshalls’ music!!! I would encourage everybody to saturate their hearts and minds with Marshalls’ music for at least one month, and then listen to the music you usually do. I can guarantee you, you will have the discernment to know what music is God-honoring and what music appeals to the flesh. I use it as a standard by which I judge all other music.

I know this post is heavy. I had a hard time writing it. I stand in judgment of NO ONE. Am I bragging about how spiritual I am? NO way! I’m admitting what a loser Christian I am. God has been knocking for a long time, now that I look back. But, like everything else, it takes hard blows to get my attention. I just want to share with you what God has done in me today. This morning I prayed with tears on my cheeks, “Lord, show me the things that need to change!!!” I trust He will continue to do so. And as I remove the things that stand between me and my Savior, His glorious presence will grow more intense as I enter the realm of His holiness, and our sweet moments of fellowship will become precious indeed!

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If Jesus Came

by Lois Blanchard Eades

If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do.
Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room to such an honored guest,
And all the food you'd serve Him would be the very best,
And you would keep assuring Him you're glad to have Him there--
That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare.

But--when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door?
With arms outstretched in welcome to your heavenly Visitor?
Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in?
Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been?
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn't heard?
And wish you hadn't uttered that last, loud, hasty word?

Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out,
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
And I wonder---if the Saviour spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?

Would your family conversation keep its usual pace?
And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?
Would you sing the songs you always sing, and read the books you read?
And let Him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you'd planned to go?
Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him meet your closest friends?
Or would you hope they'd stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do
If Jesus Christ in person came to spend some time with you.

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This is a thought-provoking poem, isn’t it? I wonder what the Lord would say if He saw the books sitting on our shelves or noticed the book on our nightstand. Would we blush with shame if He heard our music and saw the CD albums we treasure most? The thing is, God DOES see. And He does hear. But we forget. Oh, if only we would keep in mind that Jesus lives inside, and He is the beholder of all we do and say and listen to and read!!! We might come to the realization that something in our lives and homes needs to go. Housecleaning never hurt anybody. In fact, you might feel relief, and God might speak to you as never before, now that no clutter is standing between you and Him. What do you think? Is a little housecleaning in order….? =)
I know it was for me. And I know it’s not finished…not by long shot! Lord, grow me!!! Help me to have a clean house that brings honor and not shame to Your name!