Where do most people live? In a house of some sort. Due to the many cultures in the world, each type of housing associated to each culture could be different than others. Some houses may be no more than just thickets and brush tied together, others may be composed of mud, while even others may be built of wood, bricks, sheet rock roofing, etc. Get the picture? All people live in some sort of dwelling place that they call home.
But what about the heart? Not our fleshly heart that pumps life for us, but our true self. The place where we make all of our decisions in life. The place where we either allow the Spirit of God to live, or our adversary, Satan.
In our fleshly heart that's inside our chest cavity, there are several chambers inside from which blood flows as well as oxygen and blood cells. It’s a process that runs continuously, it never stops. But if it does stop, then you stop. Heart attack!
Our spiritual heart operates in the same way. There are two flows of messages running in our hearts continually. One is the message of life coming from God, and the other is the message of deception and death coming from Satan. These messages are continually flowing in all humanity, in which all mankind will have to make a choice as to which message that they will listen to. If one chooses the message of eternal life, then that person will heed to God and become born again as the bible states. Then, at the fulfillment of the born again experience, the Holy Ghost will then live in the heart of that person, and begin to "clean house” in that spiritual heart. If one does not choose the message of eternal life, then he has chosen the message of eternal death whether he acknowledges it or not. Our choices are either eternal life with God, or eternal death and torment with Satan for all eternity. If one does not choose eternal life with God, but chooses another way of life no matter what it is, then that person has chosen eternal death and torment for all eternity, when the time of death occurs. There are no other choices.(For the focus of this article, we will discuss the message of eternal life and our choices in that life).
Once a person has the spirit of God dwelling on the inside of them, then it is up to that person to allow God to do his work in them. By the choices that person makes, that will determine as to what God is able to do for them. The reason: God will not override the power of choice that he has given to all humanity.
Let's consider for comparison, that our spiritual heart is like a house. In a house there are several rooms in which a variety of functions are performed. We shall take each room one at a time and discuss the activities relevant to that room. Keep in mind, that each room of a house has a spiritual application as well, which we shall discuss per room.
Our first room is the living room, also called the family room. This is the room where family oriented activities usually occur. These activities will range from playing with the children, reading, listening to music, warming by the fireplace, entertaining friends, playing games, as well as many other things. This is a high volume room. Much of the daily life is spent in the family room. It’s cozy. It’s clean. It’s messy. It’s lived in. It’s your room of relaxation. It’s your family room.
In the family room of our heart is where we can find relaxation in the spirit; a time of fellowship with Jesus. A time to kick off the shoes, sit back in the recliner, and spend time with him. Here, we can loosen the load of life in prayer to God. We can warm up by the fire of God's spirit. We can also allow God to speak to us through reading his word, or by just sitting and meditating on him. In the family room of our heart, we can praise and worship God with singing, thankfulness, or just plain adoration for our Savior. You will always find Jesus in the family room of your heart. For in family, you’ll find love.
Our next room for discussion is the kitchen. Next to the family room, the kitchen is probably the most important room in the house. In the kitchen we can prepare our meals, sit around the breakfast table and enjoy that morning cup of coffee, help the kids with their homework, wash dishes, read the newspaper, or contemplate on the day's schedule. The kitchen is always used for much more than just cooking meals and eating.
In the kitchen of our heart is where we can find God doing most of his work. In the kitchen is where we can find the fire of the Holy Ghost cooking up his perfect plan for our lives. John the Baptist said:(....he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:)Matthew 3:11.
Did you catch that? With fire! Where is fire normally found in a house? Right. In the kitchen. God does his work through fire. Not a literal fire as to burn our bodies, but with a spiritual fire, the Holy Ghost! This fire in our spiritual kitchen is burning away the impurities of our hearts, purging our souls with spiritual cleansing, and renewal. It is a fire that no man can quench; but that the inward man would continue to grow stronger, by the very burning of the fire of the Holy Ghost.
So often we may spend too much time in another room of our heart's house where the fire doesn't burn quite as hot. After lingering too long in the dampness of the basement of our heart, we feel a strong desire to head back to the kitchen, where the fire of the Holy Ghost is. We soon learn to stay close to the kitchen of our heart.
The next room is the bathroom. In our bathrooms, we become clean. We take showers or baths, to cleanse our bodies of dirt and grime. The bathroom is also where we,...well, you know.
Our spiritual bathroom works closely with our kitchen. In our spiritual bathroom we become clean again. It’s the place of our repentance; to rid our spirit man from the impurities of sin. Before we can enter our spiritual kitchen where the Holy Ghost fire is, we must first go to our spiritual bathroom to cleanse ourselves of our sins. This is done by confessing our sins, asking for forgiveness, and repenting from those sins. By doing so, we stay close to the fire in the kitchen.
Our next room is the bedroom. The bedroom is a room of privacy. No one is allowed into the bedroom unless they knock first. In this room, we are who we are. In the bedroom we sleep, we rest. We can go into this room close the door and lock out the rest of the world. It is a room of intimate privacy. It is a room of peace.
In our spiritual bedroom, we will meet there with God for intimacy with him. This is where we can pour out our hearts to him. We can say things to him in this room, that we could never say in any of our other rooms. It is a room of prayer. It is a room of travail for others. It is a room where we are the most vulnerable to God, open to him completely. The spiritual bedroom allows us to find peace for our souls, peace for our hearts, peace for our lives, spiritually and physically.
Our last room but certainly not least, is the bonus room. Many of the newer built houses of today have a room which is considered a bonus room. Sometimes builders leave it unfinished as to allow the homeowner to do with it as he wishes. In the bonus room we could find a pool table. The computer could be there. Video games or maybe even a hot tub could be found there. The bonus room could be used as a sewing room, a music room, an entertaining room, or an anything you want room. The whole purpose of a bonus room is just that. It’s a bonus! An extra room. A room not a part of the original deal. Thrown in at no extra charge. You didn't earn it or pay for it; it’s, it's....a blessing!
God meets us in our spiritual bonus room much more than we may ever know. This is where we receive blessings from God that we have not earned nor deserve. The times in our lives when we may have "lost it",and we find God right there in our bonus room pouring out grace and peace upon us, which we definitely did not deserve. The countless times as we go through the course of our lives, never realizing how much protection God has placed upon us; protecting us from things unknown to us. Or, the material blessings he allows us to receive from time to time. In which we would have previously given up prayer for the blessings that he has bestowed upon us according to his riches in glory.
The spiritual bonus room allows us to experience God in mighty ways in church services, provided we go there expecting a bonus blessing. The spiritual bonus room serves as a haven for blessings. Undeserved, unearned, and not worthy to receive, but nevertheless bonus blessings.
Take a tour of the house of your heart. In which room do you spend most of your time? If you spend too much time in your heart's basement or garage working on little projects for God, rarely spending time in the rest of your heart's house; then maybe you should put your projects on hold and linger in each room of your heart's house to get reacquainted with God again.
May I suggest a visit to the bathroom to become clean again? Perhaps time in the kitchen by the "fire",stopping off in the family room for praise and worship, ending up in the bedroom for privacy and intimacy with God? After a good cleaning of your heart's house, I am quite sure that Jesus will take you by the hand and lead you from the bedroom to the bonus room; and you know what happens in the bonus room.....
Nov 5,1998
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