A Clean Life

This study is really speaking to my heart.  In the videos Angela keeps making reference to God taking us to "the next high place" and I just love that.  This week she tells us that because you're living a clean life, you will have a spirit of power and God will take you to the next high place.  When we decide to choose to live a clean life, God loves to bless that.


And I love that he knows us so well that he knew this would be hard for us but he loved us so much that he still made a way for us.  He knew we needed a savior and He said I will make you clean and you know what, you just gotta talk to me about it and I ain't mad at ya.


He even tells us in 1 John 1:19 -
"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."


He pretty much says I knew this would happen...just choose me and not all that other stuff. 


Another important thing was to protect your home and keep it clean.  So when your kids find themselves outside of a holy and clean place they know it and they are uncomfortable and wanna get outta there. 


Angela talked about how she didn't even allow her kid's friends to bring games that were rated anything other than "E" for "everyone" because she didn't want the unclean images and material that her kids didn't need to be exposed to even enter her home.


And while I agree with that, she also said something else I don't particularly agree with.  She said she didn't care what those kids thought about her and she didn't car about those lost little hearts as long as she was keeping her kids she is entrusted to clean.  Well I do care.  I care because I would hope and pray that those kinds of decisions and morals we have in our home would cause our children's friends to wonder why we choose to live this clean life so then they can see that it all points back to our God and being holy for Him.


Think about this, if you turned the TV off and looked at your spouse or your kids after supper and said ok, lets do some devotional time or read from our bibles...what would the reaction be?  Is it normal and accepted as a part of your life away from church?  This is that kind of choosing we are talking about.  Choose God like we talked about last week.  Choose to be clean.


Now this is not just for those of us with kids in the house.  This is for all of us.  We have to keep a clean holy environment for us too.  For our husbands.  For our friends that come to our home.  Our parents and brothers and sisters.  I think about that all the time.  you know I pray a friend or family member will come to know Christ but if that person comes to my home will they see Christ in my surroundings?  In my choices?


So what if it's not so clean?  What then?  Don't feel defeated.  Remember Paul?  The apostle Paul who wrote so much of the scriptures in the bible?


He started off as dirty as they come.  Destroying churches and imprisoning Christians.  But on the road to Damaskus, Jesus made him clean and Saul the Christian persecutor became Paul, the man Jesus called "brother"...he was made clean.


No we haven't done anything like Saul, but certainly we have done things to distance ourselves from God.  Sins or bad choices or prioritizing things over God or whatever and then things got weird and that's when we drew back a bit.


But we confess it to him.  He is a forgets it and we find peace.