Philippians 1:6
Galatians 5:22
I…am a pack rat. Those who know me well know that I am not just
a pack rat. I am a messy pack rat. I have things strewn all
over the place – my house, my car, my job. There is no empty
space. I do pick up….often. I throw away…..often. But I also
look at some things and say, “No, I can’t throw that away. I may
need that one day.” Sometimes, I keep things that have no
purpose. It’s not that I need them. I just don’t throw them
away. I know what you’re thinking. That doesn’t make any
sense. You’re right. It doesn’t.
We are all pack rats. I’m not talking about our physical
surroundings. I’m talking about our Spiritual surroundings. We
carry along things that we really no longer need. Hurts and
pains are filling up the spaces in our hearts that should
clean. Grudges are packing the closets of our souls. Sins are
hiding under the rug and behind walls that we have closed in.
If we are Christian, the Holy Spirit is there to clean out all
the things that we have packed away. When he sees things that
need to be thrown out, we want to say, “Oh, no. You can’t throw
that pain away, I still have to get that person back for what
they did to me.” Then those things begin to smell. The Holy
Spirit’s responds, “My child. I am here to make this place like
new. I am here to remodel.” He then proceeds to clean out our
house, our soul. He wants to tear down walls and throw things
out. There is no longer room for all of those things that have
cluttered out lives. Now there is only room for the fruit that
never grows rotten: love, joy, peace patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, self-control. Your spiritual house
gains the sweet aroma of life. The Holy Spirit continually will
clean out that house because He is faithful to complete the work
that He began in us.
Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you. In “The Spirit Song,”
John Wimber writes, “Let Him have the things that hold you, and
His Spirit, like a dove, will descend upon your life and make
you whole.”
--Melissa Vincent
