Good day to you brothers and sisters, Peace and blessings be upon you today and always. I have been giving a lot of thought to the cleaning out of this temple. Jesus was not gentle when His passion took over and He chased the money changers out of the temple. I have thought about this for some time. The last few weeks have been crazy strange to say the least. The emotional highs and lows were doing their normal roller coaster effect in my mind but Jesus was in control and the Father had a plan. Like I said yesterday, I don’t like waiting and this is one of the lessons I have been learning. It has been a very eye opening and humbling week for me.

Yesterday I posted “Wake up!” and besides lifestyle differences, choices made and the fact that I am a woman, he and I are on the same page. I really do think that the Almighty is coming back sooner than any of us are ready and I know I have said this before; we as Christians need to be trimming our wicks and cleaning house. *We need to be washing our wedding garments because the Bridegroom is on His way. We all have an idea what areas we need to surrender to the Lord and allow His Spirit to do with how He pleases. If you feel you have none, I promise you do, I say this in love because none of us will be perfected until the day we meet the Lord in the sky.

*For those that are new to the faith, the scriptures refer to Jesus as the Bridegroom and we, the church, are His Bride. We are also known as the Temple of the Most High and Ambassadors and Sons and Daughters of the One Living God, a Royal Priesthood.

It’s a strange partnership, this relationship with Jesus. In the beginning the Holy Spirit opens your heart to God, who sent the Spirit. Then He works in you to change the desires of your heart and renew your mind but you have to put in the work of reading the scriptures daily. Once this renewing starts, you become more and more sensitive to sin, first you see it in the world, then you see it in your friends and outside family, then you begin to notice it in your spouse and in your children. Last but not least, if you didn’t see it in yourself along the way, this is when you begin to see it in yourself. It can be overwhelming!

Okay so maybe it didn’t happen for you like that but it did for me. I have said before that I don’t want to be a hypocrite or give the devil a foot hold in my life but for so long I have been doing and being just that. I have not been walking the talk. Well it has to stop at some point and better late than never… right? Right! After all that is what repentance is all about. Recognizing that you were wrong about the way you were doing things and acknowledging that Jesus knows the way.

The Idea… Three Days Dead

I know it takes more than three days to break a habit however, with the Help of the Lord all things are possible. The idea is this: Whether it be three seconds, minutes, hours, days or years… our goal is to turn around. Go the other way. Let go of the things that are holding us back. Start out with seconds if necessary and cling to the Lord as you travel in the dark. He will direct your steps and your thoughts. He will give you strength to accomplish all things.

• Ask the Lord to open your eyes to one toxic trait and get rid of it. It could be anything physical or spiritual.
• The idea is to surrender to the Lord and to rid ourselves of anything, especially inside our hearts and minds that do not conform to the image of Christ.
  • We have to be willing to put in the work or to pick up our cross and die to ourselves each day.
  • Let go of things like:
    • bitterness
    • hate
    • lust
    • jealousy
    • wrath
    • sexual sins and impurities
    • etc…

The Lord tells us to die to ourselves daily and pick up our cross and follow after Him. Those that are not willing to do this are not worthy of Him… this is what Jesus said. This is a hard word and many will not be up for the task. I am taking this challenge head on. I want to present my body a living sacrifice to God. It is my reasonable service. That being said, tonight will be the next update on the dying to self. the two, one physical and one spiritual, I have chosen to let go of are smoking and learning to control my tongue. I figure since I wont be smoking, controlling my mouth would be a good one to go with. This may mean I do nothing but blog and not speak the whole time but if it gets the job done, I am good with it. Lets rip that band-aid off and keep on walkin… rub some dirt on it as they say in the south. In my opinion, all these things that are against God are a form of bondage to the devil and only the Lord can break those chains. Not me, not you and not anyone else… only Jesus.

NO SMOKING – This one is a hard one because everyone that I know is a smoker and I am not young and healthy like I once was. If I stop looking at the Author and Finisher of my faith, I will be swept beneath the waves of anxiety and fear that crash against my Lighthouse but He is strong and so long as I stay close to Him I will not fail!

• Day One – Three
  • Stayed in constant prayer… which is how we are to spend all our thought life anyway.
  • Eat Asian Fu soup with wasabi and fresh vegetables
  • Vitamins A, B complex, C, D, E, Magnesium, Zinc
  • DRINK WATER – one ounce per body weight.
    • 135 Lbs = 135 ounces of water or 16.8 – 8oz glasses of water
      • Because I never drink water… this is going to be a challenge
  • Keep myself busy – Finishing up different projects and tackling the laziness in my life.
• Spiritual side – Controlling my mouth. This will also benefit my home and in theory, it will help me tackle other things in my life that need work. If I am not talking as much, I am not sitting idle as much, and will be able to finish more things. This also goes hand in hand with controlling my mouth. There are many times that I don’t think before I speak. On a spiritual level this can be very damaging. Jesus said that it is not about what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out. Lord knows I have defiled myself a lot with my uncontrolled tongue.

I highly recommend listening to Melissa talk about denial and picking up our cross. She is very knowledgeable and has a way of saying things that I don’t. As she says below, the scriptures say it wont be easy. This is why we need one another so much with all the things that trouble us in this life. We need good christian friends that are not afraid to say… “I have been right where you are and Jesus is with you.”

I understand the old man is dead and that we are new creatures in Christ but we don’t wake up to butterflies and kittens every morning. This is a war and we switched sides in enemy territory while everyone was sitting around the fire, drinking the sorrow of the world… we stood up and screamed… I love the enemy! Catch me if you can! It’s like a dark game of cat and mouse. Tom and Jerry have nothing on this Christian walk.

Once I have tackled not smoking and have gotten past the first three days, I will be adding diet changes. This way I will not throw my health back to the stone age and past the point of no return with sicknesses and over eating. Also, I have health problems that are coming to the surface because of my life choices and they are not so good. Heart issues mostly and I know it has to do with my lack of water. I must take better care of this temple. I want to be around long enough to enjoy my life with my grandchildren. they are a blessing.

Well until next I write, stay peculiar brothers and sisters. I will be praying for any of you that decide to do this challenge with me. I know that the Lord has us and He wants all things good for us. If you have found yourself here, the Most High may have been speaking to your heart and soul about things that you need to change in your life. We are being sanctified daily for the Lord and He is faithful to finish what He has started. As always feel free to like and share, lets gather a few more to join in. Comment below if you’re up for cleaning up our wedding garments. All up for the challenge say AMEN. If you’re comfortable doing so, share with us what you are putting aside and let us know how your doing with it, someone may have words of encouragement or you could be the one that gives someone else the strength to keep going.