Declutter!

When Jesus said we cannot pour new wine into old wine skin, he was giving us a very unique instruction as believers!

He wasn't just talking about mixing the law and grace or any other sophisticated stuff. He was talking about you!

He was talking about your spirit, soul and body!

As many of us have come to know, we are made of spirit, soul and body!

WHEN WE BECOME BORN AGAIN, we assume the Holy Spirit takes over from our human spirit, but this is very untrue.

As soon as we become born again, we have our body, our soul and our spirit plus the Holy Spirit!

Remember that song "This little light of mine, I’m gonna make it shine"

The Holy Spirit is that light, our spirit is but a candle according to Proverbs 20:27

Once we receive that cloven tongue of fire called the Holy Ghost, the candle or lamp of the Lord in our bodies gets ignited!

The Holy Spirit is that light on the candle or lamp of our spirit.

So, I would like you to imagine a candle on a candle stick in a dark house, then imagine the candle being lit, it will bring light to the house, but some places would still be dark in that house!

The candle is only effective in the immediate area surrounding it!

Imagine that all the loads and clutter in the room are removed one after the other! The chairs, tables, bookshelf, television etc. until the room becomes empty! Remaining only the lit candle in the room!

Can you see that the whole room is full of light!

The reach of the illumination from the candlelight increased as the room was decongested and every clutter moved out! Until the whole room was full of light!

The scripture says "If your eye be single, your body will be full of light" Matthew 6:22-23

Imagine again that scene with a lit candle on a candle stick, but instead of all the stuffs in the room being taken out imagine that more stuffs were brought in.

So, let’s assume the room had only television, furniture and book shelve before! Now imagine that new stuff was being brought into the room! Deep freezer, freezer, DVD, ultrasound, fridge, toys for children, bicycle, dining table, chairs, washing machine, bedding etc. until the room is full of all sorts of stuff

Do you think the candle's light would still be as bright? No!

The effect of the candle would have been reduced because of all the clutter!

That is exactly how we are with the Holy Spirit!

We received a new life and a new spirit, but we refuse to remove the old beliefs, ideas, thoughts, imaginations and superstitions.

We continue to clutter our hearts with all sorts and practically snuff out the effect of the Holy Spirit in our lives!

The Holy Spirit thus becomes a tool we use to carry out certain religious activities rather than the owner of our lives!

Many of us need thorough pruning and purging!

John 15

1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. 2He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.

The reason we are not walking in the supernatural was because we have refused to let go of all the clutter in our hearts!

We got born again, the candle of our spirit was lit with the cloven tongue of fire, but instead of decluttering, we cluttered our spirit the more!

We worry, we are anxious, we talk trash, we listen to junk, to eat junk, we watch junk, we think junk, we relate with junk!

We keep cluttering the room until the Holy Spirit has almost no effect on our lives!

Once this is done!

I am saying that once the light of our spirit has been sufficiently darkened by the clutter we created, cockroaches, wall geckos, bugs, rats, spiders, insects of all types, cobwebs and sometimes snakes find the room very safe to inhabit!

An empty room full of light can never accommodate creeping insects and reptiles! A snake will never live in an exposed place! Neither would a rat or a cockroach! But all these reptiles and insects enjoy cluttered space because there would be room in the darkness to hide, safety from discovery and plenty of food to eat!

Can you see a pictoral representation of your spiritual life here?

The Holy Spirit is the light of your spirit

He is in you

But you have not given him the room to shine as he ought to because you have cluttered your spirit with all sorts of stuff

His influence has become limited because of all the fruitless branches you have refused to prune!

Are you a born-again Christian who was always unhappy! Always moody! Always offended! Always complaining! Always crying! Always frowning! Always playing victim! Always finding fault! Always looking stern! Always criticizing others and making other people's lives miserable! Always thinking of self! Something is always wrong with such a fellow! It’s so easy to fly into rage and fits of temper! Yet speaking in tongues and claiming to be full of the Holy Spirit!

Cluttered!

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us...

The clutter we have talked about and the weight the writer of the Book of Hebrews was referring to are one and the same!

Your spirit is immobile because you have buried it under a lot of stuff!

Declutter your spirit immediately!

How do you declutter your spirit?

You move out all the stuff in the room!

How!

2 Timothy 20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. 22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. 24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

How?

Use the WORD!

Nothing cleanses, purges and transforms like the word of God!

Start with the Book of John!

Be determined to purge yourself of old habits and old ways of thinking!

Pray in the Holy Ghost!

Then make this confession

"Holy Spirit, I admit that I have cluttered my spirit with a lot of worldly and carnal things! I purge myself of all this spiritual clutter right now! I will no longer think foolishly, I will no longer talk foolishly, I will no longer be worried or anxious, I set my spirit free from all these clutters, I ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse and purge me of all forms of spiritual clutter!

I commit my unhealthy habits into your hands

Holy Spirit, please break them, change my desires, change my habits, change my thought pattern, set me free!

Thank you, Holy Spirit, my spirit is free, the illumination of the Holy Spirit permeates my body, soul, and spirit! As i study the word of God, I will understand, and from today I will do the word! My spirit, soul, and body will do the word as a way of life! Obeying the word of Gid becomes my lifestyle in Jesus’ name! Amen!!!

Nothing cleanses, purges, and transforms like the word of God! Instructions to you and begin to practice them from today!