It’s Time To De-Clutter!

Day 19  

Allow me to give you another word picture. This time I am going to use the analogy of a "closet." Have you noticed over time that things can collect and become very disorganized behind those closed doors? The end result is called “clutter” and clutter causes dysfunction. We can’t find what we are looking for and we become frustrated. Let’s look at the opposite scenario. Remember right after you did a deep cleaning of the cluttered area? You knew just where to look for your desired item because it was in its designated place. Ahhhh….so much easier!

Our soul is the “closet” where our thoughts, our emotions, and our choices live. Fearful, selfish, and angry thoughts clutter up our souls. We stuff wrong thoughts and damaged emotions into our souls and close the door quick so no one can see what’s in there—not even us! If we don’t clean out our souls on a regular basis, it will be difficult for us to receive the thoughts that God wants to give us—directional thoughts, peaceful thoughts, successful thoughts—thoughts that cause us to make right choices. It’s in these choices that we are established and have success.

We pray the Proverbs 16:3* prayer of trust and commitment because we want to think like God thinks so that we can experience His peace. It feels so good to partner with God. We love His instructions, which are those thoughts that lead us securely into His perfect will.

Take a few minutes now and ask God to look into your soul. Allow Him to show you any “clutter” that needs to be removed. If something comes to mind, just know that God is revealing it to you and you can remove it by saying—

“I am sorry, God. I give you my ungodly thoughts, my damaged emotions, and the wrong decisions I have made. Help me to clean out this “closet” so I can be free to hear from You.”

God bless you as you spend time with Him today!

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*Proverbs 16:3 (AMPC)   “Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.”

You Can Get THERE....Part 3

Day 18 

(If you are new to my blog, you might want to go to the archives and click on “Day 1” for a complete understanding of living a Proverbs 16:3 life!)

On Day 17, I gave you a picture of Proverbs 16:3 (AMPC) using a maze from a child’s activity book.

We all have questions that need answers—ranging from easy to difficult:

What store is the quickest and most economical place to buy jeans for Johnny?

Should we put the kids on the traveling competitive team this fall?

Should I have a garage sale or just give our things away? 

Which stocks should I invest in?

Should we sell our house and move south?

Where should I look for a new job?

Is he the one I am to marry?

So many questions to be answered in the course of the day—questions on your job, for your home, and in your personal life. My husband and I have questions too, so every morning, we put them on what we call “God’s Drawing Board.” That’s our way of committing our plans to God and trusting that He will cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will so we will know what to do.

Ephesians 2:10 (AMPC) is the blueprint of our day, our week and our life. God knew that we would have many questions and I am sure He is very happy that we are now consulting the “blueprint” so He can help us get it right. Life is so good when we sail through the day and avoid all the dead ends—all the frustrations, all the delays, and all the indecisions.

Psalms 100:3

John 15:15 

John 13:16

You Can Get There....Part 2

Day 17  (Please read Day 16 first!)

Proverbs 16:3 (AMP) says that if we do the first part of the verse, two things happen. 

Our thoughts will become agreeable to God’s will. 

We become established and we succeed. (YAY!)

Okay, what’s the first part of the verse?? What do we have to do??  “Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him…..”  Another version of the Bible uses the word “plans.” Commit and trust your plans to God….

On Day 16 we talked about a child’s maze. At the beginning of the day, you are standing at the “You Are Here” spot. As you walk through the day you are searching for the simplest way to reach “The Finish Line.” If you are filled with dread and anxiety when you wake up, you may stand at or around the “You Are Here” spot all day. Or maybe you say to yourself, “I got this God. I know what I am doing.” 

You set out to do it and before you know it you hit a dead end. You turn around and go back and try another route only to have the same thing happen as you set out on your own. Do you recognize what I am saying? I sure do because before applying Proverbs 16:3 it was easy to waste time in a frustrating spot.

But not so much anymore! Now I try to make it a habit to begin each day in prayer-- committing my plans to the One who knows exactly what my day should look like. He knows the easiest, most productive ways of doing everything.

How sweet it is to close my eyes at night and say, “God, thank You for this most amazing day.”

Proverbs 8: 32-35 
Acts 2:28 
Psalms 119: 44-45                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

You Can Get THERE From Here

DAY 16

I picture in my mind a simple maze. You know-- like what you might find in a children’s coloring book. There is a place that says, “You are here!” You begin there and follow the pathway until you reach your “Finish Line!” This is a picture of our day. There is a beginning and there is an end. In between, there are many decisions to be made. On Day 15 we saw that God wants to partner with us so that we reach the finish line by the end of the day. 

When a child begins this maze, he or she goes the way that they think is best. That way may be the best way or it may be a dead end. When we wake up in the morning we have plans for what we want to accomplish that day—responsibilities, decisions, fun activities, etc. Proverbs 16:3 (Amplified Classic) says that as we “commit” and “trust” our plans to God, the Holy Spirit will guide us through the day, helping us to go the right way and not end up frustrated because of a dead end. You are “here” and you want to get “there” each day. As you offer your plans to God, He will cause you to think like He thinks—and He is always thinking about success. So if He plants His thought into your thought life, guess what you will be thinking about!!  That's right, you will be thinking successful thoughts.

I have been applying this biblical principle into each day of my life for over two years and I am amazed at how involved God has been in my daily life. He has caused me to avoid mistakes, pitfalls, and delays--frustrations, anxiety, stress. 

Sometimes we think hearing from God is way too hard, but it’s really not. My basic prayer is, “Lord, help me to think like you think today.” 

I encourage you to do this daily for thirty days and just see what happens. Picture the maze and you standing at the “You Are Here” spot at the beginning of your day. Make sure you are really saying, 

“These are my plans for the day, Lord. Walk with me today and help me to think      like you think, so that at the end of the day, I will say, ‘This has been an amazing day!”

Ephesians 3:20 AMPC

I Corinthians 2:10 NIV

Psalms 118: 23-25 NIV

You Are Never Alone

DAY 15

Take a look at this title again. Isn’t it good to know?

God is with us all the time. It’s like He is standing in the wings waiting for us to ask Him to come out and be involved in our day. That’s what happens when we pray the Proverbs 16:3 AMPC prayer. It goes something like this:

Father, I commit this day (this project, this task or this vacation, etc) to You. 

I ask You to cause my thoughts to become agreeable to Your will. 

Father, I invite You to give me new ideas and a new way of doing things.

Interrupt me if I am heading down the wrong path that will cause me to be 

confused, overworked and/or overwhelmed.

Thank You for setting things in order for me so that I will be established. 

I am so grateful to You for keeping me on course and successful today. 

This will be an amazing day because You are in it with me.

God will be as personal to you--as you want Him to be.

Isn’t that exciting?? Think about the possibilities! God has unlimited thoughts and plans—way more than you can even think about—and He’s willing to share them with you!

Join me on Day 16 as we discover just how to do that!!

Our Seven Day Recap

Day 14

We are continuing to lay a foundation for developing a successful lifestyle. If you have just jumped on board, I encourage you to go to Archives and click on April. There you will find “Day 1” which is entitled “Developing A Successful Lifestyle.” Begin reading there and in no time you will be caught up to us. When you are caught up, I encourage you to put in your email address and each new post will automatically be sent to your email box.

On DAY EIGHT we learned that we are not alone and that God cares very much about our everyday lives. Aren’t you glad that He does?

On DAY NINE we learned that nothing is too small to turn over to God. He desires to show us just how much He is concerned about everything in our lives.

On DAY TEN we learned that God has the blueprint for our lives and He is very willing to show us which paths to take. He loves us and wants to give us the solutions for every situation that we face.

On DAY ELEVEN we learned God had every one of our days planned out and written in a book. And just like any well-meaning parent, those plans are designed for our good.

On DAY TWELVE we learned that God doesn’t barge in and take over, but instead He waits for us to come to Him and ask for His wisdom and His help.

On DAY THIRTEEN we learned that God wants to establish us. That means He wants to bring our lives into order so everything falls right into place.

All of this can happen for you by putting our foundational scripture into practice. The word “practice” denotes that we repeat it over and over until it becomes second nature to us. My husband and I have been doing just that and after several months, we love the way our lives function. It brings us great joy and it will do the same for you. So here is the promise that will cause your life to prosper:

Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; 

He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, 

and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.

Proverbs 16:3 (AMPC)

God Wants To Establish Us

Day 13

On Day 12 we asked a lot of fairly serious questions. It might overwhelm us if we did not know that all of our days are written in a book (Psalms 139: 16 NIV) with our name on the cover. It resides on the bookshelf in God’s office. It stands to reason that we would check with heaven before we make our plans. In Proverbs 16: 3 AMPC it says that God wants us to be established in the plan He has for us.

You might say, “Don’t I get to choose my own plans?” Of course! We know that everyone has their own choices to make but when our plan aligns with God’s plan for us, then and only then are we guaranteed to be established and succeed. And that success is what we all want, right?

Just like a GPS, God is able to give us instructions so that we are able to get to our desired destination. He has an established order and that order brings us great peace—-if we follow it. The word “establish” means to bring about permanently; to establish an order. Have you ever had those times when everything just falls into place?? Maybe you can’t see your desired destination from where you are but you know you are headed in that direction. You are on the right track and it feels so good.

Here’s how it works:

Surrender your plans to God—commit all your worry and concern to Him.

Thank Him that He causes you to think like He thinks.

Praise Him that you are on your way to your destination.

Yes! Just like any parent, God likes to be acknowledged that He has blessed His children.