SPRING CLEANING FOR CHRISTIANS | throwing things away

                             

Throwing Away Things From Your Past:

For those of you that are beginning your journey in this walk of Faith, I wanted to make you aware of something that is extremely important. GETTING RID OF THINGS FROM YOUR LIFE OF SIN.

I know this might sound radical and extreme but its so critical and important that once you take up your cross and walk in faith, that you do a PHYSICAL SPRING CLEANING for your soul. Ive seen blogs out here about Spring Cleaning For the Soul and those are very good to read as well especially for those that need to get rid of the clutter in their hearts. But lets try another approach to this spring cleaning for the soul, CUTTING THINGS OFF AT THE ROOTS.

• Do you have old diaries, clothes, photographs, objects, or anything that reminds you of a certain person, place, or thing from your past?

• When you look at those things or actually hold them, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

• Do you go back to a certain day when you used them before you got saved, or maybe someone you used to know gave them to you?

Well im here to say throw these things away!! I know it may be hard and you might have things you loved with all your heart but think about this man in the bible whenever you feel as though you dont want to give certain things up :

Matthew 19

²⁰The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

²¹ Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

²³ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

²⁴ And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

For example: I used to own a denim jacket that I wore everywhere before I got saved. When I say everywhere I mean everywhere through everything. There were times when I was lonely wearing that jacket, angry, in sin, wherever you name it, that was my jacket. And it was sooo cute.

So ONE DAY AFTER AFTER BEING SAVED i was picking out an outfit and I wanted to wear this jacket. So im getting ready, i have the outfit all picked out and ready to go and when I placed my hand on the jacket , (not expecting to feel anything) it immediately took me back to a dark place in my past. I was literally standing there for over 2 minutes daydreaming about everything I ever did in that jacket and a mixture of emotions came over me, anger, hurt, pain. And i said to myself, "this jacket has spirits on it". It hurt me to the core to have to put that thing in the trash but I did and i immediately felt a weight lifted off my shoulders.

Before I got saved I wasn't as sensitive to this issue as I am now but I was aware of it. There are spirits everywhere, in all things.
 I use to battle with the question : "what is a spirit" some people say we are spirits, But i believe spirits live in things. Just like the Holy Spirit lives in those that are baptized in the water and saved by the blood of Jesus.
It sounded crazy at first but even OBJECTS can carry spirits. To me a spirit is a FEELING that can enter in your mind, your heart, or your soul and effect you and those around you physically, mentally, emotionally, or SPIRITUALLY.

 Im not saying throw away all your clothes like I did. But if you have any objects that you KNOW in your heart are connected to certain memories or people that you ought not to be reminded of. THROW IT AWAY and you will feel the burden being lifted off your shoulders.

Do a spring cleaning in your room, look under your bed, top shelves, closets, laundry baskets and throw away those things that remind you of sin. Things an bad friend brought you, stolen items, things that smell like certain things, things that make you cry, angry, reminisce on a bad day. And remember the Lord Jesus makes all things new.

LUKE 6:38 - Give , and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down , and shaken together , and running over , shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again 

THE LORD FOUND ME | My Testimony | New Christian

                                                     ARTIST: ALYSSA JOHNSON (me)

                   John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

PRAISE THE LORD! To all my fellow Christians out there and anyone curious about this walk of Life, i wanted to share my testimony. Hopefully it will encourage someone else out there

                                   .........................

I dont know about any of you out there, but im sure a lot of you can relate to this, I am nothing without Jesus, I am lost without Him, I am cold, I am sad, angry, confused, stubborn, mean, lazy, unmotivated, and weak! WITHOUT HIM!

So heres (one of) my story

I was on my way home one day feeling LONELY as ever. Heartbroken, hurt , angry ,sad, cold, and broke. 18 years old, trying to find my way, in desperate want of affection and acceptance. I remember standing on the side walk in the middle of DC holding back tears, I truly felt like I had NO-WHERE-TO-GO. Just moments before, i was rejected by a guy i really liked. I mean i was so sure about this dude, i just knew we were the same people. I never felt like that about any person and I had my hopes set on being with this boy. In other words i made a huge fool out of myself.

I knew God but for the past 2 years I had been running from him. So finally at my breaking point I said in my heart "God give me a place to go"

1 John 5:14-15 - And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 

 I mean I have a home but I was talking about a place for my soul. And God said, go home. So feeling depressed I just decided to go home. I didn't even have it in me to smile or just look normal. I just got on the train and buses not caring who saw that I was hurt, I mean I was literally fighting tears the whole time. And finally the years of abuse, pain, rejection, betrayal, disrespect, drama girls, guys, friends, enemies, family, strangers everything just hit me . The world just really came down on me.

I dragged myself down the escalator of the metro and found a seat on the platform next to a young black man with a suit on... He looked harmless and content like a dad or business man and i knew he wasn't going to harass me and beg for my number so i sat next to him, so there was a little thought there but little did i know that was the Lord ordering my steps. i waited for my train to arrive sitting there moping and trying not to cry and he looks over and asks me am I coming from church, I said no. He asked me was I going to go next Sunday and i thought about it and smiled and said "yeah".
I always had a place in my heart for God, ( at the time i wanted God so bad, but didn't realize all i had to do was say yes) I had no idea, that "yeah" was me saying yes to the Lord. The guy eased his way into witnessing to me about the Jesus. He told me he got saved 3 years ago and never turned back. And i thought to myself that's when God called me .I felt horrible, filthy, lost, i felt like a convict sitting next to him. Here I am so deep in sin and at the end of my rope. And i see this peaceful young, clean, and righteous man sitting in front of me saying he never turned back. God made it so clear that this is where i could have been in my life.

Mark 4:19

And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

So here I am heartbroken and this guy is just staring at me with Holy Spirit filled eyes just talking about what i needed to do. He asked was i saved and i was like "yeah i came to the front and repeated after the pastor , I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior" this boy shook his head and told me "no, you doing it wrong, you gotta get baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost. At first i wanted to argue but i remembered when i was first saved and people argued with me and i smiled a little

Acts 2:38 - Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

So i remained humble. And as he got quiet i said with the most broken voice i ever heard come out of me "I mean, im doing the best i can" and he softened up. 
He started telling me how good the Lord has been to him, he was telling me about his church and how God changed him and saved him and Im sitting there thinking to myself, "whatever church he's at, they must be doing a good job". He showed me a picture of his old self and how he used to be a bad boy with dreads and all that and that drew me in even more. Not because he had dreads but because God truly transformed him. You could see that just by looking at him. IT WAS POSSIBLE!! HE WAS A LIVING PROOF IT IS POSSIBLE.

So the next day I contacted him. I will admit when i first first met him i was going though so much heartache when it came to guys, i thought God answered my prayers and sent my husband to me. But now he's just one of my brothers in  Christ

So he invited me to Wednesday night prayer service and i was like SURE it wouldn't hurt. So we agreed to meet up.

           On my way there my mom was like "so you're just going to go somewhere with some guy you don't even know, people use God all the time to do bad things" she was really scaring me. It WAS dark and cold outside and everything she was saying was true. But i said to God. Whatever happens to me is supposed to happen because when i asked you to give me a place to go this is where you led me. I was stepping out on faith.

So we pull up to the place where I'm supposed to be meeting him and 2 guys are in the car , him and my brother in Christ Marcus. I'm terrified because of everything my mom said and i was expecting to see some slick hair church looking dudes with suits on and these guys were just regular black men, jeans, shirt sneakers. So I'm like ok if i smell smoke in his car then I'll know something isn't right. And I also paid attention to the music. But he had that gospel song playing real smooth in the background "i don't want no peanut butter and jelllllyy" and i'm sitting in the backseat thinking "ok, these people are weird" ! and then to top it off the church that he went to was this old white house. Then I hear my moms voice in my head "you don;t even know these guys" and I'm trembling with fear. But i immediately felt Gods comfort.

That night at prayer service the Pastor and Mother of the church talked about being double minded and how you have to choose a side, you cant say you love the Lord but be living in sin. 

James 1:8 - A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways.

James 1:22-25 - But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 

And i just felt the conviction moving through me! So i made a choice. I told the mother of the church "I'LL BE BACK!" and gave her a big hug!

                                                              (BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD)

 The next day i immediately felt a change.

I said to God "ok God you want me so bad, give me something to do". And he said clean the house, top to bottom. And i got out of bed and did it.That night I did some real talking to God  and made a vow that i was done with sin!! 

2 Corinthians 7:1 - Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

 Sunday came and as the Pastor was closing he made an altar calling he said if you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior  please come to the altar now. the first step is to Repent the second is to be Baptized and the third is to be filled with the Precious Holy Ghost." I felt God saying "NOW IS YOUR CHANCE ,GO ALYSSA" but i stood there frozen until my friend nudged me. I immediately went to the front like i was running out of time or something. the Pastor welcomed me with a warm smile and said, what would you like the Lord to do for you today and i said "heal me"  I was so broken. And I got on my knees and the Mother was behind me and she said keep saying hallelujah.

Matthew 3:11 - I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and [with] fire:

Guys when i tell you I was at the altar crying like a baby I am not playing.. I just cried until the end of service. I felt so cleansed. My shoulder that was also hurting even felt better. God will do more than what you ask. He will work miracles.

 That was 6 months ago. Keep up with my spiritual journey on my new blog site :)) Walk next to me as we go through trials and tribulations and tests.


The best thing about having a testimony is that it never ends. Im still a babe in Christ so there's still so much to learn and understand. So much i been through before coming to the Lord and so much i been through after, but the difference now is that i'm doing things with the JESUS on my side and I do it for Him. So I know that whatever happens in my life is in His will.

 Just the same as he kept me the first night i came to prayer service. You'll never know the outcome unless you walk by faith and righteousness.

So if its God that you want, just ask!

Thanks so Much for Reading,
God is the ONE!