Cleaning Up and Cleaning Out

Yesterday I shared with you from Joshua 7:13 NLT

…Hidden among you O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.

Let's look at that same verse from the NIV:

...There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.


Don't we all want victory in our lives instead of defeat?

Don't we want to defeat the enemy instead of him defeating us?

Certainly we do.

That's where this verse applies. Hidden among us are things that are to be set apart for God. Things like are heart, our mind, our motives, our adoration, our strength, our faith, etc. If our hearts, our minds, etc are devoted to something other than completely to Him, like the Israelites, we will never be able to defeat our enemy. He will continue to ensnare us with his sneaky ways if even an ounce of our devotion is directed in a direction other than to our Savior and God.

Just before these words were spoken to the Israelites by Joshua, he told them to purify themselves for God. God wanted victory for them, He wants victory for us, but as long as there were things set apart to anything other than Him, they would never taste that victory.

It was time to clean some things up and clean some things out.

Take a few minutes today and ask Him to bring to your attention what you might be devoting yourself to. He wants victory for us. Let's purify ourselves, clean some things out of our hearts and our minds, refocus our affection and thoughts to Him, and see what He does with that.

He will be faithful to provide that victory. 2 Timothy 2:13 says He cannot be unfaithful.

I shared with you yesterday some of the things where my heart and thoughts have found their devotion, if you feel comfortable doing so, share with us the things He brings to your mind. God may use what you say to unearth something in someone else's heart, aiding someone else in her victory.



Royal Princess Daughter Of The King