The Fountain

Cleaning House

klwalker2 The Fountain, The Walker Estate
  1. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 

James 1:21

READ

James 4:1-10

 

Imagine this scenario.  You just came home from a busy day.  It could be a busy day at work, a busy day with your family and friends, or a busy day running errands and shopping for groceries.

You exit your car and enter your house.  Then you see it.  There are papers strewn out all over the desk.  The dishes are piled in the sink.  You enter your room and set your keys down on the nightstand.  You see it again.  Papers are covering the top of the filing cabinet.  Shirts, socks, and underwear are covering the carpeting.  You go to pick up your clothes, but you realize why they are there: the laundry hamper is overflowing.  In looking closer at the carpet, you see dust everywhere.

Your inspection continues.   The stove top is caked with grease and crumbs.  Dust is caking the floors.  Papers and other junk are everywhere.  At this point, you can’t take it anymore.

It is time to clean house.

Houses, like anything that you own, require time and care to maintain.  But in this case, I am not referring to cleaning a physical house.  What I am referring to is the cleaning of your soul.  Have you cleaned your house lately?  Have you really taken a good look within yourself and have begun to clean your house?

  1. Assess the Cleanliness of the House

 

“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  These are what makes a man ‘unclean’…”

Matthew 15:18-20

To begin, we need to assess the state of the house.  Is your “house” clean?  Some of you may already have a clean house and some of you will not.  The things that make your house unclean can be the things that come out of your mouth, and they will make your house unclean.  Once we know the cleanliness of the house, we can then know the kind of work that we need to do to clean it.

 

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”

James 4:1

Our fleshly desires is another thing to consider if your house is not clean.  Going further in the passage, These desires can lead to wanting something, but not getting it.  This leads to quarreling and fighting.

But let’s not forget the key of the passage.  “You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”  (James 4:3-4)  Your house may be unclean because you are not asking God for what you need.  Asking must be done with a sincere heart, and not be done with a heart driven by fleshly desires or pleasures.

 

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

James 4:5

Your house may not be clean because there’s an issue with your relationship with God.  If you are a friend of the world, you are an enemy to Him.  Do you think that your house is not clean?  In just realizing this, you are on the right track.  He desires you and wants your house to be clean.  Going further in James, it says that  “without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely”  (James 4:6)  When we are in the wrong, when we see that our house is not clean, remember this: He gives us more grace.  He knew that our once clean house would become dirty, but he is here to help us clean it up.

 

2.  Submit Yourselves to God (James 4:7)

When you know that your house is dirty,  you can then turn to the one that can make it clean.  A proud heart doesn’t think that their heart needs to be clean.  Or if it is dirty, they will try to clean it themselves.  God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Getting back to the verse in James 1, it says to “Humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”  (v.21)  This means letting go of any selfish tendency to try to do it yourself.  You can’t.  Give it all to Him because He knows how to clean it the best.

 

3.  Resist the devil (James 4:7)

Resisting the devil means letting go of all the tricks and devices that he has used to try to deceive you.  He is not going to do anything to make your house any cleaner.  He is the cause of the mess.  He is looking for someone to devour and his agenda is only to steal, kill, and destroy.  His power is in the lie so sever all ties to him.  And when you sever all those ties and run to God, he will flee like the coward he is.  Hold onto the truth and say no to the devil and all of his ways.

4.  Come Near to God and He Will Come Near to You.  (James 4:8)

The closer that you are to God, the closer you will be to His presence.  Now while you were unclean, your hands got dirty.  You are now aware of the sins that you have committed.  The passage tells us to “wash your hands”.  Confess your sins to him.  You know that you did it and so has He.  He now wants you to “come clean”.

Another thing that the passage tells us is to “purify your hearts”.  A double-minded person has an impure heart.  Your heart is an important part of your house that needs to be cleaned.  Start there.  Tell Him who you are and be real.  He will hear you and clean this most important part of your house.

A third thing that the passage tells us is to “grieve, mourn, and wail”.  Your house cannot be clean unless you are grieved over the sins that you have committed.  With a pure heart, you should be able to cry.  Think of this as the water that He is using to make your house clean.

5. Humble Yourselves Before the Lord, and He Will Lift You Up.  (James 4:10)

When your house became filthy, you were brought down.  Now you have washed your hands, purified your heart, grieved your sins, mourned over them, and cried.  He has heard all of your crying now.  Humble yourselves to Him.  Commit your house to His care.  When you do this, He will lift you up.  Entrust Him for all the routine inspections.  If there is anything unclean that He detects, He will let you know.

 

So is your house clean now?  Have you given a good look inside of your soul to see if you are clean there?  It’s one thing to pick up a few things, but the house needs to be clean.  Remember who you invited in.  You invited Jesus into your house and He wants all the rooms clean. Everything inside and out. (If you have never invited Jesus into your house before, I invite you to read “Why The Fountain?” just below.)  Now He will help you keep it clean but you have to let Him.  When you give way to compromise, or ignore His reminders to clean up your house, don’t ignore Him.  Remember how unclean your house was and the grace that He gave you.  You do not want to return to that place of filth again.  Trust God, and He will keep your house squeaky clean.

—

Why The Fountain?

The purpose of this blog series is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage people during these dark and difficult times.

If you have never received Christ before, it is not too late to do so.  The truth is we are all sinners and have fallen short of God’s standard.  The good news is that Christ was sent to die for what we all deserved.  In believing that Christ died for you, you receive Christ and become an heir with him, with the promise of eternal life.  All you need to do is confess to him that you’re a sinner, ask him to come into your life and rescue you, and he will send you his Helper to be with you forever.  (John 14:16-17)

At the Fountain, you will always find Living Water.  Refreshing water for these difficult times.

A Worthwhile Ruler for Every Thought

klwalker2 The Fountain, The Walker Estate

…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

I want you to imagine yourself in the ancient times.  A raiding party just invaded the land.  The fortress has been breached.  The castle invaded and the king is subdued.  The raiding party has just captured you and you are brought into captivity.

As you are led into the camp,  you are told how trustworthy the new ruler is.   Your captors tell you the one condition that you must follow in order for you to live.  Obey the new ruler or die by the sword.

This is what we deal with day to day in our thought life.  While some thoughts are very good, some wild ones often try to pass through without being detected.  One good way to prevent this is to be a careful gatekeeper over your thoughts.  Capture the renegades and bring them to the captivity of the rightful ruler.

The apostle Paul gives us the strategy that we are to use in successfully managing our thought life.  “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

When we give our hearts to Jesus, we are regenerated and become born again.  The old ruler of Self is captured and defeated and Jesus takes his rightful place on the throne.  When we manage our thought lives, we get rid of the hollow philosophies and arguments of this world since God’s weapons have the power “to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

But what happens when these wild thoughts come through?  In doing this, we are deciding to live in the flesh.  Old flesh patterns and habits have a way of resurfacing.  And we are responsible for taking every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

So remember.  We all have a choice.  A choice to stand at the gate and capture every foreign thought and bring it to the obedience of our righteous king.

And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

2 Corinthians 10:6

—

Why The Fountain?

The purpose of this blog series is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage people during these dark and difficult times.

If you have never received Christ before, it is not too late to do so.  The truth is we are all sinners and have fallen short of God’s standard.  The good news is that Christ was sent to die for what we all deserved.  In believing that Christ died for you, you receive Christ and become an heir with him, with the promise of eternal life.  All you need to do is confess to him that you’re a sinner, ask him to come into your life and rescue you, and he will send you his Helper to be with you forever.  (John 14:16-17)

At the Fountain, you will always find Living Water.  Refreshing water for these difficult times.

What do You Believe?

klwalker2 The Fountain, The Walker Estate

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Proverbs 14:12

Imagine a ship sailing in the middle of the sea.  Just how is that ship going to fare?  Well, that would depend on the captain steering it and his level of experience.  Especially when the violent storms come in.

The inexperienced captain is not going to be able to navigate that ship very well when the storms come in.  The same thing is the case in our everyday life.  We are all captains and are responsible as to where the ship will go on the sea of life.  Do we feel that we are competent to navigate that ship safely to our destination?  Our thoughts determine where this ship is going to end up.  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”   Our thoughts determine where this ship is going to end up.

And we have a choice.  Are we going to steer this ship out of control into unfamiliar waters?  Can we navigate these waters safely?

And since we have a choice, we can also decide who is going to commandeer our ship.  Are we going to steer it ourselves?  Or will we delegate this responsibility to someone who is more capable?  The good news is that we all have this option.

We can allow Jesus to commandeer our ship.  He is well experienced with all the different storms so he can surely handle it.  When we do this, when we entrust Jesus to take control of the whole ship, we can handle all the different storms that are found in the sea of life.  All we need to do is trust our well experienced captain to steer our ship.   Are we going to trust Him to do that?

Of course the responsibility is that we do it ourselves.  But where is that going to take us?  Some of you have gone through a lot and have been deeply battered by the tough storms from the sea of life.  Are you going to let someone else control that ship?  The decision is yours.

 

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

—

Why The Fountain?

The purpose of this blog series is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage people during these dark and difficult times.

If you have never received Christ before, it is not too late to do so.  The truth is we are all sinners and have fallen short of God’s standard.  The good news is that Christ was sent to die for what we all deserved.  In believing that Christ died for you, you receive Christ and become an heir with him, with the promise of eternal life.  All you need to do is confess to him that you’re a sinner, ask him to come into your life and rescue you, and he will send you his Helper to be with you forever.  (John 14:16-17)

At the Fountain, you will always find Living Water.  Refreshing water for these difficult times.

Overcoming Adversity

klwalker2 The Fountain

To everyone that has ever gone through a challenge that seemed impossible (or if you’re currently going through one right now), I get it.  You’re going to get through this.

For everyone who has dealt with the pandemic, it has most certainly taken a toll on our physical health, emotional health, and for some, our spiritual health.

For me, all three was affected.  And it all started almost a year ago.

A year ago, back in September, I was planning a trip up north for Labor Day weekend, and it was going to be fun.  I called it a way that I could unwind and take it easy.  I packed everything, got my candy, and then headed up north.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that fun at all.  The entire weekend, I didn’t get much sleep at all.  I was suffering with Insomnia, and it really took a toll on me.

So much so that I was packing to go back home in the middle of the night on the day of Labor Day.  Mentally and physically, this was starting to take a toll on me.

And then spiritually.  I was tormented on the way home, and I cried out to God for help.  I got temporary relief from what was oppressing me, but this fight continued, and it wasn’t going to be an easy one.

All throughout the week, I was not getting a lot of sleep.  And then on Saturday or Sunday, that following week, it happened.  I had a frightful vision of hell and I was attacked.  I knew that it was spiritual because I definitely felt something that night.

Since the day that happened, I have been on message boards and tried various other means to address the problem.  Everyone, if you are going through something that is similar to this, or any struggle for that matter, I advise you to do this:

  1. Surrender your control to God.

I mean, surrender everything.  The more that you try to solve the problem yourself, the less that you’re depending on God to help you solve the problem.  The book of James comes to mind here.  “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep.  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”  James 4:7-10 ESV

It is when we give our control to Him that we start to see a change in our recovery.  This can be delayed if we do not give our control to him.

  1. Wait on the Lord.

So you have already surrendered to Him.  Now what?  You need to wait on him!  And don’t quarrel or complain while you wait.  Play some worship music and sing praises to Him.  Is there a friend in need?  Help them.  Visit them.  Chances are that you know someone who you can help.  Babysit their kids.  Buy them some groceries.  Spend time with them and dine out with them somewhere.  They will very much appreciate all of this.  In doing this, you will be loving your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18)

  1. Surround yourself with some loving friends and share your hardships with them.

This is a big one.  The longer you wait on this one, the worse off that you’re going to be.  So if you haven’t done it today, then do it!  Attend community gatherings and find some nice Christian friends to lean on.  Find some close ones and have them pray with you and for you.  And pray for them as well.  In this way, you will be “confess[ing] your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:16 ESV)

  1. Seek professional help.

Don’t try to solve this problem on your own.  I will say it again.  DON’T.  Get the help of a trained psychiatrist, therapist, pastor, or Stephen Minister.  And then share everything with them.  They will listen and they will help you.  Solomon puts it best with this proverb:  “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22 ESV)

So, how did I fare with my trial?  I got help and I connected with my groups.  I’m still working through it but I know that I’m making good progress.  Everyone, it has been a rough pandemic, with all of us going through some kind of adversity.

But remember.  God is with us through it all. “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again”  (Proverbs 24:16).

What you’re going through may be something very difficult.  But take heart.  God’s got this.

—

Why The Fountain?

The purpose of this blog series is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage people during these dark and difficult times.

If you have never received Christ before, it is not too late to do so.  The truth is we are all sinners and have fallen short of God’s standard.  The good news is that Christ was sent to die for what we all deserved.  In believing that Christ died for you, you receive Christ and become an heir with him, with the promise of eternal life.  All you need to do is confess to him that you’re a sinner, ask him to come into your life and rescue you, and he will send you his Helper to be with you forever.  (John 14:16-17)

At the Fountain, you will always find Living Water.  Refreshing water for these difficult times.

Never give up!

klwalker2 The Fountain

What is the difference between a winner and a loser?

I think that this proverb that I have heard says it best.  “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”

Have you ever come across a task that seemed impossible?  To illustrate this scenario, I will use the example of two different mountaineers wanting to climb a mountain.

The first mountaineer is determined to climb the mountain.  He makes a little progress and then the mountain starts to get very steep.  He started to get skinned up by the brush.  He bled, fell off the mountain and broke his leg.  Thoroughly discouraged, he left the mountain and gave up.

The second mountaineer looked up at the mountain and smiled.  He thought to himself “This mountain is quite steep.  I may skin myself, bleed, and may even break a leg.  But that doesn’t matter.  I’m climbing this mountain!”  So the second mountaineer grabbed his backpack, hoisted it on his back and began climbing.  He got a few bruises.  A few cuts and a few scratches.  He even broke his leg.  But he continued.  After the leg was well enough to walk on, he tried the mountain again.  He climbed all the way to the top and thrust his flag into the top of the summit.

What did the second mountaineer do differently from the first one?  He didn’t give up.  He didn’t let a fall destroy his dreams.  He let his leg heal and he tried it again.  He never gave up.

In the bible, Romans 8:37, it says that “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  God loves us, and he gives us the ability to conquer any of life’s problems.

So the next time you think of giving up, remember the story of the two mountaineers.  Which one are you?  The winner or the loser?  It’s up to you to decide.

—

Why The Fountain?

The purpose of this blog series is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage people during these dark and difficult times.

If you have never received Christ before, it is not too late to do so.  The truth is we are all sinners and have fallen short of God’s standard.  The good news is that Christ was sent to die for what we all deserved.  In believing that Christ died for you, you receive Christ and become an heir with him, with the promise of eternal life.  All you need to do is confess to him that you’re a sinner, ask him to come into your life and rescue you, and he will send you his Helper to be with you forever.  (John 14:16-17)

At the Fountain, you will always find Living Water.  Refreshing water for these difficult times.

Why you should not focus on results

klwalker2 The Fountain

Have you ever been in a situation where you have given it your all and you have not produced a single result?  You decide to throw a block party and you tell all of your neighbors about it.  You buy food, decorations and set it all up.  You turn on the music.  The salsa, queso, and chip bowl is all sitting there on the table.  The punch bowl is on another table.

The music continues playing.  Cars drive by, but not into your driveway.  Hours go by.  Full of regret, you turn off the music and you start putting away all of the food.  The block party is a disaster.  Or was it?

You through all the trouble in creating a party that no one would attend.  You even invited everyone too!  But no results.  But did you really fail by having no one show up.  Can someone fail by having no results?

For me, the answer to that is no.  The reason is that while you didn’t have anyone show up, you did succeed at throwing that party.  Situations like this happen all the time in life.  You try to produce the intended result, and that result does not happen.  Does no results equal failure?  By no means!  Failure is only if you give up.  The problem with so many of us is that we’re too fixated on the results.  If we stop worrying about the results, we can begin to learn from situations where we have no results.

Jeremiah was a prophet that prophesied to the Isaraelites, but no one listened to him.  Talk about no results?  But was his focus on results?  Not at all!  Jeremiah did his job, even though there was no results.

Sometimes, we have situations where we do things and end up with little or no results.  You go for a fishing trip and catch no fish.  You go bowling and score a low game.  Or that presentation didn’t go as planned.  What really matters in these situations is that you did your job.  You fished.  You bowled.  You gave that presentation.  What can we learn from the results that we produce?  For some, it may be that we’re too fixated on results.  For others, it may be that results don’t matter.  Getting good results can feel good sometimes.  But what if we get bad results?

At the end of the day, all we can do is do our jobs.  To look in the mirror and say that we have tried.  The fact that we did something is a lot more meaningful than not doing that thing at all.  Results are great, but they are not things that we should get hung up on.

Do results matter?  What matters is that I did my job and gave it my 100% effort.

I’m not afraid

klwalker2 The Fountain

Are you?

When we think of fear, it usually has to do with the things that we are unable to control.  Things like the unknown.  Things that we may not have the courage to face.  Things that can very well have the potential to overwhelm us.

The pandemic happened around three and a half months ago, and I’m sure that most of you were afraid when that happened.  Who would not be?  All of us were encountering a situation that we were never in before.  A situation that had us fighting an invisible enemy that we knew nothing about: the novel coronavirus.

But looking at today, who is still afraid?  Paul says in 2 Timothy that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control” (2 Timothy 1:7)

I will be honest.  We are all living in different times.  Trying times that we are not used to at all.  But we all have a decision to make.  Do we give in to fear, or do we overcome it?

I have made my decision.  I’m not afraid.  I’m not afraid of anything that can cause disease.  I am not afraid of the present situation, or what can happen in the future.

Where does fear come from?  It comes from another invisible enemy that we can’t see.  The devil is the enemy that we can’t see, since he’s in the spiritual realm.  He uses lies and fear to control people and weaken them.

But fortunately, we have the LORD to help us in times of trouble.  When fear arises, God can bring an end to it.  He is bigger than our problems.  Bigger than any coronavirus and bigger than anything that can ever happen to us.

And for this reason, I am not afraid.  The only one that I fear is my God.  He provides me with all the courage I need to face any fear that comes along.

So fear, you are not welcome here.  You are a liar and a sworn enemy to peace.  I’m not afraid.

Are you?