Connecting Heaven to our Home

Published: February 24, 2019
Post updated July 24, 2023
By: Brian C Jenkins

As a child, my mother instilled in me and my siblings the importance of keeping our living spaces tidy and organized. Initially, I didn’t fully grasp the significance of this lesson, but as I grew older, I came to realize that it was about more than just cleanliness. It was about developing positive habits that could be passed down to future generations. Through this lesson, my mother taught me the value of taking care of our surroundings and creating a nurturing environment for ourselves and those around us. I now understand the impact that small actions, like tidying up before bed, can have on our lives and the lives of those we love.

There is quite a lot in the Word of God in regard to sin. We have discussed earlier how sin seems to invite more and more unwanted or unnecessary sin into our lives when we let it into our hearts. We discussed how sin starts to make a home in our hearts; it seems to use our communication device to call other sins. Those thoughts in our heads that we seem to want to do more or experience more. A lot of times, we are unaware of the gravity of our situations. Sin grows within hidden agendas, manifesting within our reality. Opening the door to such sin invites demonic influence into our lives. This sets us up to choose not to acknowledge God’s power in our lives as Christians. Knowing that we are keeping these hidden sins in our hearts separates us from connecting heaven to our situation on Earth in many instances. It makes us live under the curse of sin versus the blessings of life.

Think about what happened in the early church back when Jesus had just gone up to heaven. The times were different yet the church movement exploded. It was common in the early church to see miracles and signs. To not see healing and deliverance was uncommon, whereas now, in our times, it’s the exact opposite. It’s rare to see, and a lot of Christians don’t understand why.

The basis for this article is the observation that we have, as Christians, stopped connecting with God by Faith but rather connect with the World by sight. What do I mean by connect by sight? Let’s take a look at what Paul wrote.

But understand that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 

2 Timothy 3:1-5 

This passage describes the times we live in exactly. Many of us read this passage of scripture and can easily acknowledge two things. First, the actions described by Timothy are exactly what’s happening around us and seem to keep getting worse every single day. More than that, it seems as though he is speaking in regard to the kind of people around us, warning believers to avoid these kinds of people. Let us not fall victim to pride and be humble as James, Jesus’ half-brother, helps us understand how this affects us as believers. 

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

James 4:1-10 

James makes it very clear being friends with the world is like being an enemy of the state. How do we avoid this? We must let go of our selfishness and practice self-control. Self-control will give you the ability to resist the devil and remember God’s Word when you need to remember God the most. You hear so much these days the phrase, I can’t. It’s too hard. This is who I am. 

What’s worse is hearing this among brothers and sisters who acknowledge Jesus Christ. How, then, are we as a people living as though we have no power when through Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross, we can overcome? We share in Christ’s Victory. That means we already have victory. It’s a matter of making the right connection to overcome any and all mountains or Goliaths in our lives.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they are in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:13-16

If we resist the devil, we are by faith connecting to Heaven, which will then open up the floodgates for more of his Grace to flow to us and through us. Staying in prayer, reading God’s Word, and fellowshipping with fellow Bible-believing Christians who understand the importance of extending Grace and Mercy; are all ways we can resist the devil. Staying in God’s light through Jesus Christ is how we keep our temple holy and clean. We must clean it daily.

Break it Down

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

James 1:13

The first concept we must understand is that God does not tempt us. He puts us in trials, but he does not tempt us. Jesus said 

“What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Mark 7:20-23

but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

James 1:14

We all know what it’s like to have a sinful thought rise up to the forefront of our minds. So let’s clear this up, it is our own choices that lead to sin. No one can make us take this path! When we choose to sin, we are giving in to what is already within us. This is the definition of a sinful nature. We naturally default to sinful solutions.

If we spend too much time thinking about the temptation, it turns into a desire. James paints a vivid image. We are dragged away by desire. We are dragged and enticed. 

Enticed: attracted or tempted by offering pleasure or advantage.

The danger is that we are trapped into thinking the thing or thought that is tempting is good or will give us an advantage, whether small or significant.

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

James 1:15

Allowing desire to take hold of our minds is what gives birth to sin. The problem is when sin is given the chance to grow, it gives birth to death. 

Death?!

It can be a physical death, but if we are honest, biblically speaking, there are many different ways to experience death. We can experience death in relationships, finances, health deterioration, and family separation, for example. This should start to sound familiar and is all talked about in Deuteronomy 28. The differences between Blessings and Curses.

How can we stop ourselves from sinning?

If sin enters our hearts, we must be as quick as possible to run toward God. Acknowledge the sin in our hearts by being humble and believing what God says is greater than the twisted wisdom the devil is attempting to have us continue to spiral into. We can be slaves to sin if we believe there is no hope. Repent by changing our minds and speaking God’s word over the things that have us held hostage. Let God know that we want to walk away from evil desires and walk in his steadfast love. Lastly, we must ask God to forgive us the way we forgive others and for help with forgiving ourselves; so that we may be a living testimony to others who struggle with the same.

The Holy Spirit is already in our hearts. If Jesus is in us and we are in him, then please, treat your temple the way you treat your house.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols; I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain, make it abundant, and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. 

Ezekiel 36:22-32

Thank you for reading my Blog. Please leave a comment and let me know how God has been blessing your Life. If you need prayer for anything, we currently have a group called Christ Seekers on Facebook. We have prayer warriors that will not only pray for you but help if you need help, even if just to point you in the right direction.

God bless you and yours. Stay Salty!

Amen