Cleaning House (Pt. 1)

Then he arose and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. 2 Kings 9:6-7 (NKJV)

Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu king of Israel so that God's people could once again worship Him only. His first act as king was to kill Joram, king of Isreal, Ahaziah, king of Judah, and Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab. These were the big three, who led all of Isreal and all of Judah away from God and into sin. They led God's people into the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, involving a variety of practices that were often seen as abhorrent to the God of Israel. These included child sacrifices, ritual prostitution, and elaborate feasts and festivals marked by drunkenness and revelry, often involving large public sacrifices and offerings. King Jehu had to first get rid of the source of Isreal and Judah's sin before restoring true worship.

Like King Jehu, we need to acknowledge to source of the big sins that are keeping us from God and then eliminate them. James 4:17 says, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." When we get caught in our addictions, such as alcoholism, gambling, pornography, drug use, anger, and many more that control our lives, we not only separate ourselves from God, but hurt those who love us. But we don't have to let our addictions control us, because we have Jesus who died for all our sins, and are no longer separated from God. Colossians 2:13-14 says, “When you were dead in your sins... God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness.” Jesus died for our addictions so that we could be with God, so we need to give them to Jesus.

Choose to identify the sins that are separating you from God and clean house. Join a faith-based recovery program like Celebrate Recovery and give your addiction to Jesus, who died for you on the cross. Recovery involves understanding that addiction is primarily a spiritual issue, and healing is possible through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Choose to get away from the situations that are keeping you in your addiction. If there are apps on your phone that is leading you to phonography or gambling, delete them and put a filter on your phone. If the crowd that you hang out with leads you to drink or do drugs, find new friends. Meet people at church or your recovery group who want a life with God and do activities with them. When you identify the source of your addiction, and clean house, giving it to Jesus, you build a relationship with Him and a better life for yourself.