No Room at the Inn?

It was in the early hours at dawn on the day I was celebrating a milestone of my wife's birthday. I woke up from my sleep still dark outside because the sun hasn't come out yet. I tried going back to sleep but subconsciously I could not and was wondering why. As I kept on trying to go back to sleep, the Holy Spirit began to drop into my spirit about the subject of this post. He took me to a specific scripture where Mary and Joseph were seeking a place because it was time for our savior to be born .I want to share this prophetic message with you as it weighs heavily on the heart of God regarding His children.

Luke 2:7 NASB

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

It is said hindsight is always 20/20. If the owner and the occupants of the inn knew the baby that was about to be born, they would have made room for Mary and Joseph. I can only imagine how their lives would have been changed. Please take time to read the story of Obed-edom the Gittite in 2 Samuel 6:1-15 and you will find out how blessed his household became when he took in the ark of God.

Gradual Push Out!

God is concern about why His children are gradually pushing Him out of their lives without realizing or seeing it as a big deal. They are casually treating their relationship with Him as something that does not matter or no more holds much value like other things in their lives. Our intentional neglect of nurturing our relationship with Him and unwillingness to spend time with Him is getting out of hand.

God is saying "If we continue to ignore His existence and sovereignty, His Spirit will be grieved and will redraw or become silent. He will not speak when we need the most to hear from Him because we have neglected Him. We have been focusing more on other things or preoccupied with what we deem important in life at the expense of our daily communion with Him".

Not only does God missed being at the center of our lives but He has a grave concern how our lives will turn out to be without Him at the helm of things. We are more vulnerable to the deception and attacks of the devil when God is not in charge of our affairs. I believe it is time to consider reexamining our relationship with Him and see where we may fall short.

How are we pushing God out of lives without seriously realizing one may ask curiously? Yes we are, please allow me to elaborate further to help all of us understand how and what we can do to make room for our savior once again.

Back burner

Are we getting in the habit of putting on hold things in our lives that will help us grow spiritually ? Are you in waiting mode instead of acting or being obedient to God when it comes to His will or what He has spoken to you personally? If the answer is Yes then God has become or treated as unseen guest, silent partner and no longer Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 NIV Do not quench the Spirit.

The work or fire of the Holy Spirit becomes quenched when we decide to leave our lives as we choose or seem fit to our present life circumstance. If we can go days, weeks and months without studying the word of God or spending time alone with God without the conviction of the Holy Spirit then there is little or no room for Him in our lives anymore. God is being pushed out of our lives when seeking Him daily becomes an afterthought, an option or a distance future.

A moment spent in His presence is never time wasted, one word from Him saves us from mountains of troubles and opens us to a whole new world of His goodness. Nothing satisfies or fulfills more than choosing to obey Him daily.

Grey area

There is no grey area when it comes to sin because our God is a holy God.If we can passionately engage, harbor or promote sin without any conviction then the Spirit is being grieved and His fire is being quenched .

John 16:8 NIV

When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:

Our willingness to indulge, encourage and promote sinful behavior without a sense of remorse or fear of God keeps Him further away. It is time to repent and turn away from it and open the door again for Him to come in.

Preoccupied [Deuteronomy 8:10-11 NIV, James 4:6 NIV, Philippians 4:6 NIV]

The blessings of God and the responsibilities thereof can become or used as excuses why we cannot draw closer to God daily. Let us keep the God that blessed us in the first place above all so that the blessing does not take us away from Him or turn into a graven image we worship.

Our growing intimacy with God is the springboard to do His work. Sometimes we can become preoccupied with the work of God and forget or limit our time alone with the God of the work. Any kind of busyness without a pause to make time for our maker is not worthwhile in the long run.

An obsession with ourselves leaves no room for God and eventually leads to arrogance, pride and self-exaltation. When we become self-absorbed with who we are and what we have it turns us into "gods" leaving no room for Him. The proud always runs in opposition to God and His ways, why would we turn to become His enemies while He has already made us His children.

Our past experiences and what we may be going through in life can be overwhelming to the point of sinking us deep into depression, isolation, hopelessness and doubt. We need to open our heart to God for Him to heal the wounds, regrets, pains of the past and give us the grace to to press on to what He has for us in the future.

Loss of passion [Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 84:2]

Our passion for God and righteousness should not decrease over time or as we age rather it should increase like streams of living water. When you see that your passion is gone or seems to be going down then it time to turn your attention to the Spirit to revive you again. Do we have any passion left for the lost or have we lost it completely? It is time to ask the Holy Spirit to work in us to be willing and do what pleases God.

I know we all have passion or interest for things in life but these should not take the place of God in our life. "Holy Spirit restore our first love and ignite in us a fresh passion for God we pray".

Reprioritization [Ephesians 5:15-17 NIV]

It is important for us all to re-evaluate our lives occasionally so that we can make sure we are directing our resources appropriately to ensure proper balance in life. If God is not the reason or thought through this process then there is a high probability that He will be squeezed out of our lives. Any rearrangement that displays Him farther from our daily lives or routine is an indication that He holds no value in our lives.

A believer once told me that because I had less responsibilities than him that is why I seem to grow in my relationship with God than him. I chuckled and was startled as the same time because like similar believers intimacy with God is not worth fighting for any more. Friends, we all need the help of the Holy Spirit, others have been able to do it with their hands full or with more constrained circumstances in life. It time to fine tuned our spiritual life to create a balance that brings honor to God.

Jesus standing at the door

God says "I use to be your life; consulted on any decision big or small, first thing in the morning and thought of throughout the day but now I am left out and not even an afterthought". Remember "proximity does not always translate to intimacy" a great pastor I know once said. It is time to make room again and allow Him to be Lord over our lives.

Create Room

Let us start making more room by pushing aside the excuses or stop procrastinating to get our spiritual life up and running again. You may think you have it worse in your situation or have no spare time to be with your maker but you got it all wrong. There may be people in worse situation than yours but still making time daily because they deem their one on one time with God as important as all other things they have going on in their lives.

Revelation 3:20 NIV Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Unless we make time we will never have any extra time anywhere to spare because our lives are already full. We need to push others things around or out of the way else they will push God out.

Clean Room

Jesus during His ministry on earth took drastic actions to cleanse the temple twice; one in the beginning and the other at the end of His ministry [ John 2:13-22, Matthew 21:12-17]. Jesus's action teaches us that we need to evaluation our lives often so that we can get rid of things that has taken the place of God or keep us from spending time with Him. We all need cleansing and rearrangement periodically so that we can get rid of what is sin or unwanted while putting other things in their rightful places.

Hebrews 12:1 NIV Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Sin or sinful behavior makes us drift farther from God as well as becoming a breeding ground for the devil and his works. God is always with us but it is sin that keeps us away from Him. It is time for a deep cleaning in our hearts and lives. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts while we response in humility and sincerity. Let today be the day of repentance before the voice of God becomes deafening.

Maintain Room

It is far more important to keep our lives and heart from clutter in the first place.

Let us begin each day by asking the Holy Spirit to search our heart; convict, rebuke, caution so that we can repent immediately and ask for forgiveness. We need a daily dose of His grace to help us to live right and honor Him in everything we do.

We need to become more intentional by setting a time alone with God no matter how busy or overloaded our daily schedule maybe. If we sincerely value our relationship with our heavenly father and His input in our lives, we will make time daily to be with Him. God's immeasurable blessings awaits us if we will allow Him back into our hearts or lives, give Him full control and choose to obey Him at all cost.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Rev.3:22

Jesus is waiting, don't keep Him waiting while we waste away in our flesh.

Let's pray

Heavenly father I pray for every reader that Holy Spirit will help them to identify anything that they need to give up or get out of the way to make room for more of you. Holy Spirit show us where in our lives that we have neglected you or taken you for granted. I pray that you will give us the grace to turn away or put off anything that keep separating us from you. Cleanse and make us whole again to be refilled in greater measure with your Presence. Give us discernment and strength to say no to sin or anything that easily clutter our lives. Lord help us to love you more than your blessings in our lives and become our object of affection in life In Jesus Name, Amen.

God bless you.