I have always loved this story in Luke 7:36-50. The woman was characterized as a sinner. Commentators say that she was a prostitute. I cannot imagine her emotional pain. Yet, when she knew that Jesus was in the house, she didn’t let her shameful past stop her from serving Him.

Verse 37-38 says, “…she…brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.”

Verse 47 says, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

We are to forgive AS we have been forgiven. A non-forgiving heart reveals one that is deficient in love, and wholehearted worship. We are forgiven all of our sins because Jesus loves us much. He laid down His life for us. He bore the wrath of His Father because of our sins.

I encourage you to live in the present truth that you are so loved. It doesn’t matter what has happened to you. You can still worship from a wounded heart. Hebrews 13:15 says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” May our lives be characterized by a worshipping heart.

Here is another verse to consider. Psalm 141:7 says, “Our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave, as when one plows and breaks up the earth.” Plowing reveals the hidden.

Luke 9:61-62 says, “…Lord, I will follow You, but…Jesus said to him, No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Emotional clutter gives us a ‘but’ of reluctance. There is always an excuse of why we don’t do something to break free and move forward. Here are two examples. Buried emotional pain from abuse may have these characteristics: fear of man, lack of trust, self-rejection, pretense, or a victim mentality.

Buried emotional pain from pronouncements spoken over you may have these characteristics. You see yourself as a failure, no initiative, afraid, procrastinate, or you observe but don’t participate.

Whatever is buried will surface unexpectedly. It unknowingly feeds into your thought processes. You only see yourself through the eyes of your past. Let’s look at Elisha as a great example of casting off his past.

The Lord told Elijah to anoint Elisha as a prophet in his place. 1 Kings 19:19-21 is the account. Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. Watch what he does. Verse 21 says, “So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.”

Elisha burned everything that represented his past and followed Elijah into the ministry the Lord had prepared for him. Let us acknowledge our sinful characteristics and forsake them. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know exactly what you have buried. The Lord does. He will reveal it in His timing. Be intentional in the present.

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I like to visit the book of Haggai often. It helps hone my perspective. Haggai 1:7 says, “…Consider your ways!” Verse 9 says, “…I blew it away. Why?…Because My house that is in ruins…” Verse 14 says that the Spirit of the Lord stirred up the people. May these posts ‘stir you up’ to consider your emotional clutter.

I like to ask myself the same question as Haggai 2:19. It says, “Is the seed still in the barn?…” Am I doing all that the Lord has preordained for me to do? Am I holding back because of something buried in my unconscious?

When we use the words like ‘big clods’ in reference to emotional pain, then the seed is blocked from maturing. Though it was sown, it cannot bear fruit. Mark 4:26-29 is the parable of growing seed. The farmer plants the seed. It says, “…the seed should sprout and grow…first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head.”

When we bury our emotional pain, it is sin. James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Romans 14:23 says, “…whatever is not of faith is sin.”

Faith is trust in One who is trustworthy. Buried emotional pain is sin when we don’t trust the Lord, we stay bound though He offers freedom, and we use it to define our lives.

I would encourage you to take your emotional pain before the Lord. Acknowledge that you have sinned against Him, embrace His way through release, and walk daily in your freedom by continually renewing your mind.

Distracting

Disturbing

Disorganized

I like to remember where I put things. I was shocked one time when I found my keys sitting on the top shelf on my refrigerator! How did they get THERE?

It was a very stressful time in my life. I was taking care of my dad. He had entered the part of dementia where he lost his ability to reason. Being an only child, and no children of my own, it was uncharted territory.

All three of the ‘D’s’ kept me from clear mental focus. Here are three unchanging truths:

We are made in the image of God

We have the mind of Christ

He has all wisdom and knowledge

Mental clutter blocks our ability to focus. It also disrupts creative wisdom. Proverbs 3:19 says, “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens.”

Mental clutter blocks our sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 30:21 says, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”

Mental clutter is noisy and blocks His still small voice. 1 Kings 19:11-12 is the account of Elijah on the mountain. The Lord passed by but He was not in the powerful rock breaking wind, earthquake, or fire. Verse 12 says it was a still small voice.

Job 26:14 says, “Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

It is time to put away our cluttered minds, and walk in His daily provision for us. All we need is found in His word which will bring order to our thoughts. It is full of wisdom and insights to help us navigate through our mental clutter to freedom.

Today I want to address emotional clutter that blocks clear thinking. One definition for a sound mind in 2 Timothy 1:7 is disciplined thought patterns.

Clutter is lack of discipline. Period. I know. My art table is a hollow core door on legs. It is cluttered. I have things I’m working on that I need ready access to. There are other things that I could put away, but where?

Clutter is a lack of organization. If things were organized in my storage closet I would have room to put things out of sight until needed. Does this sound familiar to you?

The emotional pain that we stuff in our unconscious, feeds into every thought process. It is there waiting for expression. It was not made to hide but to be released. It clutters our mind and keeps us from being able to bring every thought captive before the Lord.

Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”

Hannah understood this. She was full of emotional pain. When she released it to the Lord, He gifted her a son. Samuel influenced his world around him. 1 Samuel 3:19 says that the Lord did not let any of his words fall to the ground.

What fruit is being blocked under the big clods of your stuffed emotional pain? God’s purpose for your life may have to take a circular route while He trains you through your trials. Exodus 13:17 says, “…God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

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Another area of fallow ground is clutter. Yesterday as I went back to my reading in Luke, I read this verse in light of clutter. Luke 3:11 says, “…He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none…”

There are several types of clutter: unused things, piles of things that create disorder, hoarding, and unresolved issues buried in our hearts are a few.

I encourage you to begin to clear out any areas of clutter in your life~physical and emotional. Here is my personal rule of thumb: if I haven’t used something in a year, it is time to give it away to someone who could use it. When the Holy Spirit reveals a hidden unresolved area, then to diligently work through it with Him.

Several years ago I was teaching a Bible study for women called ‘Inner Purity.’ Here is a quote from our notes: Clutter defiles and diminishes the capacity of our hearts. It takes up the space designed for precious things. It blocks creativity. A pure heart is unfettered from the trappings of an unresolved past.

Clutter is like static in a radio. You can’t hear clearly. Being led by the Spirit requires clear lines of communication. Clutter desensitizes and blocks our creative understanding. We can’t hear or see how the Holy Spirit is leading us.

1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”

I encourage you to take the fallow areas in your heart before the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to show you the truth that will neutralize and destroy the power of the lies you have believed.

Ask Him to take His harrow and pulverize the dried up, hard pan soil that has perpetuated the lies, break up the entanglement of weeds, and plow deep to expose any rocks that would keep the new seeds from maturing. Joel 1:17 says, “The seed shrivels under the clods…”

Let me make a note. The Lord’s ways are far higher than our ways. We may not recognize how He is going to answer our prayer. Here is how I pray: Lord, I ask You to help me recognize what You are doing so that I do not resist Your ways.

Until we yield our fallow ground areas to His harrow, we will remain unchanged. Inner transformation is a work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do it in our own strength.

The Holy Spirit brought up another area of fallow ground. Clutter. Two days ago I had a phone call asking for help with clutter. Yesterday I had an email about the subject. Obviously the Lord is wanting this issue addressed openly. The fruit of a cluttered life is a cluttered mind.

This is the title of one of my chapters in my new book I’ve been quoting from. Here is the definition of a harrow. It is a farm implement used to pulverize soil, break up crop residues, uproot weeds, and cover seed.

Now let’s take this and apply it to our fallow ground. Since fallow ground is the fruit of our flesh, we need to submit to His harrow of repentance. As I just typed this, Isaiah 50:6 came to mind.

As always our Lord is our example. It says, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.”

In order to bear fruit for His glory, we must give ourselves, not shrinking back from His harrow. Only His harrow will be able to do the inner heart-work needed to set us free from the fallow ground.

Since ‘man-pleaser’ was the last fallow ground that we looked at, let’s start there. This morning I received this verse in my email. Psalm 118:8 says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” Psalm 147:11 says, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.”

Two roots in the fallow ground of a man-pleaser are the fear of man, and the felt-need of acceptance. We know from Proverbs 29:25 that the fear of man is a snare, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The lie behind the felt-need of acceptance is exposed through two verses in Ephesians 1. Verse 4 says that He chose us before the foundation of the world. Verse 6 says that He made us accepted in the beloved.