“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”‭‭Revelation‬ ‭3:20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What if Jesus was really standing there knocking at your door.  Would you care about what your house looked like?  Or would you be more concerned with what your heart looked like?

Of course, if you know him, then you would answer that you would be much more concerned with the condition of your heart at that moment. If you don’t know him, have never studied his word, or haven’t talked to him in prayer lately,  you might have been misguided to the perception that he would care about the physical surroundings and judge your worthiness upon them.  But no sister, he wouldn’t.

He would look into your eyes, and see the depths of your soul.  He would love you right that second with a grace-filled love.  Then he would sit down without bothering to brush the crumbs the kids left in the chair from breakfast.  He would insist on helping you make a homemade meal from whatever was in the kitchen.  Then, as the verse above states, he would sit down as your friend and share the meal you prepared together.  His gaze would not wander to the food splashed on the baseboards at your feet that you haven’t gotten around to scrubbing yet.  He would be so intently focused on your conversation and hearing your heart expressed that he wouldn’t notice the dirty blinds on the window that need attention.  Oh, what an amazingly full and joyous visit that would  be!

I bring this visual to you, sweet sisters, because we are halfway through our 4 week spring cleaning bible study series.  I don’t know where you are on your journey.  You may be like me, right on track heart-wise in your study book, feeling cleansed and refreshed, but a little behind on the house cleaning.  Or you may be breezing through the house cleaning but having trouble getting in the habit of praying while cleaning, feeling kind of distant from Jesus.  Or maybe, you are right on track.  Your cleaning list is up to date and you’re in constant conversation with Jesus in the midst of a home that is sparkling.  Way to go!

Wherever you are on this journey to a clean heart and a clean home, remember that Jesus is most concerned with the cleanliness of your heart.  His blood has the power to wash off the deepest, set-in stains.  The ones that you thought were utterly hopeless so you placed a perfectly staged pillow to cover them.  Those are the ones he would touch and heal if you saw him face to face today.

This afternoon, with a “magic eraser” and nail polish remover, I scrubbed away nail polish splotches on my bathroom counter and floor from my little girls.  I banned them from any use of nail polish. Ever.  Now my bathroom floor is clean.  Like it never even happened. I prayed for them while the chemicals tore the skin on my fingertips.  Oh I could have been so mad.  But instead, it was an opportunity for God’s grace to cover my precious little mini-women.  This is what I love about this journey.  Every dirty, greasy, stain is an opportunity for prayer, thankfulness, and a fresh start; that you can actually see with your eyes as your hands make your house clean, and Jesus makes your heart clean!

So keep praying and scrubbing sisters!  We are halfway there.

Buy the study and join in >>>http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Cleaning-Your-Heart-Home/dp/1530583446/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460854158&sr=8-1&keywords=Spring+Cleaning+bible+study

It’s week two of Spring Cleaning for your heart and home here at Refocused Bible Study. Today we start the week cleaning our master bedroom and praying over our marriages.

It’s powerful to use the hours we clean our homes to pray as we go, thanking the Lord and asking His continued blessing on our families and homes.

Today’s Study

This week, we focus on this passage from Song of Solomon as we clean our bedrooms:

“The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”

‭‭The Song of Solomon‬ ‭

2:8-10, 12-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Today, we focus in on verse 8, when the young bride hears her man coming to her.

In the book, I focus in on hearing your husband & listening. The world grapples for our attention, focus, & time, drawing us apart in marriage and over time we can neglect to the person who means the most to us.

What’s on his heart?

How can I love him well this week?

When was the last time we sat face to face & chatted?

These are great places to start asking yourself if you are as connected to your man as you are perceive you are.

Start there and PRAY.

Pray for whatever is on your heart for your marriage.

Today’s Cleaning

The Master Bedroom

___ Dust the Headboard

___ Check the condition of your bedding

___ Clean out under your bed

Start there & the next few days, we will move on to the windows, walls, and light fixture.

I hope you’ll join us on this Spring Cleaning with Jesus Journey!

>>Want to join the Spring Cleaning with Jesus journey?  Buy the study here:  >>>

http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Cleaning-Your-Heart-Home/dp/1530583446/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460223096&sr=8-1&keywords=Spring+Cleaning+bible+study

OR

FREE scripture writing plan/cleaning schedule here.

🌸💗Join our FB Group for more Spring Cleaning Encouragement!

🌸💗Every Monday morning I send a Dear Daughter email devotion to help women walk like dearly loved daughters of God. Join the email list here . 💗

I pulled out the drawer in the middle of my kitchen, searching for a number 2 pencil WITH an eraser, with ten minutes to get into the minivan.  My hands began frantically rummaging to no avail; UNO cards, nail polish, hair clips, dozens of tiny rubber bands…no number 2 pencils, no pencils at all!  This is not good I thought.  The one thing that is supposed to be there isn’t, but every other thing under the sun is in there, taking up space and just junking up my drawer!

I know how this happened.  When I am tidying up I just toss things in there and close it up real quick instead of dealing with it and putting it

where it’s really supposed to go.

It works for the moment.  My counters are clear, and on the surface my kitchen looks really shiny and nice.  (Until a guest accidentally opens the drawer looking for a spoon to stir her coffee, right?) The same happens with our hearts.  We don’t put the real time or effort into prayer.  So we just toss up a general “Lord help me.”

Our outsides look great and tidy; but on the inside, we feel like our own junk drawer.

Cluttered.

This afternoon, I opened it up to clean it out.  I put my fingers in there and moved the junk all around, looking for things that were valuable enough to keep.  I set a few treasures on top of the counter that I deemed worthy.  There was still so much junk mixed in with the good stuff.  I spotted a handwoven necklace I had bought in Africa when we were there adopting my daughter that I definitely wanted to keep.

But I realized I only had a few minutes before I had to leave again to take my daughter to gymnastics!  (See why I wrote the “Why your house is messy” post?)  I shoved the UNO cards and other treasures back in and then took this picture:  (Your’e welcome, I try to keep it real here :))

I thought about how my heart felt all discombobulated like this messy drawer.  It had been such a busy morning with necessary activities that I could not cut out of our schedule.  I have been out of the habit of rising very early to pour my heart out to the Lord in prayer and so it felt just as cluttered as this drawer.  So many concerns were in there, nothing extremely heavy or pressing,  but just things I needed to talk to Jesus about, stuffed in there waiting to come out and set before him.

The only way to clear something so messy out is to dump it.  Let all the good things worth keeping and the clutter taking up space to come out, and be picked up and evaluated

one thing at a time.

It is the same with our prayer life.  We can’t feel light and free if we don’t sit at the feet of Jesus and lift up every concern separately

one care at a time.

He wants us to be specific, and ask.

“You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” James 4:2

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7

So in the spirit of Spring Cleaning, go pick a drawer or a closet.  Open it up and dump the clutter out.  As you pick up each thing to evaluate it, voice your concerns to the Lord.  Don’t let your mind wander into daydreaming.  Talk out loud to Jesus if that helps.  Feel your heart become so light and free as you let all the cares and worries be set upon the One on whom they are supposed to fall.

Then organize all the things that are left.  See the beauty you have created where there was once a mess.  Know that the things you lifted up to the Lord are being turned into something beautiful for eternity as well!  If you doubt,  just open up that drawer or closet and thank Him for working on the requests you laid at his feet.

I would love to hear from you if you are working through “Spring Cleaning for Your Heart and Home!”  Comment below and tell me how it’s going!  Praying for you all. Enjoy journeying through your home with Jesus, and look forward to a clean home and heart!

>>>If you would like to purchase the study, it’s available here on Amazon: >>>

WEEK 1 PRAYER PODCAST: Spring Cleaning Week 1 Prayer Podcast

“Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:29-30 MSG

In the breath before this one, Jesus had just been explaining to the disciples how exactly to live this free life- in intimacy with the Father.  He is telling the disciples to watch him, and promising that he will teach them how to live life in this free and light way.

So we can’t literally see Jesus at the moment,  but as I have encouraged us in the book, we have invited him with us on the journey to a clean home and a clean heart.  If we haven’t done this, then we might as well forget this bible study and just grab our trash bags and our cleaning supplies and get the work done.

So, I sat down to write some quick tips to motivate us to get started.  And as he often does, Jesus rushed in as I called on him and he told me to encourage you with this:

Spring Clean the way Jesus would.  

Can’t you just see him now?  Like he did when he washed the disciples’ feet… wrapping a towel around his waist, eager to serve, a heart full of love; perfect love for the recipient of this work.

And sisters, this is EXACTLY what I encourage us to do in our homes in the month of April.  I am not a cleaning expert.  I am a girl wildly and madly in love with Jesus who has been given a home to make into his masterpiece.

I want you talking with Jesus the entire time you are on this journey,

thanking him for your clutter and excess,

asking him who to pass clothes on to,  

inviting your children to join in the work, and

praying for the people you are cleaning for.  

>>>Now a FREEBIE!  For those of you who are not going to buy the book, here is a passage reading/cleaning schedule so you can join in too!  >>>Click below to print, or screenshot the image to refer to on your phone! 🙂

Spring Cleaning for Your Heart and Home Reading_Cleaning Schedule

Write out one verse a day Monday- Friday, and focus on the areas in the “cleaning tasks” column that week. Think about and pray through the verses as you clean.

I’ll be sending out a few blogposts each week that coincide with the plan!

Want the full Spring Cleaning Bible Study Experience?  Buy the book at Amazon below:

http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Cleaning-Your-Heart-Home/dp/1530583446/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459774780&sr=8-1&keywords=Spring+Cleaning+bible+study

I will mostly be using this blog to communicate during this study so make sure you are signed up! If not, click below and receive emails when I post!

Praying for you,

Amy

“And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”‭‭Mark‬ ‭16:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

It’s the last day, day sixteen of “Mark, one chapter a day for Easter.” here at Refocused Bible Study. If you missed the details of the study, you can find them here. If you missed out, you can scroll through all my previous posts while le you study on your own.

Today we are reading in chapter sixteen.  and I was mostly drawn to verses 1-8, focusing on verse six. I’m sharing today following the quiet time pattern below. Try it or something similar in your own personal study and see if it helps you find focus and structure to help His Word come alive in your life! See the image here:

My verse: “And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”‭‭Mark‬ ‭16:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬
Application: Live like He’s ALIVE and like you’re ALIVE in Him. Don’t live so temporarily. I needed this reminder. I get caught up in today, this week, month, and year. I forget that God has conquered death. But if I keep my  eyes fixed on Jesus, and the truth that he is alive, my heart and priorities are going to be set on things that are lasting. 

Review: Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, and Salome went with burial spices to Jesus’ tomb. It was open! The stone was rolled away! An angel was on the right side inside the tomb. He told them not to be alarmed, that Jesus had risen!

Kneel in prayer: Almighty Jesus, we praise you for your power that raised you from the dead. Thank you for giving us the same resurrection power (Romans 8:11). Resurrect dead, locked up parts of our souls and lives that need new life and hope in you. Help us continue to spread your message in love and power. Make us women of your Word, filled with truth and strength from you. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

That’s the end of Mark! What did God show you through this book?

Have a blessed Resurrection Day worshipping our Risen Savior!