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170. Stop Putting on Dirty Clothes


The Lord spoke strongly to me today “Stop putting on dirty clothes, Ash” as I was getting out of the shower and wanted to grab my cozy t shirt. I had just worn it for a bit and taken off to shower. It wasn’t filthy, I hadn’t worn it for long but those words felt convicting. So I grabbed my towel, tossed that shirt in the wash and went to put something new on. 

Then the Lord put it on my heart that putting on dirty clothes is exactly what many of us do every day. We go to church, we worship, we pray, we may even go up to the altar call and lay down on our faces before the Lord. We cry out for revival, for a fresh fire, for His presence and we walk right out of that church and right back into our mess. I know, I did it for years. It’s time to stop. 

It’s time to stop the old ways, to stop putting on your dirty clothes. Yes it may seem familiar, comfortable and like it’s fits just right, like it’s worn in just for you; but it’s smelly, it’s stained with the past and the Lord desires to clean you up. 

Think of a white shirt that gets tossed in the mud. It’s stained and needs cleaned up. So we wash it. If we take that same shirt and put it back in the mud, then wash it, over and over again, will it not be dingy? Will it ever really be restored to new again?

Now think of that same shirt tossed in the mud. Washed and cleansed, then treated with care. Stain remover added, an extra rinse, and bam. That shirt can be restored as new. 

That’s exactly what happens when you run right out of church cleansed of sin and you run right back into it. Will you ever truly be what the Lord intends you to be? Yes, it’s possible to repent multiple times. Yes, we all trip up and fall back into sin. We are flesh, and flesh makes mistakes. But please consider yourself that temple of the Holy Spirit. Stop walking right back into your mess. It’s time our actions match up with our words in every aspect of our lives. 

When we go to church, read the word, worship and let the Lord minister to our brokenness, we are like that shirt that is cleansed multiple times after getting dirty. That consecration and sanctification process keeps us clean, keeps us in Christ. Keeps us pure. 

The Lord can’t get into the cracks and detail the crevices of your soul if he’s busy scrubbing the surface every time you’re with him. 

Let him clean you up, let him minister to your life and in the process of walking in your calling, let the Lord get into the deep wounded cracks of your soul. The surface is just the start, it’s up to us to keep coming back for a deeper clean. It’s up to us to avoid the contamination of this world. It’s up to us to fight the flesh and walk in the spirit. It’s time to renew our thinking. It’s time to clean up our acts. 

Isaiah 1:16 - Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

Psalms 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 Corinthians 7:1 - Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Matthew 23:26 - Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Matthew 9:17 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

James 4:17 - Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

John 15:19 - If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Romans 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1 John 2:15 - Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Colossians 3:2 - Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 10:13 - There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

1 Peter 2:9 - But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1 Corinthians 6:20 - For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Romans 12:1 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Romans 6:13 - Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

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