If the Holy Spirit is to dwell in our hearts we must cleanse our minds and our bodies.

“He is my God and I will prepare him an habitation.” (Exodus 15: 1-2)

I decided to delve a little more into making God a place to dwell in our lives. If the Holy Spirit is to dwell in our hearts we must cleanse our minds and our bodies. There may be some obvious changes we need to make like breaking the habit of swearing or R rated movies.

 What if your means of employment takes you around things that defile? I know a wonderful spiritual man who teaches in the jail. He talked one day about the depressive atmosphere that exists there. I remembered once when I went to pick up an individual being released from jail. The decor is intended to be harsh and unwelcoming. There was cold grey concrete everywhere. There were no pictures on the walls, no carpet or tile on the floors. Even the waiting room had hard cold uninviting furniture. I wasn’t there long, but this man goes there weekly. He interacts with angry, non compliant, individuals who don’t want to be there and are forced to sit through his class. “How do you cleanse yourself,” I asked.

He goes to the gym and works out daily, eats right, studies his scriptures, prays, meditates and is extremely grateful for everything and he lives in the moment. One of the things he teaches the inmates is the power of the moment. The past is gone. You cannot change anything that happened in the past. You have very little control over the future. The only change we can make is in this moment. We have this moment to make decisions (good or bad) that will change our future our lives.

He teaches others to appreciate the moment. Whatever is happening in this moment, the sun, the clouds, the rain, the storm, the sunset, a smile, pain, sorrow or whatever is fleeting changes us. Make the best of it. Even our fleeting negative thoughts bring darkness into us.

“… I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever shall say “thou Fool shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:22)

Rid yourself of negative thoughts (that are without cause) and keep the slate clean.