Get Your House In Order

As some of you know I had something that "freaked" me out not too long ago before we left for a weekend away. Whenever I leave home on a trip even if it's just overnight, I always make sure that my house is in order. Couple reasons for that. Should anything fatal happen while I'm away I want things to be neat, tidy, nothing left undone for whoever would have to come in and go through my things. Also, it makes it much easier on me when I get home.

Well, it was a Wednesday afternoon by the time I got into the office and realized I hadn't turned the calendar on my desk. So of course I turned it to that particular day. The verse for the day was from Isaiah 38:1 which said - "Put your house in order, because you are going to die." Yep...it freaked me out.

I had called a friend a little later to say hello and check in with her. I told her what happened. She said "but you already started putting things in order before you saw that verse." She was right and those words did help bring me some comfort but not much. I know I know for a Christian to die is gain. I know that, but!

I prayed for our safety as we traveled with that verse never being far from my thoughts. While on our trip I got terribly sick...particularly Saturday night. I could not stop shaking. I was shaking violently and breathing very heavily. I wasn't cold and I was under five blankets, but yet the shaking continued. All I kept thinking of was that verse. I told the Lord that if I was going to die please let me get home. I felt as though there was some kind of evil battle taking place. I was weak throughout the night, better by Sunday but still weak and not much appetite. I came home and went straight to bed. The weakness continued. By Monday my stomach was killing me and making all kinds of strange noises. A few days later, praise the Lord He brought me through it all. And I am feeling well once again.

I went in to check my emails the day after we got home. I had an email from another friend that was posted Thursday, the day after I read the verse on my calendar. She emailed a letter her pastor sent to her church family.

In his letter he quoted the same verse “Get your households in order.” Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. That’s what the Lord wants me to do – get my house in order. Maybe I wasn’t going to die after all but there is definitely something going on that the Lord wants me to get. Her pastor talked about how things have changed, how our nation is facing such a financial crisis, how we live in a time of tension and transition. He stated that we need clear thinking and honest relationships. We need to stand firm and care for each other because things have changed and they will continue to change quickly. He talked about God being Sovereign, how we need to SEEK HIM, and how we are to be Christ-centered – a “Community of Hope” for those who are living in fear and desperate as their situations become worse.

Needless to say, that verse did cause me to reflect on what does it really mean to have my "house in order.” What does that look like? I gave much thought to what it meant for me. A few days later this is what God showed me. He wants me to be ready - He wants me to have my life, my house, all things, in order so that I can be an asset to His Kingdom. He wants me to be ready to go and do those works which He prepared beforehand for me to do. He wants me to remove all hindrances - anything that is stopping me from being an instrument for Him I need to get rid of. Do you realize that if you are not an asset to the Kindgom of God then you are a hindrance? I never thought of it that way but I do now.


With that in mind, I thought about something a friend wrote in an email and what those words of having your house in order meant to her. Some of her questions were: Is there someone you need to share Christ with while you can? Have you told those you love that you do? Is there someone you can do something for before you lose the opportunity? Is there someone you need to apologize to or a debt you need to repay?

Well, one of those questions triggered something deep inside of me that made me realize there is something I must do. I knew it was time to share just a bit of my testimony including a Bible with my brother and sister. My brother will be going for heart surgery on April 2 so I knew that I knew, it was time to share. As I told the both of them, there were several reasons why I haven’t shared with them in the past but felt that I now needed to do so. I have done my part and now they must either accept the Gospel message or deny it. I pray that someday they too will come to know the Lord Jesus in a very real and personal way.

That was just one step of getting my house in order. I will continue to seek God’s direction as to what other steps He may want me to take as far as getting my house in order.

I want to ask you to consider your own “house” - is it in order? What is God asking you to do so that you can be an asset to His Kingdom? Who in your life might need to hear the Gospel message or that you love them? What is left undone in your life that needs to be done now before you can be an asset to the Kingdom of God?

These are just a few questions for your consideration. I want to encourage you to seek God’s will for your house and the steps He wants you to take to get it in order.

Will you be an asset or a hindrance to the Kingdom of God? The choice is yours. Which will you choose?

In Christ’s love,
Janice