If you have ever lived in a house with a basement, I'd bet that whenever you had something uncomfortable to look at, or that you just didn't know what to do with, you simply shoved it into the basement!

That's fine for old belongings, perhaps, but unfortunately that's also what many of you may have done with hurts, painful experiences, rejections and anger that you didn't know what to do with as you were growing up. You simply shoved them into the "basement" of your mind and closed the door. Sooner or later, the area becomes overfilled and can overflow in upsetting ways at the least appropriate times...pain, depression, fear, anger, problems with relationships and loneliness.

What can be done with all this debris left over from the old nature? God has the one solution. Let it die! Don't try to clean the debris out of your mind in the natural...the answer is to renounce these thoughts and pains from the past and ask God to heal your mind once and for all. If they try to come back, watch them die of their power over you!

Jesus has given you this incredible power, as the Apostle Paul says, "The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus...For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:10, 11, 14, NIV).

Let the Holy Spirit help you "houseclean" the basement of your mind tonight. As he brings each distasteful emotion or thought to the surface, renounce it; ask God to bring death to it; and know that another victory has been won!

Heavenly Father, I thank you for cleansing the "basement" of my heart and mind of that which has hindered my walk with You and my relationships with others. Let me die to all of it, for in You I am no longer under the law but under grace. In Jesus' Name, Amen.