"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea. And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
Matthew 3: 1-4

This month we are making room for God in our lives. We are clearing the way in our hearts and lives for God to inhabit us in a stronger way. God wants to inhabit you and use the temple He created (your body and life) for His glory and to build His kingdom in the earth today. We need to clear a pathway in our hearts and lives for His presence! I want to talk to you today about how we are to clear a pathway in preparation for His presence.

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” We are preparing a path in our hearts and lives to make room for the Spirit of God. There is going to be an outpouring of the Spirit of God that we have never seen and we must make room for Him!

God doesn’t give His Spirit by measure (John 3:34). In other words, God gives His Spirit without limit. So, God is not holding back His Spirit from you in the hopes that you would pray, praise, worship or fast more! No! Its about how much of yourself are you willing to give to Him? How much are you willing to “empty” yourself so that there can be more of Him?

Sometimes neither of the above spiritual issues applies - its that He is speaking but we don’t hear due to distractions, worries and carnal leanings that keep us hearing our flesh and our fear, but not hearing the whisper of the Spirit of God.

Praise makes straight paths in the Spirit for Him to visit us. Praise opens the gates of our hearts to heaven and a divine exchange takes place. Praise empties us of all the clutter we carry inside and releases it to a powerful God, and in exchange praise fills us with His presence. Praise is a holy exchange of your weakness for His strength. His shoulders are strong enough to carry your load. Not only is He able to carry your burden, He wants to carry your burden. This is a novel idea to many of us.

God is always with us and He always has something to say to us. Sometimes we can’t hear Him because our minds are fixated on the worries and cares on life rather than releasing them to Him in faith. Praise clears our entire being of everything so that we have peace from the torment of worry! Clear a pathway for His presence with praise.

Prayer clears a pathway for His presence. Prayer is communication with God in which a divine exchange takes place. We adore God during prayer and thank Him for who He is and what He has done. We remember his mighty acts in our life from before, which reveal His character towards us and strengthens our faith. We lay our requests at His feet. He releases a peace that passes all understanding and this peace He releases guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Consistent communication with God etches pathways in our soul like someone who digs a channel out in the ground, anticipating a river to flow through it. This is what it means to “make room for God;” to “make a straight path for Him” as John proclaimed to believers who were about to go from one sacred covenant to another. They were in a transitional era which required that people make room for God in their hearts and lives…so are we.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline in which we sacrifice the food and the time we spend eating for time spent in prayer with God. Fasting means to afflict one’s soul or body. Fasting makes room for the Lord in your soul by subduing the flesh and turning one’s entire attention to the things of the Spirit. The problem of hearing God vaporizes as the flesh comes under subjection and your being is in right order: our Spirit should be in command of our lives, secondly, our soul (mind, will and emotions), and then our flesh. When we allow our soul (mind, will or emotions) or flesh to rule us, we get out of order. It’s easy in the fast pace of life to get out of order! Fasting brings us back into alignment, making straight our ways. It quiets the flesh and turns our attention fully on God so we can hear what He is saying. Fasting clears the flesh from the pathway for His presence. We must be ready for God’s presence and the new thing He is doing!

We are making room for God in our lives, expecting Him to show up in unprecedented ways! We are clearing the way for God to inhabit us with a stronger, fuller, more powerful presence! We need more of Him and less of us! God wants to inhabit you and use the temple He created (your body and life) to build His kingdom in the earth for His glory! Using the power of the keys of the kingdom – praise, prayer and fasting, we are opening the doors of our hearts to God who stands knocking. We are going into a new era on the earth today – not in the proportions that the believers were when John came declaring “Repent!” – but a new era nonetheless! Because we know He is coming and He is doing a new thing, by our faith we prepare for what He is about to do! Will you be ready? “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!”

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