What God gave us is very, very important. He gave us holiness, see? So we need to do those kinds of things. Well you know I'm talking about the person - tell them to listen up, it's probably all about them. [Laughs] Okay, just two more now, two more. Here's the next thing is, you need to resolve negative influences inside you, or that operate in your own life, resolve negative things that operate in your own life. If you love yourself, then be committed to personal growth. Let's show you just in 2 Chronicles, Chapter 29, been reading about Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a great reformer, and it says this. It says in Verse 3, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Verse 5 he said, now hear me you Levites! Sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, carry the rubbish out of the holy place, for our fathers have trespassed, and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. See, they shut up the doors, put out the lamps, haven't burned incense or burnt offerings.
I can't do all of that, but just go down to Verse 16; so the priests went to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the debris they found in the temple of the Lord, to the court of the house of God. Now this is reaffirmation, now here's a young man, and when he became king, in other words when he stood up in the authority God had given him, his first priority was to deal with the house of the Lord. Now you and I are the house of the Lord, so what did he do? The first thing he did was repair the gates. He looked at the areas where access comes in and out, and he repaired them, covered them all with gold, restored them,, and covered them with gold. He restored the glory of God's presence into that place see, so he restored the gates. The gates are always a picture of the entrance ways into things. Then he went into the inner place and cleansed out what was in there, in the very same way in our own lives we need to resolve things which are going on in our life, some of which have been there for years.
If you love yourself, care for yourself enough to look at the areas you need healing. Now most people, if you drop a hammer on your foot or you accidentally bang your thumb, normally every part of your body yells, it yells protest and probably you'll say a word or too as well. Something will come out I'm sure, but you know there's pain there, there's something not right, so we can see that with a physical thing. Often with the wounds in our soul, we're not so aware of the damage that's been caused, and so we don't usually take the effort to do anything. The Freedom Retreat, the Restoration Retreats and some of the Care Force courses are designed to help you get the baggage out of your life. God loves you enough, He's made provision for that to happen. Love yourself enough, that you roll up and let the thing happen to you, you begin to open your life and say I'm on a journey of change. I'm on a lifelong journey of change. Okay? So what kinds of things would you need to look at?
Well are there inherited curses, family patterns, that are operating in your family, that need to be sorted out and brought to the cross? Are there offences you've been holding for years, you need to actually remember what happened, and bring it out into the light, and deal with it? Are there fears that cause you to feel intimidated? Bring them out, and get them sorted out. Someone spoke cursing over your life? Get that out, and bring it to the cross, and let it get sorted out. What about trauma and things that have affected you emotionally? Get them out, and get them to the cross, get the stuff out. Why? Because you value yourself. God valued you, and He made provision for that to be dealt with. He made provision for your griefs to go, made provision for every area of our lives to be healed and restored. It's His plan to restore us, so if I'm going to agree with God that I'm valuable, also agree with God He's provided for my wholeness, and I will therefore pursue it. Isn't that a good thought to do something like that?