With all the ghosts and goblins anxious to make an appearance in about a week, I couldn’t think of a better time to talk about restless evil spirits who are looking for a home. When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest, and not finding rest, it then says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ Returning, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worst than the first. Luke 11:24-26.
Translation: you kick a bad habit to the curb, not just smacking your food, but some type of demonic activity in your life that originates with sin. Once gone, you get busy getting everything in order then before you know it, that evil activity along with a slew of others is back to wreck your life. If you haven’t experienced this yourself, then you have probably witnessed someone else getting on track only to be completely derailed. Just when everyone was saying, “He’s doing so well”, that individual relapses with a host of other problems on top of the fix they were in before.
I get a kick out of this portion of the scripture, “it roams through waterless places”. I guess all those drowning pigs in Matthew 8 decided they didn’t like the water! (I digress) While that one spirit is roaming it makes other evil spirit buddies and then when it checks back in to see if your soul is vacant, it finds that it’s even roomier than before. So, they all move in!
The moral of the story is, when you clean house, the emptiness must be replaced by the Holy Spirit. Just because you are without sin it doesn’t mean you are free from sin. Giving sin the boot is only temporary if you don’t open the door for Jesus to come in.
We were created mind, body and spirit. Think of your body as real estate for the spirit world. A spirit will reside, but you have a choice in whether it will be the Holy Spirit or less desirable, evil spirits. It’s called free will and if decided on wisely, will choose the Holy Spirit to live and move within. Not only will your house be in order, every window will shine brightly for everyone to see. Your spiritual home will also invite others in to hear about the spirit that shares your address.
In this season of all things sinister and spooky, think about the doors you may have left cracked opened for any evil spirits to enter. Satan is cunning and crafty, sly and conniving. His style is to sneak in through the door, not bust it down. That’s why the Bible says, “Don’t give the devil a foothold”. If he can get a toe in through alcohol, pornography, wandering eyes, or pride, it won’t be long before he has moved in and is hanging out on your sofa.
Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7. When evil spirits come to a house that submits to God’s will, they may try to stop in for coffee, but when they see who occupies your house they will run with their tail between their legs, until they can become squatters in someone else’s home.
