June 11th
“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Genesis 4:7 NKJV
“O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?” Jeremiah 4:14 NKJV
“”Be angry, and do not sin”:do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” Ephesians 4:26-27 NKJV
These passages support the idea that we can be homes for good or evil. Our every day decisions will usually determine whether good things or bad things fill us. For example, God warned Cain about sin lying at his door. The implication was that sin was waiting to come in and rule over Cain if he let it. Cain gave in to sin and his life was forever marred.
When we allow sin into our lives, it often leaves its foot in our front door so that other forms of evil can gain entry. Paul gave a sobering example of this in Romans 1. The people, who knew God, started with the sin of pride by choosing not to worship God. Ultimately, they opened the door up to every other form of evil. Paul wrote, “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” (Romans 1:29-31 NIV).
Thankfully, God has given us Jesus to help us avoid such a disaster from happening. When we place faith in Jesus Christ, we are inviting him into our spiritual house. Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20 NIV). As we then walk with Jesus daily, he will show us the things in our lives that need to go. In effect, he is showing us the residential sin in our house that needs to be evicted. The Holy Spirit will help us wake up to the destruction these bad tenants have caused in our lives.
The challenge for us is to follow through and get rid of the pet sins that we’ve sheltered in our lives. Just as Paul warned the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:27, we want to ensure that we give no “place” in our lives for the devil. The Holy Spirit will help us recognize every situation where we could give place to the devil (i.e. temptation). He will then help us to resist and reject the temptations and also find the way out of them. As we do, God’s healing will flow into us and restore us to wholeness.
Related pages:
Questions for further thought:
How had Judas given the devil a place in his life long before his betrayal of Jesus? (John 12:4-6)
Considering Jeremiah 4:14(above), what important area of our lives must be under the Lordship of Christ?
What homes do evil spirits seek to inhabit? (Luke 11:24)
What pet sin have you been sheltering in your life?
Prayer:
“Lord God, Thank you for sending Jesus to help me keep evil out of my life. Please forgive me for giving evil any place in my life. I invite you to come into my life afresh today. Please sharpen my conviction to obey the Holy Spirit concerning any sin that I am harboring. I commit myself to living for you and being an instrument for righteousness and not for sin. Thank you, Lord! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”