On our cross-country drive from California to Maryland last August, we drove right through Las Vegas. I’d never been there so we pulled off the Interstate and onto the main drive where beautiful buildings stand shoulder to shoulder. Almost immediately, I felt a terrible sense of foreboding, a kind of repulsion that went deeper than a mere emotional response. There is a spiritual darkness that grips that city. It is a demon’s playground. The Holy Spirit living in me reacted to the spirit of ‘sin city.’ After just a few moments we turned around and got back on the road! The same reaction occurs in me when I meet a hate-filled person or enter a home where a TV is spewing vile content into the living room.
The Bible says that our actions can ‘grieve the Spirit of God.’ (Eph. 4:30) The Word goes on to explain that we make choices that extend hospitality to the Spirit or that makes Him feel unwelcome! "Do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. … Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:30-32, NLT) Another passage warns of giving ourselves over to violent anger which, if held onto, provides ‘the Devil with a foothold in your life.’
Do you take the spirit realm seriously?
Do you unwittingly extend hospitality to the Devil, inviting his demons to take up residence in your home, to work through your life?
Many years ago, when my children were teenagers, I distinctly remember praying for them to be kept from lives of sin and being impressed by the Holy Spirit about the importance of making our home a place of wholeness and holiness. Perhaps that sounds overly pious to you, but don’t misunderstand. We laughed a lot. We were not a monastery by a long shot. But, we were a holy house. We didn’t invite profanity to fill the air. We didn’t leave conflict unresolved. The music that filled our home glorified God. We consciously invited the Spirit. Many, many times people, even those who had no faith, remarked how peaceful they felt when they spent time in our home. Why? They sensed His Presence!
Disciple, does your life invite the Spirit of the Lord to ‘at home?’ Are you filled with the Spirit?
Jesus told a story that makes me shudder when I think of the implications. Read it thoughtfully, prayerfully. Then, if necessary, do some house cleaning. Make some priority decisions about what kind of music you will store in your Ipod, what kind of TV shows will play in your living rooms, what you will do about that old grudge, how you will deal with that habit that once troubled your conscience, but that is now ‘just me.’ Make your heart a home to Christ and you’ll never be at risk for what Jesus describes in this teaching.
“When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil.
When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’
On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up.
That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place. “That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren’t hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.” (Matthew 12:43-45, The Message)
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"Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Corinthians 13:11, NKJV)
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