Revive Africa

According to Hollywood there are a number of things that put a ghost at ‘unrest’ and cause them to ‘haunt’ something.  Of course there is no such thing as a ‘ghost’, nor a disembodied soul that is wandering the Earth waiting to go to its eternal dwelling place (Heaven or Hell).  God’s word tells us that upon our death we go immediately to one of two places: to the presence of Christ in heaven or to Hell the abode of all the wicked dead. (Matthew 25:41-46; Luke 16:22-26). If there is spirit that presents itself on this earth you can be guaranteed it is not your dear departed grandma, (etc) it is a demon in disguise. What? You don’t believe in demons? Isn’t that hilarious....I wonder how many people out there believe in ghosts and in angels but they don’t believe in demons. If that is the case then Satan has you right where he wants you.  Now back to the message. In recent days we have studied that the church is the body of Christ.  As a believer your body is the temple (house) of God. Consider the warnings and instructions from this passage on what to take out of and what to put into your life, your body, your temple for Christ.

Cleaning House Is Not Enough to Assure You of Salvation. Over my thirty plus years of ministry I have heard many that have the conception that cleaning up their act is going to help them in accepting Jesus as Savior.  Just cleaning house whether physical, emotional or even your spiritual house is not enough. If you want to grow vegetables in your garden then just pulling weeds is not enough.  Pulling weeds does not grow anything. This passage about cleaning your house (life) and not filling it back up with the right thing is a warning for those who were cleaning up, but were not taking the next step of commitment. A classic example of this is found in the lives of two disciples: Judas and Peter.  After great a great failure in their life both Judas and Peter repented. The huge difference is that they repented differently.  Judas sold out on Jesus and regretted (meta-me-lomai) what he had done and he went out and hanged himself. Peter on the other hand with an equally great failure repented (meta-no-eo) and returned his life to Christ and became a servant of the Lord. What was the difference...both were followers of Christ?  One man tried to clean house and the other filled his life up with Christ!  That is the key; we should not just follow Christ...we need to fill our life up with Him!

To Be Saved, Sure, and Satisfied You must Let Jesus Fill Your Life. How many times have we heard someone say they would come to Christ when they cleaned themselves up? Sure someone might be able to straighten up their life somewhat, but they can never undo the sin that they have committed. A person can no more heal their own sinful heart then they could shovel the darkness out of a room. The only way to get darkness out of a room is to fill the room with light.  The same is true for spiritual healing; if we fill our life up with Christ, He will drive out all evil. It is a personal choice that each person must make in their own life; each of us must choose to let Him fill us up. This scripture warns that a person will be in grave danger of even worse peril if they just clean house (their life) and do not fill it with God.  How many times have you witnessed (or heard about) a person who was struggling with alcohol or drugs, who sought help but instead of staying with the professional or family help they went back to trying to stay clean on their own.  So many times that person winds up in a worse state than they were before they got a little help. Multiply this a thousand times over in the matters of spiritual warfare.

How Do We Fill Up With Jesus? Begin to seek the things of God.  Place yourself in a position to hear, see and experience the things and teachings of Jesus Christ. Read and meditate on the Word of God daily and seek His Holy Spirit to guide you in understanding.  Pray through the day. Remembering of course that prayer is a two way street...don’t forget to listen as well as speak. Immerse yourself in Jesus.  Never miss an opportunity to learn, grow and fellowship with other Christians.

Closing Thought: If you have swept your life clean but you still have no peace then you need to fill your empty house (life) up with the Son of God.  Perhaps you can think of it this way... just because you have a band hall does not mean you will experience music.  You must intentionally fill it with instruments, work to tune each instrument, and you might even need someone to help you play some of them. I am certainly not saying that you should not try to be sinless; you should. But in your efforts to be godly, you need to stop picking weeds and start sowing seeds!  Make sure your salvation was not just regret for your sin. Be sure you have truly trusted Jesus and given Him your life and when you have truly surrendered your life to Jesus Christ then you must seek with all your heart to fill your life up with Him!