Spirits

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

SPIRITS

Matt 12:43-45

43 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation." 

NIV

First, we must see that Jesus is not talking about those of us who believe, for although we may have had an evil spirit, it left the moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, for we were born again and if there either was an evil spirit or we were an evil person, both died and we became a new creature in Christ, and filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that He would send the Spirit, that He would baptize us in the Holy Spirit and therefore there is no room for anything other than the Spirit. However, this wicked generation, those who desire evil over righteousness, those who refuse the truth about Jesus have a problem. They have no defense against the evil spirits that roam looking for a place to live. We are not quite sure why an evil spirit would leave someone of its own free will. However, Jesus was still answering those who wanted to see a sign, proving he was the one sent from God. It is possible that some might believe, at least for a brief time, then return to their old ways of life. This could be when the evil spirit is cast out and then because they had not followed through in their believing Jesus, not having the Spirit dwell within, but rather they simply go about doing life as they always had, that evil spirit comes back with more evil spirits and the man, or the Jewish nation is worst off than it was before. This should be a warning to us in the sense that we must always be in the Spirit, that is walking in the Spirit. We cannot ever return to our old ways. We cannot just be a part-time Christian. We cannot be who we are, but we include Jesus as part of our life. When we become a believer, we must be all in, completely born again, a different, new person, born of God and not of this world. Of course, we need to live in this world, as it was created for us to live in. However, in contrast to the kingdom of God, this world represents evil. The world as it is created by God is good, but it is the ungodly people who are now referred to as the world, the ways of the world, the culture, the ethos of ungodliness that inhabits this world. We should also recognize there is evil in this world, it exists all around us, and evil spirits are lurking around hoping to find an empty house, an empty person who lives without the Spirit. We wonder if it is possible for a Christian who does not fully believe in the Spirit, that does not accept all the Spirit has to offer in their lives, the gifts, and the fruit might be in some danger, because of not allowing the Spirit to live completely within, holding him back, so to speak, of evil spirits having some influence in their lives. We do not think any evil spirit could come into a Christian, unless that Christian is just pretending to believe, which is what Jesus was saying about the nation of Israel. Because we are believers, it is imperative that we are baptized in the Spirit, fully immersed, and fully resurrected into a new being, not only cleansed of all sin but filled completely with the Spirit.