Last Saturday I told the story of how I had cleared 18 years of accumulated “junk” out of my basement, my garage, the cupboards, and even the dark recesses of the closets. This was a big job of itself, but the real work came in disposing of all that junk. From this illustration, we saw how it is important for us to also keep the spiritual “junk” out of our minds, and to do so, it is important to do some spiritual “junk cleaning” on an ongoing basis.
Although the cleaning of the house took time and effort, the cleaning of my spiritual heart is simply a matter of submitting it to the blood of Jesus, where it will be gone, forgotten, never to be seen or remembered again (SeeRom. 8:1-2).
Unfortunately, just because my house is now clean of junk doesn’t mean it will stay that way. After all, today’s treasure is tomorrow’s junk; and with the media pushing more and more materialistic purchases, with temptations to bring home more and more stuff abounding, I will have to be cautious indeed to avoid accumulating yet another 18 years of junk!
In the same way, once we clear out the spiritual “junk” from our heart-temples, there is nothing stopping it from accumulating yet again! Remember Jesus’ words? “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26 NIV).
We are also told that the devil: “…prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8b NIV). In other words, a clean heart doesn’t mean a heart that is guarded against further spiritual attack! In fact, a clean but unguarded heart is an even bigger target for the devil and his minions, who stalk us continually, looking for any way possible to devour us!
So what do we do?
The Bible gives us some excellent advice:
1. “Be alert and of sober mind…” (1 Peter 5:8a NIV).
This means we need to always be on the lookout for where the devil may be trying to trip us up. In order to be able to be so attentive, we must be of sober mind—that we have done our spiritual “cleaning”, that we are not contaminated by the fruit of the enemy, defined by Paul as: “…sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Gal. 5:19-21a NIV)
2. “…put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph. 6:13 NIV).
What this means is that we need to understand and fully embrace the Truth of who we are in Christ. The Bible calls this taking up the “full armour of God”. We understand that Jesus is 100% Truth. We need to stand in constant readiness of spiritual attack. We need to embrace the Truth that Jesus has saved us, that we wear His righteousness, not our own. We need to have a solid covering of faith, and we need to be familiar with the Bible, the Word of God (SeeEph. 6:14-17).
3. “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Eph. 6:18 NIV); and “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” (Heb. 12:2a NLT)
In our efforts to keep the spiritual “junk” from re-infiltrating our hearts, we cannot underestimate the power of prayer. When we are in continual contact with God through prayer, when we keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, it becomes so much easier to resist the devil.
4. “…Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit…” (Eph. 5:18 NIV)
When we think back to Jesus’ story about the house that was swept clean, only to be inhabited by 7 more demons (“When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.” Luke 11:25-26 NIV), He is specifically mentioning the empty state of the house. Where there is an empty heart and mind, the demons will wreak havoc. Instead, once we clear out all of our spiritual “junk”, it is important that we refill our hearts and minds with God’s sweet Spirit. Then when the demons begin to prowl around seeking to pile up more spiritual “junk”, they will not find an “empty house”, and there will be no place for those them to return to!
It isn’t enough, friends, to simply clean out the spiritual “junk” and allow Jesus to do away with it. We must also take steps to ensure that the spiritual “junk” does not return. Do you want to join me today in keeping the spiritual “junk” at bay by being alert and of sober mind; by fully embracing who we are in Christ; by being continually in communication with our Father; and most importantly, by asking God’s Spirit to live in our heart-temples?
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, andScriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, withAnswers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “The Junk” mini-series, please click here.)