Leave No Room, Part 1
I have been considering a verse in Ephesians 4 for some days now. Verse 27 tells us to leave no room or foothold for the devil and to give no opportunity to him. Even though this verse is talking about being angry and not letting the sun go down on your wrath, let’s look at what it means in our overall life “to give no place to the devil.”
Let’s look at the idea of giving the devil no room in our lives. What gives him room in our lives and what gives him the opportunity to mess with us? What gives him the right to even touch us because 1 John 5:18 tells us that the wicked one touches us not? What opens the door for him? What triggers his operations in our lives?
We as human beings are designed with a “believer” called our spirits. God placed in us the ability to believe and the right to choose what we believe. He gave us a soul to help us make choices. That soul is made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions. Each part of our soul can contribute to our choices many times. Ideally, our spirits direct our choices and our souls agree with those choices. But here is what happens many times. We may get emotionally involved with fears and concerns and worries. We may think and ponder the wrong things, such as: What are we going to do? It looks like it is not working. Oh, my, I’m afraid I’ll not make it. That is wrong thinking. Then our wills get involved and we make decisions out of fear.
What is the solution to overcome emotional distress, wrong thinking and fear-driven choices? The Word of God! It’s that simple. Really, it’s that simple. But that is too simple. Isn’t there more? No! God created us with the Word. He is the Word. All of creation responds to Him Who is the Word. What He speaks, it becomes. We are like Him. We are His children. We have His attributes. When we speak, it should become. So why doesn’t it become when we speak?
We will conclude our teaching tomorrow.