John 14:30

I haven’t got much more to say to you. The ruler of the world is coming. He has nothing to do with me.

Wherever you have a lot of garbage, you’ll have rats. Because there is something to easily feed upon.

Wherever you have a lot of sin, you’ll have demonic activity. Because there is something to easily feed upon.

If you do not want rats, remove the garbage. This is much easier than kicking the rats away over and over while doing nothing about all the trash lying around.

This is a good picture of the very real spirit world all around and within us. Demons harass even us Christians. They do not possess us. Demon possession is not mentioned in the Bible actually. It simply says he or she “had a demon.” They can and must be commanded to leave in Jesus’ name, but you always want to first remove what they feed upon, because by harboring sin, you are giving them a legal right to be with you.

This can be the not-so-obvious sins of the thought life–self-deprecation, a contemptuous attitude of judgement, nourished anger, coveting, and the biggie: unforgiveness.

On my hiking trip to Colorado earlier this month, we took a shuttle from the airport over to the car rental place. In the shuttle I noticed the plethora of handles to hold on to and stabilize yourself inside. The more handles you have, the more people who can hang on and ride safely. All of those toxic mind sets mentioned above, as well as actions against God’s ways are handles for the demonic to hold on to for a smooth ride. The more handles you provide for them…

This verse, John 14:30, is one of the most intriguing in Scripture to me. It’s somewhat obscure, easy to gloss over, but so very insightful. It’s Jesus talking of course, and some translations read “He [Satan] has nothing in me.” Jesus had no handles for the evil one to hold on to. No garbage, so no rats lived inside or were welcome or had anything to feed upon. The devil tempted Jesus, but had nothing to sink his teeth into because Jesus heart was so pure and focused on His Father.

Your actions are pretty darn important. Your thought life is extremely important. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. Eph.4:26-27

Don’t give the devil a foothold.

Do not give evil anything to feed upon or hold on to.

May we become more like Jesus as our hearts become more and more pure, giving less and less for evil to cling to, and eventually no legal right to be here.