talking about evil spirits is a strange thing to many of us today however when Jesus walked the Earth he cast out evil spirits he rebuked them he warned against them and most importantly he taught people about them he taught people about their existence and he exposed their tactics but today many Christians will quite openly speak about angels but then ignore the reality of demons now don't get me wrong we're not to glorify demons but equally we're not to fear them either the fact is that Jesus's Ministry included teachings about demons and encounters with demon-possessed individuals
so then at the very least we ought to be knowledgeable against the schemes of the kingdom of darkness now Jesus gave us a very important teaching about unclean spirits in Matthew 12: 43 to 45 the Bible says when an unclean Spirit goes out of a man he goes through Dry places seeking rest and finds none then he says I will return to my house from which I came and when he comes he finds it empty swept and put in order then he goes and takes with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they
enter and dwell there and the last last state of that man is worse than the first so shall it be with this wicked Generation Now allow me to point out a few things here we are houses so to speak the Bible says do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you now a clean house is one that the Holy Spirit dwells in a dirty house is one that has an unclean Spirit a demonic Spirit now the Bible in Matthew 12: 44 it says I will return to my house
from which I came now notice how the unclean Spirit takes ownership of the house it takes ownership of that body the first thing that tells me is that unclean spirits have an intellect they think and in their thinking if they dwell in a house if they reside in a person they get attached to that place notice the language that's used in Matthew 12:44 I will return to my house now let's focus on this concept of an unclean Spirit returning to the same house have you ever noticed how someone who's Bound by something they can be
free for a while and then they fall back into that very same bondage they'll be set free and delivered from a problem from some addiction or some other type of stronghold until until the demon comes back to check on what it considered its house this is why we have to be extremely diligent about our relationship with the Lord because once you've been delivered your house still needs to be occup and if that house doesn't have the fire of the holy spirit in it if that house doesn't have the fruit of the spirit in it then
it's a house that's exposed it's a house that Jesus described as empty swept and put in order but this means that the unclean spirit will go and take with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and they dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first so for anyone who has been delivered whom the sun sets free is free indeed the issue is that there are some people who walk away from the Son of God they walk away from Jesus Christ after they've received their blessing they
backslide and they fall back into sin they backslide and rebel against the Lord therefore they leave themselves exposed to the forces of Darkness why because they are no longer under the covering of Jesus 2 Peter 2: 20-22 says for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entang mled in them and overcome the latter end is worse for them than the beginning for it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it
to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them but it has happened to them according to the true proverb a dog returns to his own vomit and a s having washed to her wallowing in the me we are told here that if anyone knows Jesus Christ and they walk away from him and become entangled in sin again their latter end is worse for them than the beginning and so dear friends I really want to encourage you keep the fire of God burning in your heart never let that fire die down once someone is delivered from
an unclean Spirit they ought to always keep the fire burning well someone may want to know how do you keep the fire burning you do this by fighting daily to spend time with the Lord you do this through frequent regular prayer you do this through meditating on God's word you do this through guarding what you expose your heart and your mind to and as you do these things you'll keep your house occupied with the presence of God and then when that unclean Spirit returns it will see that the place it once called home is no
longer its home but instead it will find that it is a place filled with the presence of a holy and righteous God and so dear Saints as we go Before the Throne of god let's go asking God to deliver us of anything that is not like him and then not only to deliver us and clear out that place that the enemy has occupied but let's ask him to fill us with the Holy Spirit to fill us so that when the enemy returns he will find nowhere to rest in inside us because we have been filled
with the holy spirit of God Holy Spirit we pray that you would occupy our hearts occupy our minds occupy our houses heavenly father I pray for everyone who's fighting with some kind of stronghold in their lives set them free Lord Jesus and give them the grace to remain free I pray that old habits old Temptations I pray that they would have no power over us in Jesus name I pray that any kind of sin or sinful behavior that we once entertained in our past I pray that it would have absolutely no power over us anymore
no longer will we be bound by sinful thoughts sinful behaviors or sinful habits Romans 12:1 says and so dear brothers and sisters I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you let them be a living and holy sacrifice the kind he will find acceptable this is truly the way to worship Him dear Lord cleanse us we want to be vessels that honor you we want to be vessels that serve you and so I ask that you cleanse us from everything that is dishonorable although we may have
fallen into sin right now we repent Lord and we ask for your blood to cleanse us your word tells us to give no room to the devil and so I pray that the enemy would find no room in our hearts in our minds or anywhere in our lives Holy Spirit help us to guard every Gateway that the enemy seeks to winter whether it's through our eyes or our ears or any other Gateway help us holy spirit to guard our very lives from the schemes of Satan dear Lord uncover every hidden thing in our lives and
Lord we come before you right now with all of our failures and we lay all of our mistakes down at your feet and we ask father that you would shape us we ask that you would mold us into the people that you would have us to be Lord make us pure vessels in your sight your word has promised in 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness cleanse us Holy Father remove anything from our lives that might prevent us
from being a vessel for your kingdom take away all selfishness all jealousy any lying gossiping unkindness any unforgiving Spirit remove it all from us God take away the sinful thoughts and the tendencies that lead us to sin I pray that you would not hide your face from our sins but instead father we ask that you would wash us and cleanse us so that we can be pure and empty vessels we surrender Our Lives to you so that you can mold us transform us and sanctify us for your purpose fill us with a passion for your
word and draw Us close to you in prayer father my prayer is that there would be less of me and more of you I yield my desires my ambitions my plans I yield them all to you so that you can make me into the vessel you want me to be work in US heavenly father and work through us holy spirit please Kindle a desire within me to worship God and to bring glory to him Empower me to do the works of him that created me Lord I want your light to reflect through my thoughts my
words and my actions as your vessel Lord please help me demonstrate the fruit of the spirit love joy peace longsuffering gentleness goodness Faith meekness and Temperance in this way others will see my fruit and be drawn to glorify you and surrender their lives to your will Lord you have called us for a purpose and we're ready to be used by you I pray that the holy spirit will do a mighty work in us and prepare us and enable us to go forward as powerful Witnesses for your kingdom father we thank you in advance for all
of the good work that you're doing in our lives We Praise You Lord and we'll be sure to testify of your Eternal goodness towards us in Jesus name we pray [Music] amen for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they are again entangled in them and overcome the latter end is worse for them than the beginning for it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to
them but it has happened to them according to the true proverb a dog returns to his own vomit and a s having washed to her wallowing in the Meer and so dear brothers and sisters I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you let them be a living and holy sacrifice the kind he will find acceptable this is truly the way to worship him if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness those who
trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abides forever as the mountain surround Jerusalem so the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forever more [Music]
