Mobile Alabama
City population: 251, 345
Crime rate: 16, 151
About 10 thousand of which are theft crimes!
cityrating.com/citycrime
After knowing this how many people would go to bed with there doors unlocked or even open?
Even after we are aware of information we choose not to change, but why?
Something is constantly in the back of our minds saying, "that could never happen to me!"
A valuable and significant piece of information warns and says, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. John 10:10
"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left. Luke 11:24
After hearing this why do we leave our doors unlocked and unguarded?
This simply welcomes all intruders. Whatever wants to come in can come in.
If you think about it, when a thief comes into your house what does he come for?
He comes for some hidden money, the plasma, the computer, the playstation 3... notice these are valuable things. A thief doesn't come in looking for a spoon, grabs it, and then leaves satisfied.
He wants to take your precious things into his possessions.
The enemy of your soul comes in to steal your most prized possessions. Your purpose, your influence, your destiny, your intimacy with God, pure love, your joy, peace, zeal, passion, and the encounters that changed you.. These are things that cost something of you and that mean the most to you. When you are left unguarded the enemy comes in stealing these things, but a lot of times he is disguised, sneaky, and skilled so that he can slip in and slip out before we are ever aware. Before long we look around in a frantic and in a hurry where, where is my passion. I can't find it anywhere... where is that peace.. I'm stressed and can't handle things, where did my peace go. Before long you realize that the house you live in is now stripped and you are filled with confusion about everything.
what to do now? You just walk around in your house and view its brokenness and and take a count of all the things you lost.
that's just like us. After we realize things have been taken from us, we just sit in awe of the things that have been stolen from us. confused about everything wondering what to do next.
Another way to view this intrusion would be a second point.
The people you surround yourselves with.
Sure you welcome your social group, but when you welcome them you welcome those pet peeves. When you connect yourself to someone through a relationship, friendship or whatever you have to be cautious of the things that surround you. Your peer group can introduce things to you that you may never have intentions of participating in, but eventually it effects you.
The whole thing that made me even think of this was yesterday when I was sitting in the living room doing some homework and I got hungry. I am a pretty healthy person so I normally strive to eat healthy things for my body. Well my roomie wanted to buy some captain crunch a few days earlier for a recipe, but we both eat healthy and having unhealthy food laying around isn't always the best. (not looking down on anyone who eats this cereal, its just addicting, full of empty calories, and has too much sugar for me).. anyway, before I knew it, I was on the couch and had eaten like half a box of captain crunch. I was like this is what we get for bringing stuff in here that we shouldn't eat.
Then something hit me. A lot of times we surround ourselves with people who have unhealthy habits and when we are in a desperate search for something, we feed on the unhealthy things. We cling to things we never would have if they had never been in our cite. If you are hanging around with people who have intruders, you will easily share those intruders and before long instead of running to something that will fulfill the hunger and thirst of your heart you run to contaminated waters. We feel strong and hang out with whoever and some friends around us dabble around in lust. When we are strong it doesn't bother us, but on one particular day we just don't feel so loved. In this situation it is easy to run to the cabinet and pull out lust, because it's there right in front of us.
What do we do now?
Because just like termites, these intrusions will destroy us from the inside out.
Exterminate, get rid of the junk. Clean your house. Guard your door. Keep it locked, clean and filled with the things that make it beautiful.
How many times do I keep the door unlocked, how many times do I leave it unguarded?
How many times do I run to the cabinet to feed myself on something that isn't eternal, but only short lived and temporary?
At this rate, pretty soon it will be nothing like a house anymore.
That house is me, my identity and new creation.
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 man is worse than the first."
27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you."
28He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." Luke 11
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