Swept Clean

“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

I personally experienced this verse today. While waking up with a nice hot cup of coffee and getting ready to begin my devotional time I started thinking of some issues with my house that annoys me. After a few moments I realized that I was allowing the spirit of discontent to have space in my mind and from past experience I know that if it’s left undealt with, it will spiral to much darker places.

I opened my bag of Truth Scripts and began reviewing each one, then reviewed them again. With each verse that I read aloud, I could feel my heart and mind being cleared of negative thinking. By the time I finished I was both thankful and grateful.

A few hours later after shoveling snow and hearing complaints from a sick husband I realized that I was being bombarded with negative thoughts and frustrations again. My house (my mind) needed to be swept clean again. This time from more than just discontentment, but also from lack of patience and a spirit of complaining.

I realized that it has to be a daily, and often moment-to-moment, thing of not just choosing to take my thoughts captive, but also replacing them with the truth. God gave me a visual lesson by showing me how I sweep my home daily to remove the dog hair that finds its way into every nook and cranny. I do that because it makes my home feel dirty, and unkept and it overflows onto everything else like our clothes and furniture. Often I am surprised that our dogs are not bald with all the hair that I sweep up.

But just like that dog hair in my home, I should be as mindful and diligent at removing the wrong thoughts that fill my mind making it dirty, unkept, and overflowing onto everything else in my life. Then with that same persistence, fill my mind with God’s word. Thankfully there is a bible verse for every situation we will ever face which means that we have everything needed to keep our hearts and minds swept clean and filled with the truth of God.