Keep Filling

After a powerful encounter where Jesus cast a demon out of a man who had been mute, Jesus taught about how an evil spirit will seek to regain entry into a person’s life once it was removed (Luke 11:14-28). In illustrating His teaching, Jesus compared the person to a house that God has cleansed and put in order. Despite being thrust out, the evil spirit eventually seeks to return and if the house is empty it will gather seven more spirits more wicked than itself and move back in making the condition much worse than it was.

One of the key principles that Jesus was offering was that when God cleanses us, we need to fill our lives so that there will be no room for the devil (cf. Ephesians 4:27). We fill our lives with the truth of God’s word by knowing it and living according to it (Luke 11:28). We also are to be filled with the Spirit so that we might be led by Him in the will of the Father (Ephesians 5:18, Romans 8:14).

Illustration: Glass of milk, for my wife. “Keep Filling

One of the constant messages of Jesus points to a new way of living that corresponds to the kingdom of God. The writers of Scripture regularly compare the things of this world, which “lies under the sway of the evil one,” to the things of God (1 John 5:19).

Things like:

worldly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10)

worldly or fleshly lusts (desires, cravings, longings) (Titus 2:12, 1 Peter 2:11)

earthly wisdom (James 3:15)

carnal people (1 Corinthians 3:1)

works of the flesh (Galatians 5:13-21)

Ultimately, those things lead to sin and sin leads to death (James 1:14-15, Romans 6:23).

And the death caused by sin is not simply the end of existence. It is an end, but of things like peace and joy, relationships, health, etc.

The Gadarenes Demoniac offers a glimpse into the life of a person who has been bound and oppressed by the enemy.

Mark 5:1–5 NKJV

1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

The man was living in isolation. The demonic separated him from others.

The man was living in a dry and dusty place. Sin leaves you spiritually dry, like a desert.

The man was unable to have healthy relationships. He lashed out at others, they tried to bind him and tame him but failed. He was rebellious.

The man was dirty and unclean. He was physically and morally dirty.

The man was always screaming and crying out. His pain, anger, and anguish on display.

He was tormented. He had no peace.

The man was suicidal. He had lost his purpose.

The man’s struggle was crushing. He was alone, emotionally unstable, and ready to throw away his life.

Life apart from God means to be influenced by the world, the flesh, and the devil (1 John 2:16, Ephesians 2:2-3). It means to be driven by lies, disordered desires, and fallen systems.

Life with God means something infinitely different. It means a full, thriving life (John 10:10). It means purpose, peace, joy and righteousness in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

When Jesus came to the man, He delivered him. The people came to see him and found him sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind (Mark 5:15). And he desired to go with Jesus wherever Jesus went (Mark 5:18).

He was delivered, cleansed, restored. He was given a purpose and had a desire to be with Jesus. And Jesus offers this same deliverance and power and presence into our lives.

We’ve been made clean and free by Jesus. But now that our house is cleaned and swept, we need to fill it so that when the enemy tries to come back into our lives, there is no room.

Filling the House

We’ve already talked about the need to fill our house with truth and the Spirit. But how do we go about doing that?

Romans 12:21 NKJV

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

We do not overcome the world, flesh, and devil by using tactics and wisdom of the world, flesh, or devil. We overcome them by the using the spiritual weapons that God has given us (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

Spiritual Weapon: the Disciplines

1 Timothy 4:6–10 NKJV

6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. 10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

This is how we fill our house: exercising ourselves to godliness. Another translation says “train yourself to be godly” (NLT).

This is the way that we fill our house: we practice spiritual disciplines.

This requires intentionality.

Illustration: Podcast where John Maxwell told of a study that indicated that we have 37 hours of discretionary time (non-work, non-sleep). The podcast host did a quick look and saw that people are averaging 17 hours on social media. This leaves 20 where we can invest in whatever we want to.

How much of our time are we investing in developing ourselves in godliness?

When we are weak in an area of our lives, or we find ourselves overrun by the enemy in a certain area in our lives, what do we do? How do we counteract this?

We use the spiritual disciplines to position ourselves to receive God’s power.

It is God who changes us by His Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is the working of God in the soul of man that conforms us to the image of Christ and brings us into His life (Romans 8:29, Galatians 4:19).

Spiritual disciplines are exercises or practices that we can do to create an atmosphere where God can work in our lives. These practices work either by adding or removing things in our lives.

The more we practice these things, the easier they become.

Holy Reading

Romans 10:17 NKJV

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

John 17:17 NKJV

17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

The word of God is truth. It represents reality from God’s perspective. It offers us a new way to think and to live. It is the pathway to life and the environment in which faith grows.

We need to read the word of God. We need to hear the word of God. We need to “eat this book” (cf. Ezekiel 3:1).

300 Quotations for Preachers Not Hasty Reading, but Meditating

Remember, it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.

THOMAS BROOKS*

Reading, and thinking upon, what we are reading is the key to overcoming the lies of the world, flesh, and devil.

If the world says that a certain behavior is right, go to the Word.

If the flesh says that a certain desire is right, go to the Word.

If the devil makes a promise or asks a question, go to the Word.

Read with your concordance. Take a topical Bible and counter the lies of the enemy with the truth of God’s word. Then your faith will rise.

Worship and Prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV

17 pray without ceasing,

300 Quotations for Preachers The Less We Do, the Less We Desire

[I]n order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to obtain a spirit of prayer, is, to continue praying; for the less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray.

GEORGE MÜLLER

Praise is lifting up the Lord in your eyes. Worship is bowing low before the Lord. Prayer is drawing near to God and sharing your heart with Him.

We enter into God’s presence with praise and worship, and when we are in His presence we pray and He hears us (Psalm 100:4, 1 John 5:14).

Let your praise give way to worship and your worship to prayer. God will meet you there, at the altar, and prayer will be a delight and a joy.

We pray to overcome anxiety and fear and concern (Philippians 4:6). We pay to discern the will of God and receive help from Him in our times of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Silence

Silence is God’s First Language. —St. John of the Cross

Silence is a powerful discipline that helps us overcome the tongue. Where we would be tempted to gossip or complain or if we struggle with hurting others with our words, silence teaches us the power of words.

It also teaches us how to be present and to listen without the need to have an answer.

Solitude

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans Pursuing Godliness in Solitude

Exercising yourself to godliness in solitude will be a probable evidence of your uprightness. Men are withheld in company from doing evil by the iron curb of fear or shame, and provoked to do good by the golden spurs of praise or profit; but in solitariness there are not such rubs in the way of lust to hinder our passage, nor such baits in the way of holiness to encourage our progress. The naked lineaments and natural thoughts of the soul are best discerned in secret.

GEORGE SWINNOCK

Solitude positions us to see ourselves truly as we are. It draws us away from comparison to others and the need for their approval. In solitude God can and will speak to us. He will expose our weakness and insecurity and deliver us from them. In their place we will find Him. He will become the source of our strength.

Sabbath

300 Quotations for Preachers “Our Hearts Are Restless”

You have formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in you.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Sabbath is a gift from God where we rest and enjoy the things that He has given to us. Without rest, we experience burnout. We are over-worked and are over-whelmed trying to buy things we don’t need to impress people who don’t care.

When we rest we are in a position to enjoy the things that God has given to us. It redirects our efforts and enables us to receive grace.

Service

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation Let Us Employ Gifts Lest They Gather Rust

Let us … remember that we ought to apply to use the gifts of God, lest, being unemployed and concealed, they gather rust. Let us also remember that we should diligently profit by them, lest they be extinguished by our slothfulness.

JOHN CALVIN

Serving others is spiritual practice that works against selfishness and slothfulness. Sometimes it is the commitment we make that keeps us from being lazy.

Fasting

The Works of the Reverend William Law, Volume IV Chapter XI: Showing How Great Devotion, Fills Our Lives with the Greatest Peace and Happiness that Can Be Enjoyed in This World

If religion requires us sometimes to fast, and deny our natural appetites, it is to lessen that struggle and war that is in our nature, it is to render our bodies fitter instruments of purity, and more obedient to the good motions of divine grace; it is to dry up the springs of our passions that war against the soul, to cool the flame of our blood, and render the mind more capable of divine meditations. So that although these abstinences give some pain to the body, yet they so lessen the power of bodily appetites and passions, and so increase our taste of spiritual joys, that even these severities of religion, when practised with discretion, add much to the comfortable enjoyment of our lives.

Fasting is a powerful practice that gives us strength against the cravings of our flesh. It deadens the sensitivity of our flesh to the worldly desires and carnal appetites it is inclined to.

Conclusion

Spiritual disciplines enable us to fill our lives with godliness. They position us to be transformed by God into people capable of living in and enjoying life in the kingdom.

They work to counteract the world, flesh, and devil’s work to deform us or make us according to their image.

When God delivers you, He radically changes you. And once He saves you and cleanses you and heals you, you need to fill the house because the devil will come back looking to use you again.

In order to keep filling your house and strengthen yourself against the onslaught of the world, flesh, and devil, make time to practice these things.

If you do, you will have righteousness, peace, and joy and true contentment in this life. And the devil won’t want anything to do with you (cf. James 4:6).