I drove past a giant Grim Reaper inflatable in someone's front lawn. The startling part was seeing a lady standing in front dwarfed by it as if stuck there. She didn't seem to be adjusting it or anything, simply standing before it. I continued on and wondered what was going on.
Not even 15 minutes later, the exact same lady stood directly in front of this blow-up Grim Reaper. At one point she even looked...happy? This made me stop and think of our own spiritual lives.
Are we allowing ourselves to be transfixed by spiritual giants? Do we forget the God of creation is far bigger than our demons? In what way can we help others be set free from their slavery to death and sin?
There was a speaker in our church recently who addressed the issue of the heart. I loved his sermon and I simplified it for the children in Sunday school, but it's good for everyone.
Our heart is easily corrupted.
Proverbs 4:23 "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life."
I talked to them about how our heart has several gates to access it-hands,feet, eyes, mouth, ears and mind. Now that I have listened to the sermon more than once, I believe I understand that the mind is where problems start. If we're not keeping an eye on our thoughts, we could easily let things in that don't belong.
Our thoughts determine our actions, and that's where the hands, feet, eyes, mouth and ears come in.
What are we using our hands for? Are they honoring to God? Do they bring comfort? Do they harm another?
Where are we going in our lives? Are we walking a path to work that leads us past temptation? What events are we going to that maybe should be avoided?
What are we watching? Reading? Lingering at?
What are we saying about someone else? What half-truth are we telling? What are we singing? Do our words build up or tear down?
What are we choosing to listen to? What kind of music, podcasts or audio books do we consume? What are they saying at work that maybe we should avoid?
If we're not diligent to keep watch over the gate of our mind and we let anything come in and out, we are susceptible to our hearts becoming enslaved or transfixed.
As Halloween approaches, be in communion with God about the possible footholds in our own lives and ask Him to set you free.
Pray as well for the people around you that need freedom from their own demons or spiritual battles, saved by Jesus or not. We all need freedom.
II Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
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