Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:11-12
Spiritual warfare is very real. In Luke 22:31-32 Jesus tells Peter, "Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail." Satan wants to tear all of us apart and separate us from the Father as wheat is separated from the chaff. We may or may not realize how easy it is to open doors that allow Satan and his demons to enter into our homes. By watching television and movies as well as listening to music with satanic beats and reading ungodly books (which often includes so-called Christian artists and authors), we give Satan a foothold and allow him to affect us with nightmares, bad tempers, sinful desires, and in some cases even physical, emotional or mental ailments.
I am speaking out of experience. I too was once obsessed with television shows, movies, and books filled with the occult, violence, and carnality. I was plagued with bad dreams, bad moods, and bad decisions. After marrying Mel, we let go of a large number of books, as well as giving up most television and movies.
I said at the end of “Doors, Part 3” that it was no coincidence that God wanted me to write on doors to remind myself of some scriptures I had forgotten. In 2017, Mel and I did a lot of praying to reveal the objects still in our home he wanted us to place in the garbage. Although all of our movies were gone, we were still giving Satan an open door through objects. Any item that represented an image a false religion may worship had to go. Anything symbolizing a false god or demon had to go. Any object depicting anything related to television or movies had to go. Trust me, this was sometimes a difficult process as collectibles, jewelry, household items, clothing, and other miscellaneous items were bagged and placed out with the garbage. Some of the items were innocently held onto, as we had never connected the image to an idol that an ungodly religion worships, yet we were obedient to all of God’s promptings. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and did not reveal the objects all in one day. He allowed us to get rid of items in stages so we would not be overwhelmed.
I tell you all this very personal information to help show you that even those of us who do our best to walk down paths of righteousness can still be blinded by worldly objects. I feel that Christians should share personal experiences to help each other grow in the Lord. It is very important to share with others what we learn so they may learn along with us and not repeat our errors. We learned a very valuable lesson not only to be very careful of anything we allow into our home, but also to listen to the Lord when He tells us not to purchase certain items. We also found that it will always be good practice to pray on a regular basis that God will reveal to us any items in our home that give Satan an open door. Evil spirits will attach themselves to objects and when we bring them in our house, we are giving them permission to enter. When you rebuke the devil in Jesus’ name, he must flee, but as long as you have an occult item in your possession (even innocently), the demons are free to return.
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:7-8
If you are not certain what items are considered open doors, pray God gives you wisdom. When you have a check in your spirit about something (Do your fingers burn or tingle when you touch the article? Do your eyes burn or itch when you look at it? Do you feel a tightening in your chest or unexplained nausea when the item is near?), either throw it away or do your research. Look it or similar objects up on-line and review its origins. Or ask a trusted spiritual friend or leader. My general rule of thumb these past few weeks was simple, “In doubt? Throw it out.” Better safe than sorry. My salvation means a lot more to me than inanimate objects.
I Peter 1:16 says, "Be holy, for I am holy." Besides this being an excellent verse to remind us to live righteous lives, it also reminds us that a holy God cannot tolerate sin. If you are asking God to bless you in any way, be it a health, spiritual, financial, emotional, or mental issue, you cannot be wallowing in sin and expect Him to answer your prayers. If you feel your prayers are being blocked, it may be that God wants to help you, but the ungodly objects in your home are hindering his blessings.
I want to stop here for a moment and make it very clear that God has always been very good to us. We have had many of the items we threw away before and after we married, but that does not mean we have spent our entire lives in turmoil. For one thing, Mel and I have a very peaceful and loving marriage, so it is not as if the objects affected our relationship. God has taken care of us and communicates to both of us (Mel more often than me). The point of this blog is that we can hinder God’s blessings when we stubbornly refuse to let go of the world. When we attempt to gain the world, we literally risk losing our souls.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.
Therefore Come out from among them And be separate,” says the Lord. “Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." II Corinthians 6:14-17
I know there are some already resistant to what I have said because you are too attached to material possessions. Well, I am going to make even more of you upset when I say there are also some people we may need to let go. When we allow people with poisonous personality traits or ungodly beliefs in our lives, we are asking for trouble. These people already have open doors they have allowed Satan to walk through, and he very well may connect us to them and begin to harass us. This is not my concept, read the above verses as well as: Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul. Proverbs 22:24-25 & Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness, and do not sin. I Corinthians 15:33-34
You may meet a seemingly nice person who just happens to be into Wicca. Make no mistake, there is nothing nice about witchcraft; just being around this person can invite the demons attached to her to follow you home and oppress you. For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. II Corinthians 11:14
We are to treat everyone with kindness and respect, but when we willingly let a person involved in Satanism in our lives, we are mixing dark and light when they are clearly meant to be separated. There is a fine line between witnessing to an unbeliever and becoming their friend. By all means, please share the love of Jesus, but do not cross the unholy line and become unequally yoked even in a mild friendship.
I'm not saying all our friends have to believe the same; most of ours do not, but just be careful not to allow their negative influences to harm your spiritual walk. And if they are into any form of witchcraft, I am indeed saying it is better to let them go.
It is not just outside influences that give Satan an open door to harass us. When we give into negativity, critical attitudes, grumbling toward God, and sinful desires, we are saying we are more fleshly-minded than spirituality in-tune. We make it easier for the enemy to plague us with depression, anger, bitterness, un-forgiveness, and other sinful actions. I am talking of oppression, not possession (you can read more about the difference in Mel’s blog: see link in first paragraph). We must bind and cast the evil spirits out of our homes in Jesus’ name and trade our poisonous attitudes for a heart of repentance and praise. Worshiping the Lord (not just singing a pretty song, but really honoring Jesus with your heart and soul), brings down the strongholds of sin.
This brings me right to the door you want wide open in your life: the door of God’s blessings, which absolutely includes praise and worship.
“The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light." Luke 11:34-36
When we strive to enter in at the narrow gate and live separated from the world (Luke 13:24 & II Corinthians 6:14-7:1), it is much easier to open the doors to blessings. The bible says we should work for the Lord because it is our duty, not for reward (Luke 17:7-10), so I am certainly not suggesting our goal for living clean lives should be for our own personal gain. We do the right thing simply because it is the right thing, and we love the Lord. Our motivation should be to please God, not man, and definitely not ourselves. However, with that said, God is very generous and loves to bless His children. The types of blessings He may bestow are endless: a romantic & blissful marriage, well-adjusted & spiritual children, a fat bank account, the perfect job, good health, and the list could go on for days. God is a good Father and (as long as you are within His will), He will grant you the desires of your heart (as long as they are within His will).
Mel and I have made a new rule: whenever one of us is feeling negative, we will ask for prayer, and change the subject to focus on positive issues. We may even take the time to sing a praise song or two. This shift not only allows us to display the fruits of the spirit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23) with one easy change in attitude, but it invites the Holy Spirit to bless us with God’s presence. We open the door even wider for God’s bounty when we refuse to let pessimism fester.
We have all walked through this life wounded by someone we love. The closer the relationship to that person, the more difficult it is to forgive him or her. However, Jesus expects to forgive those that have caused even our deepest scars. When we allow ourselves to let go of anger, and start to see the offender as God’s child, we can begin to replace the bitterness with compassion. Releasing these negative emotions will indeed make it much more likely that God will bless us.
When we truly have hearts full of repentance, God will honor our humble hearts. Spending time in prayer and seeking His face with hearts wide open to hear all He has to say. When we pray, “Mold me, Lord, to be the vessel you want me to be,” and mean it with every ounce of our being, we open the doors wide open for God’s mercies. The day you claim you are not in need of God’s correction and do not need to change, is the day you can assure no blessings will come. When you feel you are not worthy, and cannot quite grasp why God has chosen you to serve Him, then He will smile and know you are ready to work for Him; you are ready to receive His countless blessings. The more repentant and humble you are the more God can trust you will not waste His gifts.
For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57:15
We can choose to open the door to Satan’s harassing oppression or to God’s bountiful blessings. Choose today whom you will serve.
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