No room for the devil.

This morning, as I was going about my daily routine, God brought a scripture to my mind.  Ephesians 4:27, “Neither give place to the devil.”  So, I sat down and started studying it a little bit. 

Ephesians 4:26-27, “Be ye angry , and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:  Neither give place to the devil.”

Anger is a normal human emotion.  The Merriam-Webster states that anger is “an intense emotional state of displeasure with someone or something.”   But when anger turns into lividness, rage or wrath, it can lead to sin.  Anger that is geared up to be vengeful and with the intent to be hurtful or revengeful will eat away at our soul.  We may say, “well I am just angry I am not being vengeful or revengeful.”  But, if the words that come from our mouths are hurtful and demeaning, anger has more of a hold on us than we think.  That is when anger becomes sinful.

When we allow this kind of anger into our hearts and minds, we might as well be putting out a welcome mat to our heart to the devil , a.k.a. “the accuser” or “slanderer”.  We are opening ourselves up to allow him to inhabit our heart and mind.   And, when this kind of anger enters our heart and mind, spiritually we begin to become inactive.  We quit praying, reading the Word and eventually we quit going to church.  Though it is not a scripture just and English proverb, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.”  He will create all sorts of things inside the heart and mind of those who have become idle or inactive.

How do we remedy this kind of behavior/attitude?  Skip down a few verses to Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you,with all malice:  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”  We need to take ALL the bitterness (bitter anger), wrath (boiling anger) , anger (violent anger), clamour (vengeful words) and evil speaking (slanderous and injurious speech) and push it out of our hearts and minds for good.  And take up the habit of being kind (good, useful pleasant and virtuous), tender-hearted (compassionate)  and forgiving (graciously and freely forgiving).  God forgave each and every one of us, even when we did not deserve forgiveness.  And, we are to follow His example.

Lord, help us to angry and sin not…help us to fill our hearts and minds up with You and Your Word so that there is no room for the devil.  Help us to be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving.  Help us to be more like You!  ♥