I’ve been thinking about Matthew 12:43-45 lately and the unoccupied house: "“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
But what if it hadn't found the house unoccupied? What if Jesus, who had cleaned it, was invited to come in and live in it? He's knocking on the door. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20)
Sin knocks on the door too, like Genesis 4:7 points out, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” It's desire is for you. Jesus wants to come in, and the enemy wants in too. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) Jesus came that we may have life! You can definitely see who I'd want to let in.
Last summer and the things the Lord brought me victoriously out of, I hear them knocking again as I'm going into the busy building season and weaker with tiredness. My prayer is that I will not be found unoccupied, swept, and put in order, but that I will be found to be guarded and filled by Christ with no room for even one to come back.
May it never return to peek inside
And find my heart swept clean, unoccupied
Let its abuse, its dark, its lies
Wander deserts fore’er; Lord, make it die
Come, Lord Jesus, come abide
My eyes Your threshold
My ears Your windows
My mind Your home
My heart Your abode
May it and its seven friends all fall
Never knowing inside my walls
‘Cause there’s no room, no not a stall,
When Christ is magnified and fills all
My door is open. Lord, fill these halls
Come, Lord Jesus, and welcome home
Guard me with peace
Safe from the beast
May its knocks cease
Bolt as You please
Come, Lord Jesus, abide in me
