Daily Devotional for Thursday, February 26

The Judgement of the Slanderers

“And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished,” Luke 11:25.

In many parts of America, squatters have taken over homes that were not being lived in. In Hollywood Hills, California squatters took over a sprawling ten thousand square-foot mansion valued at $6.5 million. There was no one living in the house and no security even though it was kept and maintained regularly. Despite dozens of calls to law enforcement, the problem persisted. “Police cleared it out, but within an hour, five more people showed up,” said one neighbor. In many places a squatter can take a home by occupying an uninhabited property and living there continuously for a significant period of time, potentially claiming ownership in some cases.

            Jesus knew that there was a fear of evil spirits in the people he was speaking to as there is in the majority of the world today. Jesus was warning His slanderers and others that if they trusted in their own abilities and good works for deliverance that they were leaving their houses empty and were still susceptible to wicked spiritual squatters. The house may be kept and maintained but it was not occupied.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Once Jesus moves in, you are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Never fear, the strongest One keeps all the rest out. Rest in this, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Jonathon D. Smith