Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 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.
-Ephesians 4:27-32 (King James Version)
The verse I want us to focus on, this day, is verse 27, "Neither give place to the devil." That seems like something we should all know, something we should all know not do do. We shouldn't give the devil even a toe hold into our lives. But, on the other hand, sometimes we give place to the devil in ways we never really thought about.
Verses 28-31 give to us examples, I believe, of how you and I "give place to the devil" in our lives. Paul says that we should not steal, that we should not use foul or abusive language, we should not have bitterness, rage, anger, slander and lying in our lives. That is quite a list. Are any of these present in your life? These, among others, are very common ways that you and I give place to the devil in our lives each and every day.
But, for each of these examples of how we give place to the devil, there are ways to give place to God. For instance, Paul says not to steal. Instead, we should "let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." Instead of stealing, let us work, so that we may give the fruits of our labor to those who need. Instead of using foul or abusive language, we should use language "that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Our speech should never tear another down, we must always build each other up.
Friends, are you giving place to the devil in your life? Think About It.
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