A huge gaping hole in our home’s soffit is the entrance point for the squirrels that race around in my attic each day. Sometimes those varmints scuttle about so fast it sounds like toddlers running around above our heads. Squirrels chase one another and slam into the ducts; they toss one another and flop on the ceilings. We keep saying that one of these days we’ll get around to fixing that gaping hole in our soffit. Until we follow through on what we know needs to be done, those pests will continue to run rampant above us and live like squatters in our home. They will continue to waken us with their shenanigans, and interrupt our peace with their presence.
An uncontrolled emotion in a person’s life is like that hole in our soffit. When I allow myself to indulge in anger, impatience, worry, pride, or spite, I provide an entrance for Satan to enter my life and run rampant in my mind. He doesn’t have to scheme, plan or deceive me. He can walk right in and begin chasing my self-centered emotions all over the place. My impatience breeds irritation; irritation, anger. Anger chases bitterness, and bitterness, unkindness. Satan just keeps bringing more and more situations and circumstances in my life that wreak havoc with fruit of the spirit. In my weakened state, my heart is left vulnerable to more and more assaults.
“He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.” Proverbs 25:28
Our home is like the “city that is broken down and without walls”. It is up to my husband and me to go get the materials we need to fix our soffit to keep out the pests. It’s up to us to block that hole. God has given Christians what we need to rule our spirit. He gives us Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit the moment we receive His Son and surrender ourselves to His guidance and direction. God gives us His word to read, to study, to supply us with the plan. The Holy Spirit lives within us to empower us, comfort us, encourage and teach us. We have no reason to be without protection–without the armor to rule over our emotions, attitude, and spirit. Jesus offers everything we need. He even gives us a support system through the body of Christ with whom we meet each week to praise and worship Him. It is up to us to take that responsibility seriously, to answer His voice when He speaks, and to grow in grace as He leads.
© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2009
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