Pouring Out

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NLT 

Day 5, counting down the Advent. Wouldn't we all love to overflow with confident hope? To overflow, we must first be filled by the source of our hope. Have we properly prepared our hearts to be able to receive from God?

What good is hope if there is no room in our hearts to receive Him? If we are full of regret and harboring ill will against another, if we are nursing old wounds and posing with past mistakes then posting them, how will we embrace the gift of God? Are we ready to let go of the old - to pour it out so that we can be filled with fresh anointing? Will we choose to lay down our lives before the King of all kings? One can hope...

Prayer:

Father, 
          Thank You for Your promises of yes and amen! Thank You for fulfilling all of them with Christ. Give us eyes to see and to understand how to prepare our hearts to receive all that You would have us to do to bring others into Your kingdom. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* No Vacancy

“When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.

“That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren't hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.”
Matthew 12:43-45 The Message

We work hard to clean up our act so we can get right with God. And by sheer will, we might be able to do it, but can we sustain it? That's what this passage is about.

For instance, we've all known someone (or have been that someone) who quit using, or quit drinking, or lost lots of weight, only to start using, drinking or bingeing all over again. That's what happens when we try to do it in our own strength. We need the Eternal God to provide not only salvation, but also eternal, everlasting change and transformation in our lives. We may be spotlessly clean, but we are vacant when we do it ourselves.

We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In the Greek, 'filled' actually interprets to be 'furnished'. If we are filled/furnished by the Holy Spirit, there is not going to be room for any evil to come back into our lives. God posts the "No Vacancy" sign when He comes to dwell in us. Praise His Holy Name!

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for the provision You have made through Your Son - that when Christ sets us free, we are free indeed. Fill us, Father, with Your Holy Spirit, and guard our hearts and minds. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen