God can deliver if we let Him in.
As many of you know, I have rentals. This job causes me to go into people’s homes after they leave to clean up their left-over belongings. People’s stuff can be indicators of who they are and this past week I saw wicked in a real way.Not only were some 19 bags of stuff left to the road for pick up but items that should not even be sold on the marketplace removed from this place. It was a sad day for those cleaning but most of all for those who left it all behind. The sheer evidence of their lives was debased at the very least. Sad. Sad. Sad.
Wicked inklings of these folks began months ago when I was forced to leave notice for them to clean their yard. They had everything from car parts to trash, debris, beer cans, bottles, liquor containers, liquor signs, kegs, empty cigarette cases and basically, you-name-it items strewn in the front and side of the yard. And, even after their so-called clean up, it looked filthy but fast forward 2 months later when they wouldn’t move or pay rent. They were forced to be evicted which in itself was a wrongful act but upon going inside of this house after living there only a year was the absolute tell- tale sign of evil.
There was filth and debauchery on the inside of that house. I was sick during the clean up and more because of their obvious wickedness than the dirt left behind. Their choice of personal items, words on mugs, and magazines indicated their appetite for the dastardly things of this world. The devil was in the details of their lives I was assured by the findings. My heart hurt for their obvious pain as they lived as filthy as any person I’ve ever rented to. And not only in terms of dirt but in terms of inappropriate items. The Bible says that we can be saved from our wickedness and I prayed throughout the clean up that someone would get into their lives to help them find the Savior of the world.
It is important that you tell who you can about Jesus and yes, even standing in the line at the grocery store. We do not know the lives that people live and if you had been in line with any one of these folks, they certainly needed to hear about God’s saving grace for there was not one indication they had ever met the Father of love and grace.
While this situation showed it’s wickedness in dirt, filth and in the awful choice of off-color reading material, the heart is what God looks upon and to think of their dirty heart, I just can’t imagine. The Bible says that God is “angry at the wicked every day”. Psalm 7:11. He is a just God and not willing that any would perish but he does and will judge unrighteousness and that is where each of us must face Him.
May each of us look carefully at our lives and heed the nudging of God such that we never get to a place of not hearing Him. Each of those people in that house at one time had instruction from various people: parents, a school teacher, a boss, a friend, wife or husband. Each of us, according to the Bible have been given even a measure of faith so we do know right from wrong. But, it’s when our lusts take over and we refuse that measure of faith and turn away from God that we, any of us without God, could live in wickedness. That is surely what happened here. Those folks turned God away and allowed the full fledge Devil to enter them, their home and their lives. How devastating.
We all have a choice in our lives. We can live for the devil or live for Jesus. Jesus is our only hope. No matter our struggles, He is our refuge. Only He can bring us through and if we refuse Him, we absolutely open ourselves up to the worst of the worst – the devil and his wiles, for I saw it all first hand this month. The Bible says the devil comes to “kill, steal and destroy”. He did this to this family. He killed their chances for a good life. He stole their money with reckless living and he destroyed their hope for their future with lewd and lascivious living. None of us are exempt to the devil’s offerings. We must each make choices every day. The Bible says we must “pick up the cross daily”.
I’m praying for you today in whatever struggle you may have. May God get the victory. The Bible says that we are all “wicked” until we trust God. I pray you’ll trust Him today and live your life for Christ.
Josie
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Eph. 5:8)
“Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12)
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).
“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” (Isa. 57:21)
“Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard” (Prov. 13:15).
