Devotionals

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Matthew 12:43-45

I could not have quit smoking without the support of my family. When my sister found out, she sent me lots of links to websites with advice on quitting. The best advice I found was to keep my hands busy! Keyboards are great for that because it is extremely hard to smoke and type at the same time with out getting ashes all over the place. This really helped me get past the first few weeks.

Jesus told a parable of a demon that had been driven out of a man. The demon searched and searched for a place to go but could not find anywhere. So he checked back at the place he had come. Because the man had not “rented out” his heart to God, the demon found the place still empty and actually cleaned up and put into place. He decided to move back in and this time, he brought his friends.

Jesus wants us to “rent out” our hearts to God by filling it with the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22) and other fruits from God. It’s really hard to be impatient when you are determined to be patient. Hatred is an emotion that can not survive where there is love. How can anger dwell with peace? Saddness with joy? Cruelty and kindness? The way to keep these “demons” out is to keep our hearts busy with things of God.

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