Never Full

I want to paint a picture in your mind.... picture a pitcher and there is water being poured into the pitcher from up above. Throughout the pitcher, there are small round holes and the water is running out as it is poured in. The pitcher is crying out, "I'm made for water, fill me" and yet, it can never be full.

This mental image is a picture of some Christians. They desperately want more, they believe, they know that we were made for fellowship with God and yet, they are never full. Some are believing for the promises of God... promises of peace, provision, health, etc. and yet, they never receive. In Christian circles for many years there were those who mistakenly judged those who did not receive what they were praying/believing for thinking that they must have a secret/hidden sin blocking their reception of the promise. Shame on anyone who judges another. God judges us by our heart condition. One man CAN NOT judge another man's heart condition from his outward state.

So what is it that causes us to not be filled, to lose the Word we so desperately try and fill ourselves with? I believe these holes are portals into our life where we have unknowingly given Satan access and authority in our lives. Those times when we unknowingly let Satan in caused the holes and leaking of the vessel.

Let me give you some basic examples; reading your horoscope may seem innocent enough, after all, you don't really believe that stuff. Bottom line is that reading your horoscope is dabbling in Satan's lair and allowing him a portal into your spiritual being. Some other things that may have given Satan access; a spirit of rejection, soul ties, dabbling in the occult, allowing sacrilegious items in your home, etc.

We head the biblical warning to, "be on guard" but we are looking on the outside when it is quite possible the problem comes from within. We mistakenly think that once we have given our lives to God that we are protected from spirits but if we have given spirits free access.... they have no intention of leaving until we recognize them and call them out!

The Bible says that the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21) and says that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12). We have to take it back from Satan and his minions. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." These are not some nebulous external forces and we need to learn how to fight this war. War is won on the offense, not on the defense. We need to identify our enemy and take back what is rightfully ours. Trust in the healing and restoration of God to seal off those portals!

Remember the parable of the sower who sows the Word? He sowed some on the path and the birds came and ate the seed. These are hard hearts that are not ready to hear and receive the word. Then he sowed on shallow ground and the seed immediately took root but withered and died because it had no root. Then he sowed on ground consumed with thorns and the thorns choked the seed. Then he sowed on fertile ground and the seed grew and bare fruit.

This parable never made any sense to me. If the Bible says that the Word is alive and powerful and does not return void.... why didn't the seed take root? The Bible says in Matthew 13:20 "The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy." He wanted the Word, he joyously received the Word and the Word doesn't return void! Like the pitcher, he joyously received the Word yet it was his internal condition that prevented the Word from taking root.

You can have victory, you can seal up these unseen portals that have been bleeding you dry and sucking your faith away from you. Acts 5:16 says that everyone brought to Jesus was healed and delivered. John 14:12 says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." You have the authority but as Hosea 4:6 says, "You are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." It's time to expose these devils for what they are and drive them out once and for all!