Luke 11:24-26 Swept Clean and Empty
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: September 3, 2018 Luke 11:24-26
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“Whenever an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest but doesn’t find any. So it says, ‘I will go back to my home that I left.’ When it gets back home, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all go in and settle there. And so the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”
(Understanding the Text) Is Jesus referring to demons here, or spirits of temptation? If I go with the temptation scenario, this would refer to people trying to overcome temptation by themselves. By sheer willpower, they stop the sin, but the desire is still present. After a while they grow complacent and let down their guard. Then the desire to sin returns unexpectedly and drags them back down. In their discouragement at succumbing to sin, they stop guarding and just allow themselves to sink lower and lower into sin.
If I go with demon possession, there is a lot that I don’t understand. According the SDA commentary, this is a continuation of the discussion that started when Jesus healed a man possessed by a demon and was accused (by Pharisees according to Matthew 12:24) of healing through the power of Beelzebul. Matthew also records Jesus’ point that a house divided against itself cannot stand, but he adds information about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come” (Matthew 12:31-32). Why? Because it is only through our connection to God through the Holy Spirit that we can be saved. If we reject Him, by refusing to hear Him, He cannot connect us to God. Thus, when Jesus gets to the parable about an unclean spirit dwelling in a person, He is referring to the fact that when the demon was cast out, the empty space inside of the person was not filled with God’s Spirit. Thus, it remained empty. The Spirit is the “Strong Man” inside of us who can defend us against the demons who would like to use and abuse us. The SDA commentary says “It is not enough that demons, whether literal or figurative, be cast out of the heart and mind; the Spirit of God must come into the life and be placed in control of the thought and conduct (see 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:22). It is not enough to hate the evil; we must ardently love and cherish that which is good (see Amos 5:15; 2 Thess. 2:10; see on Matt. 6:24).” “Our only safety is in wholehearted surrender to Christ.”
The SDA commentary points out that Jesus might have used this parable not only to refute the Pharisees, but also as a warning to the man that He had just healed that the only safety lay in a relationship with Jesus. Being alone in his body was not enough protection if the demon chose to come back. Instead that man needed to cling to God with his loyalty and love.
The SDA commentary says, “The counsel given here (vs. 43-45) is particularly applicable to those who have listened to the gospel message gladly, but have not yielded to the Holy Spirit (DA 323). The commentary then goes on to compare the lesson to disease saying that many times a relapse is more serious than the original onset of the disease. “A relapse is often due to the patient’s failure to realize his physical weakness, and to a fatal sense of overconfidence in himself. When recuperating from the sickness of sin we should trust wholly in the merits and power of Christ.”
The SDA commentary indicates that the use of the number seven is to indicate completeness. In other words, in the second possession, there is no hope of pushing out the demons. They are there to stay. The possession is complete. This is what happened to Judas. He was open to Jesus’ influence at first, but he refused to surrender himself totally to his Teacher. He refused to love and accept Jesus’ love for him. In the end, he left himself wide open for the enemy to infiltrate and take control.
(Revelation of God) Jesus gives warnings because He cares for us and does not want to leave us undefended out of ignorance. Too often we take His warnings as His preference rather than as His loving care for us. God’s way is best, not because He has the authority to enforce His will, but because He can see where are path will lead us, and He wants to save us from the road that will lead to our annihilation.
(Application) My application for myself is that my only safety from hypocrisy, self-righteousness, pride, and overconfidence is to surrender myself totally and completely, minute-by-minute and day-by-day, to Jesus. I must yield to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and direction because I am a target for great powers of this world and my only safety lies in staying in a relationship with Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct my path as He wills rather than trusting to my own plans and abilities to resist evil.
(Prayer) Lord, I commit myself to You. Take me to be totally Yours. I give all my plans to You. Use me in Your service. Live in me and let everything I do be done in You.