No Vacancy!

Sunday, I had the honor of listening to Jason teach. He is gifted as a teacher!
The message was about true conviction, confession and repentance. So many misconceptions exist.
Conviction is realizing God's goodness compared to our sinfulness.
Confession is saying the "same thing"...acknowledging sin as such.
Repentance is changing your mind.

God cleanses us from sin and the effects of it as we draw near to Him, confess the sin and call it by name (acknowledge it), and change our minds about the practice of that sin.

Today, I have read in my devotional Daily with my Lord "that every victory must lead to an occupancy." An empty victory is no victory at all. Just as Jesus taught,

"Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first..." (Matt 12:43-45)

Vacancy isn't victory. Jesus doesn't want to us to merely be free of sin, but to be alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)

We must be more than white-washed tombs. My emptiness doesn't glorify God. Fullness marks the child of God!