He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters. “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.              Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. (Luke 11:23-26)

Neutrality is a dangerous place in the spiritual realm.  I’m reminded of a scene in the movie, “O Brother Where Art Thou?”  In that scene Tommy (a young black guitarist) has just been picked up and given a ride by the three principle players in the movie – Ulysses, Delmar and Pete who had escaped from a prison chain gang a few days earlier.  The three asked Tommy what he was doing alone in the middle of nowhere and he told them that he had met the devil at a crossroads the night before and sold his soul for the ability to play guitar.  Delmar and Pete had just come upon a camp revival and had been baptized so that all their past sins and crimes could be forgiven.  As they rumbled down the road Tommy explained, “I had to be up at that there crossroads last midnight, to sell my soul to the devil.”  Ulysses then commented, “Well, ain’t it a small world, spiritually speaking. Pete and Delmar just been baptized and saved. I guess I’m the only one that remains unaffiliated.”

Many people have the idea that they can take a neutral or unaffiliated position in the spiritual realm and somehow stay out of the conflict and even enter heaven because they weren’t bad people.  Jesus spoke to that idea when he said, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”  Some actively and intentionally serve Satan while others make no commitments and remain uninvolved.  Jesus places both of those positions in the kingdom of darkness.  The truth is that everyone starts out on Satan’s team. Only those who choose to play for Jesus get to change uniforms.

The idea that I can pursue nothing spiritually and be okay because I’m not  pursuing evil things ignores the reality of the spiritual realm.  The enemy searches the world looking for vacancies and when he finds one he moves in.  Wherever he finds a heart or a life not filled with Jesus he camps there.  When a man encounters Jesus and spiritual freedom for a season but does not fill his life with the things of God….the enemy will return and bring others with him. He has the right to bring more because this man has tasted the things of God but not pursued them.  To fail to pursue the things of God is the same as rejecting them.

The warning and the encouragement is to never stop pursuing and filling your life with the things of God and his Spirit. The Spirit, like water in an old barrel, tends to leak out and must be replenished.  When enough of the Spirit that we once hungered for and pursued has leaked out, then a vacancy is formed in our soul and we become vulnerable to the enemy.  Paul instructs us to be filled with the Spirit (see Eph.5:18) because when we are filled we are fruitful but we also leave no room for the devil.

Back in my youth when I was faster and fifty pounds lighter, our football coaches always told us that the guys who were always moving and hitting hard didn’t get hurt.  The guys who were coasting or standing around on the field were the ones who got injured.  That was true most of the time and I believe it is true spiritually.  Keep moving, keep growing, keep serving, keep seeking, and keep filling up on God and there will be no vacancies or vacuums in your life that attract the enemy.  And remember, there is no one in the car who is unaffiliated because if you are not actively for Jesus  then you are against him.  No retirement in the kingdom, no coasting, no neutrality. We can all rest when we get home!  Be blessed today and fill up!

A spiritual person lives life first by principles and perspectives grounded in God’s spiritual realm. The natural man first references principles and perspectives that are grounded in the natural realm.  Those reference points are very different.  If we find our identity in the spiritual realm through what Christ has done for us then we are living as spiritual men and women.  If we find our identity primarily in the natural realm then we are not living as spiritual men or women.  If we are to experience all that God has for us on this earth we must choose to live as spiritual people and give God’s word much more weight than anything we have been taught or told in the toxic environment of a fallen world.

Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus is full of references about who every believer is in Christ.  In that letter we discover who God says we are rather than what the world or the broken people in our lives say we are.  The church in Ephesus was in dire need of such revelation.  Ephesus was a significant, cosmopolitan city in the days of Paul. Great pagan temples stood in the city and with its harbor it was a city of trade and financial power as well.  It was primarily Greek in culture with Rome adding her influence.  In the New Testament it becomes apparent that many of the early Christians were not great or influential by the world’s standards.  Even the apostles had been only fishermen and tax collectors rather than educators, statesmen, or business czars.  The early church had some people of standing and wealth but most were slaves and working class people.  In a city like Ephesus it would have been easy to feel inferior or inadequate.  It would have been easy to feel like powerless people following a new and strange religion scoffed at by the rich and powerful.  Because of that, I believe the Holy Spirit revealed their status in the Heavenly Jerusalem so that they might walk among the powerful in Ephesus not just as equals but as citizens of an even greater and enduring city.

Paul beings simply with “To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph.1:1).  In the Kingdom of God every believer is a saint, a holy one. Biblically, the idea of “saint” is not some super Christian but a saint is one who has been sanctified or set apart for service to God.  No one in the kingdom is ordinary.  As a believer you have been set apart from every unbeliever on the planet.  You have been given the Holy Spirit as a seal marking you as one who belongs to the King. This seal makes you a citizen of heaven and grants you the rights and privileges of those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Though the world may view you as ordinary the Creator sees you as exceptional, set apart, designated as holy, his beloved, his family, his son, his daughter, and his designated representative on the earth. On top of that you are declared faithful. Faithfulness is of great value in the Kingdom of Heaven.   Perhaps, you are not always faithful but you are counted as faithful in Christ while God is working in you to make your heart match the word he has declared over you.

So then, you are holy.  You are a saint.  You are faithful.  These are highly significant descriptions in the spiritual realm.  These designations make you greater than kings and presidents who rule in the natural realm and they give you authority over demons.  Paul says that you will judge angels (See 1 Cor, 6:3).  On that day you will sit higher than any Supreme Court Justice and have more glory than any celebrity on the planet.  It is not who you will be some day but who you are now because God has declared it. That is who you are and that is just a start. More tomorrow.  Be blessed today knowing who you are.