Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?

The young man came to me to get counsel about strife in his home. As I laid my hands on him, the Lord said, “There is an unclean thing in his attic.” He went home and, sure enough, found a box of ‘automatic writing’ in his attic written by a distant relative. Automatic writing is a counterfeit of the gift of prophecy from a scribal point of view, where a person’s hand, guided by a demon, just writes without the benefit of their mental abilities being involved. Automatic writing is closely associated with seances and other occult practices that are clearly condemned in the Old Testament. The presence of such evil brings a curse where there should be a blessing. When he ‘cleaned house,’ the strife ceased.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.

You have authority over yourself. Jesus never used martial arts or a weapon of warfare, but he defended Himself amazingly, time after time. You almost see a learning curve where the first time He preached, they picked Him up and almost threw Him off the cliff, before He recovered, becoming invisible and passing through the crowd. After that, no one even touched Him until He allowed Himself to be arrested in the garden. You must learn to practice authority over yourself and your circumstances all the time. Practice is the key in preparation for anything.

He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Ps 24:3-5 NKJV

The Lord supports boundaries – gates, walls, doors and locks as a means of defining and establishing authority, ownership, property rights and order, for individuals as well as for nations. He established the precedent when He locked the doors, so to speak, to the garden of Eden.

…therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.  So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Gen 3:23-24 NKJV

You have authority over your home, indeed over all that you own. What you permit within your sphere of influence and authority will bring either blessing or cursing. Accidents shouldn’t happen to you because He will not allow evil to come ‘nigh our dwellings’ if we assert the authority we have in Him. Asserting your authority over all that you have is a huge key in stewardship and prosperity.

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling… Ps 91:9-10 NKJV

You can judge the spiritual quality of a home when you cross its threshold. I’m constantly aware of what I’m feeling in my spirit whenever I enter any structure, including any vehicle, because I want to be prepared for what may be there. The price of the maintenance of liberty is eternal vigilance. I’ll never forget crossing the threshold of Mt. Vernon, the home of our first president, in 2009, and the Holy Spirit saying, “The angel of liberty has dwelt here for 250 years.” I learned later that Washington had moved his family into the home in 1759. This was in contrast to Monticello, the home of our third president, where I found no such anointing – indeed I felt somberness and dread.

In this article I’m trying to impart ‘know why’ before we get to ‘know how’ because with ‘know why’ you yourself can figure out ‘know how,’ bless your heart.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…

Before we go on, let’s talk about portals. A portal is a two-way access point. Just as our gates, windows and doors have to be guarded, so too must be our smartphones, computers and TV’s. The addictive nature of social media, etc. is by deliberate design to wear you down, waste your time, and steal your heart for the sake of money, and the gradual gain of influence over you. Images are incredibly important because your brain treats as real both imagined or projected images as well as genuinely seen images. This is why with video games as well as with virtual reality in one very real sense you enter that world, and ‘that world’ enters you. You must guard the portals of your mind!

…casting down arguments (Grk. LOGISMOS – thoughts, imaginations, mental analysis) and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor 10:4-6 NKJV

Before you begin your spiritual spring cleaning, you must first decide how you want to live. The things that are in your house, including on your computer, etc. are things you have allowed to come in. Now you must make the choice to throw them out. You must decide how you want to live. Much of what we have allowed in has gained entrance because of the pleasure that it brought us. Moses had to reject, throw out and leave the pleasures of sin and of Egypt to go the way of God. He cleaned house by completely removing himself to a new house, God’s house. Are you willing to throw Egypt out? It’s your choice.

In spiritual house cleaning, remember that all words come from three sources: the Spirit of God, the spirit of man or an evil spirit, usually in some combination thereof. Words from God edify, encourage and comfort. Words from man are basically benign, serve a single transitory purpose, and have little if any worth. Words from the enemy leave you lacerated and bleeding, or subtly steal your heart. The same is true of all of your stuff.

Godly things can be mixed with other things. I once bought a picture at a Christian conference that depicted Christ as the lion and the lamb. The lion was huge while the lamb was tiny. As I asked the Lord about the picture, He said, “I am equally the Lamb as well as the Lion.” The artist should have portrayed both as the same size if he wanted to give an accurate portrayal of Christ. I’ve kept the picture but keep that in mind as I view it. Do you see?

As you clean your house, you are going to ask God what is of Him, what is from the spirit of man, and what is from the other side. The vast majority of ‘stuff’ you have will be of the spirit of man category if you are like us. It’s just junk now…get rid of it. Old stuff you saved – you can use the six-month rule! If you have used it in the last six months, or referenced it, hold on to it. Otherwise, get rid of it. Use care in disposing of old phones, especially if there is still info on them. Libraries, full of Christian books, need to be culled regularly because there is always new stuff coming in. So, you save the classics (like a certain author’s LIVING WATERS devotional) and move everything else.

Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. Acts 19:19 NKJV

When you find evil it will always be hidden, or disguised in such a way as to subtly not draw attention to itself. But this is the stuff you have to search for, and get it out. You don’t give it away or sell it on ebay. You destroy it. Anything attached to the occult – destroy it. Some family heirlooms that are demonic may be very valuable. They must be destroyed. In the destruction you are rejecting the spirit behind it. Simple games like Ouija boards must be destroyed. These are portals to hell.

The Holy Spirit will help you through the cleaning process. Remember that when you are destroying or getting rid of something, make sure you are the owner thereof or have their permission. If someone wants to hold on to something that is clearly demonic, that is a big red flag about their spiritual condition.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Gal 5:22-23 NKJV

When you spiritually house clean, you are going to make room for much more fruit of the Spirit to come in and fill your atmosphere. You may not get rid of anything overtly evil. But just through the fact that you move on so much stuff whose time it is to go will bring in sweetness, light, freshness and newness. Clean house…you’ll be blessed!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…