You kicked the devil out, but you let him leave his bags!

Okay, what's this I'm tripping over? I thought I threw this out last week, last month, last year? Why am I still stumbling over this same block? Could it be because you never fully removed it?

The thing that appears to be harmless is the very thing that is keeping us from advancing to that next step in our daily walk with the Lord. Have you stopped an ungodly relationship recently? It felt good, right? You finally conquered that temptation and vowed not to go back to it again. You take a breather and walk with your head held high until you get back home and the phone doesn't ring because you changed your number, your bedroom seems cold in the middle of summer and there's only one place setting on the table.

Then, that little voice (the tempter) says, what about those old letters he wrote you? It's harmless to just read them over again. Don't you need to feel loved? Therefore, you give in just a little and go find that old shoe box. Wow! Not only are there letters, but you forgot about all those pictures you took together. Now as you sit at your table in tears, you regret having changed your number and you're wondering if he's hurting! You want to call him just to check on him, but this time, "only as a friend!"

STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! You're about to cross a dangerous "high" way...There's a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is death. This way is what I call the "high" way...it will take you up into a place of utopia and cause you to feel needed, and loved and wanted. You will be on such an emotional high, you'll wonder what ever prompted you to turn away from this to begin with. But spiritual death is waiting for you. Compromise is not righteous! You were made righteous by the righteousness of Christ! There is no compromise in that!

Just when you've kicked the devil out, you go find all his bags of stuff left behind. Is it okay to keep the shoebox? Why do you want it? Ask yourself this question. Those old letters are the small foxes which spoil the vine. They're the "weights" that doth easily beset you. It's not okay to keep the shoebox. It's not okay to check on "him" every now and then. That's what a soul-tie is; when you can't separate yourself from the tempter and the temptations. Whatever you allow the enemy to leave behind, will continue to taunt you. Those pictures, letters, gifts, etc. bring back all the memories of the "good" times which were probably the most sinful times of your Christian walk, but loneliness tells a different version of the story.

Loneliness is an open door for the enemy to come back. It's like when you take an extended visit to the home of a relative, you take your bags. Usually you don't unpack, but you live out of those bags, until the trip is over. Almost without fail, you pack up to leave, but there's always one little "something" that you left behind and every time you try to carry on without "that thing", you're reminded, "Oh I left it there". You think about it all the time and even make plans to go back and get it. Eventually, you're going back to that house and the first thing that relative does is brings "your stuff" to you. So it was a constant reminder to them that you left something there also.

Well, guess what? The devil leaves your house intending to come back to those bags of goodies he left behind, the lies, deception, sexual sin, depression, disappointment, paranoia, prayerlessness, etc. but he's not trying to take them with him, he simply wants to open the bag and sit in the floor with you and remind you of all the fun you had.

Well it's high time you kick him out and throw out the bags with him. That shoe box will fit in any dumpster ever made, deliverance is available in many churches. Even if not your own, find one where you can go to. Pick up some of Kimberly Daniels' books. She is one of the most gifted women with a serious anointing for deliverance. After reading Clean House Strong House, I went with a couple of friends of mine, to Kimberly Daniels' church for deliverance. It was the most powerful experience I have ever had. Deliverance helps you to find and renounce every piece of unclaimed baggage that's left behind in you!

Even though you may be doing the right things and you're trying to be free from a situation that has had you bound in the past, every now and then, you may trip over something that brings you back to that old dung from last week or last month. If you feel that urge to make contact with something that has been dead or dying. It doesn't mean that you're not saved or that the commitment you made was not real or genuine. It's just simply this...you kicked the devil out, but you let him leave his bags!