Armed with only a tiny bottle of anointing oil and our knowledge of the Word, my girlfriend and I spiritual cleansed her house. People had reported seeing “entities” in her house. We wanted to make certain that the only spirits living there were of the Holy Spirit.
So we stood on our authority in Christ, and expelled everything not of the Holy Spirit. We prayed through every room, filling them with the Holy Spirit and His attributes – love, joy, peace, etc. We anointed every doorway and exercised our authority as “gatekeepers” of that house.
We did this the same week I was writing the devotion entitled “The Beautiful Temple.” In that devotion, I was meditating on how we, being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, are the modern day temple. Now I am meditating on how we are the “gatekeepers” of our own Beautiful Temple.
We have the same authority over the temple of our body as we do our physical house. We can use that authority to expel anything not of the Holy Spirit. We can pray through our every “room,” filling it with the Holy Spirit - His love, His joy, His peace, etc. We can anoint every doorway or entrance to our temple as the “gatekeeper.”
As an example, I am thinking of Eve, the mother of all life. Eve listened to the lies of the serpent, allowing him access through her “gate.” The first lie that he told her was that if she ate of the fruit, she would be like God. The truth is that she was already made in God's image and likeness. The enemy was attacking her identity in God, because her authority comes from her identity in Him. Instead, she should have used her authority to command the serpent out of the garden. She didn't. Her whole family – including us – has suffered the consequences of her not being a good “gatekeeper” of her Beautiful Temple.
Jesus paid a high price to purchase that authority back for us. He has restored our identity with the Father. We are sons of the Living God! Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. We have Christ’s authority. We are the “gatekeepers” of our own Beautiful Temples!
O’Lord, I pray for the discernment needed to “keep” the gate of my Beautiful Temple. May I reject anything not of you. Fill my heart and my mind and body with Your Holy Spirit. I pray that my Beautiful Temple has the river of life flowing out of it, bringing healing and fruit to whatever it touches. Amen and Amen!