Matthew 12:38-50
Be Still: Holy Spirit, reveal any empty places in me. Fill me afresh with your presence, your truth, and your life. Amen.
Read: Matthew 12:38-50
When an impure spirit comes out of a person, 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 unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first… (vv43–45)
Encounter: This is one of Jesus' most sobering teachings. After confronting the Pharisees about their hardened hearts, he shares a parable about a person set free from an unclean spirit – but left empty. The spirit leaves…but nothing fills the space. No new devotion. No new direction. No new allegiance. And that emptiness becomes an invitation, a vacuum that draws the enemy back with even greater force.
Jesus is teaching something key here – deliverance without discipleship leads to disaster. Freedom without formation doesn’t last. A clean house without a new occupant is still unprotected.
An empty soul is a vulnerable soul. We think the greatest danger to our spiritual life is sin, attack, temptation. But Jesus warns of something even subtler – emptiness, a life swept clean but not surrendered; tidy but not transformed.
Sometimes people try to remove the bad without embracing the good. They stop certain habits, apologise for certain behaviours, let go of certain attitudes…but they never fill the space with prayer, Scripture, worship, community, obedience, and intimacy with Jesus.
This passage is not a threat – it is an invitation. Jesus isn’t satisfied with you merely being free. He wants you filled with his Spirit, his presence, his joy, his power, and his Word. He doesn’t just clean the house; he moves in to occupy. And once he fills you, the enemy loses access to the space Jesus now owns.
Apply: Ask the Holy Spirit:
Where have I settled for emptiness instead of fullness?
What have I removed that I haven’t yet replaced with Jesus?
Is there an empty space in my life; a habit, thought, wound – that needs to be filled by the Spirit?
Then take one step of intentional filling today:
Read Scripture aloud.
Soak in Worship for 5 minutes.
Invite the Spirit to fill a place you’ve kept closed.
Devote: Jesus, thank you for setting me free. Don’t let me remain empty – fill every part of my life with your presence until there is no space left for anything else. Guard my heart, shape my desires, and let my soul become a place where your Spirit reigns.