Those Sneaky Pests

I hate to admit it, but years ago, we had roaches.  We lived in a fairly clean apartment, but I have been told that when you live in an apartment, it doesn't matter how clean your palce is, you can still have roaches if your neighbors have roaches.

I didn't like the sprays that they have to get rid of the roaches because We had two little babies and a little dog, and those sprays were strong smelling.  I hated those pests, I smashed every one that I could find.  It sounds crazy, but I would even come out in the middle of the night and turn on the lights to catch even more of them.  I also kept all the food in air tight containers, and we did the dishes as soon as possible so those awful bugs wouldn't have any food.

All of my hard work and it didn't even seem to make a difference, we had roaches.

What I didn't realize was that they would nest in dark areas, cupboards that I didn't go into much.  They would pass through the clean light areas of the kitchen but they liked the dark.  We had them taken care of professionally at times but soon after, they would be back, they nested in my neighbors place and then they spilled over into our place, and then we would have roaches again.  We lived there ten years and almost always had roaches.  After we moved we haven't had any in twelve years.

What I ended up doing was cleaning out cupboards that I normally didn't use.  If I opened up cupboards that I only stored things in, and I let the light shine in, those roaches would run from the light.  We also had someone come in and professionally get rid of them.  We finally got control over that problem.

This whole experence made me think about how demons operate.  I try to keep my spiritual house clean.  That is, I have the Holy Spirit in me.  Jesus gives examples of how demons operate in Matthew 12:43, "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through places seeking rest and does not find it.  Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.'  When it arives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and it takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and then go in and live there.  And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."

Jesus said this to show us that you can't just get rid of a demon with out replacing it with the Holy Spirit.  If you do, it will come back with more evil spirits.  But just like roaches, demons hate the light, that is, the Holy Spirit, light.  They will not come in and nest where there is light.

So we need to be concerned with our own body, our own mind, but we should also be concerned with our neighbors house, or mind.  If my house is clesn, and I don't let anything nest in the dark spots, I can keep my house free from pests, but if I allow my neighbors house to become filled with dregs, those nasty things could spill out into more and more dark areas and might end up in my house again.

What can I do?  Pray.  I can pray for my neighbors.  I can talk to them and share the gospel with them.  I can have faith that God will show them the light, that the Holy Spirit will occupy their dark places.  And the more we are concerned with our neighbors house, the less room there will be for those sneaky pests to get into our homes.