Dear Pastor and Church Leader,
We begin our third week of one of the chapters in David Wentz’s book, Pastoring: the Nuts and Bolts. You can read the first two weeks here: [1] [2]
__________
The Pastor’s Personal Life – Part 3 – Spiritual cleansing
By David Wentz
About thirty years ago the church I was serving was going through some difficult times. New people with new ideas were coming into the church. Long-time members were happy to have the new people, but not their new ideas. Church meetings became stressful, and sometimes angry. I tried to play peacemaker in the meetings, but when I went home I often found that I was carrying the negative atmosphere with me. The result was that if one of the children started crying or my wife Paula needed some help, I would snap back in anger or stomp out of the house. One time I even punched a hole in a bedroom door with my fist!
As Paula and I talked and prayed about it one evening, we began to wonder if something spiritual was going on. We know that the devil tempts people into all kinds of evil desires and attitudes. We also know that the devil is a finite being. He has to delegate most of his dirty work to evil spirits or demons. 2 Timothy 1:7 mentions a spirit of fear. Could it be that I was being influenced by a spirit of anger? I knew I wasn’t demon possessed. But what if angry words at a meeting created a spiritual opening for angry spirits? And what if one of them attached itself to me?
When I was a child I watched Popeye cartoons on television. When Popeye was trying to decide what to do, a little cartoon angel would appear on one shoulder, whispering in his ear, “Do the right thing.” Then a little devil figure would jump on his other shoulder, whispering, “No! Do this wrong thing!” That’s kind of how I pictured spirits of anger, or worry, or whatever.
If that was really what was happening, then according to Mark 16:17 I had the authority, in the name of Jesus Christ, to command that evil spirit to go away and leave us alone. Paula and I prayed, and decided to try it.
First we offered our house to God as a place set apart, a sanctuary where only things of God would be welcome. Then, with our children, we went through every room of the house, commanding all spiritual influences not of God to be gone in the name of Jesus, and inviting God’s Holy Spirit to come fill the space (Luke 11:24-26). In the bedroom we prayed for a spirit of peace and rest, in the kitchen we prayed for health, in the living room for good fellowship and hospitality, and so on. We placed a dab of oil on the doorways to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit.
When we finished, we could already feel a difference. The house felt somehow brighter and more peaceful.
Having cleared ungodly spirits out of the house, now we needed to make sure we didn’t accidentally allow any back in. We started doing what we called “cleansing.” It’s a spiritual equivalent of washing your hands after visiting a sick person.
Basically, whenever one of us returned home from being out, we stopped on the doorstep and said something like this: “In the name of Jesus Christ, anything not of God must be gone and may not come in here. Holy Spirit, please fill me with your grace and be with us. Hallelujah!”
Decades later we still follow this practice. It has made a huge difference in making our home a sanctuary of peace and rest in the Lord. When traveling, we spiritually cleanse hotel rooms in the same way. Of course, on occasion I still forget. I’m not home long before Paula senses that something is wrong. She’ll ask me, “Did you remember to cleanse?” The difference is that real.
Whenever someone visits, after they leave we say a quick “cleansing” along the same lines, just in case something hitch-hiked into our house on them and stayed. (We never let our guests know we are going to do this.) Just to be on the safe side and so as not to be biased, we do that after anyone has visited, no matter who they are. We have even found it to be useful after a stressful telephone conversation, or after talking between ourselves about a difficult or painful situation in the church, or if we have watched something on television that introduces a negative atmosphere. Of course, we don’t purposely watch bad things, but sometimes just watching the news can do it.
Do we believe ungodly spirits jump on our shoulders every time we go out? No. But I’m not very good at recognizing when one has, just as I’m not good at knowing when I get something dirty on the bottom of my shoe. Spiritual cleansing is an easy thing to do, so we do it every time, just in case.
Some may say it’s all-psychological. If you prefer to look at it that way, I don’t mind. However you understand it, we have found these steps to be of great value in making our home a sanctuary from the stress and negativity of the world. I encourage you to find a way to do the same.
__________
Thirty-eight years as a pastor honed David’s passion for helping people connect with God and make a difference. Add a varied church background, a first career in engineering, and graduate degrees from three seminaries (mainstream, Wesleyan-evangelical and charismatic), and you can see why he expresses God’s truth in ways everyone can appreciate.
David earned a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia; two Masters of Divinity, from Melodyland School of Theology and Wesley Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Christian Leadership from Asbury Theological Seminary. He enjoys the outdoors, writing worship songs with his guitar, and playing sax and flute in jazz and blues jams. His heroes are John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
David married his college sweetheart, Paula, in 1974. Their five children are actively serving God in the US and around the world.
You can connect with David on his website, twitter, Facebook, and Doing Christianity Nonprofit.
0 Comments