Torah: Genesis 18:-22:24
Haftorah: 2 Kings 4:1-37

This last week, I feltl like God put a timely question on my heart, as it was during the week after Halloween. The overarching question that I will elaborate on is, “What’s in your inner room?”

Genesis 18-22 and 2 Kings 4 talk a lot about events happening around tents or permanent dwelling places, homes. In fact, the most important things from those stories manifest because of the interactions and the presences held within those domestic environments. Initially the effects are unseen, but by the end of the story, the reality of what occurred in those inner rooms manifested itself. This claim can be found in the story of Abraham and Sarah, Lot and the angels, Lot and his daughters, the prophet’s widow and her sons, and Elisha and the Shunamite’s son.

First, let’s look at Abraham. In Genesis 18, God visits Abraham with two angels. Abraham runs to Him, and hastens to make a meal for him from what would have been the best food he could have offered, and stands beside Him while he eats like a servant would. Basically, Abraham welcomes God into his tents (even though they didn’t actually go into a tent) and serves Him. God promises Abraham that about the same time the next year, He will visit him and Sarah and give them a son, Isaac. You could say that what Abraham and Sarah welcomed into their home manifested itself in the blessing.

Now, let’s look at Lot. In the next chapter, 19, Lot similarly welcomes the two angels into his home and serves them. The physical manifestation of who he welcomed into his inner rooms was his salvation from the destruction of Sodom. But he received animosity from the rest of his community for that private choice. The whole city came banging at his door and promised to treat him worse than the angels because he tried to protect them. The angels take him by the hand and lead him out of the city before it is destroyed, a manifestation of a private choice. Lot was blessed for welcoming the angels. The Bible says it was for Abraham’s sake.

Turning to 2 Kings chapter 4, a widow of one of the guild prophets was left with her husband’s debt, and the collectors came calling. If they had to sell her sons into slavery to pay off the debt, they would. The widow went to Elisha with her problem, and he provided the answer, and it would start with a private decision to act on her faith publicly, but be completed in a private place, her home. All she had was one jar of oil. Elisha told her, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside…Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest” (vs. 3-4, 7). God miraculously filled all the jars that she collected with oil when “she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons” (vs. 5). She welcomed Elisha’s advice and acted in faith, and the promise to her manifested from behind those closed doors. The story doesn’t specify this, but it implies the widow had more than enough oil to pay her husband’s debt.

Also in 2 Kings chapter 4, a Shunamite is blessed with a son for having welcomed God’s prophet Elisha into her home, even building an upper room for him to stay and feeding him as he traveled to and fro through her town. The manifest blessing for who she welcomed into her home was a son, and even the promise itself was given her inside her dwelling place. When the son dies, she finds Elisha and tells him about it. Miraculously, Elisha raises him from the dead after he “went in [to the upper room] and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord” (vs. 32). The manifestation of his private prayer was a resurrected child.

As a negative example, let’s go back to Lot, for the story of he and his daughters is a lesson that inviting immorality into your dwelling place breeds negative manifestations. They fled to the caves, where they dwelt, and there his daughters committed incest with him and produced the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites, idolatrous people.

So what does this all mean for us today? I think it lines up perfectly with Jesus’ words, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt. 6:6). What happens in private might be considered the most important of all. That is where the seeds of more publicly manifested realities begin. So what or who is in your inner room? Is your inner room full of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, or is it full of lust, anger, and bickering?

With Halloween just over a week ago, most people have put away their decorations, for now. For that one time of the year, people are okay putting out skeletons and ghoulish and grotesque figures. One neighbor of mine set out his decorations Labor Day weekend. Last year, he started in August. A couple of people keep them out year-long, but most don’t. One neighbor had a skeleton on a throne wearing a robe and crown. At night its chest glowed. What is that about? I called that yard the throne of Satan. Another neighbor had just about every square inch of their yard covered in skeletons both human and animal. There were skeletons dogs, skeletons driving a coach, skeleton bartenders, and a giant skeleton matching Biblical descriptions of the Nephilim giants. That neighbor also had a grim reaper, as well as other walking skeletons and varying stages of decay. Their young children were running around in their yard playing with the reaper’s sickle. I called that yard death alley. I saw more decorations consistently about death this year than I think I ever have. And more people had witches too. There weren’t even friendly ghosts anymore or cute little jack-o-lanterns. Most of them were really disturbing. What is this obsession with death now?

I used to take my kids trick-or-treating, but this year has changed that. I felt the Lord reminding me of His words, “He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mt. 22:32), and “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” (Mt. 24:28, Lk. 17:37). Well, my neighbor’s yards were full of corpses.

My kids are so happy the decorations are gone. They express relief just about every time we drive to or from home now. My six-year-old was having nightmares because of them. My neighbor’s dog was afraid to walk by them. We didn’t hide in our house and tun off the light on Halloween, but we didn’t leave our property. My home is holy to the Lord. We aren’t afraid of or superstitious about Halloween like Kirk Cameron says people like me are. No disrespect to the guy. I’ve had a lot of respect for him for many years, but he’s off base on this one and another important point lately, but that’s not for this post. My family turned on our light, dressed up, and handed out Bibles and tracts with candy and coloring sheets. My eight-year-old had the idea to hand out Bible verses and challenge children to memorize them for a prize. So we took the day and did our small part in turning it for good.

But when Halloween was over, where did those decorations go? Probably into a closet inside the house for storage, or an inner room. They aren’t gone, they’re just hidden, for now. But they will come out again, unless something changes. How should a Christian make sense of these things? I think there are many Bible verses applicable to this, but I will quote one passage from Ephesians chapter 5:

 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  Therefore do not become partners with them;  for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true),  and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,  for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
    and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,  making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is (vs. 6-17).

Phillipians chapter 4 gives another good test for a Christian to use to gauge what is appropriate and what is not:

 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you (vs. 8-9).

Riaan Swiegelaar, a former priest in the church of Satan, was asked what the physical consequences of participating in Halloween are, and one example he gave was a marriage falling apart. He understands that what people welcome into their home will have a larger impact on them, their family, and the public around them. This is the opposite trend I used Scripture to argue: Welcoming God and the people of God into your home will bring blessing and life. So too, welcoming Satan into your home will bring curses and death. I know most people would say they don’t take Halloween that seriously, but most people don’t know what they are exposing themselves to. Taking your children to church is a good influence on them whether they know it at the time or not. The Holy Spirit is there in the house of the Lord. Exposing your children to death and darkness, I believe, conversely has a bad influence on your children, whether they know it at the time or not. What spirit do you think is present around a giant grim reaper or skeleton? It’s not the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus said, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” I’m not saying this to talk like I’m more holy or anything. I took my kids trick-or-treating just last year! But I believe God is showing me His will this year, or I’m open to hearing it this year, and the world is getting darker, making it more obvious.

Please, please, please, welcome Jesus into your inner rooms, and be blessed. Do not open the door for darkness and death, and do not let it be found in your inner rooms. May the God of peace be with you and give you peace in these things. Until next time, God bless.

Sources

The Bible. English Standard Version.