You’ve been served!

I am hereby serving you, (you know who or what you are) an eviction notice. You are to vacate my brain immediately and never return. Take all your junk with you; I don’t need it anymore. You have occupied a space in my head for far too long. You are not paying me rent, and have been freeloading off my emotions. No more, I say. No more!

I know of what I speak. I have allowed what people have done, or events to live rent free in my head. Just when I thought they moved out, there they are at my doorstep again. I’ve had enough. I knew what I had to do. I went online and printed off a boiler plate eviction notice. I made a few copies, and in the spot where you put the name, I entered the thing that was keeping me up at night, and harassing me during the day. If it tried moving back in, I’d pull out that notice and wave it in the air. A great visual for my soul to relate to, putting it on notice, that it was no longer allowed back in.

But you know what? For some things, it wasn’t enough. I had to get drastic and called for a civil assist. You know a person with the power and authority to help me physically get rid of it. That’s right, I called Jesus!

Can you imagine this call in a real world setting?

Dispatcher: 911. What’s your emergency?

Me: I need help with a civil assist. I have someone I’ve evicted; they won’t stop harassing me, and won’t leave!

Dispatcher: Where are they now?

Me: In my head.

Dispatcher: Okay, ma’am. Put the phone down and slowly back away. Help is on the way.

And quicker than you can say, “Bob’s your uncle,” I’m being put into a straight jacket and carted off for a twenty-four hour psych hold.

According to Romans 8:34, Jesus is interceding on my behalf to the highest authority, which of course is God. So I knew I was in goods hands. “He does not ignore the prayers of men in trouble when they call to him for help.” (Ps. 9:12 [TLB])

Now that I had law and order on my side, and they helped me clear it out, I had to clean that space in my brain: shampoo the carpets, repaint, etc. There is even a Bible verse for this, “So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice, and pretense, envy, and hurtful talk.” (1 Pet. 2:1 [MSG]) Then I asked Jesus what I should put in there, so it would be filled up, in case you know who showed back up. Here’s what the Interior Decorator of the universe said works:

“Let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good.” (Rom. 12:2 [Phillips])

“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5 [NIV])

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do your best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” (Phil. 4:8-9 [MSG])

How do we do this? What can we bring to mind to fill that clean space? Memorize scripture.

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and mind…” (Deut. 11:18a [NIV])

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Ps. 119:11 [NIV])

One last thing we must do is trust that Jesus can take care of it. There is a team building exercise that some organizations use to build trust. One person turns their back to the other, and then relaxes and falls backwards, trusting the other person to catch them, so they don’t hit the ground. I mean, that takes a great deal of trust. What I do know, is that if I let go and fall into the arms of Jesus, he will catch me each and every time. It may feel like I’ve fallen, but deep down I know it is not about what I’m feeling. It is the confidence that Jesus will never let me down, and is making sure that His will is being done in my life. He knows what is best for me, and is happy to do whatever it takes to make that happen. He will fight for me, I just need be still. (See Ex. 14:14)

So it boils down to this,

To be or not to be…

Still…

That is the question.

Choose.

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