The space in your heart where the Lord doesn’t reign and rule is an empty space where stray spirits run in and out at will.
When the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote concerning the office and person of our High Priest he said:
“Concerning this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull and sluggish in [your spiritual] hearing and disinclined to listen. For though by this time you ought to be teachers [because of the time you have had to learn these truths], you actually need someone to teach you again the elementary principles of God’s word [from the beginning], and you have come to be continually in need of milk, not solid food.”
Hebrews 5:11,12 AMP
As followers and co-heirs with Christ, we are obligated to allow His influence to have free access to our whole hearts. Of course, this is something that is not altogether possible instantly. It’s a progressive, conscious and, deliberate course of action.
Before Jesus was arrested, He warned Peter that he would deny Him three times:
“And Peter said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death!” Jesus said, “I say to you Peter before the rooster crows today, you will [utterly] deny three times that you know Me.”
Luke 22:33,34 AMP
I can just hear some of you saying that this happened before Jesus’ death and resurrection. Before Jesus sent us another comforter [Holy Spirit]. Well, if that is your argument listen to this:
“Now when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him face to face [about his conduct there], because he stood condemned [by his own actions]. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat [his meals] with the Gentiles; but when the men [from Jerusalem] arrived, he began to withdraw and separate himself [from the Gentile believers], because he was afraid of those from the circumcision.”
Galatians 2:11,12 AMP
Peter obviously still had an empty space he hadn’t allowed the Holy Spirit to fill yet. He was ‘afraid’ of what the Jews back in Jerusalem would think about him fellowshipping with gentiles.
How do you recognize an ‘empty space?’ An empty space is one that is unruly, unmanageable, unattended, uninviting, etc.,
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says this: Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]”.
When we become new in Christ we stop practicing those things of the old nature that kept us slaves to sin. We don’t suddenly become perfect, but we do continually strive toward perfection. When we stop practicing lying, hatred, sexual immorality, anger, and such things, we create empty spaces. Spaces that they once filled. We have to quickly allow the Holy Spirit to fill those spaces in our hearts with things that will characterize the new person we have become. How do we do that?
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippian church said this:
“Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]”. Philippians 4:8 AMP
That is how you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, fill those empty spaces.