Making Room for the Holy Spirit

Oct 11, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When the Spare Room Isn’t Really Empty

The spare room full of unused treadmills and forgotten boxes mirrors hearts cluttered with distractions. Surrender begins by clearing space for Holy Spirit’s full ownership, not just polite hospitality. This requires honest inventory: what habits, schedules, or hidden corners have we labeled “off limits”? Jesus seeks total access, not a guest room. [01:03:53]

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, ESV)

Reflection: What “cluttered corner” have you avoided surrendering to God? What practical step could you take this week to clear space for His lordship there?

Day 2: The Treadmill of Self-Reliance

A dusty treadmill symbolizes good intentions abandoned for comfort. Surrender means releasing control of outcomes, plans, and even spiritual growth. Like Paul’s call to be “living sacrifices,” discipleship requires staying on the altar daily rather than retreating to self-managed routines. [01:11:12]

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you substituted busy religious activity for true surrender? How might pausing your “treadmill” create space to hear the Spirit’s direction?

Day 3: Rewiring the Cultural Defaults

Surrender reshapes assumptions absorbed from a world valuing control and self-sufficiency. Just as spare rooms collect outdated items, minds hoard cultural lies about success and worth. Renewal comes through testing every thought against Scripture, not feelings or trends. [01:17:20]

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ESV)

Reflection: What cultural assumption about relationships, money, or purpose have you unknowingly accepted? How would Scripture reframe that belief?

Day 4: The Keychain of Mutual Surrender

A keychain with multiple keys reminds us surrender isn’t solitary. Pride and self-contempt both fill rooms with isolation. True surrender connects us to Christ’s body, where preferences bow to mission and individual worth flourishes in community. [01:27:10]

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:4-5, ESV)

Reflection: Does pride in your spiritual maturity or shame over past failures isolate you from others? How might embracing your role in the body heal this?

Day 5: The Key That Unlocks Daily Obedience

Blank keys symbolize fresh surrender – not grand gestures, but specific daily “yeses.” Like the disciples taking up crosses, we choose moment-by-moment trust. What seems small – a guarded thought, a stubborn habit – becomes Holy Spirit’s gateway to deeper freedom. [01:36:04]

“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” (Luke 9:23, ESV)

Reflection: What specific area is the Spirit asking you to “key over” today? Write it on your heart as you would engrave a keychain.

Sermon Summary

Romans 12 calls God’s people to present their whole lives as a living sacrifice. Paul does not ask for a quick religious moment or a Sunday-morning-only kind of worship. The text asks for hands, habits, schedules, appetites, relationships, money, plans, and future to be put in God’s hands. Surrender begins when ownership is given up and Jesus takes the wheel.

The spare-room picture reveals the difference between having a room and actually having room. Holy Spirit already dwells in every follower of Christ, but Holy Spirit does not want to move in as a guest with one little area of access. Holy Spirit desires to be Lord of the house. The locked rooms may be a calendar, money, relationships, habits, future plans, or the need to stay in control. Consecration means something is set apart for God, while control means someone is still holding the keys.

Paul’s call to be transformed by the renewing of the mind shows that surrender reaches deeper than outward behavior. Thoughts come before actions, and Holy Spirit needs access to the thoughts that feed those actions. Culture constantly tries to mold people around its ideas of success, happiness, entitlement, and truth. God’s Word calls believers to test assumptions, feelings, and inherited patterns instead of trying to reshape Scripture around personal preferences. Feelings are real, but feelings are not fact.

Romans 12 also moves surrender into relationships. Paul warns against thinking too highly of oneself, but self-contempt can fill a room just as much as pride can. Pride says, “It’s all about me,” while self-contempt says, “I do not matter.” Both keep the focus on self. Christ places believers in one body, where nobody has to be the most important person in the room and nobody gets to live as though no one else matters.

Jesus’ call to deny self, take up the cross daily, and follow Him makes surrender a daily decision, not a one-time emotional altar moment. The hard part is not coming to the altar but staying on the altar. Holy Spirit will not fill what people refuse to surrender. The keys become a simple reminder that a door has been opened, whether that means saying yes to Jesus for the first time or giving Holy Spirit access to a room that has been locked for far too long.

Key Takeaways

1. Give God the keys, not leftovers. Holy Spirit does not ask for a guest room while control remains in human hands. A surrendered life lets God speak into calendars, spending, relationships, desires, and plans. Consecration means placing something in God’s hands instead of keeping the key nearby just in case control is wanted again. [72:57]
2. Let Scripture challenge settled assumptions. A surrendered mind does not merely stop certain actions. It lets Holy Spirit get down to the thoughts, inputs, assumptions, and feelings beneath those actions. God’s Word must form the way a believer sees reality, rather than being forced to fit what a believer already wants to believe. [80:30]
3. Feelings are real, not final. Feelings can reveal real pain, desire, fear, or confusion, but they cannot become the final authority. A renewed mind brings even strong feelings before God’s Word and asks Him to change whatever does not agree with His truth. That kind of honesty is not denial. It is surrender. [80:51]
4. Choose mission over personal preference. Pride often hides behind preferences, especially when personal comfort becomes more important than people or mission. Christ’s body requires sober judgment, humble conversation, and a willingness to serve beyond what feels ideal. Surrender takes a person out of the center without saying that person has no value. [84:52]
5. Stay on the altar daily. A living sacrifice can be tempted to climb off the altar whenever surrender becomes costly. Jesus calls disciples to deny self and take up the cross daily, not only during an emotional moment. Every day offers another opportunity to open another room to Holy Spirit.

## [88:52]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[59:35] - A Call to Lock In
[63:09] - Make Room for Holy Spirit
[66:33] - Romans 12 and the Whole Life
[68:17] - Surrender Begins With Ownership
[72:13] - The Locked Rooms of Life
[74:25] - Let God Challenge Your Thinking
[76:30] - Culture, Assumptions, and God’s Word
[81:17] - Surrender Removes Self From Center
[84:32] - Preference, Mission, and the Body
[88:33] - Take Up Your Cross Daily
[90:31] - Keys as a Reminder to Make Room
[96:04] - Invitation to Say Yes to Jesus
[101:54] - Responding to Holy Spirit

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Romans 12:1-5
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” [01:06:39]

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” [01:09:58]

Luke 9:23-24
“And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” [01:28:52]

Observation questions

In Romans 12:1–2, what areas of life does Paul connect to worship, sacrifice, transformation, and discerning God’s will? [01:08:38]
According to 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, what two truths does Paul give about a believer’s body, and what response does he call for?
What examples of “locked rooms” were named as areas people may hesitate to place fully in God’s hands? [01:12:38]
In Romans 12:3–5, what does Paul say about how believers should view themselves and their place in the body of Christ? [01:24:06]

Interpretation questions

What does it mean to offer oneself as a “living sacrifice” rather than limiting worship to a church service or a spiritual moment? [01:10:33]
Why does Paul connect a renewed mind with the ability to discern God’s will? How might unexamined assumptions make that harder? [01:19:13]
Romans 12 warns against thinking too highly of oneself, yet believers are also members of one body who matter to one another. How does this passage correct both pride and the belief that “I do not matter”? [01:27:03]
Jesus calls His followers to deny themselves and take up their cross daily. What does this show about the difference between a one-time response to God and ongoing discipleship? [01:28:52]

Application questions

If your life were pictured as a house, which “room” would be hardest to give God full access to right now—your calendar, money, relationships, habits, future plans, or need for control? What makes that room difficult to surrender? [01:12:38]
What is one practical way you can offer your ordinary life to God this week—your time, work, spending, conversations, or choices—as an act of worship? [01:09:39]
What voices, media, routines, or conversations are feeding your mind most often? Is there something that is shaping your thinking more than God’s Word, and what change could you make this week? [01:19:13]
Think of a strong feeling you have carried recently—fear, anger, disappointment, desire, or confusion. How can you honestly bring that feeling before God while allowing Scripture to have the final word? [01:20:27]
Where might personal preference be getting in the way of serving people, protecting unity, or participating in God’s mission? What would it look like to have a humble conversation instead of complaining or withdrawing? [01:24:52]
What would a daily “stay on the altar” practice look like for you this week? Consider one simple moment each day when you could surrender control to Jesus again. [01:29:06]

Sermon Clips

36s

#HolySpirit

“But let me just get this one out for you really quickly and reminder, don't take a picture. You can go get it later. Holy Spirit does not wanna want to move in as a guest. He desires to move in as the lord of the house. He doesn't just wanna come in as a guest and just have this little bitty guest area. He wants to dwell entirely. He wants access to the entire house.”

74s

#DailySurrender

“Surrender is not a one time emotional moment. It's a daily decision that says, Jesus, I'm making room in my life for you. Holy Spirit, I'm giving you access to another room. Last week, again, the the the promise was that God has put his spirit within us when we say yes to Jesus. And so that means that if you're in this room today and you haven't said yes to Jesus, what Holy Spirit is doing is he's knocking at your door. Holy Spirit is knocking at your door. Holy Spirit is trying to come in. But maybe there's those in the room that maybe it's not Holy Spirit. Come in because you're already saved and you're following Jesus. But maybe the question is, Holy Spirit, where have I not made room for you?”

56s

#FaithOverFeelings

“Here's a third question that you can ask. Where do I need to test my thinking against God's word instead of my feelings? but it's the way I feel. I get it. Feelings are real. Feelings ain't fact. Feelings are real. And there's been times that I felt a certain way about something that God's word has revealed. But a surrendered mind is willing to say, Lord, if the way I see it does not agree with you and your word, change the way I see it. Don't try to form scripture to fit the way that you see it.”

44s

#RenewYourMind

“Surrender is not only about what we do with our bodies, it should reach the way that we think. Because most of the time, long before actions happen, a thought happened. if we can give Holy Spirit room, if we can give Holy Spirit the key to our thoughts, then maybe that action that we don't want to do doesn't happen. But but maybe we wanna say, well, holy spirit, I just wanna stop doing this, but he's saying, you haven't given me the key to your thoughts.”

30s

#StayOnTheAltar

“I'm on record for saying that we need to be a church, and we are, and we're becoming that church where we understand that that coming to the altar is not the hard part, but staying on the altar is. I mean by that is, staying in those places where we say, God, I've surrendered this to you, and we actually leave it there.”

34s

#WholeheartedSurrender

“Paul does not begin by asking for a religious moment. He asks for the whole person. He's not saying that, hey, make sure that we're keeping the same rules that our ancestors did, and then we're going to be able to understand the good and pleasing and perfect will of God. No. He says to surrender yourselves. He says to surrender yourselves, that you need to give up ownership of who you are and what you want.”

48s

#MakeRoomForGod

“Today is not about getting more of the Holy Spirit as though he were absent. He's not absent. He's there, and he wants to be a part of our lives. Today is about asking, whether he can have more of us. It's it's not about the Holy Spirit in the house. It's about what rooms have you and I refused Holy Spirit access So when I'm talking about making room, we're talking about the room in our hearts, the room in our lives that we have pushed him out. For followers of Christ, Holy Spirit already lives in us.”

54s

#LivingSacrifice

“Paul calls us a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice, a walking sacrifice, a breathing sacrifice. Surrender... Because surrender is not something that we do once and then leave behind. It's something that we live. I'm so thankful that I did not stay the Bill Savage committed to Christ, the same one for all these years that was 05/14/2000. And trust me, you are too. I'm so thankful that he's called me to places of sacrifice and to levels of sacrifice and to things to sacrifice.”

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