Pathway To Peace...Day Nineteen...Demons

Day Nineteen            Demons

 

As my Sunday school teacher asked us a question Sunday, I realized quickly that God had given me my next word. She asked us if we believed in demons.  My immediate thought was yes!  The bible is full of stories that tell how Jesus and the disciples cast them out. The King James version of the bible calls them evil spirits, but several newer translations of the bible, including my New International Version, calls them demons.

Matthew alone includes four chapters of stories dedicated to the demons cast out by Jesus. As he traveled to preach, healing the sick, raising the dead, and forgiving the sins of his followers, Jesus cast out many evil spirits that possessed these people.  And one chapter even records the account of Jesus’s words that some believed John the Baptist was possessed by a demon. Of course he was just overcome by the spirit of God to foretell the coming of Jesus.

Matthew 9:32-33

    ³² And as they went forth, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man possessed with a demon.

   ³³ And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

Matthew 12:22

   ²² Then was brought unto him one possessed with a demon, blind and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the dumb man spake and saw.

Matthew 15:22-28

²² And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.

   ²³ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

   ²⁴ But he answered and said, I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

   ²⁵ But she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

   ²⁶ And he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.

   ²⁷ But she said, Yea, Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

   ²⁸ Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it done unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Matthew 17:15-21

  ¹⁵ Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is epileptic, and suffereth grievously; for oft-times he falleth into the fire, and off-times into the water.

   ¹⁶ And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

   ¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him hither to me.

   ¹⁸ And Jesus rebuked him; and the demon went out of him: and the boy was cured from that hour.

   ¹⁹ Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast it out?

   ²⁰ And he saith unto them, Because of your little faith: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

   ²¹ But this kind goeth not out save by prayer and fasting.

Matthew 11:18

¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a demon.

 

Then, as I really began to ponder this question, I began to think about how easy it is for Satan to overcome our spirit with these demons, and the damage these demons can do to our souls. The demons overtake us physically, mentally and spiritually.  They trap us in a vicious cycle, and trick us into believing that we have no power over them.  These demons can be embodied in many forms. Merriam-Webster defines the word demon as an evil spirit; any source or agent of evil, harm, distress, or ruin…well that just about includes everything!  Just how many years had some of these people been controlled by the demon Christ cast out? How distressed and overwhelmed had they become to search out the healing powers of Jesus? How many times I have allowed a demon to control me?  And… just how much have I damaged my soul from allowing myself to fall into Satan’s traps.

I listened to an amazing testimony tonight at my Celebrate Recovery meeting. A lady gave a most amazing account of how she had been trapped in a cycle of demons. She like thousands of others find themselves locked into a horrid life of pain, guilt, bitterness, and loneliness from such demons as child abuse, sexual assault, spousal battery, and rape.  The demons convinced her that she was worthless. The demons forced her to search for worth in earthy things that for years gave her no relief. But one glorious day she called on Jesus, and he cast from her all traces of her demon, so that she can testify to how God can change our lives if we turn our most horrid demons over to him.

The only one who can break the power of these demons is Jesus. We must recognize our need to rid ourselves of them and call on Christ to cast them out. Mark shares the story of  a man who had been controlled by demons. He had lived in the tombs and caves around the country of the Gadarenes.

Mark 5

   ¹And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

   ²And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

   ³Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

   ⁴Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

   ⁵And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

   ⁶But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

   ⁷And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

   ⁸For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

   ⁹And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

   ¹⁰And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

   ¹¹Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

   ¹²And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

   ¹³And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

   ¹⁴And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.

   ¹⁵And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

   ¹⁶And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.

   ¹⁷And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

   ¹⁸And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.

   ¹⁹Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

 

Just like the woman at my meeting, the man rushed to meet Jesus. The demons were cast out and the man was asked to stay and share with all in the area the good things God had done for him. Yes it is that easy….recognize that you are being controlled by some earthly ‘demon’….call on Jesus to rid you of its power over you…and then, I love this part, testify to everyone God puts in your pathway what God did for you!