Defeating Demons
Do you believe in demons?
They can be difficult, if not impossible, to defeat, at least in our own power!
Demons can out argue, outmaneuver, overpower, any of our best thoughts and efforts. For example, humility can be twisted into pride as one humbles himself, and then congratulates himself on his success?!
Demons can be like spiders, waiting long dry spells patiently, until their prey stumbles into their web.
Demons, on the other hand, can be like skilled trappers, with stealth and bait capturing their prey. They calculate the trails and the appetites of their intended victims.
Demons, sometimes, are more like a swarm of yellow flies. They are everywhere and unavoidable. One is going to be bitten. A screened-in porch is seemingly the only refuge. Or, maybe there is some industrial-strength bug repellent?!
Demons have set up super highways, along which their unwitting, and maybe unwilling victims are traveling. But, if one tries to make a u-turn the red lights will come on. The exits are blocked. Somehow it seems one must just exit and cut across country through the woods.
Demons are also counterfeiters. They make fakes that are so similar and yet so different from the genuine. Their fakes are poisonous! But they are so deceptive, looking so much like the real thing.
Demons seem to multiply as one attempts to hack up the nasties; like starfish detested by oystermen, they regenerate. Burn them, even if butchered into pieces.
Demons are best overkilled, lest they be like a hornet swatted or stomped, only to fly up, only injured, and sting you. And, a nest of them is best avoided. A swarm can be hell?!
Demons seem to be associated with the easy, the immediate, the indulgent, the common, the popular?! Floating along with the current, sliding down the hill, these seem to be the pattern?!
Demons seem to leave a bad taste. Initially, at least, there is guilt and remorse and sorrow and regret. The problem is, that after a while, the feelings are gone. The thrill doesn't last, but bigger and more often doses are used to continue the doping.
The demons ultimate goal is probably resignation, acceptance, a sense of defeat!
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
Jude 1:9 ESV
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:7-8 ESV
And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Luke 4:13 ESV
so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Luke 10:17-18 ESV
Do you believe in demons?
They can be difficult, if not impossible, to defeat, at least in our own power!
Demons can out argue, outmaneuver, overpower, any of our best thoughts and efforts. For example, humility can be twisted into pride as one humbles himself, and then congratulates himself on his success?!
Demons can be like spiders, waiting long dry spells patiently, until their prey stumbles into their web.
Demons, on the other hand, can be like skilled trappers, with stealth and bait capturing their prey. They calculate the trails and the appetites of their intended victims.
Demons, sometimes, are more like a swarm of yellow flies. They are everywhere and unavoidable. One is going to be bitten. A screened-in porch is seemingly the only refuge. Or, maybe there is some industrial-strength bug repellent?!
Demons have set up super highways, along which their unwitting, and maybe unwilling victims are traveling. But, if one tries to make a u-turn the red lights will come on. The exits are blocked. Somehow it seems one must just exit and cut across country through the woods.
Demons are also counterfeiters. They make fakes that are so similar and yet so different from the genuine. Their fakes are poisonous! But they are so deceptive, looking so much like the real thing.
Demons seem to multiply as one attempts to hack up the nasties; like starfish detested by oystermen, they regenerate. Burn them, even if butchered into pieces.
Demons are best overkilled, lest they be like a hornet swatted or stomped, only to fly up, only injured, and sting you. And, a nest of them is best avoided. A swarm can be hell?!
Demons seem to be associated with the easy, the immediate, the indulgent, the common, the popular?! Floating along with the current, sliding down the hill, these seem to be the pattern?!
Demons seem to leave a bad taste. Initially, at least, there is guilt and remorse and sorrow and regret. The problem is, that after a while, the feelings are gone. The thrill doesn't last, but bigger and more often doses are used to continue the doping.
The demons ultimate goal is probably resignation, acceptance, a sense of defeat!
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
Jude 1:9 ESV
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:7-8 ESV
And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Luke 4:13 ESV
so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Luke 10:17-18 ESV
