It Starts Small

Jesus revealed to me the purpose my Heavenly Father had for me. I was to stand. Stand and fight on heaven’s side for His creation. Fight for my husband, our marriage, and our family. To stand in truth against all the evil that was tearing God’s creation apart.

The long drive home I thought about what it meant to stand. It wasn’t just a physical posture. It’s obvious a battle was raging and I needed to rise each day and march for the people I loved very much. March for my Heavenly Father who loved me and his creation.

What is this battle? What must I do? How do I arm myself against an enemy I barely understood? What was my task and mission God was asking of me? I knew I order to stand, I needed to better understand my enemy.

I pulled my journal out and wrote: who is my enemy?

We know satan is the enemy. I knew what he was capable of doing. He had done many horrible things through me at my own choosing to do. I knew that people were not the enemy, but his influence in the lives of people was the enemy to God’s creation. How did it work? How did he have so much control and power over these things? Who gave him the power to control and influence?

I prayed for God to reveal my enemy to me. To give me not just an understand of his tactics, but who he IS. You can’t arm yourself against something or someone you don’t know.

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.1 John 2:15-17

Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Psalm 97:10

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Romans 12:9

Dissimulation means not having a hypocritical love. Abhor means to hate. Cleave means cling to. If you love the lord, hate evil. If you love the Lord, love not the world. This world is a system that has an ungodly devilish system. We need to understand this playground that evil works in to begin to understand our enemy.

In the system of the world, there’s a ruler. His called the prince of darkness.

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. John 12:31 (see also John 14:30, John 16:11, 1 John 5:19

Ruler and Philosophy : Satan rules this world. He is the mastermind of networking the ideas of evil and they’re skillfully woven together to trap all of us. Not just Christians, but to trap all of humanity.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 1 Corinthians 3:19

Purpose: Satan has a calculated plan for every single person who has walked, walking or will walk on this earth to draw us away from God.

The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. John 7:7

This system absolutely hates God and Jesus. It hates Jesus because he reveals the intent and purpose of evil In this world. This system hates you and I because Gods created us. It seeks to conform us to the evil of the world.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

But how does it all work? We have to understand who God says our enemy is.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12-13

Our enemy is not people, flesh and blood. Our enemy dwells in an invisible spiritual world. There’s a demonic world out there and until we accept this truth, we will struggle to understand our enemy. I had a hard time believing this. Mostly, because of my ignorance, but because demons and the occult are so much glorified in the entertainment industry.

We can not avoid dealing with it. Pastor Rodgers describes demons as little bugs under a rock. When you roll a rock over the little bugs scatter and run to escape the presence of sunlight on them. Jesus exposes the darkness and the demons in it. He is the light that sends them scattering and running. The very word occult means hidden.

Over and over in the Bible, people being influenced by demons are described as unclean spirits. Mark 1:21-23 gives us an account of Jesus encountering an unclean spirit.

There is spiritual righteousness and spiritual wickedness. You can not stand between the two. You are one or the other. We are in a battle between God and Satan. We loose this battle because we haven’t show up to win.

Who are the demon spirits and where did they come from?

Demons are fallen angels. Satan is their master and the demons are the fallen angels who fell from heaven when Satan led a rebellion against God.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Revelation 12:4

God cast these demons and Satan down (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6) to be forever sealed into darkness. So we know demons are minions who do satan’s dirty work. They’re fallen angels who rebelled against God. They’re invisible, personable (if they weren’t, no one would be influenced by them), and powerful. They seek to inhabit human bodies to conduct the sinister ministers bidding.

Demons work in the hearts, minds, bodies and personalities of humans. They hate God! They know they can’t get at God directly, so they use his creation to harm him indirectly. The saying goes, if you can’t harm a person directly, harm someone they love.

I believe scripture points out three ways demons come against humans. First, is oppression.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Acts 10:38

The same word is used in James 2:6 when James was talking about the oppression of the rich over the poor. This word oppression means to rule over a person, to put someone down, or to exercise dominion. Satan knows exactly how to harass you and hassle you. The devil uses intimidation from the outside to oppress you.

I think of oppression as the type of violence you experience from others. This includes: physical and sexual violence, economic abuse (forcing a person or threatening a person to remove economic support if they don’t do what you want), isolation, using family members or children, psychological abuse, intimidation coercion and threats, and minimizing, denying and blaming.

All of these I view as outward oppression. The heart of these actions are being influenced by demons. No man or woman who is righteous can conduct these acts and claim righteousness. These are not righteous acts influenced by God. These are horrific sinful acts influenced by Satan.

I believe that this is where fear is born. Those doing the oppressing lay the seeds of fear into the people they are oppressing. My fears were born out of the results of people that willingly chose to commit these horrible acts.

Second, I believe the scripture points to a inward attack, called obsessions.

And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. Luke 6:18

There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. Acts 5:16

Obsessions is synonymous with the word vexed. This is an attack on your mind and spirit. The Bible speaks many times that people were filled constantly with evil thoughts and imaginations. These obsessions were with: sex, drugs and alcohol, hate and revenge, hobbies, pride, greed, money and fame. These people were obsessed with strange and weird ideas.

Obsession is not a healthy knowledge or attitude towards something. It’s an unhealthy desire that constantly fills their mind and consumes them. They can’t stop the obsession because they can’t get enough of what they obsess over.

One I forgot to list is worry. I had an unhealthy obsession to worry over everything. It consumed my thoughts. I’d sit day in and day out and imagine every possible bad outcome I could think of and play it out in my mind. I believe demon attacks on the inside are what cause our mental health illnesses. We are sick in our minds with anxiety, depression, addiction, obsessions, and ties into the influence Of demons. This is why Jesus said, I did not come to heal you! I came to make you whole. Whole in our mind, body and spirit.

Finally, I believe the third ways demons attack is by full possession.

And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. Mark 1:32

This sort of demon controls the mind, body and spirit of a person. Instead of the Holy Spirit occupying the human spirit, it is a demon occupying it. This demon controls the mind and will of that person. All sorts of horrible and terrible things are worked out in the mind and body of this person.

I had to really contemplate this type of demon attack. Was this possible? I believe it because if the Holy Spirit can occupy a believer, why can’t a demon fully occupy the spirit of a person? I, however don’t believe a saved person can be occupied by a demon. I believe saved people ca be oppressed and obsessed but not occupied.

That would mean the Holy Spirit would have to be removed and we know in God’s word, he will NEVER leave us or forsake us. There are times we can be carnal and the Holy Spirit’s authority and power is taken away because we choose to take it way and put ourselves on the throne, but he never leaves us.

Can I just say this was some of the most liberating truth! I knew satan was the master of this world and there were demons, but my view was laughable. I had that cartoon view of a devil running about in red pajamas, using a pitch fork to poke unsuspecting people in the hind end.

This was no longer a laughing matter. It was demons that had come to oppress me through other people. It was demons who influenced my own obsession of worry. Training had begun in me. The slightest hint of fear or worry and I knew exactly where it was coming from. It was coming by demons. Previously I wrote the discovering that through Jesus, the Holy Spirit we have the power to defeat evil….. well now I knew what that fully meant. I had the power in me to refute and rebuke oppression and obsessions. To refuse to let other oppress me and refuse to listen to the lies.

We have to recognize the power and authority of Jesus over demons. This is shown in Mark 1:21-28.

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. Mark 1:25

Jesus has the full authority to command demons. Satan is defeated by the resurrection of Christ and Christ has full authority and power over him. Satan does not want us to know he’s defeated. He was shamed and though his head was cut off, like a rattle snake, that head can still bite.

In those passages we learn that demons recognize Jesus has power and authority. Demons hate Jesus and tell him, leave us alone.

Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Mark 1:24

Demon influenced people or possessed people don’t want to hear the real truth of God. They go to worship services and listen to the conversation, but once Jesus is preached they say: leave me alone. Don’t preach to me. Darkness can’t stand in the light. The demons had a cringing fear of Jesus. They ask him, have you come to destroy us? The truth is knowing that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!

We should never fear satan. We need to be vigilant, aware, and sober minded. Just as demons feared Jesus, demons fear us by the recognition of the power and authority of Jesus in me. This power and authority force demons to yield to it. Jesus commanded the demons.

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. Mark 1:25

Jesus commanded them to be still and muzzle their mouths. When Jesus commanded that they leave the man, the demons:

And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. Mark 1:26

The demon was torn from the man. Satan isn’t going to just casually leave. He never gives us up without a fight. Only Jesus has the power and authority and only through and by the name of Jesus can we have that power and authority. We don’t cast demons away, Jesus does.

It don’t have victory in our lives is because we are fighting on the wrong battle front. Legislation tries to control man through laws and only confronts the outside, not the heart of men. Education tries to make people behave by being smart, but all they make are clever devils. We change the environment, we change a man, but don’t acknowledge that man ruins the environment to begin with. All of this is a distraction from the real battle. The infection in humanity is demons. You can’t treat this infection with an aspirin. Only Jesus is the answer.

So I learned if I want to battle demons:

Oppression: know, believe and trust that the devil has NO power to oppress me.

Obsession: Take control back from Satan and give it to God. Repent and resist.

Possession: accept and receive Christ as your savior.

There was still a piece missing from the pages of the enemy. Satan is very good at what he does. He is the master at lies, manipulations, and deception. These were my three stumbling blocks and I needed to better understand how he worked.