June 29
“We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,” Ephesians 4:14.
Paul makes an important point of which all believers in Christ must be mindful. There is a scheme afoot to bring down people of faith. Although it’s true that “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers, against principalities, against spiritual wickedness in high places, against the rulers of darkness of this age,” Ephesians 6:12, it is also true that these demonic entities often do their evil through people.
We’ve all heard about the nocturnal visitations of wicked entities who imposed their presence upon their victims. Often such visions of evil come on the heels of drug use, but they certainly are not restricted to those who abuse their bodies and their minds with drugs.
Sometimes these vile beings from the depth of the pit come to harass people who have dabbled in the occult and then discover Christ as Savior and Lord. The demons have been dispatched to frighten such a one back into the clutches of the evil one. We are told that there is power in the BLOOD of Jesus and there is power in the NAME of Jesus.
When a believer finds himself under demonic attack, his assurance is that at the NAME OF JESUS, evil must flee. One believer tells the story of having been under such an attack early in her walk with Christ. She had toyed with the occult and because of that minimal involvement in the devil’s territory, he felt she should remain under his influence.
One night, she was awakened from her sleep (or had a terrible dream) to discover she was being pursued through a dark, narrow passageway by a villainous creature who was shrouded in the darkness of the abyss. She found herself bounding as fast as she could go up what appeared to be a fire escape on the side of a foreboding-looking building.
There seemed to be no safety anywhere but she continued to run up those steps. As she did, she reflected upon a teaching she had recently been given by the pastor of the church she’d begun to attend. He had told her that if she ever felt threatened, she should plead the blood of Jesus and cry out the name of Jesus.
Unfortunately, the power of the enemy over her was so profound that she could not utter a syllable. Because her jaws were locked, no word could come forth from her mouth but she plead the blood of Jesus and reiterated the name of Jesus silently in her mind. In so doing, the force that was in pursuit of her was forced to vaporize into thin air.
The devil is a formidable foe, but only against mortals. The monarch of evil is as nothing when compared to the Living Christ! Jesus Himself made a very pointed comparison between His power and the power of the enemy in Luke 11:20 where He said, “I, with the finger of God, cast out evil.”
Can you envision it, Believer! The enemy comes against you—a child of the Most High God—much as a bully assails a smaller, seemingly defenseless person; then, a mighty warrior figure steps into the picture in defense of the one under attack! This is what Jesus does when His people are assaulted by the wicked foe.
When you are under attack by the enemy, remember Whose you are! Remember the power He has promised to you! Remember the power of His Name and the power of His blood. Whether your assailant is in demonic or in fleshly form, remember that at the Name of Jesus, the Holy One who lived and died and lives again, evil must flee!
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