The Devil is a Thief

"It shows you the power of the human spirit and the weakness of the devil."

THE DEVIL IS A LIAR. As in, ALL THE TIME. He is also an imitation, like fake butter. Looks and tastes the same at first, then you realize it isn’t. Or fake sugar. I’m all into sugar substitutes. But when it comes to making date balls (family recipe), fake sugar doesn’t stick together properly. The devil wraps his pitchfork up in garland and multicolored lights and pretends to be a Christmas tree. He croons in your ear like he’s God speaking, as he did Jesus, quoting the psalms. He knows how to pretend gloriously, but it’s all dry flour and dust particles when you get it down.

We are warned of this in the Word of God, and we are told the name of Jesus is greater than any other name (Ephesians 1:21). We are told to speak the name of Jesus, and the devil and his ilk will flee (James 4:7). This is truth. Don’t get me wrong. But there is misunderstanding of the devil’s willingness. Most often, someone speaks the name of Jesus, and the devil laughs and digs in his heels. This is human behavior which we see on law enforcement programs all the time because it is how the devil reacts.

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

“And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.” (Luke 9:42)

Looking in the Word, we see that Jesus told demons (unclean spirits) to be quiet. Notice also, when Jesus told them to hush, they usually threw the tormented person into some public convulsion. Chaos and strife, humiliation and shame is their goal, and just maybe they can cause physical pain and mental turmoil and cause the person to give up.

The Gadarene demoniac didn’t give up. That man had at least 2,000 demonic powers tormenting him (that was the size of the herd of pigs), and in an instant, they caused the entire herd to drown. Yet that man had survived. It shows you the power of the human spirit and the weakness of the devil. An unsaved, demon-possessed man (for there was no salvation yet) managed to live in spite of all the lies going through his head and the physical manifestations of the devil. The demons caused him to cut himself. Just as they tossed a man’s son in the water and in the fire, they moved the demoniac to physically harm himself and break any fetters placed on him by the townspeople. We see demons cause blindness and deafness in the Gospels, too.

Yet, two words from Jesus and those demons were done, and notice again, they had to ask permission to go into the pigs. They couldn’t even do that on their own.

READ “And God Heard.”

“When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” (Mark 9:25)

The devil is a thief. He steals time, resources, peace of mind, physical health, the beauty of skin color and culture, of a man’s love for his wife, of gender security. He steals it through pride and arrogance in our hearts or through depression and suicide. Some even learn to live with it, thinking it is who they are and believe they are happy and secure. But without Jesus, death is final. Love and goodness are only found in God’s Word. Peace comes by looking in Jesus’ eyes, by looking into His face and finding freedom.

In the church, in the pew, listening to the preacher, there are those tormented by demonic powers. What is the church to do? Do we allow them to continue “as they are” or do we make some scene casting the devil out?

First, salvation accept through Jesus Christ invites the Holy Spirit inside to recreate the spirit man. The Spirit of God will then “possess” man’s spirit. Second, freedom from demonic oppression or possession has to be done with the Spirit, absent of fear. FEAR is from the devil who will use it to keep us from doing what God has told us to do—lay hands on the sick and cast out demons. We should never be afraid of the devil, but we must be united with the Spirit in thought and mind and will, because He is the power that will dismiss them.

The good news is, God in us is much, much stronger. He is the source of all wisdom that we need to overcome the works of the enemy and lift whoever is afflicted into freedom. Let’s raise our faith-level to the height of God’s, who plans to dissolve every single demonic power with the blast of His breath. There is no place in us for neglect of the entirety of God’s healing covenant. No place for ignorance in the name of personal ease. We are the hands and feet of Jesus to set people free, and we celebrate their freedom because He is pleased. There stands someone He adores who doesn’t have to suffer anymore, and even if our name doesn’t get noticed because if it, even if we start no new ministry nor move closer to the front row, we did what makes Him gloriously happy.

WATCH this testimony of a man saved, healed, and set free.

“And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:” (Mark 3:14-15)

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;” (Mark 16:17)

“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)

Image by Mickey Mikolauskas from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com