God has reasons for saying NO…

 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” (Leviticus 20:22–27)

Some find this OT book a boring read, but if read with the will of God and godly principles in mind, it changes my thinking and my life. For instance, this passage points to two very different areas of life; the food I eat, and the way I seek spiritual truth.

The food issue has not been thoroughly studied, but I know one thing — what God forbids is generally not healthy. In those days, pork was prone to have parasites and other bacteria. While these dangers have been reduced now, back then people died from eating pork. I don’t know much about other forbidden foods, but trust God who knows what is dangerous to my well-being.

As for mediums and others involved in summoning the spirits of the dead, this is in the realm of demonic activity. Even if a sincere truth seeker in this area can open themself to dark and evil forces. Jesus called the devil a liar and the source of lies. If I go that direction, I would be setting myself up for disaster, even destruction. 

All of this seems obvious to me now, but not all Christians are aware of these dangers. Some mess with horoscopes or eat forbidden food as if it were a delicacy, not realizing that God is not being a rule-maker without reason. While keeping these laws does not make me a redeemed person, paying attention to them marks me as someone who pays attention to God, trusting Him to know what is good for me and what is dangerous. It is faith in Him that makes the difference between trust and obey, or living by rules.

Jesus, we have been to restaurants that offer strange stuff on the menu that You say is unclean. We also have events in our city that feature mediums and others who tell fortunes and act as if they have knowledge of the spirit world, luring others to trust and even pay them to tell their futures or explain their problems. These and many other ‘forbidden things’ are not only a danger to true godliness, they insult You as if You are not Lord of all. Keep me alert and avoiding these lures that could destroy me. I’m so glad to know and trust You.

Serious intercession

This is very personal. Some people on my prayer list have demonic issues. How do I know? They are doing things that fit the patterns described in the New Testament. This week, my awareness is heightened and my heart is heavy. What can be done for them? How can I pray?

Today’s devotional refers to an incident where a father brings his son to Jesus. He says the child has a spirit that makes him mute and gives him seizures. He’d asked the disciples for help, but they could not “cast it out.” He brought the boy to Jesus . . .  

And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:21–29)

I’m aware of being in a spiritual war. I do not look for demons in everything for that is a harmful focus, but they are involved in evil. The Bible says I am to be alert . . .

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11–12)

Standing firm is one thing. Going to bat for others is another battleground. I’m to open my mouth boldly to tell others about Jesus, yet aware that some of them slam their hands over their ears, mock me, curse the Lord and chase after those cosmic powers that have disguised themselves as angels of light.

There are times when this war affects me physically, and certainly emotionally. I’d like to put my hands over my eyes and just ignore all of this, but that is not what God wants from me. At the same time, His power is amazing. He can and does respond to prayer.

Tozer talks about the need for an inward invasion that wins a person’s heart to obey God’s will. Sometimes the yielding is obvious and sometimes the surrender is grudging obedience that requires time and patience to become a complete yielding and a glad freedom. For all of this, God wants His people to pray in faith, trusting Him to remove all resistance and most certainly deal with any evil forces that threaten the abundant life that He desires for His family.

^^^^^^^^^

Lord, I relate to this father who said he believed but needed help with his unbelief. At times, the problem is my impatience. Your word gives assurance that You hear and answer prayer, yet nothing seems to be happening. Sometimes those I pray for seem to become more deeply intrenched in the enemy’s clutches. Yet the timing of this reminder to keep praying tells me that You are listening. My hope is that great things will happen, but at the same time, I know that whatever happens, even if it is ‘nothing’ You are Lord of all and nothing is too difficult for You. The enemy was defeated at the cross and knows his time is short. Eventually he and his cohorts will be cast into eternal fire and Your people will be set free. My prayer today is for those held in his lying grasp that they will soon experience the new life that only You can give them.

What about that unseen world?

There is a segment of Christianity that focuses heavily on the idea that Christians have authority over demons, that demons are behind all ‘bad’ events and actions, and that we must claim our authority over them. Some who are caught in this have also been caught up into occult practices, taken captive by the very enemies that they claimed power to conquer.

As creatures of extremes, there are others who totally deny all of the above and who reject that there are evil forces at work. This group would say that ‘bad’ things happen because we did something to bring them on, something like Job’s ‘comforters.’ This extreme view does not accept that there are unseen entities that roam the world, at least not in our time.

Not wanting to be caught in a power struggle with demonic forces, or duped into thinking they do not exist, Bible passages like this one bring balance to the two extremes. The following is at the end of an event that happened just after the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. He had been revealed to three of the disciples in all His kingdom glory, hinting that soon there would be an end of sin and evil, but the kingdom had just begun for those evil forces were still harassing people . . . 

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:25–29)

This event speaks to both extreme ideas about evil spirits. For the first one it shows that even the disciples of Jesus are not always able to conquer evil spirits. We are given some authority, but it is not total. This particular task was not for His followers; they needed to take it to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer.

As to the second view, Jesus Himself knows there are demonic forces causing grief for humanity. This little boy was mute and had seizures, but Jesus identified the cause as a “mute and deaf spirit” and commanded it to leave the boy. They do exist and they can be ordered to leave.

However, the disciples who failed to help this child had forgotten a small phrase. It is included it Paul’s declaration of what he had learned about doing anything . . .

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

The phrase is “through Him” and the principle is that we do have power and even authority to do things in the spiritual realm, but we cannot do them apart from Christ. No matter what I try to do, even with faith, my failure rate goes up if I neglect taking the problem to God in prayer.

Even with prayer, I sometimes pray out of duty or with a formula or rote prayer, such as: “God bless this food,” when my eye is on the table settings, or “God, bless the missionaries” when I’ve no clue what I am asking Him to do. Prayer ought to be a firm declaration of who I am trusting. It is about the heart, and about my weakness and humility. It is also about the problem at hand.

The text does not say if the disciples tried to heal this boy to gain the respect of the crowd, or to show off their new-found powers, or any other self-centered motive they might have had, but I know that when I try to do anything in the name of Jesus when it is really all about me, my efforts are in vain.

Instead, I must be willing to fall on my face asking for His help. All the Bible study and doctrinal degrees I might gain will not equip me to fully understand that unseen world or give me an authoritative power over it. To fight evil, or even recognize it, requires the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the mighty power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that, landing on either of the above mentioned extremes is both dangerous and simply not what the Scriptures reveal.

Spiritual authority?

Christians are somewhat divided on the issue of our spiritual authority over demons. Some say we can rebuke them, yet many on that side seem to attribute everything evil to demonic forces. That is, all illness, disaster or anything uncomfortable including envy, hatred, anger and a mean spirit are attributed to the demons of envy, anger, illness, and so on. However, God says He creates well-being and calamity (Isaiah 45:7). It seems more prudent to consider His sovereignty before assigning everything to our spiritual enemies.

In contrast, other Christians dismiss spiritual authority entirely. Many are put off by those who look for Satan in everything. They see most problems are caused by human sin, not a demon. Some think trials and problems are ‘simply part of life’ and have no reason or cause for happening.

Since we are creatures of extremes, I understand the swing from ‘Satan is behind all the awful stuff’ to the other end of the spectrum that does not acknowledge his activity at all. A college professor says, “I know there is a balance here; I see it every time I swing by it.”

Jesus talked about balance to the disciples who were exited from a recent mission trip. They said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

I’ve actually heard people say the same thing, almost word for word. Yet Jesus sees the danger of making this an important doctrine. And He said to them,

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:18–20)

If I told a non-Christian that I have power over demons, I imagine they would think I am crazy, deluded, or am some sort of spiritual nut case. However, if I tell them how Jesus came to earth and died for my sin, and that my name is written in the book of life, the response could be the same, but it is more likely to create a desire in their hearts for the same blessing.

Being thankful for eternal life isn’t the only alternative to rejoicing over spiritual power. Having any kind of success in Christian living so easily becomes the pride of my life, but focusing on what Jesus has done for me produces humility. God is not interested in my power trips. I do not deserve even the least of His mercies. I cannot earn His smile or make that my motivation for serving Him.

Chambers points out that when I  keep my relationship right with Him, then He pours ‘rivers of living water’ through me (John 7:38). However, in mercy He does not let me in on it. He knows my tendency to pride and self-righteousness and He cannot use that.

Staying in right relationship to Jesus is simple: confess known sin and simply be. In the way I live, people will see Jesus, as long as I’m not consciously making the effort for that to happen. Living transparently lets others see the One who wrote my name in His book. Not only that, it sets me free from being concerned whether I can rebuke demons or not. If it is necessary, it will just happen. If not, I will not notice because my eyes are firmly fixed on the One who delivered me and protects me from their power.

Hobbits and the war with evil

Today we saw in 3D the latest Hobbit movie. It began with a battle that went non-stop throughout. Several times I shuddered and even cried because it vividly displayed spiritual warfare – battles that I’ve fought and that affect so many Christians. These battles are with our own sin (in the movie it was specifically greed), and with evil forces that want to destroy us.

This war began in Eden. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’” (Genesis 3:1) With his suggestions, both the man and the woman disobeyed God. After that, God confronted them, but their responses were also sinful. The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12–13) Both of them refused to own up to their disobedience and shifted the blame.

Not long after that, one of their sons was jealous and angry at his brother so he killed him. God was merciful to a degree, but warned Cain, “. . . If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6–7) The power of sin had been unleashed and with it came the power of sin to destroy sinners. In the Hobbit movie, this was plain to see as hoards of evil beings attacked those who stood for good.

The biblical story reveals the power of sin and Satan. After sending many prophets to warn and chasten His people for their sin, God sent John the Baptist who preached in the wilderness of Judea saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:1–2)

Repentance is turning from sin to God and to do right, but human beings have a tough time with that. Sin is too powerful. I know that by the Word of God and by experience, but I also know the only One who never lost this battle. As John preached repentance, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’” (Matthew 4:1–3)

Jesus refused to give in to His own needs. He rejected Satan’s ploys and stood firm. From that time He began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) He continued the same message John began without any need to repent Himself. However, even as I follow Him, I’m continually tempted to still do my own thing. Serving the Lord will always involve turning from the temptations of Satan and the appeal of sinful desires.

As the movie depicted, sin is never fulfilling. Temptation makes it appear to be rewarding, but the last section of this reading includes: “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8) Giving in to evil desires, whether greed or ego-feeding or any other sin, will never satisfy me.

My devotional guide says a sinful person might use anything, even Scripture as Satan did, for personal gain. If I do that, I am acting like Satan — not Christ. I might think that I am being godly, but if I’m not exalting Christ (His virgin birth, suffering, death, resurrection, or continued presence in my life), my words are not about godliness and truth at all.

If I stick with what I want, God also warns me that it was an “I want” that plunged the world into a war with evil that no one can win -– and that is why we need Jesus Christ.