Bondage and freedom
What’s the relevance of demonic powers in 2011? My first reading of today’s entry left me wondering, how does this relate to me?
Well, first, as a Christian, it’s worth taking a good look at my past to see if I have opened any doors for spiritual bondage. Examples would be Ouija boards (as mentioned), spells, exposure to spirit guides, astrology, drug use, and things like that. When we went through Neil’s seminar Freedom in Christ many years ago, I think the only things I came up with in my past were questionable slumber party games from my childhood. I don’t know if they counted, but I prayed over them just to be sure.
There have been plenty of people in my life who are now mature Christians, but whose past included some things on that list. It’s like a fish that got free of the fishing line, but the hook is still stuck into it, hindering it from being fully healthy and functional. As believers, we need to pursue freedom.
And second, we need to understand what’s at work in the lives of unbelievers we’re in contact with. Seldom do we meet people who are fully under demonic influence. More often, we might have a co-worker who believes in the healing power of crystals, or mixes some traditional views of God with hard-core astrology.
Knowing where the battle lies will help us be effective in reaching out to them. Prayer and spiritual warfare need to be done. And knowing the powers behind these practices will help us speak truth with boldness. They aren’t benign – they are powerful and harmful.
In Neils’ prayer, I love this: Help me not to be a spiritual ostrich… Sure, growing in my faith means responsibility for some heavy stuff, but it’s nothing God hasn’t written about in His word and prepared me for.
If you’ve got questions, please post them here, and we’ll sort it through together. Blessings to you!
As someone who has Been in the church for the most part of my life now I have seen some interesting stuff, and even some bizarre behavior from people in the church that have taken the issue of demons to extremes.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am most puzzled by, though is how often that I meet Christians that do not take this stuff seriously at all. It's like they don't believe that there is a spiritual realm at all. The sixth chapter of Ephesians makes it pretty clear the battle that we are in.
Too many Christians are defeated because they are unaware of the reality of that battle.
In Hosea God calls out the priests for not knowing the law, His word, and tells them that they are being destroyed because of that lack of knowing, and even ignoring what was written in the law.
Hosea 4:6
my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
Today we live in a society where this kind of teaching is not popular and even misunderstood, so it tends to get ignored in many circles.
We can't skip over portions of scripture like Ephesians chapter six because we don't understand or have never experienced it to be real, we must take the word of God in it's entirety, or we will be like the priests God warned in Hosea, headed for destruction.
When I was a little girl, I was terrified of anything "scary" like scary movies, games etc... I now realize that satan used that as I tried to sleep feeling paralized with fear, too scared to ever move. I would have these visions of "ghosts" or demons on my cork board wall or this reoccuring dream of things that are big and strong and feeling heavy followed by soft, light weight objects and feeling weightless. Very scary and demonic stuff that made me afraid even into my adult years.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why this could happen to a child and so I pray that my kids are not affected this way and plead with them to always come to me in the middle of the night if they are fearful.
I am a beleiver of demonic spirits and just finished reading a book called "Save Me From Myself" by Brian "Head" Welch, former guitarist for the band Korn. He describes how spirits held him paralized in bed for nights as he became a new believer and kicked drugs.
I'm now free of those feelings and thanks be to God! I am still very aware of the evil things that my be around me and my family but I don't allow it to consume me for I know God's lives in me!!
I have known many people that use astrology for entertainment or part of their religion. It does leave your mind very open to suggestions; each day you look at horoscope pages just to see how to feel that day or what will happen to you.
ReplyDeleteIf it says you will have bad fortune or a terrible day will you stay home and miss out on what God has planned for you? Where do you draw the line between these entities controlling your life? We are at war with these forces and we should always be on guard to not fall prey to opening the door for them to come in and take over.
"But you may be in bondage because you have overlooked or denied the reality of demonic powers at work in the world."
ReplyDeleteI think the two areas we overlook the most when it comes to demonic powers are visual images and music. What kind of movies and TV shows do I watch? What kind of music am I listening to? What about my child(ren)? As committed Christians we are at war with the demonic powers that are attacking us in multiple ways due to media and its many access points. We need to actively filter what we choose to watch and listen to, and deny access to the demonic powers that use media to separate us from God's truth.