A few years ago while in Africa, I met a demon. I was on a mission trip with my husband and some friends where we were sent to host pop up medical clinic in two different slums for people who could not afford medical care. I am not a doctor, and many of the other people on the trip were not either, so we needed a place to serve. Before we sent everyone to the doctors, we had a “healing room” set up to pray for individuals before they went back. We used this room to pray for the physical injuries that patients had for God to completely heal them while they were waiting to be seen by the doctors. We saw many healed who did not even have to go see the doctor afterwards. At the very end of a nine hour work day, and praying for over three hundred people, we were exhausted and ready to go rest. Our last patient of the day came in and he did not speak English, but it was clear just by looking at him that his foot was broken, and that he was heavily intoxicated. I was actually so exhausted and honestly over it all at this point that I saw this man's needs as being “too big” for me to deal with on my own, so I actually sent him to someone else for prayer. It always seems that the enemy comes when we least expect it, when we feel like we are physically incapable of standing up to him, and when are just tired and already beaten down. In this moment, I gave in to what the enemy wanted me to do, so my teammate, Using a translator, learned that his name was Wilson, and that he came to the clinic for treatment because he could not work with his foot the way it was... it was actually completely shattered. Then, someone began to pray. As he was praying a normal prayer, and proclaiming Jesus’ name over this man, he began to shake slightly. Others on our team noticed and came to join in prayer. As they continued to pray Jesus’ love and encouragement, Wilson’s shaking became more aggressive. At this point, the individuals praying for him began to gently say, come out in Jesus name, and phrases like, “You do not belong here and must leave”. This continued and even escalated for about five minutes. Finally, the shaking stopped suddenly, Wilson’s eyes rolled into his head, and he passed out for a few minutes. When he woke up he had no recollection of the past few minutes so we had to explain to him. On his own, he stated that he did not feel drunk anymore and that his head felt clear. There was a language barrier, but he did not appear to understand that he had been oppressed by the demons in the past. So, one man began to tell him about Jesus, and told him that when someone is set free from the demonic, that there is a hole left in that person’s spirit. At the end of this encounter, Wilson accepted Jesus and we even found a small group for him to attend. He told us that his family had sent him away years ago and would not speak to him because of his drunkenness, but that now he would be able to go back to them as well.
So today, I get to talk about casting out demons. Let’s go ahead and pray before we begin.
For those of you who have missed parts of this SENT series, I would love to do a little recap with you all about what we have been discussing. I want to do this so that we can all be on the same page about what I am discussing this week because I think that is important before we can continue well.
The first two weeks of this series, Adam discussed the fact that Jesus has sent us to expand his kingdom to the people around us. More specifically, that we are sent to this community, to Bloomington/Normal, or whatever town you live in. We are sent with a purpose and a mission, and we are sent with authority to do so.
Last week, Corrie expanded on this topic and said that we are sent to our community to heal the sick. Jesus has given us authority to heal the sick and hurting in His name to not only tell others to God loves them, but actually show them the amount of care that He has for them.
Before I discuss my topic for this week, I would like to read a verse. Matthew 10:7-8, NLT Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.[a] 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!.
So, not only are we mandated and given authority to go out and tell people about Jesus, but we are also called to go out and heal the sick, and… that’s right, cast out demons.
This week I will be discussing our call as Christians to cast out demons. Before you decide that this sermon isn’t for you, I would like to address those reasons why sometimes Christians don’t like to talk about this subject, or even think that we shouldn’t, or are too scared to address it or don’t believe in it. So let’s go ahead and talk about those now.
Common excuses/reasons why not to talk about the demonic.
- Because why give them credit?
- Because even though we are set free, our neighbors are not.
- It is ok for us to not think about the demonic in our daily lives because we have been set free from that. But, even though we are in Christ, we will still deal with a certain degree of attacks by the Enemy ourselves, but we do have authority over those attacks. We are not immune, and in fact, we are actually more of a target… which I will explain later on.
- Also, it is selfish of us to forget about the hurting and broken people around us who have not yet been given that blessing of being set free from the power of the Enemy in their lives.
- So, we must talk about this subject even if we are uncomfortable so that we can be aware of the people around us and work to set them free, too.
- Some people don’t believe in demons
- Well, the Bible tells us in Ephesians for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
- Or the countless other places, Jesus being tempted for 40 days, the serpent in the Garden, etc.
- For the people who give God validity but not demons, Americans experience attacks from the Enemy in different ways. It can be through temptation, through technology and distractions, through physical oppression. But when the Enemy is hidden, it is exactly when he wants us to think—that he doesn’t exist.
- For the people that give more validity to what the enemy can do in our lives and not God’s power and voice in our lives, I would ask—have you ever been tempted? That is the Enemy speaking to you. If he can do that, why can’t God, too?
- Finally, if we choose to completely deny its ability in our lives, we miss when the enemy is poking us and we fall into the traps that he sets for us.
- Guys, even this week every single member on our staff was heavily attacked by the enemy because he is so angry with us for speaking about this subject and does not want you to hear it! From immense physical pain, to car problems, to lack of sleep, inability to focus, even my dog alerting me to the presence of something evil in my house this week… we cannot forget about ways that the enemy can attack us in our own lives because if we do...
- we blame God for the bad stuff in our lives instead of remembering that we are His beloved children and that it is the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy
The demonic has played a huge role in our society in the form of movies and tv shows. Such as those paranormal activity movies, even the Exorcist from the 80s. The movie is so outrageous and over the top that not only is it scary, but it is also slightly funny—a girl walking down the stairs upside down and turning her head all the way around.
This is society giving power to the enemy by doing this, and has destigmatized us to his presence. We have learned to compartmentalize those images that we see portrayed by society and just begin to believe that it doesn’t happen in real life. In addition, these movies ALWAYS depict that only church officials can cast out demons, so it has made all of us forget who we are in Christ and completely unwilling to feeling unable to step out in faith to address the demonic.
Rather than continue to give the enemy the power and recognition he wants, we must remember the authority that we have been given to continue to establish God’s kingdom here on earth. He has given us that authority, and this is one of the ways that we can follow that mandate that He has given us.
Last week Corrie talked about the show and tell of the Kingdom. How we are sent to proclaim Jesus and his Kingdom, but also to demonstrate and show His love to others. The kingdom of God is destroying the kingdom of Satan, and part of our call is to partner with God in that, and access the authority that He has given us. When we are sent by Jesus, we are sent just like Jesus. Everywhere he went, Satan could no longer rule. When we also go in Jesus’ power, the devil cannot rule anymore. We are sent to drive out the enemy’s power.
Mark 1:21-28 ESV
21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.22 The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
Jesus ushered in idea that we can tap into God’s authority in order to establish God’s rule and reign, and it both amazed people and scared them. So the authority that Jesus portrays in this situation gets people excited for what He is ushering in.
Also, notice when this happened… Jesus was preaching and spreading this new kingdom concept that was ushering in when, as you will see in this next verse, the enemy comes to stop him because he is scared and doesn’t want the people to hear. It was much like with Wilson, we had seen so many healings that day, and we were also tired, and the enemy just wanted us to sit on the bench and give up.
23 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil[a]spirit cried out, 24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. 26 At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
Notice how simple that was. Jesus said seven words, and he could have shortened it to just six if he had just said, “come out of him”. Jesus simply commanded the demon to go, and the spirit had no other choice but to listen to him. It is also important to realize that Jesus did not beg the demon to go, but he reprimanded him. Jesus was not scared because He knew that the enemy has already been defeated and now has no power over him. Jesus did not yell at all. Actually, when we yell, it usually ends up egging the enemy on even more.
Let’s talk about the practical—again, Jesus only said one sentence to get the demon to go.
Most likely, you will not have a demon come yelling at you and making it known that he is inhabiting someone’s body… so how do we know when there is a demon near?
Obviously, encountering a demon in the U.S. does not seem to happen very often, or at least that is what the enemy wants us to believe. It is his strategic tactic that he has used here that has worked so well. It has enabled him to infiltrate our lives in a way completely different from the rest of the world. The enemy just knows how to hide here and to make us feel comfortable so we forget about the hold he has on people around us. So, we need to train ourselves to us our spiritual eyes to spot people in need of freedom.
So what do they look like? Well, Wilson was a sick, quiet man who needed his leg healed. Now, I’m not saying that everyone who is physically ill is oppressed by demons, but I am saying that it can be as simple as that. Corrie talked about how we must be obedient to step out to pray for healing, even when we do not see results. I am going to tell you the same thing. We must be faithful and obedient to God to pray for not only those physically ill, but to really take the time to care for others and pray for them as often as we can. It could also just be
27 Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” 28 The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.
And now that authority has been passed on to all of us.
So as we begin to pray for healing or whatever else we are praying about, the enemy will not like Jesus’s name being proclaimed and will get scared. So just pray for people, pray the name of Jesus first and watch for signs. Wilson shook for instance
Pull out Power Healing book and read some quotes for other manifestations (It could also be things like personality changes, aggressive words, or changes in the eyes.)
If we are faithful and persistent in praying for others and use our eyes and listen to what God is saying, we can spot the enemy squirming and uncomfortable.These physical signs that we see are literally the enemy showing up and revealing his discomfort. When that happens, then we can pray with confidence and authority for the spirit to leave and never return.
When we find ourselves praying and these manifestations start to happen, we can just continue speaking the name of Jesus over them commanding them to leave. Jesus only used seven words, so it does not require anything fancy on our end. It isn’t about the words that we say or how we say it, but your faith in Jesus and understanding that we are sent under his authority over the enemy.We must be both obedient and faithful when we choose to walk in the kingdom authority that we have been given. Jesus said that the gates of hell won’t stand against us, we can be confident that we will win the battle.
God is still doing things and we have access and permission to join Him in the spiritual battle. We can even be calm in our casting out of the demon because we know that we have so much more authority than it does. We simply just have to command the spirit to leave. And after it is gone, we can freely share about Jesus with the individual. We can love people and pray for Jesus to fill them. But we must restore the person afterwards so that the demon cannot return. Only Jesus can fill that void created by the departed spirits.
I drive a lot in my car, especially in this last year because my husband is deployed, so I have been listening to audiobooks to make my drives feel more worthwhile. I am currently rereading the Harry Potter books. This week while driving in my car, listening to the fifth book, “the half blood prince”, something caught my attention and I had to pull over. It is at the very end of the book, when all of the action is beginning to happen, and Harry finds himself head to head with the Death Eaters…. Who function very similarly to demons.
The death eaters call their master the Dark Lord, but in this scene, and throughout the whole book series actually, Harry calls him by his name, Voldemort. All of the death eaters cry out “how dare you speak his name with your unworthy lips”. Harry said, “I have no problem saying Voldemort, and did you know that he is a half blood too?”—I won’t get in to what him being a half blood means, except to point out that Harry was calling out their leaders weaknesses in front of his minions.
- He is discrediting the enemy. He is not giving him power or being a coward in the face of something that seems scary to others.
- He stands strong and confident. He is worthy to say Voldemort’s name because he has authority over him.
This is exactly what we should be doing too! We do not need to glorify the enemy’s strengths like culture does or make him seem more scary than he really is. It is true that he has powers that he uses for evil, but as Christians, we do not need to cower away from him because he has no authority over us. We need to use our own authority to take back what he has stolen and to give freedom from oppression to the people around us.
2 Corinthians 5 says that we are Christ’s ambassadors. Everywhere that we go, heaven goes with us. Just like ambassadors, we represent God’s kingdom, and we cannot be touched because we go with full authority.
However, that does not mean that the enemy will not attack us. If we let our guard down he can sneak into our lives just like the rest of society in ways that we may not notice. Also, the more kingdom we bring, the more the enemy will get scared and try to stop you so he will up his tactfulness to try to get you to stop. It is just like a video game. The more you level up and progress toward your goal, the harder the levels get and the villain gets tougher. That just tells us that we are truly making an impact in the kingdom, so much so that the enemy has noticed and wants to stop us from taking any more ground back from him. We can count it as a blessing and as a chance to bring the kingdom of God in bigger and better ways every time.
We still live in a hostile environment where the enemy is on the prowl.
It is like the flight attendant safety code—we must first put our own oxygen mask on first before we help others. We must be alert in our own lives to the ways that the enemy attacks us and tries to get us so that we can remain healthy and in communion with God in order to walk in that freedom and pass it on to others.
I believe there are people in this room that are really excited about what I have just shared but are absolutely terrified to step out in faith to actually do the stuff.
I was listening to a Christian artist this week and heard a song that I think describes the exact feelings that many of us in this room feel today about casting out demons. I’m going to read two separate excerpts from the song.
“I had the most vivid dream, my feet had left the ground, I was floating to heaven, but I could only look down. My mind was heavy running ragged with worse case scenarios. Emergency exits and the distance below. I woke up so worried the angels let go. Oh God I’m so tired of being afraid.”
We so badly want to trust God and walk with that authority, but worldly situations or fears bring us down and we choose to just sit this one out.Or we believe that other people can do it, that the church official can do it because that is what we have seen in movies, or that we aren’t trained enough to do it. We are afraid, and maybe some of you are even afraid that God won’t back you up when you do step out in faith. So I want to pray over all of you in a little bit about that and break that fear off. Because that is a lie from the enemy that he wants you to believe. That is one of his tactics and ways that he has influenced us as Christians and stifled our potential and our power in Christ.
I am going to read the second half of the song lyrics:
“What would it feel like to put this baggage down? I want to take shelter but I’m ready to fight. I feel a little paralyzed but maybe I’m stronger than I realize. I choose to believe that I was made to become a sanctuary. Fear can be kept at bay, I’ll push into the dark to trust that there will be light always waiting behind, even in the darkest of nights. Don’t be afraid.”
So I would love for everyone to stand and put their hands out in front of them and I am going to pray for that over each of you.
So, close out by praying for fear to be gone, and faith and confidence to be put in its place. And pray these next two verses over them.
1 Peter 5: 8-9 NIV – be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Ephesians 6: 10-12 NIV- Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual realms.
No comments:
Post a Comment