Read Chapter 4:31-44...then return..
Jesus has been shunned in His hometown and leaves to go to Capernium, a thriving city with great wealth and decadence.
He teaches His message with the same results He has received everywhere; they are astounded by the depth of His wisdom and the divine authority in which He speaks.
I've always liked to watch scary movies, but I avoid movies like the Exorcism in which a little girl is possessed and tortured by an evil spirit. After watching it when I was young I spent the next 2 weeks sleeping with my mommy (she finally kicked me out :) smile
Unlike all the other scary movies I watched that were based in pure fiction like giant bugs and plants that eat you, this one scared me the most, because I knew, to some degree, that according the bible possession by evil spirits was possible. This movie or any like it was based in reality according to the bible.
However, later in life as I began to study the bible I found that even though it's possible for someone to be possessed or oppressed, Jesus has absolute and complete authority over demons including the hold they had over people. In a single word He cast them out every single time! He came to set captive free!
Thank God, I've never seen or experienced anything even remotely like what the movie portrayed or like the more severe situations that Jesus experienced during His ministry.
However, we see throughout scripture that demons do have the power to cause people to be blind, mute, deaf and sick with all kinds of sicknesses, diseases and infirmities. Jesus would encounter demons everywhere He went, in many situations and places but they all had no choice but to obey Him.
In Luke 10:18-20 And He [Jesus] said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions [evil spirits], and over all the power of the enemy [satan and his dominion], and nothing shall by any means hurt you..."
I love this scripture and it's one of the scriptures (swords) I use in my own battles with the enemy who tries to inflict me with various kinds of oppression.
I make the above scripture personal by saying "In Jesus name, He has given ME authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing they try to do me can harm me"
As believers; children of God, and heirs with Christ, He has given us authority to cast demons out of our life too. I wonder how many believers are aware of the authority they have?
As a christian we can be sure that no demon can possess us because we are protected by the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit who resides within us, but we can be oppressed by them. They can attack us and torture us in our minds and bodies if we allow it.
In 1 Peter 5:8-9 We are warned to "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour..."
Only after reading the Bible did I begin to find scriptures like the ones above and realize that the devil does try to "devour" us. But thank you Jesus we have been given authority, in His Name, to defeat them as swiftly as He did in His own ministry.
In the past I either ignored and tried to pretend they didn't exist but that is exactly what satan wants us to do. As long as we are either ignoring or pretending he doesn't exist we are at his mercy and he will destroy and devour our lives.
I'm not afraid of them anymore, and don't give them much thought, and never go looking for them under every rock, but when their stupid enough to raise their ugly heads and try to pull something on me I simply take my authority in Jesus name and they flee.
The authority the Lord gave us is just part of what our inheritance is as an heir with Christ and a child of the All Mighty God of the Universe!
Thank you Jesus for defeating satan, and thank you for the authority you gave to us over all works and power of the enemy!!
What did you learn from this story?
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