demons

Idols?

September 18, 2021 by Bill Leave a Comment

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5).

As I was praying at our weekly prayer time at church last week, I had asked the Lord to deliver anyone in our congregation who were trapped in addictions. I was thinking of the usual addictions most of us recognize; alcohol, drugs, sex and those mentioned in the verse above. But then I heard the Spirit say, “Almost everyone has an addiction of some kind.” I thought, “Wow!” And then the word, “idols” came to mind. And I realized, yes, we all may have some kind of an idol. “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” (1 John 5:21). Anything that we would place above God on our list. “Oh, I’d never do that!” we might say. Well, think about the things we cherish: people, sports, social media, cars, food, celebrities, hobbies, TV programs/movies, clothes…the list could go on and on. We can probably add many things to it. Anything that we may put above God is an idol and we may be addicted to it.

So, what do we do with an addiction or an idol? The Bible talks about our flesh and our Spirit and how they are opposite and in a constant battle, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16). I could paraphrase that to say, “Feed your Spirit and starve your flesh.” We were born with that “sin nature” from what happened in the Garden of Eden but Jesus has given us an “advocate” (John 14:16), the Holy Spirit that abides within us. We can overcome.

I’m reminded of another blog post from 2009, Don’t Feed It! and an update from 2020, HERE in which I painted a scene of someone who got a cute little black puppy but, after feeding and caring for it for a while, it became a large, mean, uncontrollable dog. Another scene is someone who had finally gotten a harassing demon under control in a cage, starving it, but felt sorry for it and fed it and it broke out of the cage stronger than before. Starve the flesh and strengthen the Spirit.

We have to identify, recognize and confess what our idols are and take actions to starve them or, at least, move them further down our list. If God is at the top, we will be able to handle our addictions and idols. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24).

Maybe it’s time to do some house cleaning and getting our list in order.

The Gadarene Demoniac

March 21, 2020 by Bill Leave a Comment

I do my devotions and Bible reading twice a day, in the morning and before I go to sleep at night. I keep a journal of inspirations that God gives me and lately I have gotten much more than usual. So, I’ve decided to record them here on my blog under the heading, Mornings With The Master and hashtag, #MorningswiththeMaster.

March 19, 2020 – I read something in one of my devotions about the Gadarene demoniac in Mark 5, who, “lived among the tombs. And no one could constrain him,” “night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.” (v. 3,5). Here was this man, completely possessed by demons, many of them, to the point he was totally under their control. It made me think; “How did this begin, was he totally possessed from the beginning?” Then I thought of how the devil works. He usually temps us with something that we’re weak in, something that looks good to us. He’ll come to us with a big smile like he’s our friend and tell us, “Oh, it’s OK, it won’t hurt and it’s just this one time.” LIES! But, if we follow him into that sin, it may be OK for a while. So, he’ll come back with more. “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15). The devil’s plan is step by step and, if we follow it, eventually we’ll end up like this Gadarene demoniac. And, once we get there, we are enslaved the devil is a slave driver! He’s out to, “kill, steal and destroy.” (John 10:10).

However, this man was not destroyed. He met Jesus. He was totally delivered. And, we can be too, no matter how enslaved we are. Like the man did, we can come running to Jesus and bow before Him.

Picture This: Death Was Arrested

November 6, 2016 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given November 6, 2016

As happens to me quite often, I see or hear something that begins a video playing in my mind of how a scene might play out. It happened this morning in church as we sang the song, “Death Was Arrested” by North Point InsideOut. These lyrics began the video:

“Our savior displayed on a criminal’s cross.
Darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost.
But then Jesus arose with our freedom in hand.
That’s when death was arrested and my life began.”

I saw the demons of darkness dancing, rejoicing and partying at the base of the cross where Jesus hung dying and then in front of the tomb where He was laid. I saw us as prisoners of darkness standing nearby in chains because, supposedly, our Savior had been eliminated. But then…the heavy stone sealing the entrance to the tomb began rolling away to the right and Jesus came walking out of the tomb with the key to our chains in His hand. The demons stopped their merriment in fear and screamed, “Oh no!” “Where did he come from?” “We thought he was dead!” The demons could not move except to turn around with their hands behind their backs as Jesus put on the cuffs and arrested them. Then He walked over to us with His blood-stained key and freed us from our chains. Now, we are the ones rejoicing because Jesus has set us free forever!

“Yes we’re free, free forever amen.
When death was arrested and my life began.”

Picture This – The Gun

August 15, 2009 by Bill 2 Comments

Given August 2006

A believer is at home and all kinds of trouble has broken loose. This trouble is caused by several little demons who are ru
nning around making a mess of the house and the believer’s life. For some reason, the believer has opened the door to this harassment an
d something has to be done. The believer cries out, “Jesus HELP!”

Suddenly Jesus appears in the living room and the demons stop their ransacking. They know they’re in trouble now and stand there before Jesus trembling. Jesus points His Holy Ghost gun at them and blows them away. No more demon problem. The believer is overjoyed and thanks Jesus profusely. Jesus looks the believer right in the eye and says, “Child, I’m leaving this gun with you, fully loaded with the power of the Spirit. I’m giving you the power to do like I did today if any demons try to bother you again.”

The believer thanks Jesus again and puts the gun over the mantle in a place of honor. Every so often, he gets it down, dusts it off, and admires this treasure from Jesus. Then one day…the demons return causing trouble in the believer’s life again. He cries out to Jesus again but this time Jesus only speaks. “Child, I left you My gun to handle the demons.” “What did you do with it?” “I want you to use My power and My name to deal with these demons this time.” “Go ahead, do it!
”

The believer goes and gets the gun off the mantle as the demons are tearing his house apart. He points the gun and says, “In the name of Jesus….STOP!” The demons hear the name of Jesus and stop. The believer gets them in his sights and, just as Jesus did, blows them away. They’re gone! The believer is stunned. Then, joy returns as he realizes he did as Jesus did with the power Jesus had given him. “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.“ Luke 10:19

Power Of The Believer

May 23, 2009 by Bill 1 Comment

Given January 15, 2006

Picture This A believer is at home and all kinds of trouble has broken loose. This trouble is caused by several little demons who are running around making a mess of the house and the believer’s life. For some reason, the believer has opened the door to this harassment and something has to be done. The believer cries out, “Jesus HELP!”

The believer thanks Jesus again and puts the gun over the mantle in a place of honor. Every so often, he gets it down, dusts it off, and admires this treasure from Jesus. Then one day…the demons return causing trouble in the believer’s life again. He cries out to Jesus again but this time Jesus only speaks. “Child, I left you My gun to handle the demons. What did you do with it?” I want you to use My power and My name to deal with these demons this time. Go ahead, do it.”

The believer goes and gets the gun off the mantle as the demons are tearing his house apart. He points the gun and says, “In the name of Jesus….STOP!” The demons hear the name of Jesus and stop. The believer gets them in his sights and, just as Jesus did, blows them away. They’re gone! The believer is stunned. Then, joy returns as he realizes he did as Jesus did with the power Jesus had given him. “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19.