Recovered In Christ

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Monday, March 26th, 2012

DIFFERENT KINDS OF EVIL SPIRITS

That there are different kinds of spirits is evident from all the instances given in the gospel records. Their manifestation outside the gospel cases, may be seen in the story of the girl at Philippi, possessed by a “spirit of divination,” and again in Simon the Sorcerer, who was so energized by Satanic power for the working of miracles, that he was considered to be “a great power of God” by the deceived people (Acts 8: 10).

Spiritists, to-day, are deceived, in so far as they really believe they are communicating with the spirits of the dead; for it is easy for spirits of evil to impersonate any of the dead, even the most devoted and saintly Christians. They have watched them (Acts 19: 15) all their lives, and can easily counterfeit their voices, or say anything about them, and their actions when on earth. (Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Chapter 2)

Dear God, Thank you for saving me from so many demonic deceptions that I sincerely believed in! Thank you for showing me how earnestness, sincerity and honesty are not guarantees against deception. Thank you for showing me how my genuine attempts to seek you were used against me to deceive me and lure me into receiving and listening to information from evil spirits. Thank you God for teaching me the truth about you, about the Bible and for giving me the Holy Spirit to teach me all of this and so much more. Bless you!! Amen.

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Sunday, March 25th, 2012

VARIED MANIFESTATION OF EVIL SPIRITS THROUGH PERSONS

Their manifestations through the persons in whom they obtain footing, are varied in character, according to the degree and kind of ground they secure for possession. In one Biblical case the only manifestation of the evil spirit’s presence was dumbness (Matt. 9: 32); the spirit possibly locating in the vocal organs; in another, the person held by the spirit was “deaf and dumb” (Mark 9: 25), and the symptoms included foaming at the mouth, grinding the teeth–all connected with the head–but the hold of the spirit was of such long standing (v. 21) that he could throw his victim down, and convulse the whole body (Mark 9: 20-22).

In other cases we find merely an “unclean spirit” in a man in a “synagogue,” probably so hidden that none would know the man was thus possessed, until the spirit cried out with fear when he saw Christ, saying, “Art Thou come to destroy us?” (Mark 1: 24); or a “spirit of infirmity” (Luke 13: 11) in a woman of whom it might be said that she simply required “healing” of some disease, or that she was always tired, and only needed “rest,” as some would say in the language of the twentieth century.

Again, we find a very advanced case in the man with the “legion,” showing that the evil spirits’ possession reached such a climax, as to make the person appear insane; for his own personality was so mastered by the malignant spirits in possession, as to cause him to lose all sense of decency, and self-control in the presence of others (Luke 8: 27). The unity of purpose in the spirits of evil to carry out the will of their prince, is especially shown in this case, as with one accord they besought to be allowed to enter the swine, and with one accord they rushed the whole herd into the sea. (Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Chapter 2)

Dear God, how many problems, disorders and “unhealthy habits” have we struggled with – that evil spirits were using as ground for possession and creating powerful strongholds that made us powerless? Knowledge that this is possible is one of the first steps in the removal of the veil that has kept us asleep to what keeps us in bondage. Thank you God. Amen.

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Friday, March 23, 2012

CHARACTERISTICS OF EVIL SPIRITS

What the characteristics of these wicked spirits are, and how they are able to dwell in the bodies and minds of human beings, will be seen by a careful examination of the specific cases mentioned in the Gospels; as well as their power to interfere with, mislead, and deceive, even servants of God, from references to them in other portions of the Word of God.

Evil spirits are generally looked upon as “influences,” and not as intelligent beings, but their personality and entity, and difference in character as distinct intelligences, will be seen in the Lord’s direct commands to them (Mark 1: 25; 5: 8; 3: 11, 12; 9: 25); their power of speech (Mark 3: 11); their replies to Him, couched in intelligent language (Matt. 8: 29); their sensibilities of fear (Luke 8: 31); their definite expression of desire (Matt. 8: 31); their need of a dwelling place of rest (Matt. 12: 43); their intelligent power of decision (Matt. 12: 44); their power of agreement with other spirits; their degrees of wickedness (Matt. 12: 45); their power of rage (Matt. 8: 28); their strength (Mark 5: 4); their ability to possess a human being, either as one (Mark 1: 26) or in a thousand (Mark 5: 9); their use of a human being as their medium for “divining,” or foretelling the future (Acts 16: 16); or as a great miracle worker by their power (Acts 8: 11). (Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Chapter 2)

Dear God, please teach me not to dismiss the knowledge you are giving me. Let me not fall prey to a false sense of security when you are calling me to arms. Let me obey you in everything you’ve given to teach me! Help me not to settle for pat answers. Let me not drift into the camp of: Hear no evil, see no evil – be possessed by evil. Amen.

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Saturday, March 24th, 2012

THE RAGE AND WICKEDNESS OF EVIL SPIRITS

When evil spirits act in a rage, they act as a combination of the maddest, and most wicked persons in existence, but all their evil is done with fullest intelligence, and purpose. They know what they do, they know it is evil, terribly evil, and they will to do it. They do it with rage, and with the full swing of malice, enmity and hatred. They act with fury and bestiality, like an enraged bull, as if they had no intelligence, and yet with fun intelligence they carry on their work, showing the wickedness of their wickedness. They act from an absolutely depraved nature, with diabolical fury, and with an undeviating perseverance. They act with determination, persistency, and with skilful methods, forcing themselves upon mankind, upon the Church, and still more upon the spiritual man. (Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Chapter 2)

For many years my mind was closed shut against the reality of evil as something intelligent, having personality. As God began showing me the truth of their existance – I began to do what MANY Christians have done, I treated them like a past tense enemy – something Jesus took care of on the cross. As my experience and the Bible showed me something more, I began to see how many well meaning Christians treated them as some kind of “allegory” or worse as pests of temptation. Or even worse – as something their pastor or church takes care of, nothing they themselves should deal with.

Think of how you would react and deal with a problem of ants in your home. Think and feel it. They are annoying pests. Definately something to deal with – but not anything to panic about – right?

Now, think and feel how you would react and deal with a brutal, vicious serial killer in your home. Think and feel it. Notice the difference. Notice how different your “enemy” has become. That is the difference between our understanding as a whole in the Christian church in regards to Satan and his demons, versus the reality of what we are facing.

Yes, Jesus “took care of them all” on the cross – including sin and death – and yet not one these things have been ‘erased’ from our human experience. Through the FINISHED work of Christ on the cross can we also overcome as our Lord overcame. If we are willing and humble enough to let the Holy Spirit lead us and teach us.

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Thursday, March 22, 2012

CHRIST ALWAYS DEALING WITH THE INVISIBLE ENEMIES

It is striking to find that the Lord did not attempt to convince the Pharisees of His claims as the Messiah, nor take the opportunity of winning the Jews, by yielding to their desires for an earthly king. His one work in this world was manifestly to conquer the Satanic prince of the world by the death of the Cross (Heb. 2: 14); to deliver his captives from his control, and to deal with the invisible hosts of the prince of darkness working at the back of mankind (See 1 John 3: 8).

The commission He gave to the twelve, and to the seventy, was exactly in line with His own. He sent them forth, and “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to preach the gospel” (Matt. 10: 1); to “first bind the strong man” (Mark 3: 27), and then to take his goods; to deal with the invisible hosts of Satan first, and then “preach the gospel.”

From all this we learn that there is one Satan, one devil, one prince of the demons, directing all the opposition to Christ and His people; but myriads of wicked spirits called “demons,” lying spirits, deceiving spirits, foul spirits, unclean spirits, subjectively at work in men. Who they are, and whence their origin, none can positively say. That they are spirit beings who are evil is alone beyond all doubt; and all who are undeceived and dispossessed from Satanic deception, become witnesses, from their own experience, to their existence, and power. They know that things were done to them by spirit beings, and that those things were evil; therefore they recognize that there are spirit beings who do evil, and know that the symptoms, effects and manifestations of demoniacal possession have active, personal agencies behind them. From experience they know that they are hindered by spirit beings, and therefore know that these things are done by evil spirits who are hinderers. Therefore, reasoning from experimental facts, as well as the testimony of Scripture, they know that these evil spirits are murderers, tempters, liars, accusers, counterfeiters, enemies, haters, and wicked beyond all the power of man to know.

The names of these evil spirits describe their characters, for they are called “foul,” “lying,” “unclean,” “evil,” and “deceiving” spirits, as they are wholly given up to every manner of wickedness, and deception, and lying works. (Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Chapter 2)

Dear God, thank you so much for opening my eyes to the TRUTH! For giving my experience and the facts of my own life that really happened to me a context in which I can understand them in wisdom and light. Thank you for opening up the Bible to me. My own personal experience with the evil things that demons did to me and my experience with all of the people who are bound by the deceptions of the Devil have been explained and revealed by the Holy Spirit leading me into all the Truth that’s contained in the Bible. What an incredible way to teach! What an incredible way to bring me into the light! To use the word of God and my own experience – woven together! I can’t thank you enough for the freedom and the power in simply knowing the truth! Please continue to draw me into a closer relationship with Jesus and reveal to me whatever it is you would have me know. Amen 

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“Why go I mourning?” –Psalm 42:9

Can you not answer this, believer? Can’t you find any reason why you are so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told you that the night would never end in day? Who told you that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told you that the winter of your discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Do you not know that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Be full of hope! Hope forever! For God does not fail you. Do you know that God loves you in the midst of all this?

Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as they are in the day, and God’s love is as true to you now as it was in your brightest moments…You shall yet climb Jacob’s ladder with the angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it–your covenant God. You will yet, midst the splendors of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who led you through them and works your lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with your exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then “for ever with the Lord,” your bliss shall never wane.

“Faint not nor fear, His arms are near,  He changeth not, and thou art dear;  Only believe and thou shalt see,  That Christ is all in all to thee.”

-Charles H. Spurgeon

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Light is the only cure for darkness. Light is the only way to dispel the darkness. There is no other cure. There is no other way. No technology, or philosophy or religion or understanding or knowledge can do this. No amount of studying the darkness will make it any brighter.

No amount of ‘good works’ or even ‘faith’ can command the darkness to depart. Imagine sitting in a perfectly dark room without any doors or windows without any light. How many books and “manifesting your destiny” cd’s do you think it would take to make the light shine in that darkness? How many random acts of kindness? How many inventories? A hundred million would be as effective as zero! Everything we do and everything we don’t do is incredibly important – but it’s all a RESPONSE to the Light that CHOSE to come into the darkness. It is only because of Him that we even know we are in darkness. It is ONLY BECAUSE OF HIM THAT WE EVEN KNOW WE ARE IN DARKNESS.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it..the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:913)

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Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

EVIL SPIRITS IN THE GOSPEL RECORDS

The gospel record is full of reference to the workings of evil spirits, and shows that wherever the Lord moved, the emissaries of Satan sprang into active manifestation in the bodies, and minds, of those they indwelt; and that the ministry of Christ and His apostles was directed actively against them, so that again and again the record reads, “He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons” (Mark 1: 39); He “cast out many demons, and He suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew Him” (Mark 1: 34); “Unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God” (Mark 3: 11). Then came the sending out of the twelve chosen disciples, when the spirits of evil again are taken into account, for “He gave them authority over unclean spirits” (Mark 6: 7). Later He appointed seventy other messengers, and as they went forward in their work, they, too, found the demons subject to them through His Name (Luke 10: 17).

Were Jerusalem, Capernaum, Galilee, and all Syria, then filled with people who were “insane” and “epileptic”? Or was the truth of evil spirit possession of people a common fact? In any case it is evident from the gospel records, that the Son of God dealt with the powers of darkness as the active, primary cause of the sin, and suffering of this world, and that the aggressive part of His, and His disciples’ ministry, was directed persistently against them. On the one hand He dealt with the deceiver of the world, and bound the “strong man,” whilst on the other He taught the truth about God to the people, to destroy the lies which the prince of darkness had placed in their minds (2 Cor. 4: 4) about His Father and Himself.

We find, too, that the Lord clearly recognized the devil behind the opposition of the Pharisees (John 8: 44), and the “hour and power of darkness” (Luke 22: 53) behind His persecutors at Calvary. He said that His mission was to “proclaim liberty to the captives” (Luke 4: 18), and who the captor was He revealed on the eve of Calvary, when He said, “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12: 31); and later on that this “prince” would once more come to Him, but would find nothing in Him as ground for his power (John 14: 30). – Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Ch.2

Dear Jesus, thank you for binding the ‘strong man’ and for teaching us the truth about God! Thank you for destroying the works of the Devil – for destroying the lies that the prince of darkness had placed in my mind about you and God. Thank you for giving me front row seats to watch as you single-handedly delivered me from the complete and absolute grave of this world. Amen

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Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

THE LORD’S ATTITUDE TO AND RECOGNITION OF SATAN

The Lord was always ready to meet the antagonist whom He had foiled in the wilderness, but who had only left Him “for a season” (Luke 4: 13). In Peter He quickly discerned Satan at work, and exposed him by one swift sentence, mentioning his name (Matt. 16: 23). In the Jews He stripped aside the mask of the hidden foe, and said, “Ye are of your father, the devil” (John 8: 44), and with keen-edged words spoke of him as the “murderer” and the “liar,” prompting them to kill Him, and lying to them about Himself and His Father in heaven (John 8: 40-41).

On the lake in a storm, fast asleep, and awakened suddenly, He is alert to meet the foe, and stands with calm majesty to “rebuke” the storm, which the prince of the power of the air had roused against Him (Mark 4: 38, 39).

In brief, we find the Lord, right on from the wilderness victory, unveiling the powers of darkness, as He went forward in steady aggressive mastery over them. Behind what appeared “natural,” He sometimes discerned a supernatural power which demands His rebuke. He “rebuked” the fever in Peter’s wife’s mother (Luke 4: 39), just as He “rebuked” the evil spirits in other, and more manifest forms, whilst in other instances He simply healed the sufferer by a word.

The difference between Satan’s attitude to the Lord, and that of the spirits of evil, should also be noted. Satan, the prince, tempts Him, seeks to hinder Him, prompts the Pharisees to oppose Him, hides behind a disciple to divert Him, and finally takes hold of a disciple to betray Him, and then sways the multitude to put Him to death; but the spirits of evil bowed down before Him, beseeching Him to “let them alone,” and not to command them to go into the abyss (Luke 8: 31).

The realm of this deceiver-prince is specifically mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his description of him as “prince of the power of the air” (Ephes. 2: 2), the aerial, or “heavenly places,” being the special sphere of the activity of Satan, and his hierarchy of powers. The name Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, meaning the “god of flies,” suggestively speaks of the aerial character of the powers of the air, as well as the word “darkness,” describing their character, and their doings. The Lord’s description of Satan’s working through “fowls of the air” strikingly corresponds to these other statements, together with John’s language about the “whole world lying in the evil one” (1 John 5: 19); the “air” being the place of the workings of these aerial spirits, the very atmosphere in which the whole human race moves, said to be “in the evil one.” –Jessie Penn-Lewis; War On The Saints, Ch.2

Dear God, you are the light that shines in the darkness. Being in your presence reveals the work of your Son Jesus Christ and it also reveals the work of Satan. You are the light that shines in this world. You are the light that shines on everyone – and yet most have chosen darkness. You are the light that has shown me things that years of study or maturity could never have produced. Thank you God for sending your True light into this world to rescue us. Without you I wouldn’t even know that I was lost. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.

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