Fighting Every Day Demons

When some of you read the title, you rolled your eyes back in your head and probably said, “The pain killers are getting to Jerry”.

Last Thursday, I received a call from a friend I’ll call, Tom, a businessman. He said Jerry, “I’ve had a rough night and something came into me. Into my head and my stomach, etc.—different than anything I’ve experienced before.” Cautiously he asked, “Do you think it could be demons?” He was afraid to ask he said, because he feared being labeled weird. It’s a topic we seldom talk about in church. I believe we should learn about them but not dwell on them. We need to dwell on the power of the One and only true God, His Son Jesus, the Holy Spirit and His mighty power to overcome the evil one and his associates.

“What should I do?” he asked. I said the one thing you do is pray God’s word; use God’s word to forge off the demons. In Luke chapter 4 Jesus was being tempted—how did He respond? He challenged the devil with God’s word. He said, “It is written”; “It is written”. He used God’s word against the devil and the devil left Him.

Tom asked what scriptures he should use. (I will list some more at the end.) I led Tom to Luke 4 and then to John 17 where Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prays that His followers and all who believe because of them (us), would be protected from the “evil one”. Of all the prayers He could have prayed for us that night, He prayed we would be protected from the evil one. The devil and his associates shudder at the reality of Jesus. (James 2:19) Remind the devil of Jesus’ prayer and God’s power to protect us. The only thing which is truly safe is what God protects.

We then proceeded to Ephesians 6:10-18, the powerful part of scripture about the Armor of God. I pointed out to Tom verse 11 “Put your God issued armor on. Put it on. (Is your armor being used or is it laying in your closet of life all rusty? Or is it that you never bother to fight any thing evil with God’s word and His armor?) In verse 12 Paul points out our true enemy, not one another but in part… “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” “I guess demons do exist” Tom said.

In verse 13, in case we didn’t get it earlier before, “put on”, make a conscious choice to put on God’s armor. Verse 15 continues “so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground.” Not if a day of evil comes but when the day of evil comes. Be ready.

Paul goes on to list the armor, what it is and its purpose. In verse 16 he states in part…”with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows (not arrow) of the evil one.” The reality is this: the devil keeps firing his arrows at us, trying to make us fall. We need to keep “putting on” the armor and use the only offensive weapon (verse 17… “the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.” When evil comes, keep putting on the armor, keep using God’s word and keep on praying verse 18.

Tom’s friends came and prayed with him into the night. They left around midnight but he couldn’t sleep so he kept on praying. Around 2:30 a.m. the Holy Spirit touched him. He told me he never felt anything like it. He was freed. He was at peace. (Notice benediction at the end of Ephesians.)

This is what I love about Tom—He said “Jerry, if anyone else needs help with this, I will come any time, any place”--evidence of a grateful, humble servant, ready anytime to minister to someone else’s needs.

Please pray through these scriptures with a trusted Christian friend claiming the promises and the power of Christ: Luke 4, Ephesians 6:10-18; Psalm 91; Psalm 34; Ephesians 3:14-21; Philippians 4:4-9; Colossians 1:9-14. Send me additional scriptures which encourage you.

Our Pastor, Jim Lemmenes, had a sermon on the same topic. I appreciated his sermon since it brought into the open the reality of evil and demons. If you are suffering, don’t suffer alone; call a trusted Christian friend and pray together through these scriptures. God is faithful. Paul was right, “The sword of the spirit” is the word of God, and the devil shudders.