Power over demons

I tend to listen to a lot of lies from the devil. Lies like, I can’t be used by God, no one likes me, I am ugly, I have no worth.

The worst is when I recognize that it is the devil speaking, but I can’t stop believing him. Then I feel even worse, even farther away from God. It’s like being on the floor, being attacked, and not being able to get up. I deal with this every single day. It’s hard to write about, but at the same time it is an awesome story about God’s victory. The story is over a period of a few years, but I feel like God wants me to share it now.

I had a dream a few years ago. 

There were lots of familiar places in the dream, as there usually are in dreams, but in it God revealed specific people to me who were dealing with spiritual warfare. They were people that I knew for a fact were either depressed and inviting evil (like through cutting) and some people who were unwittingly operating under lies. The mood of the dream grew from tense (I could sense there was something not right) to an outright explosion of demonic activity. At the very end, I saw a woman I know grow angry and broke into a frenzy of screaming curses; her eyes seemed to be on fire; it was unnatural. Then the dream faded to black, like a movie right before the credits. And I heard a voice say “All power is given to me...and I am with you always.”

Yes, I was a bad Bible student, or whatever else you want to call me, because I didn’t know those two verses were in the same chapter. I was very excited and impacted by the dream. Of course, I prayed for the people in the dream, but then I quickly looked up those scriptures I had heard and I got chills.

Matthew 28:18 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

Matthew 28:20 "...and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

I didn’t KNOW they were in the same chapter and I concluded God was speaking to me, revealing the connection between those concepts. I took it as a reminder that he has all power over all those demons, and he is with us. Isn’t that awesome, that we have the One who is omnipotent as our friend here on earth, protecting us and guiding us? 

A few years later, I felt that same excited, awesome feeling as I was rereading the new testament and the powerful works Jesus did.

Let’s look at two accounts from the Bible about casting out demons. 

Mark 1:21-27

21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 

22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 

24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” 

26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 

27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”

Now let’s look at the other account; this one is from Mark 5:1-10.

1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.

2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 

3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 

4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 

5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 

7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”

8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 

9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 

10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.

I can’t decide which of these stories is my favorite. In the first, I love how Jesus basically told the demon to shut up. In the second, the possessed man who could not be tamed ran and worshipped Jesus. And I love how the version in Matthew says that the spirit asked, "Have you come to torment us before the time?" They know their future and that they are already defeated! But in all accounts, the evil spirit recognized Jesus as the holy one of God and they obeyed his commands.

So just so we’re clear, Jesus has incredible, incomprehensible power over the devil and his servants. This is something to rejoice over! Yes, the demons hurt those men. They had control over them and they used and abused them. But when they saw Jesus, they saw the most high God. They knew exactly who he was and they believed and trembled that he had all power over them. 

So whenever you hear those condemning voices, those lies: 
“You are not worth anything.” 
“You should just die because no one cares.” 
“You can’t be forgiven.”
“Your scripture isn’t truth.” 

Call on the name of Jesus Christ. He will come running and your demon, whom you thought had so much power over you, will fall down and worship Jesus, son of the most high God. Jesus will command him to be quiet. He will command him to leave. And the demon must flee.