When the Devil says "NO"

When the devil says “NO”

One of my favorite bible stories is when Jesus descends from the mount where he has been transfigured and a little one on one time with his father to find his disciples in a fight with the religious leaders of the day. The fight was over a demon possessed boy. You find this in Mark 9. The boy was in terrible shape; not being able to speak, having seizures, foaming at the mouth, jumping into water, jumping into fire and all the other things that go along with a “made for TV” demon possession. The father had brought the boy to the disciples asking them to cast out the demon and heal his son. He obviously had confidence in their ability to do this since they were associated with Jesus.

The disciples probably thought, “we can handle this, we’ve done this before.”

The disciples probably thought, “this is one of our specialties.”

The disciples probably thought, “even though Jesus isn’t here we will do this and maybe get some attention for ourselves.”

The disciples probably thought, “this needs attention immediately so time is of the essence, let’s get started.”

So the disciples went to work casting out the demon. They spoke the words they had spoken before to other demons but this demon didn’t leave. They spoke those words a little louder and the demon didn’t leave. They spoke those words with more passion emphasizing the name of Jesus and the demon didn’t leave. Maybe they stomped their feet while they commanded that demon to leave. Nothing happened. Maybe they waved their hands, jumped up and down, made a show, got angry. Nothing happened. The demon just sat there defying whatever the disciples were doing. It would not leave, it would not go away, it wasn’t scared, it wasn’t doing anything except staying right there in that boys life.

Enter the teachers and religious leaders. They saw their opportunity and engaged the disciples in some kind of doctrinal or theological argument. While the boy suffered the religious people argued. Can you hear the name calling? The accusations? The belittling? Been there and done that?

That’s when Jesus steps into the scene. To make a long story short he instantly healed that boy and drove the demon out. The boy convulsed and fell down as though dead. Jesus then lifted him up by the hand and gave him his life back.

Later on the disciples asked, “why couldn’t we do it?” Jesus answered, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer (and some add ‘fasting’).”

Are you meeting some of the “this kind” of demons in your life and ministry? “This kind” refers to a more ingrained, deep seated and entrenched kind of spiritual power. “This kind” refers to something more serious and evil than the normal. “This kind” doesn’t move over or move out easily. “This kind” comes in to stay and resists commands from spiritually impotent believers. “This kind” laughs at pretenders using the name of Jesus. “This kind” taunts those who have the reputation for being something but have no real power. “This kind” sneers at the formulas we use. “This kind” respects nothing but real kingdom power.

I think we live in a world where we are going to be meeting “this kind” of spiritual entity more in more. “This kind” of evil spiritual power will not be impressed or moved by Sunday school platitudes, by lackluster worship, by small group touchy feely exercises. “This kind” can smell doubt, can smell fear, can smell unbelief and can smell fakery a thousand miles away.

We can scream all we want, we can preach until our throats are parched, we can pray, declare, command, announce and claim until we are blue in the face but “this kind” will only submit to a spiritual power higher than its own. It respects no other power but the one that is greater than itself.

The greatest compliment that ever came to Paul was when a demon told some spiritual pretenders, “Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you?” (I wonder if that demon may have thrown a few choice words in there right when he said, “who the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________ are you?") The demon knew Paul (the great compliment) because he was feared and spoken about in hell and in demon circles. The demon clearly knew the difference between one who had power in Jesus and the one who simply used the name of Jesus as a good luck charm.

Jesus told his disciples that it was prayer that would get them equipped to handle this special kind of evil power. Prayer backed up with fasting.

I have had occurrences of meeting the hostile dark side when our simple prayer that we prayed didn’t change much of anything. We have all met the entrenched demons who won’t move until they are forced to. We have met spiritual powers in our churches, in our ministries and in the hearts of people who are so prevalent that they exist in open defiance of God’s people. These spiritual entities are daring us to move them. They openly speak to us that they own the land and they aren’t moving no matter what. They sneer at our vain attempts to remove them. They simply tell us, “NO! We aren’t going anywhere!”

Not so fast. Jesus told His disciples to meet this demon with prayer. We begin the process by praying, praying hard, praying through, praying the word, praying with all prayer.

Prayer first equips US for the battle. Prayer puts things into proper perspective in our hearts. Prayer strengthens us. Prayer changes us. Prayer makes us brave and courageous. Prayer makes us rely on God’s power and not on our ability to come up with the right combination of words to get the job done.

Prayer also calls God on the scene. The name of Jesus announces to the unseen world that the King is here, that the King’s power is on site. Prayer calls the forces of God into the situation. Prayer unleashes the hand of God.

We pray the Word of God. We pray the words of truth. We pray the truths of God which restores order. The Word of God is the sword of the spirit. It is a weapon that cannot lie, cuts down lies and cannot be defeated. It is so much more powerful when we say, “the Father says…” then when we say, “I say…”

Prayer takes the fight to the enemy. Now we are ready to command and demand and order the enemy to move. He may resist for a while but he must and will obey. He may lie and tell you that he is in charge and he won’t go and that this is the way it always will be, but he is only testing you. The enemy will move because the name of Jesus is stronger and breaks him.

I assure you that you will meet “this kind” somewhere in your life. That meeting will expose you as both weak and impotent or as one walking in the spirit. You will be exposed as either a contender or a pretender. Here is to your victory!

Luke 11:21-22 (NLT)

For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe—22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.