As Christians, we are unique in the universe.  We live under grace while everyone and everything else exists under law.  Law operates on the basis of authority and legalities. When Jesus died on the cross he redeemed us from the dominion of darkness (Col.1:13-14) and in doing so revoked Satan’s legal right to lay claim to us or treat us as slaves. For those who enter the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus Christ, Satan’s access is limited.  Temptation and persecution from the outside seem to be permitted in the spiritual realm.  Otherwise, we would not need divine weapons (2 Cor. 10:3), the armor of God (Eph.6:10-11), or an awareness of Satan’s schemes contrived against us.  We are told, however, that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond that which we are able to bear (1 Cor.10:13). Therefore, God has set limits on the extent to which Satan can attack or harass those who belong to Jesus.   The book of Job reflects those kind of spiritual boundaries.  As Satan came before God wanting to target Job, God set definite limits on Satan’s access to Job with each round of temptations.

For unbelievers, Satan seems to have very few limitations. The evil, brokenness, and perversion that is so prevalent in our world attests to that. That condition is not necessarily confined to the 21^st Century. The man who lived among the tombs in Mark 5 who had a “legion” of demons resident within him attests to that.  The question is, “Can Christians be afflicted with demonic spirits so that deliverance is needed to set them free?” and, if so, “How does Satan gain access to them since they have been delivered from his dominion?”  Great questions!  I’m glad you asked.

Many will argue that demons cannot possess believers because we belong to Christ and his Spirit lives within us.  I fully agree because possession implies ownership and we have certainly been purchased by the blood of Christ.  I do not believe Christians can be possessed by Satan (owned), but I believe they can be harassed and afflicted by spirits who are attached or residing within the person.

Jesus speaks about an unclean spirit being cast out of a man and then returning to that “house” to find it “unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order.” The spirit returns and brings other demonic spirits with him. (Mt.12:43-45).  Think of your body as a house. Suppose you decide to rent out a room in your house to generate some extra income. A young man knocks on your door and tells you that a friend told him about your room for rent.  He tells you that he goes to school all day and studies at night, is quiet, has few friends and you will hardly know he is there. You shake hands, write out a brief lease with the monthly amount you agree on and rent out the room.

In a week or two, however, you begin to notice loud music, friends coming to his room at all hours, and horrid smells drifting through the house.  You confront your renter and tell him that he is making your life miserable and he will need to move. He laughs, says he will stay as long as he likes and shows you the lease that you signed without written stipulations regarding noise, friends, or smells.  He has not taken possession of your house.  Except for the one room, the rest of your house still belongs to you, functions well, and is neat and clean.  However, because he was given a legal right to establish a dwelling in one room of your house, he can harass you from that position and eventually make your life miserable.  You will need to find a way to void his lease and then you can have him and his friends removed.

Although Jesus has removed Satan’s legal right to access believers, in general, an individual believer can give the enemy the right to rent a room “in their house” which can lead to a great deal of torment and chaos in that believer’s life.  So, how can Satan gain legal access to set up a stronghold in a believer’s life?  It happens through the process of coming into agreement with Satan in part of your life.  As you agree with him you walk with him (Amos 3:3).  If you walk with someone long enough, it is only a matter of time until they come home with you.

1. When Christians refuse to submit an area of their life to the lordship of Jesus and persist in unrepented sin, the enemy has open access to any area that is not under the Lordship of Jesus.
2. A refusal to forgive those who have wronged us gives Satan a legal right to invade a believer’s life because our refusal to forgive keeps God’s forgiveness from covering our sins.
3. “Sins of the Father’s” can give the enemy access. Scripture declares that certain sins will be passed down to the children to the 3^rd and 4^th generations. That means that the consequences of that sin will be inherited by the children which may include demonic assignments.
4. Curses that are attached to sins or that have been spoken over an individual may have demons assigned to enforce the curse and that curse will give the enemy a legal right to invade a believer’s life.
5. Many people come to Christ demonized and, like the promised land, the enemy still must be driven out even after entering into their salvation.
6. Unbelief can also be an open door to the enemy. Unbelief in God or the Word of God is actually coming into agreement with Satan.  Paul tells us that strongholds are belief systems within us that oppose God’s truth. When we fail to believe God about who we are in Christ, who Christ is, God’s standards for living, etc. we open a door to the demonic.
7. Experience also tells us that the demonic can gain entrance to our hearts through trauma  – especially violent or sexual trauma.  The wounds seem to create an opening for the enemy’s lies and the lies create an agreement with Satan.  Sometime the bitterness and unforgiveness attached to wounds opens the door as well.

Although saved and in Christ, we know that many Christians live in bondage to addictions; are tormented by fears and deep depression; live for decades with “secret sins;” and carry deep emotional wounds for years that destroy one relationship after another.  If believers can carry that kind of bondage and darkness within of them – even though they are saved – why would we doubt that they can be afflicted by demons as well?

Tomorrow, how to rid “your house” of the demonic in Part 7.

One of the great hindrances to healing and freedom in the body of Christ is a view of God that defines his sovereignty as “his will being done in every situation of life”. He is certainly sovereign but in that sovereignty he has chosen to exercise limited control of his creation.  That limit is called free will and it opens both God and man up to the possibility of tragedy.  It was that limit that sent Jesus to the cross and it is that limit that allows drug dealers to prosper and drunk drivers to take out the innocent.

Our ability to choose love and righteousness also grants us the ability to choose sin and a destructive lifestyle – both for ourselves and others.  Unfortunately, many believers who have experienced the destructive side of free will have taken offense at God and have blamed him for their hurt or pain.  Their anger at God keeps them at arms length and prevents them from trusting him enough to discover the love, the healing and the freedom that are ours in Jesus.

There seem to be two basic categories of offense.  One is found in experiences where people feel as if justice has not been served. The offense is expressed in the statement that if God were just, bad things would not happen to good people and good things would not happen to bad people.  That struggle is not new to the hearts of righteous men.  Note a few excerpts from Ps. 73 below.

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.

This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. (Psm.73:1-17).

This was a cry for justice from a man who served the Lord and struggled in life while those who gave God no thought seemed to prosper. In the end, the man realized that justice would be served when these men stood before the judgment seat of God. There are times when God’s kindness calls the wicked to repentance and times when the prince of this world grants success to those who serve him. Ultimately, however, every cry for justice by the people of God will be met for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.

The second category of offense seems to lie in the arena of those who were victimized by hurtful or evil people.  Their cry is “If God is good, where was God when all that was being done to me?” Scripture also speaks to that question,

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Ps.34:18)

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Ps.147:3)

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. (Isa. 61:1)

You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry. (Ps.10:17)

God is not indifferent to the pain and victimization of his children. When hearts are broken and people are afflicted he is close and his purpose is to heal the hurts of those who have felt the sting of free will.  God did not introduce pain to this world. Man introduced pain when he said “yes” to Satan’s lies. Because of free will, God must stand aside in many cases while hurt and wrongs are inflicted.  But immediately, his heart is to bring healing and eventually justice.

Remember, Satan accused God in the Garden of Eden of withholding good from Adam and Eve when God was actually restraining sin and the inevitable consequences of rebellion.  Now Satan still accuses God of being the source of all pain and evil in the world even though Satan is that true source.  John tells us that Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil.”  Jesus came to forgive and deliver us from eternal suffering.  He came to heal broken hearts and set captives free.  He came to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast our demons, grant peace to the tormented, and call for social justice.  The things he came to remedy are the works of the devil not the Father.

The key to finding healing and freedom in this life is a resolute commitment to the truth that God is good, he is good all the time, and his heart is to always bring about good for his children even when they have been afflicted and wounded by the enemy and those who serve him.

To believe that God is indifferent or that he visits disease and torment on the children he loves for some “sanctifying” motive takes the heart and faith out of our prayers. How can we pray for healing, deliverance from suffering, or release from a Chinese Re-education Camp if we think God may have willed that for our lives?

For those who have been angry with God and have kept their distance for a hurt or a loss they once experienced in this fallen world, I hope you will reconsider the source of that pain. Your Father in heaven is not that source and so wants to hold you close and heal your broken heart.  My hope is that you will soon lay down the anger and the offense you have felt and surrender to the love of God.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1Jn. 3:8). Whatever Jesus healed, cast out, or overcame were works that the enemy had constructed on the earth.  In the opening salvo of Christ’s war on the devil, he announced that he had come to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, and to set captives free (Luke 4).  He then proceeded to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, heal every kind of sickness and physical condition, cast our demons, raise the dead and break the power of sin over countless lives.

However, sometime in the last 2000 years, a few prominent theologians decided that the very things Jesus opposed on the earth did not come from Satan but from God himself.   Somewhere along the line, theologians decided that since God is sovereign, everything that happens on this planet is his will and has been ordained by heaven.  That kind of theology makes God the author of rape, abortion, famine, war, cancer, birth defects, and crib death. That kind of theology makes God a heartless manipulator of people and circumstances.  However, John definitively says that God is love.

The truth is that there are countless things that happen on this planet that do not reflect the heart or the will of God for his people.  For instance, in his first letter to Timothy, Paul says, “This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim.2: 4) Paul clearly states that God’s desire is for every soul to be saved.  Scripture also clearly says that not all will be saved. In the matter of the world’s salvation, God’s desire will not be completely fulfilled.

Even, when the persistent acts and sins of men demand God’s righteous judgment, that is not what God rejoices to do.  In the book of Ezekiel, God says, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” declares the sovereign Lord.  “Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live” (Ezek. 18:23)?  He also says, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezek.22: 30). Sometimes, disaster comes because man leaves God no choice.  Like parents exercising tough love toward a rebellious child, God sometimes brings discipline or judgment.  But it is not his pleasure to do so.

The world is clearly full of tragedy.  In his sovereignty, God gave man free will and in doing so set limitations on himself in terms of how he would intercede in the affairs of men.  When mankind chooses violence over peace, adultery over faithfulness, abortion over parenthood, bitterness over forgiveness, deception over truth and rebellion over obedience, bad things happen and people are wounded in ways that were never in the heart of God for his people. When men act in such ways they open themselves and their families up to the work of Satan who comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

However we understand God and his heart for us, the clearest demonstration of his heart is found in Jesus. Jesus declared in John 14 that whoever has seen him (Jesus) has seen the Father.  Whatever Jesus did on the earth is an accurate reflection of the heart of God.  The heart of God, like the heart of God’s Son, is to heal, bless, set free, and eventually abolish death altogether.

When we blame God for the tragedies, the pain, the sorrows of life we misjudge his character and his heart for us.  That misconception is a great tool of the enemy to alienate people from a God who loves them and to limit our faith when we pray.  If we ever believe that God’s heart for his children is that they be raped, abused, murdered, ravaged by cancer, and stuck in crippling poverty, or die tragically then how will we pray against those things?  How will be believe that God is sitting on the edge of his throne waiting to arise and set his children free from the hate-filled works of the devil?  And yet, that is where he is.

The good news is that disease, disabilities, shattered emotions, broken families and all the rest of Satan’s work is not the heart of God for his people.  Jesus came to begin dismantling those works in individual lives and then in society as a whole.  The church has been commissioned to do what Jesus did and to continue to destroy those works with the love of God and the power of heaven.  God longs for us to call on him in faith to push back the borders of darkness through us.  He longs to display his power to heal, mend, and set free through us, just as he did through Jesus. Whenever we have it in our hearts to do the works that Jesus did then we can rest assured that heaven is ready to join us in the battle.  Be bold today.  Know that God is on your side when you push back in faith against the kingdom of darkness.

I have a 97 Honda Accord.  It’s paid for, gets good mileage, and most of the paint is still stuck to the body.  It runs good and the insurance is cheap. But, I think the front end may need to be aligned. It tends to drift to the right instead of staying in the center of the lane. One or both front wheels have turned a few degrees from the factory settings.

I also live in West Texas which is the galactic center of pickup-world.  Most of the pickups are new and shiny and pricy but a few are beat up, rusty, and old enough to smoke.  Occasionally you will see one of these “classics” running down the road with one front wheel pointing at a 45 degree angle from the other. That is seriously out of alignment. When that is going on the front end shakes, the tires get exceptionally hot and the tread wears off like a pencil eraser in the hands of a five year old.  At any speed, these pickup trucks put everyone around them in danger and may be life threatening to those actually along for the ride. In the automotive world, alignment is important. Both front wheels need to track together and need to be set to the “specs” of the one who designed it.

In the arena of spiritual warfare, alignment is even more critical.  Spiritual alignment is the metric that tells us whether of not we are tracking with God.   When our lives begin to diverge from the track God that has laid out for us, shaking occurs, friction increases, and control becomes an issue. If not corrected, we will end up in the ditch and probably take others with us. The primary strategy of the enemy is to get us out of alignment with God.  This strategy appeared first in the Garden when Satan convinced Adam and Eve to alter their view of God and, in doing so, they altered their alignment.  Rather than tracking with God they began to track with Satan.  In some ways it was a subtle realignment.  It was just a question of whether God was being totally fair with them or whether he could always be trusted to have their best interest at heart.

God had given them a clear commandment to steer away from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but they began to steer toward the tree as they came into agreement with Satan about God’s commands and character.  God had said that eating the fruit of that tree would be disastrous. Satan said it would be liberating and enlightening.  God had said that the fruit would leave them impoverished and touched by death. God said the barriers he had erected around that tree were for their safety.  Satan said the barriers were there to keep them away from the best things in life and that God was only bluffing about the death thing.  We all know the rest of the story.

By coming into agreement with Satan while rejecting the word of God, Adam surrendered the glory and dominion that God had given him.  Adam and Even had been given dominion (authority) over all of God’s works on the earth. When Adam aligned himself with Satan, and chose to act from that place, he forfeited his dominion and gave his authority over the earth to Satan – who then became the “prince of this world.”

The Old Testament prophet put is this way.  “How can two walk together unless they be agreed?”  The corollary could be stated, “If two are agreed, then they end up walking together.”  This verse implies equality, but Satan never grants equality to anyone. He is determined to rule. If we align ourselves with Satan, then he will eventually exercise his dominion and control over us.

Jesus, has taken away all of Satan’s rightful dominion over those who are in Christ. But we, like Adam, can give Satan dominion over a piece of real estate in our own lives when we come into agreement with him about that slice of our life.  When we refuse to repent of a persistent sin, refuse to acknowledge our responsibility, when we refuse to forgive, or when we put an ungodly relationship ahead of God, we give Satan authority in that part of our life. From that position, he can create havoc in all kinds of ways.

To confess is to agree with God.  It is to say what God says about Christ or a sin or any other truth that God has declared.  In the arena of spiritual warfare, we need to be sure that we stay in alignment with the Father. We need to be careful to say what he says about Jesus, about life, and about ourselves. Declarations from our mouths that are contrary to God’s word begin to move us from an aligned position with Christ toward a position aligned with Satan.  Sometimes, the misalignment is just a few degrees.  Then that minor vibration becomes the norm.  We don’t even notice it anymore.  Then a few more degrees of departure may occur, and then a few more. Before we know it, we have given authority to Satan to have access to our lives and family, and we are headed for the ditch.

The solution is always careful realignment based on a Holy Spirit scan that tells you where adjustments need to be made. A life of saying what God says about everything and quick repentance when we notice our misalignment disarms the enemy and restores our authority in Christ. Watch for spiritual vibrations, shaking, and wobbling or persistent pulls to the left or right.  Alignment or agreement with God in every area of your life, thoughts and words is a powerful weapon in the arsenal of divine weapons God has given you.

Anger. Bitterness. Unforgiveness.  These are common characteristics in hurting and broken believers.  They are bitter and broken because they have been hurt and their hurts refuse to heal because they are broken and bitter. Jesus had a great deal to say about these spiritual trip-wires in the lives of believers. So did the apostle Paul.

IN your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold. (Eph. 4:26-27).

Anger is a common response to the hurts and injustices of life.  Even Jesus felt the flush of anger.  Anger in itself is not sin.  What we do with the anger is what matters. We often keep our anger and our offense alive because we believe that our anger forms an invisible wall that protects us from those who would wound us again.  It makes us feel powerful rather than weak and vulnerable.  It makes us feel that justice is being served because we believe our anger is somehow exacting payment from those who wronged us.  Satan fuels those beliefs.

The truth is that anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness create a breech in the wall of our spiritual defenses that allows the enemy access to us and our families. In the passage listed above, Paul warns that holding on to our anger gives the devil a foothold or a topos – a Greek word with several interesting meanings. It means a place, a territory, a dwelling, or a sanctuary.  The Hebrew equivalent originally referred to old Canaanite shrines where demons were worshipped. Paul is literally warning that we when we keep our anger alive, we give Satan a place of dominion in our lives, even a high place where, in some way, he is worshiped.

Because Jesus triumphed over Satan, the only authority Satan has in the life of a believer is the authority that believer grants him by withholding areas of his life from the Lordship of Jesus.  When Adam and Eve came into agreement with Satan in the Garden, they forfeited the dominion God had given them over the planet and that dominion was surrendered to the devil. In our own lives, we can forfeit areas of dominion when we begin to walk in agreement with Satan rather than with God about sin.

Jesus is very clear that forgiving those who have wronged us is not optional.  Other than blasphemy of the Spirit, unforgiveness is the only thing in our lives that puts a hold on God’s flow of forgiveness towards us.  That unforgiving place in our life gives Satan access to harass and torment us.  It gives him a legal right to take up residence in our house, so to speak.  I’m not talking about possession. Jesus owns the house. I’m talking about oppression.  The house belongs to Jesus but Satan can garner authority to lease a room in our house on the basis of our actions and create a base from which demons can harass us year after year.

Paul’s point is that nurturing and maintaining anger creates a kind of sanctuary where Satan is honored (even worshiped) by our agreement with him.  When we keep our anger alive, we agree with Satan that it is our right to sit in judgment on another.  It is our right to withhold forgiveness and in many ways make the object of our anger pay for what he/she  has done to us.  It is our right to reject God’s command to forgive because our hurts and our wounds should be exempt from God’s commands.

Again, Satan fuels those thoughts so that for months, years and even decades, Christians harbor unforgiveness towards those who wounded them in their past.  As they do, the foothold that was given to Satan becomes a stronghold and that stronghold limits the blessings and destiny of God in the life the one who is keeping bitterness alive.

Anger and unforgiveness do not protect us or validate us.  Bitterness and resentment poison our own heart and our own relationships.  The very thing that we believe will keep pain out, opens the door for the demonic to come in.  God’s command to forgive is not primarily to make life easy and consequence free for hurtful people. Forgiveness is primarily for your blessing and your protection. It keeps the root of bitterness out of your heart, shuts the door on the enemy, and keeps the soil of your relationships free of emotional poisons so that love can take root and flourish.

For your sake and the sake of those you love, put away anger.  Forgive and give no place to the devil.  Remember, biblical forgiveness is simply a decision to no longer require payment for the wrongs done to you because that is what Jesus did for us.  It is not letting hurtful people back into your life or trusting the untrustworthy.  It is simply releasing judgment and payment to God.

Let God be your protector, your vindicator, your power and your strength – not anger and unforgiveness.