Cast Out The Devil (1)

 James 4: 7

"Submit yourselves therefore to God, and fight against Satan and he will flee from you!"

Now is the time of the end, an era where the power of the devil is so oppressive, more and more children of God are falling into suffering as a result of the attacks of the evil one. The Bible is clearly stated that every child of God has the power to "heal the sick" and "cast out demons".

But what is happening among Christians today is so sad, when someone is possessed by a demon or suffers of illness instead of casting out the demon, or laying on hands to heal the illness, but instead inviting the pastor to pray healing or exorcising evil spirits.

The church was confused with the heresy that said only pastors could cast out demons or pray for the sick.

There is even a pastor from a charismatic church who is quite well-known, when a congregation asks him to pray for "curse breaking", instead telling the congregation to go to another branch church of the charismatic church on the grounds with reason that "I don't have the gift of casting out demons”.

The example above is a picture of the state of the church today, the words of Jesus about the power that has been given to all believers, changed by the church to become, "only those who are gifted to cast out demons can do exorcism".

If we examine deeply about the gifts of the Spirit, then we will not get the gift of casting out demons.

As I said in Story about Heaven, that the devil has been defeated by Jesus Christ. Jesus' death on the cross to atone for the sins of mankind who believed in Him resulting in him having to come down to the realm of the dead.

The arrival of Jesus to the world of the dead, shocked the devil and his entire army, and once again Satan had to suffer defeat. If previously after being expelled from heaven

Satan still controlled the world, then Jesus' arrival in hell, resulted in Satan having to hand over the keys to hell.

So now Satan is like a "roaring toothless lion". And Jesus going to heaven after rising from the dead also brought Satan and his followers to be displayed as prisoners of war.

The Bible is clear in Romans 16:20

"May God, the source of peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of Jesus, our Lord, be with you"

The devil should be under the feet of God's child or "believer", Jesus never said that He gave the power to cast out demons and heal diseases only to certain people, that power was given to all believers.

As followers of Jesus, we should accept all that Jesus has promised us, as we know that Jesus' death on the cross has freed us from:

 Isaiah 53: 5 - NT

"But he was wounded for our sins, and whacked for our crimes. He was punished so that we might be saved, because we were healed by his stripes."

The verse above explains that the Lord Jesus has delivered us from everything:

1. Sins

2. All Curses

3. All Sicknesses

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He not only gave the great commission of preaching the gospel, but also gave power to His disciples.

This power is what has been lost in the life of Christianity today, in contrast to the early church which practiced a lot of the teachings that Jesus gave, so today's Christians rely heavily on the church or pastors, if they experience difficulties in their lives, especially those related to exorcising the devil or demons.

Many Christians blame God for all the events or misfortunes that befell them. It is as if God is the cause of all these misfortunes.

The children of God screamed and asked Why God? why did this happen to me / my family? What did I do wrong? Why did you let all this happen?

Or they even blame their husband, wife, children or other people for the misfortune that befell them. No, my brother. Our enemy is not God, nor human, our enemy is all the devil.

God has never put disease in your body, God has never made your business go bankrupt, your loved ones are hit by accidents, your household is in chaos, your children are rebellious children. No brother .... God has never planned evil in our lives.

But sometimes He deliberately allowed evil to happen in the lives of believers. Why does God allow all that is evil to happen in the lives of believers...?

Yes, God allows everything to happen in the lives of believers, because the person himself causes all of that to happen.

If everyone wants to seek God in his life, wants to understand the laws given by God, then misfortune will be avoided from that person.

Heaven has a book of laws called "the Bible", all things about God and "heavenly laws" are in the Bible. Many believers, instead of reading heavenly laws, or looking for the legislators, their Bibles are left dusty in their cupboards.

Now, if someone violates the laws of heaven, and does not immediately ask for forgiveness for all of his sins, then the devil has the right to accuse that person before GOD The FATHER.

And God as a God who is just, will not defend us if indeed we ourselves are fully aware of doing all the actions that violate the laws of heaven.

For example, if you do the act of "worshiping other gods", for example by going to a psychic, witch doctor or similar demonic follower, even if you only read horoscope forecasts in newspapers, magazines or other places, then you are already under a curse.

Because when you do the things above, the devil will immediately sue you in front of GOD the FATHER so that the curse will apply to your life. (According to heaven's criminal and civil law books).

Jesus, as our defender in heaven, cannot defend you with an excuse that you are His followers, because if we are His followers of course we will not do the things above. Because there is no defense, we must be punished with a curse from God.

What if I repent, and ask for forgiveness of sins? If you do, then the curse will automatically disappear, because the blood of Jesus has replaced your sins and mine. (Note: you must also forgive the sins of others).

The problem is, many Christians do not routinely ask God for forgiveness of sins. (Of course, if we ask for forgiveness of sins, we must specify what sins we have committed, and we repent and do not commit those sins again.)

 John 8:44

"The devil is your father and you want to do the desires of your father. He is a murderer from the beginning and does not live in truth, because in him there is no truth. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own accord, because he is a liar and the father of lies. "

The devil is a thief and a murderer. The devil does not come to our house with a gun or knife and kill us like the scenes in the movie.

The devil came with all his tricks to steal our money, our health, our joy, our homes, our time, our children. He came with sickness and other misfortunes in our lives with the ultimate goal of inviting us to join him in disco dancing with him in hell. Because from the beginning he was the "father of lies"

 1 John 1: 5 - NT

"This is the message that we have heard from His Son and which we convey to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."

God is light, in the light there is no darkness. The light will make the darkness visible. When you turn on the light, the room that was dark becomes visible.

Likewise, Satan, he is a prince of darkness, and he dislikes light the most, because it can expose him, make him visible. Light and dark cannot possibly be united.

When we are baptized, we are declared as citizens of heaven, meaning that we do not belong to the world anymore, and after we are baptized in the Spirit, we officially belong to Jesus.

We have also been transferred to become citizens of heaven. It means we are children of light. That is what Jesus' words meant that he came to expose the devil and his deeds.

The devil should not be able to touch us or make us suffer, but why are many of God's children whose lives are always depressed and suppressed, frustrated ... because the peace, joy and joy from God that has been given to us is snatched away or stolen by the devil. How did it happen?

Don't we "children" of Almighty God, citizens of heaven, have Jesus who is exalted above all names that are above, on earth and under the earth. Have we not been given the power to cast out the devil?

The answer is in ourselves, have we exercised our rights as children of God? Have we practiced all that God commands us?

Just like a soldier who goes to the battlefield and has been equipped with various weapons, but when he meets an enemy who is old and doesn't have any weapons (toothless lion), the soldier runs scary.

Sad isn't it .... Well, that's what you and I did every day, instead of casting out the devil who makes us suffer, we run scrupulously to hear the devil's name being spoken. What a mess ... said the devil ...

 Ephesians 6:11

Put on the full suit of armor of God, so that you may stand against the tricks of Satan;