Ask the Pastor 31

How do we fight against the devil and demons?

In Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” As we have already noted, such things as demons do exist and they can appear in many different forms. They also have a certain amount of power which can be greater than anything that we possess. So, what chance do we have, what can we do to combat them? We know that our Lord cast demons out of people (Mt. 4:24; Mk 1:23-27) and we know that He commissioned His disciples to do the same (Mt. 10:1) and that they continued to do so in the Acts (Acts 8:7). We also know that great care must be taken as there were exorcists in Ephesus who attempted to do so and the demons turned on them and they fled naked and wounded (Acts 19:13-16). There are certain principles that we must always keep before us, particularly when dealing with demons. The first is, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (I Jn. 4:4). The second, all things are to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ e.g. (Acts 3:6). The third, is that our victory over all things is by virtue of the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14). Then finally, there is the need for prayer and for maturity in the things of God. For anyone to be able to avail themselves of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, they must first commit themselves to Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior.

Have questions about the Bible?Send them to Dr. Greg Koehn at gak4850@gmail.com and read the answer here in this article.