And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark,
he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon
and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to
him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the
next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he
went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out
demons. (Mark 1:35-39)
I would condense my
story to the conclusion that God did not allow me to escape the issue. Demons
and church folk were mixed together in my ministry, so I had to seek God about
his will about both.
My first point of
testimony is that Jesus wants his church to be as “devoted to prayer” (Acts
2:42) as he was while here in the flesh. He still wants “this gospel of the
kingdom” to “be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all
nations” (Matthew 24:14). And because, “whoever makes a practice of sinning is
of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning”, we are to
tell everyone that “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works
of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
My second point of
testimony is that the majority of church folk have not wanted any of these
three if they required their participation. They may agree with the first two
(prayer and preaching the gospel) but don’t see the necessity of doing these
things themselves let alone uniting with the church to do them. And even more
people do not want to consider whether they or anyone else needs help being
freed from demonic oppression.
One of the primary
ways God has led me to understand the necessity of helping people experience
freedom from the devil’s work is through the warnings we are given in Scripture
about what Satan and his demons are trying to do to us. Here’s a summary:
1.
When Paul told us to “be angry and do not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger,” the same sentence continued, “and
give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27).
2.
Paul warned the Corinthians that if they did not
quickly deal with forgiving a man who was under church discipline, “he may be
overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” and the church would be “outwitted by Satan”.
And then he said something that is not so true for church folk today, “for we
are not ignorant of his designs” (II Corinthians 2:5-11).
3.
In Ephesians 6:10-20, Paul gives us that amazing
description of “the whole armor of God”. When he says, “Put on the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (vs 11),
it also means that if a church does not put on the whole armor of God, we won’t
be able to stand against the devil’s schemes!
4.
When Peter told us, “Be sober-minded; be
watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking
someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8), it is because if we do not be sober-minded
and watchful we will find the devil devouring people in our churches, the very
thing we see left, right, and center!
My simple premise
is that, if Satan and his demons could not do these things to church folk, the
New Testament wouldn’t need to give us warnings about them! The reason we are
warned is because the danger is real. Most churches have people who have
already lost the battle with the powers of darkness and keep it all to
themselves because some big-name preacher told everyone Satan and demons can’t
do anything to believers.
My response is that
if Jesus spent so much focus on destroying the works of the devil, and the
Apostles warned us about how Satan is still doing his work against the church,
then we must proclaim freedom in Christ from any kind of demonic oppression and
be willing to join God in his work when people want to be delivered as Jesus’
promised.
As I’ve shared
this, I have also been praying my way through it, proclaiming to you the good
news of great joy that we have a Savior who came to destroy the works of the
devil, and inviting you to experience freedom in Christ no matter what is
holding you back. Each of us either needs all three of these shared with us for
our own freedom in Christ, or we have these things and need to pray and share
all the good news with others around us.
My conclusion is, “Now
the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”
(2 Corinthians 3:17). Let’s make sure that is the way people in our churches
are experiencing God.
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
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