Saturday – Open Topic

Reading – Luke 4:31-44

Highlight Verse:

“But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭4‬:‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It was a very hot day today.

The idea of eating my lunch in my work van either in the heat or running the engine for an hour did not appeal to me.

There’s a long story involving crazy traffic that somehow directed me to the Raising Canes across the freeway from where I wanted to go. Oh well, it’s cheap good food with good AC and free refills of good iced tea.

When I got in line, a rough and dirty looking man had just come in.

I could barely understand anything he said but it was apparent that he was looking for a free meal.

I just wanted to enjoy some good food in peace and to play some games on my phone. I didn’t want to get involved.

So, yes, of course, I ordered two meals instead of one and hoped he would take his away.

He sat across from me.

And talked nearly non-stop.

With his slurred voice and all the noise in the restaurant, about all I could make out was, that he just got a roofing job, and – he was a man of faith, though I couldn’t really tell what kind of faith.

What little I could understand did not strike me as coherent. I tried to listen but not very well.

He did not seem to be completely in his right mind.

In the not-too-distant past, many would have said he was demon possessed.

In his case, I don’t think so. But there was something very wrong there.

So, are demons real?

Yes! Today’s verse is only one of many where Jesus deals with demons.

Am I afraid of them?

No. I am protected by the blood of Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Those demons have no power over me unless I give it to them.

I choose not to.

I am not someone who sees demons behind every corner. But I recognize that there is a spiritual realm in which good and evil do battle.

We can join that battle in prayer and fasting

I could go on and explain the spiritual realm further but in this brief format, the most important points are that it is real and we need not fear that realm if we are equipped through the Holy Spirit and oppose the evil with the power of Jesus.

How have you fought evil in the past?
How do you recognize when a problem is from the spiritual realms?