But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...
1 Peter 3:15
Showing posts with label The Demon-Possessed Man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Demon-Possessed Man. Show all posts
Luke 8:38-39 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
This is my Weight Watchers story: In December of 2006 I knew I needed to lose weight. I had tried Atkins and the diet pills, but nothing seemed to work - surprise, surprise. So, I went to my husband and said - can I join Weight Watchers? I knew it would cost us a little bit of money up front, but thought if I just did it slow and steady it would be healthy and I would have the help to get the weight off. Danny said "yes" and on January 2nd, 2007 I strolled into my first Weight Watchers meeting. I listened to the program, I followed it exactly and slowly and steadily the weight began to fall off. By May of the same year, I had lost 40 pounds and had reached goal to become a lifetime member. Six weeks later, I had lost a total of 45 pounds and started working for Weight Watchers. I wanted to share with other people how they can enjoy life so much better by being healthy. I've been with the company for about a year and a half and have had the opportunity to see several people reach their goal in weight loss. It's so exciting to see the change in them.
Jesus had changed the life of the demon-possessed man. He had performed a miracle and helped this man get his life back. The man wanted to stay with Jesus and be a part of His life. And that's exactly what Jesus wanted, but not like that. The way for us to be a part of His life is to share Him with others. Jesus told him to tell others what had happened and that Jesus can give them a new life too. The man was so excited to go tell others about Jesus.
When things in our life change for the better, it's human nature to want to share that with someone else. Why are we so reluctant to share Jesus? Is He not the BEST thing that's ever happened to us? We'll tell everyone about the sale at Penney's or the newest movie that's coming out in the theaters or who we think did the best on American Idol, but we won't mention how we fell on our knees and Jesus forgave us and we woke up with a brand new outlook on life. Oh to be like the demon-possessed man who, when touched by the Master, committed to sharing how wonderful Jesus is with the world...
Luke 8:36-37 Those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been made well. And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to leave them, for they were gripped with great fear; and He got into a boat and returned. When my oldest daughter was in 8th grade, our church youth group took a missions trip to Atlanta, Georgia. I volunteered to be a chaperone - and we spent a week in the middle of summer helping one of our sister churches plant a new church in Atlantic Station. As you might imagine, planting a new church is hard work, but the preacher that started it had a burden for this city. There's a lot of labor involved, a lot of money and a lot of people needed. We were mopping floors, handing out tracts, throwing "come see our church" block parties. One of our tasks while we were in Atlanta was to be in one of the new apartment complexes near where the church was going to be and hand out chick-fil-a breakfast sandwiches at 7 AM to people going to work. We sat right outside of the parking garage attached to the apartments and stopped people on their way and gave them this free sandwich. Who wouldn't want a nice hot FREE chick-fil-a sandwich on their way to work, with a flyer announcing the new church. Believe it or not, some people actually would not accept the sandwich. They said, 'no', and kept on driving. Go figure.
The people of Gerasene were much like the Atlanta Ney sayers. They had heard that Jesus had healed the demon-possessed man and when they came to see - they found it was true. The man was there - in his right mind - standing with Jesus. Instead of trying to find out what it was that Jesus had done, why the demons had left the man, they asked Him to leave.
When the people of Atlanta said "no", we didn't chase them into the streets and throw the sandwiches and flyers into their open windows, pelting them with chicken and buns - we just wished them a good day and they went on their way.
Jesus didn't argue with the Gerasene people, He didn't beg them to let Him stay, didn't threaten to put the demons back - He simply left. One of the gifts that God gives us is free will. We have the option to choose whether or not we will believe who Jesus is and accept it to be true. We can have faith in His promise and stand firm in the fact that if we choose to follow Him, we will, one day, meet Him face to face and it will be more glorious than we can imagine. We can also choose to not believe in Jesus. When faced with the marvel of His creation, the majesty of the earth He made, the peace that passes all understanding, we can simply choose to ignore Him and, in essence, asking Him to leave. But He will be waiting, always waiting, for you to ask Him to come in.
Luke 8:34-35 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. The people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened.
It's the car chase scene. We've probably seen it in most action films out there. The bad guy has escaped and he's stolen someones' car and is getting away. The good guy stops someone driving by and takes the car to chase after the murderer so that he will never kill again. The next scene is usually the owner of said car - cursing at the good guy. It's true what they say - the good guy finishes last.
That's certainly the case in what happened to Jesus here in Luke 8. Jesus has called the demons out of this poor guy and sent them into the pigs and the pigs have died. The guys who make their money off of raising these pigs, are not all too happy about the fact that their income has just taken a nose dive into the river. Parallel to the owner of the car cursing the good guy.
These men, took their version of the story and relayed it to the people in and around the city. And like many people who get their story from the media instead of actually seeing it happen, they receive a biased opinion of what actually took place. It was not, "Jesus saved this man from the torture that he'd been saddled with for so long. Jesus, all powerful, has commanded these evil demons away and they went into pigs and drowned. The man is now cured." It was probably more like this, "This Jesus consorts with the devil and they plan together. They have overtaken our herds and killed them all, leaving us with nothing." Why else would the people be in such fear of Jesus when they arrived and saw the demons gone?
How many times are we so wrapped up in what's happening to us, that we can't see what God may be trying to accomplish in our situation. Do we see losing a $10 bill out of our purse a reason to rejoice, probably not. But did we get to see the single mother who prayed for some bread and a gallon of milk picking it up in the parking lot an hour later? Phillipians 4:4 - Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! In all things give thanks - we don't know what He has planned, but be assured - it is great.
Luke 8:33 And the demons came out of the man and entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
In 1998, Denzel Washington starred in the film "Fallen". It has been awhile since I've seen it, but it certainly left a mark on my idea of demon possession. It was thestory of a demon who was inside a serial killer who was executed and then the demon travels from person to person. All the while, Denzel is studying anything and everything on demons to try and kill this one.
When we look at this verse, it is very cut and dry. Jesus said go to the pigs, and the demons went to the pigs. There was no back talk, there was no demon who lagged behind and decided to stay in the man - at the command of Jesus - each demon left and went into the pigs.
This is where we, as humans, start to fade from the realization of what we are actually capable of doing. Poor Denzel, try as he might in that movie, would never be able to get rid of that demon on his own. We see in verse 33 that the demons are called out, simply, by Jesus. A task we would never be able to complete by ourselves. When will we realize that we HAVE to fully rely on Jesus?
Luke 8:32 Now there was a herd of many swine feeding there on the mountain; and the demons implored Him to permit them to enter the swine. And He gave them permission.
Ted Steinberg wrote a small article about our friend 'the pig'. In the early 1800's, pigs used to wonder the streets of New York, other cities as well, but we'll stick to this well-populated city. The pigs would walk amongst the people eating garbage and waste and those people that were not as well to do as others would go out and kill the animals and feed their families. While the pigs did clean up some of the garbage, they added their own garbage when they would defecate on the sidewalks. There were many times they tried to ban the pigs from the streets but were set back by protesters - mostly housewives and the less wealthy. Then in the mid-1800's, cholera set in. The disease spread and was found to be caused by unclean conditions. Nothing is more unclean than pig poop in the streets. The police formed a troop that marched the pigs uptown, instilling a ban in the city of the pigs and clearly dividing city and country.
While we see the cute little piglets and mud-cooling, pink-skinned bacon givers in a better light today, this article gives us a pretty good analogy to the choice made by Jesus to throw the demons into the swine.
At first glance, the pigs seemed to be doing a service to the city - cleaning up the streets of its garbage. Satan always looks good at first glance. This is why it is often so tempting to step into sin - it seems good on the surface. The people thought the pigs were a help to them, it was providing them food for their families. The results of sin can falsely seem like a good answer at the time - a lie to save yourself from being embarrassed, or a slip-up on your taxes so your not financially burdened. But as time wore on - decades later - the urine and everything else that pigs naturally get rid of, caused disease. The same with sin. The natural decay that sin causes soon leads to a deadly result. The only option in both scenarios is to rid the place of the problem. They drove the pigs out of the city. Are we ready to drive the sin out of our lives?
Luke 8:30-31 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
Well, it's done. My oldest daughter got her driving permit this weekend. Her dad took her down to the DMV and she passed her test. She was so excited. The rule is already established though - that when she does drive, it will only be with daddy. Because I don't think I can handle that stress. I figured if I just let Danny have that responsibility, I know she'll learn how to be a good driver and that will be something left in his hands and I won't have to worry about it. When the time comes, she'll just be able to drive and I'll deal with it then.
I guess I have the same attitude with the book of Revelations. I've mentioned this before - I'm not an avid reader of this book. I don't understand it, it stresses me out and makes me anxious - so I've decided I'm just going to let God handle it and I won't have to worry about it. When the time comes, He'll be in control and I'll deal with it then.
How does this all link up to the above verse? Because even the demons know what's going to happen to them. I had to delve a little into the book of Revelations to see what they're talking about. Why would they beg Jesus not to send them into the Abyss? How would they even know that to be an option? Jesus doesn't mix any words up here. He doesn't sugar-coat anything or soften the blow. There will come a day when God's army will fight against Satan and his demons - God tells us the outcome, He wins. I want to make sure I'm on the winning team.
Luke 8:28-29 Seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me." For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
This verse clarifies that Jesus was not consorting with the devil when He meets up with these demons. The demons know His power and what the possible outcome could be. They go to Him for mercy. It's true that those who don't believe Jesus was who He said, will use whatever reason they can find to knock Him down, but the truth remains - the demons KNOW who Jesus is and they are begging for their existence.
A demon dwelling in a body doesn't need food. It doesn't need water. It doesn't need an arm without a broken bone. It doesn't need any of those things. We, as humans, know that we need these things to keep our bodies functioning properly. Food and water to maintain energy, and making sure our muscles and bones stay healthy to keep our bodies in motion. If we don't get these things, we have nerves and pain sensors that let us know our body needs repair - the pain doesn't stop until we fix our body. When the demons break the chains and shackles - they don't feel that, but I bet the man whose body their using does. The heat of the desert won't deter a demon, but the man who is dehydrated and swollen knows what his body is missing and he has no control over it. I can't imagine the pain and agony that this man who is demon-possessed went through. Surely he still feels the pain even though he couldn't stop the action of his own body.
While these verses are talking about actual demons, there are demons of our own making that we allow in our lives as well. The little sins that we let take over and while it's happening, we don't seem to have any control over it - but when it's done and we've laid it on the cross - we can still feel the pain and the scars and the aftermath of what that sin has done.
Luke 8:26-27 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.And when He came out onto the land, He was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs.
I am not a horror movie fan. I've seen the first "Halloween" years ago and saw a few of the "Nightmare on Elm Street"s but never really enjoyed them. A few years back my husband said, "Hey, let's watch "The Ring", giving in - I did. That did if for me - NO MORE. Why do people watch movies that you have to sit through with your eyes covered half the time and then spend the rest of the night dreaming about it - in a bad way.
This leads me to today's post. Why choose a topic I clearly would rather not go into? God takes the things that challenge us, and uses it for His glory - I'm hoping that's what will come of this.
Demonic possession can literally take the person completely out of control. It says so in this verse - I'm not talking about what Hollywood does. It says the man who was demon - possessed did not wear clothes and was living in the tombs. Common sense in a human is to put on clothes to protect our bodies - and to live among the living - not the dead. This man had lost complete control of his body.
Jesus did not go seeking this man - when He arrived at this city, the man came up out of the tombs to Him. Remembering that this man had no control of his body - it was the demons who went up to Jesus. Why? Why would they come out to this Man? Because the demons know that Jesus is the Son of God. There were no other crowds forming as He entered the city - no one else running to touch the Almighty - how sad to think that, then and today, the demons know and fear God and yet His own creations (us) turn in disbelief.
w I needed to lose weight. I had tried Atkins and the diet pills, but nothing seemed to work - surprise, surprise. So, I went to my husband and said - can I join Weight Watchers? I knew it would cost us a little bit of 
money up front, but thought if I just did it slow and steady it would be healthy and I would have the help to get the weight off. Danny said "yes" and on January 2nd, 2007 I strolled into my first Weight Watchers meeting. I listened to the program, I followed it exactly and slowly and steadily the weight began to fall off. By May of the same year, I had lost 40 pounds and had reached goal to become a lifetime member. Six weeks later, I had lost a total of 45 pounds and started working for Weight Watchers. I wanted to share with other people how they can enjoy life so much better by being healthy. I've been with the company for about a year and a half and have had the opportunity to see several people reach their goal in weight loss. It's so exciting to see the change in them. 
