Daily Devotion |Day 263
“For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him [Jesus], and she came and fell at his feet . . . and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter” (Mark 7:25-26).
Spiritual warfare is an inescapable reality. You’re involved in it regardless of your beliefs. Spiritual warfare is no respecter of persons. Until you pass from this world, you are at war; so you might as well fight – to win. The alternative is to do nothing and end up defeated. Satan and his demons don’t care about your status: man, woman, child, adult, rich, poor, good or bad. They will attack at any opportunity.
If you are a Christian, the stakes are even higher. The day God translated you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13), satan was put on notice. That day, you formally enlisted in Jesus’ army, and you joined the Church in her assault on the gates of hell (Matthew 16:18). This means you are soldier. You therefore need to be more vigilant. Today, we’re going to look at two things you should keep in mind about spiritual warfare.
A Gentile woman came to Jesus for help. He young daughter had an unclean spirit. When she heard about Jesus, she begged Him to cast out the spirit. Initially, Jesus reminded her that His priority was to attend to the needs of Israelites. But the woman wouldn’t take “No” for an answer. She was willing to take whatever help she could get for her daughter. No help was too small for her. Impressed by her determination and faith, Jesus told her to go because (based on her faith) the demon had left her daughter. We will pause here and highlight two points for our consideration.
1. To be effective in spiritual warfare, you need to identify your target (i.e. know what you’re dealing with). The woman in the story could not cast out the demon by herself. But she had one thing going for her. She correctly discerned that a demon was at work in her daughter’s life. As a Christian you can correctly discern spirits. In fact, the Bible takes it for granted that you can (1 John 4:1 and 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). Discerning correctly the spirit you’re dealing with is key to victory in spiritual warfare. Otherwise, you will be flying blind; and you don’t want that.
2. Let your faith remain steady. Demons will know if your faith is shaky. They can tell if you’re not sure of yourself or if you’ve given up. Demons submit only to steady faith. The woman demonstrated this kind of faith. She looked for Jesus. When she found Him, it seemed at first that Jesus wasn’t interested. But she didn’t get discouraged. She dug deep and found a reason to still believe. Jesus was amazed. In the end, notice that Jesus did not even pray for her or her daughter. He didn’t cast out the demon, either. The demon simply left based on the woman’s steady faith and her refusal to quit. Jesus said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter” (Mark 7:29).
Spiritual warfare takes steady faith and discernment of spirits. Train yourself to be an effective warrior for Christ.
Blessing: May the Lord command His blessing upon you and your household. Amen.
For further study: Ephesians 6:10-20
Higher-Self Realities 