SCRIPTURE: Luke 11:24-26
Is Jesus describing how spirits actually operate, or is this a parable?
I see it as somewhere in-between, somewhat true and somewhat a parable.
Jesus is describing what happens when a person is freed from the grip of some evil bondage.
For example, an alcoholic who quits alcohol — there are both spirits (demons) and spirits (drinks) involved.
After they quit, unless they get their own hearts in order, they are vulnerable to a lapse, and often that lapse is worse (7 times?) than before.
When we reject the Enemy, he doesn’t quit, he comes back stronger, bolder.
“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:13)
And unless our heart is swept clean (confession), put in order (faith and commitment), and occupied by a greater power (God, Jesus, Spirit), we will be overcome by the Enemy.
** Look at the Twelve Steps of AA” as a model for being swept clean and put in order with God’s help **
Where am I under attack, where am I vulnerable, where am I in the grip of evil?
Where am I powerless, and in need of a power greater than myself?
Have I invited the “Stronger One” (Luke 11:22) to clean and put my life in order… or am I an easy target for the “strong man” (Luke 11:21)?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for possessing my life, for helping me ‘clean house’, and helping me to order my life around You. I still have a long way to go, but thank You for taking charge!
I agree, it is not good that we do things on our own. As hard as it is, we need to do better at building community support among us as Jesus followers.
The critical qualifier is GOOD community. It is precisely because of those unhealthy ways of meeting our needs that community itself can become toxic. The value of AA is that it offers a community of support at their regular meetings, where people who know they have issues come together. The challenge – and one that we need to work on – is how to form this kind of real community in a church. It’s also difficult because of our busy lives, trying to schedule regular meetings that allow us to grow that deep. Unless it is an urgent, desperate need – as with a struggling alcoholic – too many other things take priority in our schedules.
And we become easy targets for the Enemy.
The ‘evil spirits’ that inhabit us, gain access because they fulfill legitimate human needs. If we don’t learn to fulfill those needs in a way that is healthy for ourselves, and the people around us, and is God honouring the needs continue to clamour to be met and grow stronger the longer they are unmet. One of the values of good community is to have accountability and sounding boards, because the difference between expressing needs and fulfilling them in the way God designed us or in unhealthy ways can be subtle at first. Eventually the path we have chosen becomes more obvious, at least to those around us. As, for example, in the case of an alcoholic who often doesn’t know there is a problem until well after those around them are aware of it.