"nor give place to the devil."
Ephesians 4:27 (NKJV)
"Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, AND I DO NOT WANT YOU TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH DEMONS."
1 Corinthians 10:20 (NKJV)
• If you had accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, born again; it means you are a covenant child, you are in a covenant with God in your relationship with Him.
THE power of resurrection is in you!
- By covenant you are entitled to live in divine health, be freed from demonic oppressions, experience marital success, enjoyed progress in all your pursuits, lived above sin, that is, being holy, AND enjoyed whatever good the Kingdom offers.
- Some claimed they are believers, God's children, but they are not enjoying the benefits of the kingdom.
YOU consciously or unconsciously determine what happens to you in Life.
YOU choose the kind of Life you want to live intentionally or unintentionally.
YOU also choose what you want to be in life by agreeing with or rejecting the plans and programmes of God for your Life. - Human beings are free moral beings, the power to choose is given to mankind, thus you decide and choose what to do and what not to; what to accept and what not to; all is about your choice as a person.
• Truth: A number of people experience oppression and afflictions, not because of the strength of the devil, but the choice of the one afflicted.
ALTHOUGH the choice may be out of ignorance but it is a choice anyway!
- You can choose to live above sin, sickness, poverty, failure, demonic oppression and afflictions, AND whatever challenge of Life.
- We are in the world of darkness, where the devil rules and operates (2 Corinthians 4:4).
- The choice you make through the Word of God determines the type of life you live as a believer: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, THAT I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING; THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).
- You determine what happens to you in Life by acceptance or rejection.
WHATEVER is not part of God's Plan or Will for your life should be rejected.
• How do people give place to the devil:
I. By Living in Sin
- When you habitually live in Sin, you give the devil an access, opportunity, to operate in your Life.
SIN gives a legal ground, moral right, to the devil to operate in the life of whoever indulges in it.
SIN is an identity of the devil in the life of his victims.
SIN opens doors for the devil, his demons, and the human beings who are his agents, to operate or have a place in person's life. - If, as an example, you engaged in a sexual SIN, you give an opportunity to demons to have a place in your Life, finances, home, career, or whatever.
- When a person who claims to be a believer lives holy, such is not helping God or their pastors—but the self.
II. Immaturity
- Failure to grow in Christlike character, living carnally, allowing the flesh to rule or control your Life, could give a place to the devil in your Life.
- A carnal or fleshly-ruled Christian lives to gratify or satisfy the flesh, wants to belong in the world, and such is like an unbeliever—a natural man: "for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, ARE YOU NOT CARNAL AND BEHAVING LIKE MERE MEN [walking according to men]?" (1 Corinthians 3:3).
READ: 1 Corinthians 2:14 - Immaturity or carnality is one of the ways to give a place to the devil in your Life as a Believer.
III. Bitterness and Hatred
- When you have bitterness against someone, or hate the person in your heart, you give an opportunity or occasion to the devil to hold it or use it against you—for he is the accuser of the brethren, he accuses the believers to God (Revelation 12:10)
READ: 1 John 3:15 - When you do not let go of or forgive others who offended you, you are indirectly holding yourself down from progress.
- Unforgiving or hatred gives an opportunity to the devil to operate in a believer's Life because Unforgiving is one of his properties (Matthew 5:23,24; 1 John 4:20).
IV. Disobedience, indifferent to the Word of God, or self indulgence
- When you are indifferent to God's Word, both the written Word and and the one impressed on your heart by the Holy Spirit, or the instructions being given to you through His servants; You give an access to the devil in your Life.
- Disobedience, partial obedience, indifference to God's Word, and self indulgence are some of the ways the devil uses in gaining an access to a Believer's Life because they are all products of rebellion.
- If you lived in obedience to God's Word in the Bible and the instructions given you by the Holy Spirit as an individual;
YOU experience His blessings, favour, peace, and progress in your Christian LIFE, that is, in all your endeavour—undertaking or venture.
V. Satan's property in your possession.
- If you claimed that you are born-again, thus whatever belongs to the devil should not be found with you.
- If you had any power, gift, or WHATEVER given you by the devil before you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour should be renounced NOW that you are in Christ;
AND any material that belongs to the kingdom darkness, the devil's kingdom, should be destroyed—such should not be found with you again, especially now that you claimed you have received Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
- And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.
- ALSO, MANY OF THOSE WHO HAD PRACTICED MAGIC BROUGHT THEIR BOOKS TOGETHER AND BURNED THEM IN THE SIGHT OF ALL. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver."
Acts 19:18,19 (NKJV)
- What are you still doing with that magical book, charm bracelet, lucky charm, and other things that belong to the dark kingdom? "AND WHAT AGREEMENT HAS THE TEMPLE OF GOD WITH IDOLS? FOR YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
- Now that you are of Christ you do not need whatever belongs to the devil in your custody again.
ANY instrument Or property that belongs to the devil which you have with you would give him and his demons an access into your LIFE. - If you were a member of a particular secret society, occultic group, or witchcraft society, and now that you have switched your allegiance, you have pledged your allegiance to Christ Jesus:
- WHAT are you still doing with the instruments of the group which you claimed to have renounced?
- WHAT are you doing with the gifts or power given you in the witchcraft coven or the occultic group which you formally belong and claimed you have renounced: the power or gift given you in the Marine kingdom, magical power from the witch doctor, a voodoo priest, or an herbalist, that symbol of power gotten from your late father or mother, and whatever?
- Keeping any of the above mentioned items with you would give an access to the devil in your LIFE.
- Wherever such things are kept are always infested with demons, the presence of such items attracted demons and the activities of the kingdom of darkness.
WHEN you keep such things in your home, or wherever you are, you cannot but be having the activities of the demons there. - They would always be there to work and disturb your peace because you have their properties with you—and besides, you have changed your allegiance and pledge it to Jesus Christ.
- If you treasured what they gave to you, you use it as a protection, or a defense, you still use such a thing to fight for yourself; it means you have not been fully delivered, the devil would still have a hold over your LIFE.
NOTE: If you had any supernatural gifting, you could see into the spiritual realm; or you used to experience supernatural manifestations, even before you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour AND received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
THE sources of such supernatural manifestations, powers, or gifts are not God. THEY Belong to the devil!
- For you to be free from the harassment and infestation of demons and their activities, you have to do away with whatever belongs to the devil, all have to be destroyed and renounced, especially now that you are no longer with him—the kingdom of darkness (Acts 19:18,19).
• You will not fail in Jesus' name.
Peace!
TO BE CONTINUED