Making Demonization Worse
There are a number of mistakes that well-intentioned people can make when dealing with demons. The first mistake is to fail to recognize that demons have a legal right to be where they are and controlling what they control. The second mistake is to attempt to deal with a demon in your own power. Read the following account from the Book of Acts, ch. 19:
11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”
14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”
16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.
18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
- Refusing to face the bad things that have happened to me (denial of reality).
- Escaping from the real world by daydreaming, TV, movies, computer or video games, music, reading, fantasy etc.
- Withdrawing from people to avoid rejection (emotional insulation).
- Reverting (going back) to a less threatening time of life (regression).
- Taking out frustrations on others (displaced anger).
- Blaming otthers for my problems (projection).
- Making excuses for poor behaviour (rationalization). i.e. I am lazy
Lord
I confess that I have defended myself wrongly by _____________.
I thank You for Your forgiveness
and I commit myself to trusting in You
to defend and protect me.
- distant or disinterested.
- insensitive or uncaring.
- stern or demanding.
- passive or cold.
- absent or too busy for me.
- never satisfied with what I do, impatient or angry.
- mean, cruel or abusive.
- trying to take all the fun out of life.
- controlling or manipulative.
- condemning or unforgiving.
- nit-picking, nagging or perfectionist.