What do you know?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!
(Mark 5:1-8 (NIV))

Don’t you find this story just a little ironic?

Think about that for a moment. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He came to overcome the powers of sin and death. He came to defeat Satan and his demons. He came into this world to wage a battle for the very soul of each and every one of us, yet those whom He came to save did not recognize Him. Yet, those whom He came to wage war against knew Him and were afraid of Him.

Why do we, as created humanity, fail to recognize the divine when it is in front of us, yet we often embrace the sin before it even begins to get close to us? I find it amazing, yet sad, that the demons fear Jesus and far too many people could simply care less who He is. Sadder still, is that many people mock Him.

With this in mind, it is said that you cannot defeat your enemy unless you know your enemy. Do we, as the Body of Christ, know the enemy as well as the enemy knows Jesus? Do we proclaim the power that is ours through the atoning blood? Do we stand firm in the faith that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords? Many battles throughout history have had decisive outcomes based on lies and deception – spies who infiltrated the ranks and helped to sabotage the other side. This is also true in the spiritual war that is being waged. We must know the enemy so that we can avoid the lies and the deception. We must know Jesus and God’s Word.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
(Ephesians 6:11 (NIV))

The enemy is counting on us not being able to recognize the deception.

We must fully clothe ourselves in the Light of Jesus so that we may know His grace and mercy and also so that we may know the enemy.

What do you know?

Copyright 1998 – 2011 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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