Demand your Authority in the Blood!!!

Have you ever heard an alcoholic, drug addict or smoker say they know they can never do another drug, drink another drink or smoke another cigarette?  They say this almost with fear in their voice and in their being.  They say this with the full knowledge that it takes only one slip, one fall or more time for them to fall deeper into the addiction than they were before.

I think this fear that they will be worse than they were, or even possibly die, is what causes many of addicts to finally conquer the addiction, with the help of God.    They finally see themselves in the place of power over the vice, instead of the addiction in power over them.

Many people travel this road after hitting their all-time low.  After bottoming out in life.  Many will lose their jobs, families, homes, relationships, health and possibly their lives over their addictions, and yet they still exist. 

There are still people every day battling some kind of addiction.  There are still people accepting their weakness in the face of their adversary of addiction. 

Addiction hits home with me, as you will be able to see, if you have read any of my other blogs.  Addiction has ravaged a person, whom I love dearly, and to know that I am not capable of helping him, breaks me open emotionally every day. 

When I would hear him speak the words, I am weak.  I am weak to this pill, or to this drug, I would say no, no, you’re not weak to it, you are a strong person, you can do this! 

Spoken like someone who has no idea what his weak feels like.  He would identify himself with the weakness, with the level of destruction that the drugs have taken him too.  He would allow his friends to be friends that would accept his behavior and often times encourage it.

The sadness that was in his eyes at times was enough to take your breathe away and make me want to stand in his place, and fight this addiction for him, but sadly, I know I can't.  I personally am a fixer, so all I wanted to do was fix him, and the problem, but I knew I couldn’t, and still can’t.   I knew and still know, that he has to hit his bottom so that he can claim his new identity in Christ and begin his transformation into the person that God has called Him to be.  

There were so many times I would watch him and wonder what he was thinking, what was going through his mind or how hard was he fighting in that moment to be sober.  I could tell sometimes it seemed like he was being skinned alive to stay sober and then other times, it seemed to be very easy for him. 

Ultimately, he kept going back… and each time he went a little deeper than the time before.    I remember a moment, when he obviously was in pure desperation, and he reached out to me asking me for help.  That he needed me because he was becoming his old self, and he hated it.   The conversation that followed that moment was destructive and dark. 

I could see, touch, and smell, evil around him.  I could feel the battle that he was in at that time and how desperately he wanted to be different, but how much deeper he had gone back into using drugs.   It was as if the hole for him was deeper this time and he knew it, and so did I.

All of this comes rushing back to me in reading Matthew 12:43-45.  All of this comes flooding my heart and my mind, and I can feel the emotions of the time I spent with him.  I can feel how helpless I felt then, and still feel now, months later.  I can see the eyes of a person I love, but yet a person who is lost.  A shell of the person God has allowed me to see through His eyes.

These verses, to me, explain how darkness can take you, and then pull you deeper than you ever thought possible.

(43) But when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it roams through dry (arid) places in search of rest, but it does not find any. (44) Then it says I will go back to my house from which I came out.  And when it arrives, it finds the place unoccupied, swept, put in order, and decorated. (45) Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there.  And the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first.  So also shall it be with this wicked generation.

We see here that it isn’t just our imaginations, to the fact that when people seem to conquer one demon for a period of time, they fall harder and faster, than they were before.  

We see the deception, on part of the unclean spirit, and how it will flee when you put in the effort to make it leave, but it will not stay gone on its own.  The unclean spirit doesn’t care that you have tried to change, or have made a new pattern, or promise to yourself, no, the unclean spirit is only thinking to satisfy itself, and ravage you.  There is no thought in where you are in your life or recovery, its job is to destroy and take pleasure in it.  

This is why the fight is so hard!

We have to be vigilant to roaming’s of the devil.  We have to stay on guard and keep our minds alert to return of the unclean spirit.  We have to be aware of what we put around us, who we interact with and what we do.  We have to keep all areas of entry road blocked for demons, and evil.  

We can’t expect, though we do, that when we get rid of one problem, addiction, or circumstance, that it is truly gone, for good.  We are fooling ourselves if we really think that we have conquered, mastered and removed that evil. 

No, what we have done is great!  We have made the unclean spirit leave and have fought the good fight of faith, in that one battle, and then we relaxed. 

Then we take the victory lap and we let our guards down, and start to slack in the work that we were doing to gain the victory, in the first place, and before we know it the unclean spirit has returned, but this time with seven more.  The situation that we thought was horrible before is now more difficult by seven times.

What happened?  How did we fail again?  Why did he choose to do drugs again?  Why did they take another drink, even though, they know it could cause them death?

Why?

Because they let their guards down.  They became open to the demons that have brought them the problems, in the first place.  You can say they got cocky, which we all do in life.  We think we have this diet down pat and then we slack and slide and then ten pounds later we are feeling defeated, again.

We decided to not be as dedicated, devoted, on guard and as aware as we were before.  We made the decision, that we had this fixed, under control, and that opened the door for satan to come right back in, and take over the place he once inhabited. 

Part of our jobs as Christ’s disciples is to use what we have been given to win the war against evil.  When we decide to not be as obedient as we once were, we are only doing our job part-time, which isn’t enough! 

We have to be warriors for Christ in our own lives, as well as in the lives of others.  We have to take what we know works, and use it.  We have to take the Blood of Jesus and use the authority that we have been given, through Him and command for change. 

Fighting a battle is hard, it doesn’t matter what you are fighting, but being armed with the right weapons helps you win that battle.  When you come to Jesus, you accept Him as your Savior, you have the weapons you will need to fight any battle and win! 

You are armed with the weapons, the full armor of God, and this will prepare you for your battle.   We are in a battle every day of our lives, some days the battle isn’t so severe, and then other days you are fighting every second.   The key here is to always keep fighting.  To always maintain your stance or position of a warrior. 

Once you let down your shield of the word or take off the breastplate of righteousness you are taking off your protection.  You are allowing yourself to be open for an attack, and one that you are not prepared for.

When people are getting ready to run a marathon, most of the time they train for the marathon.  I wouldn’t think many people just wake up and say ok, today, I am going to run twenty plus miles, without any preparation.   There is training to do, shopping to do, mental preparation and schedules to be adjusted, everything in your life changes.

Your priorities shift to accomplish the goal at hand.  This is how we are to be when we are fighting evil.  When we are fighting against unclean spirits and the demons of the world, we are in a marathon, not a sprint.  You need to train constantly, by spending time with God, praying and knowing His word.

You have to fight off negative thoughts, negative people and negative desires.  You have to change your lifestyle from what you were, to what you want to be.  You have to train your mind, heart, soul and spirit, for the change that is taking place every day.

When you keep your mind on the word of God, in the word of God, and speaking the word of God, you are operating in Spiritual Warfare, and that is, what is needed, to not only defeat the enemy, but keep him gone.

Arm yourself with the word, and then speak the word, out loud.  Start doing this NOW!  Don't start when the enemy is attacking, or you think he is attacking, because he is always trying to find entry into your mind.   Start speaking Gods word Now, out loud, when you are at your weakest, I promise you that is the time the enemy will attack at his strongest.  Be prepared to fight every day and every second of your life, knowing that you are road blocking the enemy from returning, and bringing more evil with him. 

When you are fighting any addiction, problem or circumstance in your life, it is important to not only know the right path but to walk in it.  You can’t decide to stop using drugs on a Monday and be in recovery by Friday.  And you can’t expect your mind, attitude and desires to work that way either.

Arm yourself for the battle that you are in, be aware of what and who you are battling.  Make the changes for success instead of keeping the door open for defeat.  Become the person you were created for and do it by arming yourself with the authority and power of Jesus Christ.

Walk in the word, speak the word, then watch as those unclean spirits flee from you and when they try to return, realize that their once destructive home has been filled and changed with the power and authority of Jesus Christ Himself!