Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment.
Matthew 17:18 (emphasis added)

Jesus listened to a LOT of talk from a LOT of people. People who were confused about them. People who hated Him. People who were hiding (trying to anywhere) the truth from Him. People who thought they knew who they were. Jesus listened to ALL of them. But He didn’t listen to demons. He told them to be quiet. He had no time for them because THEY were already dealt with. It was a DONE DEAL. Why talk to someone who was already settled?
The most Jesus EVER talked to a demon was nine words. Nine. The first eight were a command. The last was permission. It’s found in the Gospel of Mark.

“Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him. Then he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God—do not torment me!” (For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!”) Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region. There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding. And the demonic spirits begged him, “Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.” Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about 2,000 were drowned in the lake” (Mark 5:1-13).

Jesus asked HIM. That’s verse nine. Jesus wasn’t talking to the spirit but the MAN. Jesus doesn’t care about demons, but people. Demons are rebellious angels who are like instruments. PEOPLE are who Yahweh loves. It’s one of the things that fascinate the angels (1 Peter 1:12). They made their choice and they are sticking to it. Jesus made a way for US, not them. Jesus didn’t get social with them. He asked the man’s name because Jesus loves and cares about us. If the Holy Spirit didn’t reveal it to Jesus, Jesus didn’t know it (fully man, remember? Philippians 2:7). He asked the man’s name and the demon interrupted. The demon babbled a lot, begged some, and came up with a solution that didn’t mean being cast into the Pit early. Jesus gave permission. ‘Go’? ‘Fine’? ‘Yes’? I don’t know. It wouldn’t be verbose. Jesus didn’t talk to demons.

The relationship of demons to Jesus was of those completely abject to their complete and total master. They had NO DESIRE to challenge Him until the devil THOUGHT they had Jesus on the ropes during the crucifixion. He gave orders. Told them to be quiet. Rebuked them. Commanded the limit of their speech. That’s it. That’s ALL He did. Come out of that man, you unclean spirit! Eight words. That was the total extent of the conversation between Jesus and the demonic spirit. And WE are supposed to be like JESUS. “because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29). If Jesus didn’t chat unclean spirits up, why should we?

Then we should ask, what should we do? Well, we should be like Him, remember? It’s what we are called to. To be like Jesus. CAST THEM OUT. That’s it. Don’t ask their name. Send them packing. Why? Because Jesus’ authority extends over them. Jesus’ authority binds them and limits them from individual circumstance to individual circumstance (kind of like impounding a speeding car, it doesn’t eliminate the vehicle forever but only in that particular circumstance). We can cast them out of body after body until we cover the globe and they have no where left to run. We’re to cut them short and shut them out. We are to HEAL the sick – whether sick in body or soul.

We have the right to use the authority that Jesus has given us. “Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”” (Matthew 28:18-20). We have the authority of Jesus entrusted to us. We have the right to use it. We can heal. We can teach. We can cast out spirits. Because it is JESUS in and through us who does the thing, not us in our power. It is power of attorney. And it is ours. We have it here on this earth. In Jesus we are restored to what we should have been in the first place (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:37; Ephesians 2:10).

To walk in that authority then, we need a firm idea of who we are in Christ Jesus. “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are the righteousness of God in Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. You read that, but do you FEEL that? Do you EMOTE that? Does your heart hold that TRUTH? It’s hard. Because WE see what we have done. WE see our weaknesses. WE see our failings. WE see the world around us. But IN HIM we are conquerors. IN HIM we are purified and clean. IN HIM we are PERFECTED. Our spirit is whole, healed, sealed, and delivered to the Throne of the Father. To get it from our spirit to our soul and body takes belief, it takes faith, and it takes a knowledge of Jesus’ love for us.

Without a knowledge of Jesus’ love, we don’t really believe we deserve these things. We don’t, you know. Our merits stink. Doesn’t matter how ‘good’ you are. You aren’t good enough to merit everything Jesus has for us. But He LOVES us. His LOVE led to His GRACE which leads to OUR CHANCE to be IN HIM. Without the LOVE of Jesus in our hearts, we will have trouble taking a step into His things. It takes that love for us to see it. We need to see ourselves with the Father’s eyes. We need to have a knowledge of His LOVE for us. Without that, it is HARD to walk through the door. It is HARD to accept what Adonai is holding out to us.

It’s too easy to get caught up with this world. It’s too easy for us to see what we see, hear what we hear, touch what we touch, and STILL think we can have what Adonai is offering. It is HARD. But in HIM we actually HAVE been given all things. In HIM we have all that we need to succeed because we have HIM working in us and through us to do all that HE wants to do. What is His best? ALL the Body of Christ casting out ALL the kinds of bondage that are trying to keep us down. Breaking chains. Discipling brothers and sisters. Turning us ALL into copies of HIMSELF. Being the CHRISTians that we were labelled so long ago. Taking that mocking title and showing them the real TRUTH of it. Rebuking what HE says to rebuke and having it leave IN THAT MOMENT – letting us provide the WHOLE HEALING that Jesus performs in ALL those who accept it.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 16:10

“You will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit.” Messiah was destined to die, but NOT to see corruption. NOT to stay in the tomb. NOT remain shackled in Sheol. NOT to go to the Pit prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). “David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay” (Acts 2:31). “Therefore he also says in another psalm, ‘You will not permit your Holy One to experience decay.’” (Acts 13:35). Jesus died. Jesus did NOT stay dead. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b