Be Quiet

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

BE QUIET.

Luke 4:33-37

33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God!" 35 "Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. 36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

NIV

There is no question that evil spirits exist, but we also have to know that once the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us, no evil spirit can occupy that same space. We have nothing to fear from any evil spirit. When Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, any evil spirits that may have been inside of someone are cast out as soon as a person accepts him as their Lord and Savior. The Baptism in the Spirit may not have happened, however the Spirit does come as well. Jesus has all authority is the point of this narrative being told to us. Jesus has absolute authority because the Father has given the Son this authority. Can we cast evil spirits out of people? In the name of Jesus, we do have that power. Perhaps we have made more out of exorcisms then we should have, making them into some special incantation exercise. Hollywood has made many films about exorcisms, all giving evil far more power then it desires. Evil spirits must obey in the name of Jesus, and we should never carry on any conversations with them. Jesus told them to be quiet and they obeyed, he told them come out, and they did. This is all we should ever do when and if we are faced with evil spirits. The lesson we can learn is we should live without fear of anything. Even if we are faced with death at the hands of an evil controlled person, such as these men of ISIS. There seems to be no doubt the devil and all his evil spirits have taken up residence in these men. We are watching a holy war of the devil against Gods people. This may be the last days, the last stand of the devil. The one thing we can be sure of is our freedom from that kind of control as we have the Spirit of Christ and power over evil in the name of Jesus. When we fail Christ, committing some type of sin, we should not blame the devil, or an evil spirit. Surely he does tempt us, but he cannot force us, as in the case of a person being possessed by an evil spirit. He can only tempt, and we have all the power to choose to yield or not. James tells us it is when we are drawn away by our own bent toward evil. That does not mean we are possessed, or anything like it, we just are bent towards doing what is wrong in the sight of God. But we have the power in the name of Jesus to resist that temptation, if we desire to do so. We can tell the tempter to “Be quiet”.