Can God Really Help You?

Many of the unpleasant things that happen to us are ‘just life’. We live in a fallen world with sin, sickness and bad people. Sometimes it is just bad luck, we do stupid or thoughtless things and so do people around us. We make mistakes or make bad decisions that cause problems. Other times people we know make mistakes or bad decisions and we get caught up in the crossfire. On other occasions we are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

However, sometimes it is more than ‘just life’. Sometimes it is a spiritual attack. Jesus knew all about spiritual attacks and so did his disciples. The Bible teaches about spiritual attack and how to deal with it. It is unfortunate that many churches ignore this today, because it leaves people floundering without any help or advice.

The Bible teaches us that we have an enemy.

      “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10

This thief has different names, including the Devil, Lucifer, Satan and the Enemy. Satan has always been around. He tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden (successfully) and Jesus in the wilderness (unsuccessfully). He is known as The Enemy because he hates both God and man and is our enemy. He was originally an archangel, but pride overtook him and he was thrown out of heaven. It is believed that he took a third of the angels with him and these fallen angels now exist as demons on the earth.

Satan is also known as ‘The prince of this world’, because after God created man he gave him dominion over all the earth. Adam gave this dominion over to Satan when he was tempted in the Garden. However, Jesus took this dominion back on our behalf and then gave us his authority to deal with The Enemy. Satan is a defeated foe; he has no real power, so he works by lies and deception. Unfortunately this can be an effective weapon, especially because he can get people to do his dirty work for him.

The modern day church tends to largely ignore Satan. He likes this because he can get on with his work unchallenged. If you have never been taught about him, or how to defeat him, then he can walk all over you. The other approach that Satan likes is when people become obsessed with him. They see him at every turn; it’s even his fault if they don’t get a parking space. He likes this because if you are thinking about him you are not thinking about God.

We need to walk the middle ground. We need to be aware of him and his wiles and know how to take a stand against him, but focus on Jesus and what he did for us.

When Jesus was on earth he spent a significant part of his ministry casting out demons and unclean spirits. Demons and unclean spirits are as big a problem today as they were in Jesus time. We ignore them at our peril. When Jesus was training his disciples he sent them out with a very simple job description;

      “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.”  Matthew 10:7-8

Today we tend to focus on the preaching part, but that was only one fifth of Jesus instructions. We need to awaken to the rest.

This section has been written to help you recognise and deal with spiritual attacks.

It will be completed over the next two weeks.