Kill Your Demons

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, …“By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand…No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.”
Mark 3:22-27

A friend and I were talking recently about demons. I must admit I don’t know a whole lot about them; the Bible doesn’t come right out and explain them. In the gospels we read about demons possessing and controlling people, but otherwise they’re often associated with the worship of pagan gods. Always they are minions of Satan. Yet we also use the word somewhat figuratively. If we’re still haunted by negative experiences from our younger years, we might refer to that as “demons” from our past. We can think of demons today as any sin or struggle that Satan uses to try and separate us from God.

There is a song by Gable Price and Friends called “Demons.” And the chorus repeats this statement:

You can’t kill your demons if you make ‘em your home.

To me this means that you can’t overcome your sin or your pain if you allow those to be the place where you live. Do you live in the strength of Christ, or do you live in your weaknesses?

If you invite someone into your home, you try to make them comfortable, right? But if they start throwing things around and trashing the place, you’re going to stop worrying about their comfort and get them out of there. Yet with our personal demons, they’re wreaking all kinds of havoc, destroying our spiritual lives; sometimes our earthly relationships and physical lives too; but we just keep fluffing their pillows and refilling their drinks. We keep feeding them.

Jesus used a slightly different analogy in Mark 3:27 when he said, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.” If you combine the analogies, you end up with the Stockholm Syndrome. Satan enters our house to bind us and steal from us and, if we stop fighting back, we get comfortable. We begin to align with the captor. We start to feel at home in our weakness.

If you want the demon to leave, you can’t feed it. You have to make it uncomfortable. And the only way to do that is to make yourself uncomfortable. This is why demons have such a high rate of success in destroying people’s lives. We are not good at making ourselves uncomfortable, and we’re even worse at staying outside our comfort zone long enough for changes to stick.

But you can’t kill your demons if you make ‘em your home.

Where are you living? In your lustful thoughts? In pride over your accomplishments or the approval of other people? In your anger? In your victimhood?

Are you living in your weaknesses or in the strength of Christ? Can it be a little of both? Maybe, but “if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand,” (Mark 3:25). If you give your demons an inch of house, they’re likely to take a mile, pulling the whole thing down into a heap of rubble. And if you let go of Christ’s hand, your demons will drag you down until hell itself becomes your home. I don’t know if we can actually kill them, but we have to keep fighting our demons; we have to starve them out. So be honest with yourself. Are you feeding your sin? Are you feeding your pain? And if so, how?

If we really want the demons to finally give up and leave, we have to spend more and more time with Christ, feeding on His word, repeating the truth of scripture in our minds, crowding out the demons with prayer and service to others. Make no mistake, they don’t give up easily.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

by Christie Cole Atkins

Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to stay so close to You that Satan is reluctant to approach me. Strengthen me through Your word and the power of Your Holy Spirit so that I will be able to fight off spiritual attacks. Forgive me for the times I have given the devil a foothold by entertaining his lies and schemes. Guard my heart and mind with Your peace, Lord, I beg, in Jesus’s name, Amen!

Related Reading:

Escape Routes

Every Thought Captive