Darkness Gives Space for Satan to Have a Place…….
July 28th 2010 22:38
Judas had darkness in his life that “gave place to the devil”. The religious leaders of the day were more than willing to set a trap for Jesus. They tried to trap Him in many ways, even trying to make Him king without success - but they could trap Judas!
When we have areas of darkness and we walk in them, we will eventually walk into a trap that will also trap the people around us who have done no wrong. Luke 22:3-6 Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them. The deal agreed to by Judas was real simple, “give me money and I will give you Jesus.”
What happened? One step at time, Judas gave place to the devil to the point the devil found a place in him. John 13:21-27 When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. Then, leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said to Him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him.
How does Satan enter into someone? Through the darkness! Notice that Satan did not enter into Judas, until he first gave place to the devil. What is the difference between “giving place to the devil” and the “devil taking a place in us”? The difference is in “who is in control”. When we “give place to the devil”, WE gave place – in other words, we made the choice when we were in control. We can reach a point where we have given the devil enough ground, that he takes control of us. This is what we call “spiritual bondage”.
To gain an idea of how the devil can enter into us; let’s talk about drugs. Drugs and sorcery have the same root word – pharmakia, from which we get our word pharmacy. PHARMAKIA is defined as “the use of medicine and drugs not used for medicinal purposes , used in spells, religious rituals and ceremonies or for ones’ own pleasure. This includes the use of charms, amulets and occult powers.” Do we have control over drugs or do drugs control us?
When people first dabble in drugs (give place to them), they have control over them, but the more they give place to drugs, the greater the place they take in our lives until finally drugs control them (addiction). When we are addicted to drugs, we live in an altered state which is a form of sorcery.
Many Christians have been deceived into believing they can be fully devoted followers of Christ and have an affinity with drugs at the same time. To believe such a thing is a grave misunderstanding of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. How can we practice sorcery and be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ at the same time? Either one or the other is in control, but not both.
The devil does not come to have a good time with us though he gives us a good time, but only to gain the advantage over us. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. That is why a cool experience with drugs in the beginning has such horrible consequences in the end. Unfortunately, many people have a Judas mentality because they do not consider the consequences in advance. Judas was shown what he wanted to see; the money (30 pieces of silver). He was not shown that what he was preparing to do was going to drive him to commit suicide.
Matthew 27:3-5 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
The suicide of Judas by hanging was not a sudden impulsive decision; it was made one piece of silver at a time from the disciples’ treasury to the 30 pieces of silver. Judas gave place to the devil until finally the devil had full run of the place.
Some Christians think they can live the victorious Christian life by giving the devil a little resistance, but that leaves a whole lot of room to “give place to the devil.”
| 103 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog