Cast our demons – Luke 13 Encouragement

Greetings,

     “There was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all.” (Luke 13:11)

     I recently had a conversation with a church leader in which I was saying the enemy is the perpetrator of much (probably most – maybe all) of the sicknesses that people suffer. Scripture has many examples of this truth. It is the case in this story; in Acts 10:38 Jesus was “healing all who were oppressed by the devil”; and so on. The church leader said, “Well, you won’t hear that from the pulpit.”

     I am often in conversations with folks insisting that God is causing the sicknesses and suffering for some higher purpose for our own good; even as a demonstration of His love for us. But Scripture is pretty clear that it’s the enemy who comes only to steal our health, bring destruction in our lives, and sometimes even kill us. The Lord comes to give Life – Abundantly! (John 10:10)

     James told us to “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) We read a couple days ago, Jesus said, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” (Luke 10:19) Do you believe that or do you rationalize it away? Let’s believe and exercise our authority! Just like Jesus did for the sake of the woman mentioned above.

     So, here’s the Encouragement: “When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your sickness.’ And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again…” (Luke 13:12-13) Like we learned in reading Luke Wednesday, “But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Luke 11:20) That woman got the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is at hand!

God bless,

Dave