Daily Bible Study for Monday August
22, 2016
By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N Loaves
Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying
God’s Word Around The Globe”
Chapter Reading
for Today: Please read in
your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered
paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate
translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful
for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their
wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version,
that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I
will keep it with the New King James Version.
One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my
own writing. I am adding red to the letters when
it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.
Bible
Gateway Verse of the Day
Romans 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Psalm
100:4
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless
His name.
Song: God Is Good By: Lisa Page Brooks
Psalm 39
Shutting The Door on the Devil!
Imagine being so caught up by
sin that you feel trapped in your own sin sick body and you can’t even speak
your heart. Wouldn’t that be just too much to bear? There are countless people
all over the planet who are trapped in sin, their own and that of their fathers
who went before them. They are in such torment by the enemy they feel like a
prisoner in their own mind and body. Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father;
Thank You for the entrance of
Your word that gives us light in every situation that we face in life. Father,
we know from Your word that You are good and You always do good. We also know
that sin brings a heavy rod of correction to man, and that a lineage of sin can
bring a bondage so intense that it can become unbearable to mankind. Lord, we
know that You are the Deliverer. Show us what we need to learn in this chapter
today. Expose any lies that we have believed from the traditions of men,
religion, or people that we know who do not understand the truths in Your word.
Open our eyes by Holy Spirit to see into the perfect purpose You have for us
today. Father, I ask You to bring people from all over the globe to meditate on
these verses and the message that You will bring forth today. I ask You to
anoint the words that come through me. Make Your message clear to us and show
us how we can apply it to our own lives. Cause this to go out unhindered and
unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Father, as we read and study, we
will purpose to be doers of Your word and not forgetful hearers. Thank You for
always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we trust and
obey You. We give You all the praise and glory for what You will do in Jesus precious
name. Amen!
As I read this passage and
thought about it, I thought about a person who was dealing with a lot of sin,
and I imagined them broken down, sort of like Job was in his affliction. And
like myself when I have been disobedient to the Lord. My sin has caused me to
suffer terribly in the past. When I have disobeyed, the enemy had an open door
to come in and bring physical symptoms to my body which have caused me a lot of
loss. There was loss of energy, opportunities, work, fellowships, and so on.
Because of the sin in my life I did not feel well and missed out on many things
that I should have been a part of.
When I continued to study and
prepare for this lesson, I saw another man who struggled terribly. The Lord
showed me the story of the demon possessed man in the region of the Gadarenes.
Then the Lord reminded me about some people closer to home, even in my own
family. More on that in a bit. Let’s look at the scriptures…
Luke 8:26-39
Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is
opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out on the
land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time.
And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the
tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell
down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You,
Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” 29 For
He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often
seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he
broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.
30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What
is your name?”
And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. 31 And
they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.
32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on
the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And
He permitted them. 33 Then the demons went out of
the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place
into the lake and drowned.
34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the
country. 35 Then they went out to see what had
happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of
Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They
also who had seen it told
them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then
the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him
to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the
boat and returned.
38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed
begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great
things God has done for you.” And he went his way and
proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
Friends, this is a true story.
And this event did not just happen when Jesus was on the earth – it is
happening today. All over the world, real people are struggling with demon
oppression and some are possessed. It is a sad and troubling fact, but it is true.
There are so many people who have been consumed by the enemy as a result of
sin; even generational curses that have come down through families have left
people plagued with terrible spirits of various kinds. This man was in such bad
shape he could not even speak for himself. He had a dumb spirit that rendered
him unable to speak.
He was overtaken with many demons. We see that when Jesus
asked him his name – Jesus was not talking to the man. He was speaking to the
demons in him. He was going to deliver the man. The word of knowledge that He
had received from the Father in heaven was to ask the name of the demon(s). The
demon answered “Legion” meaning many. This poor guy was so full of the devil
that they couldn’t even be counted. That is really terrible!
But Jesus came there to set
him free – hallelujah! Remember that Jesus only went where He was told to go by
the Father. Jesus operated as a man under the power of the Holy Spirit – just
like you and I can today. And when the Father told Him where to go and who to
see, He did it. As a result of Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s commands,
miracles happened. That too is still happening today for those who will believe
the words of the Master when He said this…
John 14:12
“Most assuredly, I say to you,
he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will
do, because I go to My Father.
When
Jesus showed up in that town, someone was going to get healed. The Father knows
things we do not about people, of course. And He knew that He was going to set
that man free that day. But you might ask, why didn’t everyone in that town get
healed that day? We can see our answer in the very scriptures we just read.
When the town saw what had been done for that man, they did not run to Jesus to
get healed or delivered. They were in great fear. There was obviously a spirit
of fear that prevailed in that town, among others, and because of that, Jesus’ ability
to perform miracles in that place was limited. We see that elsewhere in
scripture as well…
Matthew
13:53-58
53 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished
these parables, that He departed from there. 54 When
He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they
were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this
not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James,
Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters,
are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So
they were offended at Him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without
honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there
because of their unbelief.
Even
Jesus could not do miracles among those that did not believe. It is the same
today. Folks do not believe in miraculous healing. So they don’t get healed.
They go through life sick, maimed, without limbs and a host of other ailments
because they do not believe that healing is for today. Oh but friends, there
are countless testimonies of people who have received supernatural healing from
the Lord, and I am one of them. I have been healed of a bleeding issue. My
brain has been restored after heavy drug use as a teenager. I could go on. I
know that the Lord did it. When I asked Him to heal me with the bleeding issue,
He assured me that my faith made me well. Glory to God!
In the
town of the Gadarenes, the people did not want the help. They asked Him to
leave town. They were happy in their own little world of fear and whatever other
matters they were dealing with. They didn’t want somebody to rock the boat. Have
you ever known someone like that? Many people just get into a “comfort zone”
and even though they are miserable there, they find it much easier to stay in
that zone than to submit themselves to the lordship of Jesus.
I have
had experiences with this type of demon activity in my own family. First, let’s
establish the fact that Christians who are born again can be demon oppressed
and even after a person has asked Jesus to be their Savior, if they continue to
live according to the flesh and keep letting the devil have his way in their
lives, they can get into serious trouble and there can even be possession.
That’s why when we cast the demon out of people, they must want it. If they
don’t, they will have even more demons come back to torment them than before.
Let’s look at some more scripture to prove this point…
Luke 11:24-26
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes
through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to
my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes,
he finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and
takes with him seven other spirits more wicked
than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
When a person gets set free of
demonic oppression or possession, they must repent from sin and be filled with
the Holy Spirit. If they don’t, they will be worse off than they were before. They
have to fill their “house” with the things of God. If a house is empty and not
filled with the things of the Lord, they are in big trouble. Deliverance must
be handled delicately. We have to be led by Holy Spirit when we are in a
deliverance situation. Otherwise we can really create more trouble than we
started with.
In my own family I have seen
an older brother and an older sister, both who have long since passed on deal
with these types of issues. It was a terrible thing to witness. I never even
learned about these things until long after they passed away. I didn’t
understand that I could minister to them and seek the Lord about healing them.
I didn’t even know what I didn’t know back then. They had really struggled and
it was scary to me, but I never backed away from them. I just didn’t like to be
around them much because of it.
My older sister left behind a
daughter with the same types of problems she struggled with, only her daughter
has it even worse than her mother had it. You could say that it has intensified
in her. It has been carried down through the generations. Now my precious niece
who is about 36 years old has to live in a group home. She was never able to
get a driver’s license or go to a normal school. Now they have her so drugged
up that she shakes and has a hard time even feeding herself. She is unable to
bathe herself and has to be monitored constantly. She has been known to have
very violent outbursts – just like the man in our text today. I am believing
the Lord to deliver her and He knows so much more about this than I ever could.
So what do I do while I wait? I trust. I thank Him for healing her and setting
her free and giving her a chance to live a normal life.
As we look at the Psalmist in
today’s chapter, we can see a similar type of torment. It is like his heart was
burning inside of him. He knew he was in trouble because of many sins, yet he
desired to seek the Lord as we see in verse 7. Just because a person may be
demon possessed, it does not mean they do not want God’s help. Some don’t, but
many do. He desired to place his hope in God. We do not know all the
circumstances that surround this Psalm writer, indicated to be David. But we do
know that the Lord is tying this very chapter to the man from the Gadarenes
today. Only God knows the connections fully in the Bible and that’s why we need
Him to lead us and teach us as we go. If we try to read or understand the Bible
without the help of Holy Spirit, we might as well be reading a completely
foreign language because that’s how much we will get out of it.
Let me give you an example
from my own life. I find it is best to give personal examples because that is
what I can understand the best. We can see other people struggling, but we do
not know the dynamics that are going on behind the scenes. Only the Lord knows.
I have had a food addiction issue and specifically sugar addiction being the
worst part of it. The enemy knows the weakness that I have had in this area so
he is always looking for an opportunity to throw me a curve and slip in some
temptation when there seems to be an opportune time. He is always looking for
that in all our lives…
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour.
I usually plan a day a month that I can eat some things I do not
normally have. But this weekend turned into quite an eating fiasco when my
husband and I went out for pizza on Saturday evening. I had much more than I
needed. It had been a long time since I ate any pizza. So I overdid it a bit. Then
on Sunday, after church, we took a couple that has flown into town for the week
to have a dinner to celebrate their anniversary after the service. We enjoy
them so much and had a lovely time. Once again, as I followed the voice of my
flesh and the voice of the tempter, I ate things I should not have eaten and it
was too much for me.
I am not accustomed to eating that much and I really felt quite
miserable afterwards. Was it worth it? Absolutely not. And why was it not worth
it? Well, the not feeling good part is obvious, but the worst part is that I
was acting in rebellion to what the Father wants me to eat. He has given me a
food plan and it works just great for me. It allows me to eat a well-balanced
but calorie limited plan so I can maintain a healthy weight. In rebellion, you remember,
we are acting like the devil – not at all like our Master, Jesus. The Lord
reminded me today of this verse…
Matthew 4:10
Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For
it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your
God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
That is exactly what I needed to say this
weekend when the tempter came a callin. Today I woke
up and went to the gym like usual. After that it did not take me long to
realize that I was not feeling well. So what happened? The spirit of infirmity
that had been plaguing me for many years came back. Why? Because I opened the
door to let the nasty devil in with my disobedience. I am not happy to have to
admit this, but on the other hand, the Bible tells us to confess our sins to
each other and pray for each other that we may be healed…
James 5:16
Confess your trespasses to one
another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
This particular passage
applies perfectly to deliverance ministry. This is not to tell people that we
should be constantly praying for people when they say to us, “Oh would you just
pray for me. I am struggling with this or that, or my car broke down, or the
cat got sick.” People need to be praying for themselves and acting on their own
faith. In the case of getting delivered from demonic oppression, just like what
happened to me today because of an open door, I needed to confess my sin, and I
did.
I asked the Father to forgive my rebellion. He even showed me a dream last
night. It is not like He won’t try to get our attention. The question is, will
we listen when He does. In the dream there was a person riding all around on a
big body of water on top of a giant whale. Sound a bit like Jonah? Well the
person who was riding on the whale was me. Around and around we went on the
whale. I was out there on the water riding this whale all by myself. There was
no place to get off.
When I woke up this morning I
knew deep in my heart what the Lord was trying to show me. I tried to
understand what I did this past weekend and why I allowed myself to fall for
the trickery and the desires of my flesh. The Lord had even shown me verses
this weekend to warn me to crucify the flesh, but I had not listened. Tonight,
as I read and studied for this lesson, I myself was getting set free of the
devil! Coincidence maybe? I think not. With God there are no coincidences. Part
of the problem people have with committing a sin is that they become so ashamed
(that comes from the devil – not the Lord) that they try to hide their sin
rather than come clean. As a result, the matter gets worse and worse.
As I confessed to my husband
what I did, and I began to cry and be upset about what I had done, he reminded
me that it was a good time to laugh. You see, we can confess our sin to the
Lord and ask Him to forgive us. If we are sincere, He forgives us as fast as we
ask – He is just that good! Praise His name forever. But what needs to happen
next are two things. First, once the Lord has forgiven us, we need to forgive
ourselves. The Bible makes it clear that if we want to be forgiven, we must
forgive, and that includes ourselves…
Matthew 6:15
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will
your Father forgive your trespasses.
Friends,
this means forgiving ourselves as well. Ok – so now we have asked the Lord to
forgive us and we have forgiven ourselves. What else must we do? We need to get
back to the joy of the Lord which is our strength. You see, after we go through
the first two steps the devil will swing right around with condemnation. He
wants to make us feel really bad about what we did, and get us to cry and weep
over it. He wants us to beat ourselves up. First he tempts us to do the wrong
thing, and then he comes back with accusing thoughts like these, “You fool!
Look at what you have done. What a lousy excuse for a Christian you are! You
will never get past this.” And he will go on and on if we allow him too. He
wants to steal our joy, our peace, anything he can. He wants to steal our relationship
and good standing with our Father in heaven. He is a thief…
John
10:10
The thief does not come except
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and
that they may have it more abundantly.
I may know these things
personally, but when the serpent strikes, I may need someone to hold up my
hands, like my husband did for me tonight. He grabbed me and held me in his
arms and did what he does ever so well – he got me to laugh. I realized right
then that I needed to get back to my place of joy in the Lord. I was not going
to let the enemy steal another minute from me. I was able to get back to work
and I know that my Father still loves me and that even before I confessed my
sin, He still loved me. He just was not pleased with my sin. That separates us
as far as our fellowship with Him goes. I heard the music in my heart from the
song, “God is Good” by Lisa Page Brooks. If you get a few moments maybe you
could go to ITunes or You Tube and listen to this song. It will lift you up. He
never condemns us. Let’s look at this…
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
If we walk according to the
holy Spirit and not our flesh, we will not be condemned. But if we feel
condemned, we can know it is our own heart doing it – not the Lord. God is so
loving and kind. He brings this song to me quite frequently. I even use this as
one of my work out songs. It is a good one. God is a good God, yes He is. All
that stuff I went through this weekend is over and behind me. I’m so grateful
that He makes all things new…
Revelation 21:5
Then He who sat on the throne
said, “Behold, I
make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
Friends,
ignorance is not bliss! Truly it is a place of danger. We need to know and understand
these things. Remember that we are never to fear any evil. They are afraid of
us when we know who we are in Christ Jesus our lord…
Psalm
23:4
Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for
You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they
comfort me.
It is important to know that
there are a host of wicked spirits out there. These spirits are under the rule
and authority of satan, and they are out to take anyone down they can. But they
have no power over any person unless they are granted permission to come in.
There are spirits of fear, torment, infirmity, lying spirits, spirits of
divination, spirits of sexual immorality, spirits of gluttony, alcohol spirits,
drug spirits, you name it, there are many.
The more we as Christians understand
the rich principals that Jesus taught us in His word, the better equipped we
will be to handle the battles that come against us. The Lord reminded me that I
have plenty of His word in my arsenal. I should be able to rattle off a
scripture at the devil every time he comes knocking, just like Jesus did. That’s
how He won every battle…
Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and
in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the
heavenly places. 13 Therefore
take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with
truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and
having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above
all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;18 praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this
end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
When we are born again and
filled with Holy Spirit, we are armed and dangerous if we use our weapons and
apply the armor that we have been suited with. Many leave their suit of armor
hanging in the back of the basement closet and try to go out into this dark
world undressed and unprepared to fight the very real battles that will
inevitably come against us – especially Christians who are trying to do the
will of God in their lives.
Imagine a soldier in a combat
going to the front lines without having first strapped on his tool belt and
picked up his ammunition. He wouldn’t last long, would he? And neither will we.
When we have missed it – like I did this weekend, we need to suit back up
again, get back in the race and head into the next battle with faith in God and
the power of His word. If we will remember who we are in Christ and stay suited
up for battle, we are going to be equipped to win.
Just because I am used by the
Lord to teach does not mean that I have become perfected yet. But I know this.
I am on my way. I am going to run my race to win…
1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that those who
run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
One thing I will not do is present myself as
one who knows it all or one who never misses it. That would be a lie and I will
not lie to you. The truth is I have been brought all the way to age 60 by the
grace of God. Upon arriving at this wonderful age I have come to realize how
little I really know – especially compared to the Lord! But I do know this. I
am here to help others. If my errors and corrections can help you, then I count
it all joy to share my life and experiences with you. I am not happy that I
missed it this weekend. But now what do I do? I get up from my fall and I brush
off the dirt. I walk in faith again. I will keep pressing toward the goal. I
have to remember that it is really no longer I who live…
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with
Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
I have to keep working God’s
word and making it work for me. I hope to be a blessing to others as I go
around town like the healed man of the Gadarenes and tell everyone how much the
Lord has done for me. That’s what I live for. And I want to keep going until I
do the last thing I was called to this earth to do. As excited as I am about
seeing the Master face to face, I do not want to miss out on any opportunity He
has for me to be a blessing to others. I live to praise Him with my life – to learn
from my mistakes and teach others what I have been taught. We can all come up
higher together! Praise the Lord! He has done great things!
Questions:
What did it mean when it said “dumb” in our chapter today?
What made the writer so sorrowful?
What happens to a person, even a Christian when they open a
door by sinning?
What does the Bible say we should do for each other when we
have sinned?
Explain your understanding of a deliverance ministry?
What did you learn by studying this chapter?
How will you apply what you have learned today?
There are three main points to
consider from today’s study…
Demons can oppress and occasionally possess
even Christians when they are living in the flesh and in sin
God is quick to forgive when we
confess our sins to Him
We must forgive ourselves and fill
our lives with the things of God
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for Your amazing love, mercy and grace! Thank You
for opening my eyes to see the error of my ways. Lord, I want to be in right
standing with You at all times. I ask You to show me if there is any sin in my
life that I have not yet confessed and repented of. Help me to close the door
to the enemy in my life once and for all and open the door of my heart wide to
You and Your love and miracle working power. Father, show me who I can share
this with and who needs my prayers. Thank You in advance for the answer to this
prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
Have
you confessed and repented of any known sin in your life?
And God Said… You fill in the blanks.
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you
believe this?”
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