Unyielded Power

Who knew seeing a demon in the church would change the trajectory of my life.

Just speaking the word “demon” envokes fear and physical reactions of discourse and watchfulness in most people. As a child, neighborhood kids would share scary stories of trolls that would invoke the same fear, but all that was fake, make-believe, only in the movies. Or at least that was what the grownups would tell us.

Well, except the grownups at church.

I had heard about demons and even read about them in the bible, but in the 15 years as a Christian and eight years on staff with a church, I never had the opportunity to actually see one. A friend of mine in junior high used to tell me she would see ghosts at night before she went to sleep and they would talk to her sometimes. I remember praying and asking God to make them stay away when we had sleepovers, because I had no interest in making friends with her ghost friends. Little did I know, I would one day have the opportunity to meet one of her friends.

It was a beautiful, sunny, summer day as I opened the front door of our church. Being on staff at a church had its perks, which allowed me to access the sanctuary to set up for the following days service. I was alone and only going to stay for about 30 minutes, so I decided against unlocking the sound room, turning on all the lights, and sound system just to complete a few errands.

Anyone could access the sanctuary from seven doors which reflected enough light to eliminate my path for that morning’s tasks. If you’ve ever worked for a church, then you know the importance of saving electricity, especially in this 1,000 seat sanctuary.

I had been a member of this church for nearly 17 years, and spent my fare share of time in a room located stage left where we would host most of our prayer meetings. Even now, sweet memories of my quiet times with the Lord flood my mind. However, this particular day I would see something different than the presence of God emerge from the prayer room.

As I was on the stage preparing, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye moving in the dark.

You know how we reason with ourselves and try to convince ourselves that we really didn’t see anything? That’s kind of what was happening in my head, but my heart started pounding quickly. So, I just pretended that I didn’t see anything and continue to work.

Then, a few minutes later, I saw it again and so I turned and sure enough I saw a dark formless figure walking out of the prayer room. It had a face, but no facial features, and it clearly had it’s head turned towards me.

Growing up, I had been told in the church that if you ever see a demon, then act like you don’t see it & it will go away. So, though my heart was beating fast and my mind reasoning what I thought I saw, I did what I had been taught and continued on with my tasks. I soon discovered that the teaching I received was FALSE!

Initially the demon was walking from the prayer room straight out into the sanctuary towards the back of the building, but evidently it didn’t like to be ignored. I guess that means the teaching I had received, “if you see a demon just ignore it and it won’t bother you” was also a LIE. The demon had changed its course and started walking in front of the stage in the altar area directly in front of where I was standing on the stage.

As a Southerner would say, “Momma didn’t raise no fool,” so I ran very quickly out of the church. From that moment on, my life was ruled by fear. Forget about the electricity bill. I had to go into that sanctuary every morning alone, so every morning I turned on all the lights and blasted worship music from the sound system. I didn’t dare go into that prayer room alone either. Even in the midst of a church with worship music blasting scripture and all the lights turned up, the fear was very real.

Fast forward three years……

God revealed His truth to me about the authority I have through Jesus Christ to cast out demons, to lay hands on the sick, and to see them recover.

I no longer walked quickly away from demons in fear, instead people were coming to me with demon possessed friends for freedom through Christ Jesus! The demons were running away from me! My everyday life consisted of casting out demons, laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover.

One day God reminded me of that Saturday in the church years before when I ran out of the empty church from the demon. I asked him, “If I have this power and authority through you to cast out demons and they know that I have that power, then why would that demon walk right in front of me in the church sanctuary?”

The Lord replied, “It’s because the demon knew you wouldn’t use that power and authority that I had already given to you through my son, Jesus Christ. The demon was tormenting you.”

Every believer has the power and authority through Jesus Christ. But you must choose to use it.

This entire time, as a child of God, I had power and authority over the enemy, but he knew I wouldn’t use it. Let’s take a look at what scripture says about this ……

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:11 NIV

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 54:17 KJV

“But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” Acts 19:15 NLT

Every believer has the power and authority through Jesus Christ. But you must choose to use it.

It’s similar to salvation in Christ. Everyone has access to the salvation through the son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, but everyone has a free will to choose to believe in Jesus Christ, the author of their salvation. Not everyone chooses to access salvation.

When you give your life to Christ, you are given access to all the promises in the word of God. You only need to activate those promises in your life by believing them. That’s what faith is, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Belief is more than just speaking, it’s a lifestyle.

We are talking about the creator of the universe, who made the earth, the sky’s & the seas. He knitted you together in your mother’s womb. That same power not only raised Jesus Christ from the dead, but it lives inside of you as a child of God.

Do you believe it today?? Are you ready to use it today??