Picture renting a guest house you might have identified online. Perhaps you took a flight or a long road trip to get there for the weekend. The taxi drops you just as the sun is setting and you crush on the sofa after a brief tour of the house. You make a mental note- to eat the sandwich that you bought on your way there and try make a proper meal perhaps later in the evening. The funky carpet smell and the musty wooden furniture floor smell- added to the fatigue makes you drowsy. Hours later& the rumblings of your empty stomach wake you up but alas its velvet dark! You are not sure where you saw the stair case, whether the bedroom is on the left or right wing of the house. It doesn’t help that from your long trip, all your electronic gadgets have now no charge. Do you sleep on the couch or attempt to head to the bedroom at the risk of bumping your head on the walls or your small toe against the table? Ouch!
Darkness means the absence of light. Darkness slows you down. It may be easier and safer to remain where you are until the lights come on. In reality you become a captive of the darkness -at least until the lights come on. Thank fully when we receive Jesus and follow him we shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life as He is the light of the world. We read this in John 8 :12
We become the dwelling of the Spirit of God once we receive Jesus in our hearts. It means that at all times we ought to be carriers of God’s presence. John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me Jesus said, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. We read this in John 14:23. When we are aware of the indwelling of the presence of God, the enemy will not be able to withstand us.
It may be then, that the enemy will try fight back to reclaim the ground he has lost. He will attempt to drag you back into darkness. For in Colossians 1:14 God has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Itcould be that we were captives of generational bondages even before we were born. There could be areas of darkness or persistent sin or defeat that no matter how much effort you put in prayer and fasting, there is no immediate relief.
Romans 7:15 Paul shared that for what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
Let’s consider a man who was in such intense bondage that his best companions were the dead. He lived at the tombs. They had attempted to keep him from harming himself but no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. Simply put- this man was living in total darkness.
The moment Jesus enters into the territory the legions of illegal inhabitants in his life are exposed by the Light that Jesus is. In fact, they are terrified by His presence in the Gadarenes – the region they had dominated. Can you hear the resounding voices as they ask, if he had come to punish them before its time? Can you see them begging to be sent to the herd of pigs feeding in a pool of mud nearby? They knew a higher power was present and couldn’t withstand it. We see this in Mark 5:1-20
Are there habits or areas of sin you have been unable to overcome by your own strength? Might you have sought prayer to break free but your freedom is short lived? The more the time you spend with God the more you will make the atmosphere uncomfortable for the enemy to sustain any strong hold of any area of your life.
It will also mean that you will have to maintain your freedom by ensuring that your temple is always occupied by the presence of God.
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty we read this in 2 Corinthians 3:17. Try switch on the lights on a dark night. Darkness has to flee when the light of Jesus dwells in us. Strong holds of the enemy have to be broken in the Lord’s presence.
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