THE DEMONS BELIEVE AND TREMBLE AT GOD Mike Heil James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” C.S. Lewis in his superb book “The Screwtape Letters” made the observation Satan either turns us to fear of his kingdom or tries of hide his kingdom. Mostly, in our academic, intellectual culture, the devil tries to make his reality appear unbelievable. He uses modern philosophy and theology to make belief in a literal devil appear silly. If he can create this image in our mind it allows his kingdom operating room. And, without detection, his evil spirits and fallen angels inspire and direct many trends harmful to mankind. We should neither ignore nor fear demons. Satan and his kingdom were defeated by Jesus two thousand years ago. James tells us demons believe in God and are terrified of Him. The greek word used for shudder in James 2:10 also means tremble or bristle. I like the idea of bristle. Have you ever seen how a startled cat rears up and the hair on its back bristles? The presence of God around demons has the same reaction, they become unnerved with fear. Think of this, you and I have the presence of God within us. In this world, with demons around, we walk united with God the Spirit. When we come into the presence of evil spirits, or Satan’s kingdom, they cower and bristle in fear; not because of who we are in our flesh, but Who is within us. When some Jews who were not in Christ tried to cast out some evil spirits in Acts 19 the spirits said “Jesus I know and Paul I know”. They recognized the power of God in Paul. In Christ we are the same as Paul. In Christ we bring the Kingdom of God into victory over the kingdom of Satan.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 01:38:59 +0000