Protection from Demons

I got this five day devotion from my bible, I really like it. I was spurred on to read and write these down for the small group my mother is teaching this semester at my home church, Westminster Church of God. It's based off a book written by Chip Ingram. I absolute love this book because it came to me when I needed it most. Now I am hiding what I read in my heart by going deeper into the book. Anywayyy, this particular week long devo is about protection from demons and how we have the power to overcome them. Because Grater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. Ameennn!

Protection from the Devil and Demons

Day one: The promise Job 1:1-2:13

GOD’S INVISIBLE FENCE

Imagine you’re out for your daily jog in your neighborhood when a huge black and tan dog – teeth bared, ears back, haunches flexed—comes racing toward you off the porch of a house. You break into a sprint and prepare for the impact—but it never comes. Two feet before the curb, the four legged meat processor screeches to a stop. An “invisible fence” –wires buried along the perimeter of the yard that signal and electric shock though a receiver on the dog’s collar—has saved your day, and perhaps a good portion of the skin on your right leg.

The invisible fencing that defines a dog’s freedom in a yard is a picture of the limits that God puts on Satan’s activity in our world. When we read verses in the Bible like John 5:19 and 1 Peter 5:8, we might conclude that Satan is like an unleashed dog, free to roam and attack at will.

But another portion of Scripture helps us to get a more complete picture. In Job chapters 1 and 2 we read of Satan’s attempts to induce this righteous man to blaspheme God. God wanted to demonstrate to Satan that Job would remain righteous even under the most severe test, and so he gave Satan permission to attack him—but within well-defined limits.

First, Satan was allowed to attack only Job’s children and his property. When Job remained righteous, God expanded Satan’s boundaries to include Job’s person and his health, though not his life. IN all this, however “Job did not sin”. The point is clear: Satan does have power in the earth and he does roam on the earth with evil intent. But he is never free to destroy at will; he is always constrained by God’s hand.

Children of God should not live in fear of Satan. He is not a free agent roaming the universe like a vicious dog escaped from his leash. He is our adversary, to be sure. But while his bark is intimidating, his bite is constrained by the invisible fence of God’s perfect purpose.

God’s Promise

“Those who fear Me have no reason at all

to fear the devil.”

Proverbs 16:6

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;

through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.