In this life, we cannot
completely avoid temptation from the Devil and his demons, nor will we be free from
their opposition to our efforts to share God’s love and truth. Even Jesus was tempted (but never gave in!),
and even He faced opposition from the Devil working through people around
Him. Temptation and opposition through
others should be the extent of the Devil’s influence in the life of a Christian. Tragically, this is often not the case. We often give the Devil a place in our lives
which he should not have.
Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians
to Christians. After describing our glorious salvation in the opening chapters,
in chapter four Paul begins to urge us to live a life which reflects such a
great salvation:
NIV Ephesians 4:1
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the
calling you have received.
Paul explains the
importance of unity among Christians, then he moves on to explain why it is so
important to “no longer live as the Gentiles do” (Ephesians 4:17). Paul is warning us not to continue to live a
sinful life like people who do not know God. As part of Paul’s efforts to
encourage us to live a godly life, he includes this warning, which we will
spend some time analyzing:
NIV Ephesians 4:26-27 "In your anger do not
sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not
give the devil a foothold.
Paul mentions a
specific sin, namely anger. While we don’t
want sin in our lives for even a moment, the damage of sin grows when we let it
stay in our lives. This is why Paul
warns us not to let the sun go down while we are still angry. Of course, Paul is not saying that it is fine
to be angry from sunrise at 5am until sunset at 7pm. The point Paul is making is that once we
become aware of sinful anger, we need to confess it, repent, and seek God’s
help to get rid of it.
Does this principle
apply only to anger? No. In this same section of Ephesians, Paul
mentions a number of other sins including greed (Ephesians 4:19), sexual
immorality (Ephesians 5:3), obscenity (Ephesians 5:4), and drunkenness
(Ephesians 5:18). In fact, Paul uses several broad words and phrases which basically
cover all types of sin:
“your former way of
life” (Ephesians 4:22)
“any kind of
impurity” (Ephesians 5:3)
“the fruitless
deeds of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11)
What is true of anger
is true of sin in general. It is important not to let sin remain in our hearts
and minds. Why is this important? There are many reasons, but here I want to
focus on the reason Paul gives in Ephesians 4:27. When we allow sin to remain in our lives, we
risk giving the devil a foothold.
Giving the Devil a Place in Our lives
What does it mean
to give the devil a “foothold”? The
Greek word translated “foothold” is topos.
This word basically means “a place”.
More specifically, this word often refers to an inhabited place. Inhabitation is not always the focus of topos, but major Greek lexicons
recognize that inhabitation is often part of the meaning:
Looking at a few
verses where the same Greek word topos
is used will help you to see the meaning:
ESV Luke 2:7
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and
laid him in a manger, because there was no place (topos) for them in the inn.
People did not give
a place in the guest room for Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. Tragically, many people do give the devil a
place in their lives by allowing sin to fester in their hearts.
ESV Revelation
12:7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against
the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated,
and there was no longer any place (topos)
for them in heaven.
The devil and his
angels (who are now called demons) no longer have a place to live in
heaven. But these demons are not
homeless. Billions of people are giving
these demons a new place to live by allowing sin to remain in their lives.
Does this Mean a Christian Can be Demon Possessed?
No.
A demon cannot own
a Christian. Christians have been
purchased for God with the blood of Christ (Revelation 5:9).
Actually, “demon
possessed” is an unfortunate translation of the Greek word daimonizomai. Sometimes in English we
make a noun into a verb:
terror + ized = to
suffer from extreme fear
demon + ized = to suffer
from demonic oppression or be influenced by demons
The Greek word daimonizomai is equivalent to the
English word “demonized”. They simply
took the Greek noun for “demon” and turned it into a verb. The word “possessed”
was not used at all. Adding the concept of “possession”, which implies “ownership”,
causes confusion. There is no word meaning “possessed” used to describe what
demons do to people in the original Greek of the New Testament.
Since demons can’t
possess Christians, what does Paul mean when he refers to giving them “a place”? Paul does not stop and explain what the
demons will do if we give them “a place”.
I’m sure they never do anything good! It seems likely that they might have the
following types of influences and effects if we give them “a place” in our
lives:
1. They might increase the level and intensity
of temptation in a particular area. If
we give in, we might end up committing far more serious and damaging sins than
the sin that originally opened the door to the demonic influence.
2. They might in some ways distract us when we
are trying to pray, read our Bibles, worship, or serve the Lord.
3. They may cause us to have evil thoughts and
dark emotions, including depression, fear, and anger.
4. They might rob us of peaceful rest and
peaceful emotions.
5. They might influence us to believe things
that are not true.
6. Evil spirits often cause sickness and
disease.
7. They might take us captive to do the devil’s
will and work through us to harm others (2 Timothy 2:26).
In general, these
things and more are all consistent with the broad description of the devil’s
work which Jesus gave to us:
ESV John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have
life and have it abundantly.
Some people get
really concerned about whether we should think of the demon as being “in” a
person. I don’t care if a demon is “in”
someone or if it is more like it is sitting on their shoulder or buzzing around
their head like a fly. The point is, we
want to guard against evil influence in our lives, and if demons gain “a place”,
we want to get rid of them.
I learned the
following illustration from others. I
think it will help us apply the truths we have been looking at so far.
The Rats and The Trash
Imagine that a
friend told you he was having a terrible problem with rats in his kitchen. He explained that he would battle them with a
broom until he was exhausted each night.
He sometimes managed to get rid of them, but then they would be back the
next day. He begged for your help.
So, you went over
to his house to take a look. And there
in the middle of the kitchen floor was a huge, stinking pile of garbage. Apple cores, banana peels, chewed on chicken
bones, and more were all piled up and appeared to have been there for some
time.
Trying to be
gracious, you said, “Friend, I think I see the problem”.
The point of the
illustration is simple. Demons are like
rats. They are attracted to trash in our lives. If we let anger, greed, lust, or
other sins fester in our lives, then we risk attracting the rats and giving
them a place in our lives. Sure, we can
battle them and drive them out using the powerful Name of Jesus. But if we don’t clean out the trash and
replace the trash with good things from God, those rats are likely to come
back. Isn’t that what Jesus taught?
Matthew 12:43 "When an impure spirit comes out of a
person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
44 Then it says,
'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house
unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.
45 Then it goes
and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in
and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.
That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
Here’s the Good
News! Because of Jesus’ death for our
sins, your sins can be forgiven. God is
ready to clean sin from your life.
NIV 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Once your sins are
forgiven and purified, the devil will no longer have a right to “a place” in
your life, and with the authority of Christ it will be far easier to resist the
devil and watch him flee.
Dear brother or
sister, how about you? Perhaps you do
not have a huge heap of stinking sin garbage in your life, but might you have a
banana peel or an old rotten apple core lying around? Might these old stinky sins be giving the
devil “a place” in your life and robbing you of some of the joy and power God
wants you to experience? If so, I
encourage you to stop and pray right now. God’s grace in Christ Jesus is available
to you and His power in you is far greater than the devil’s.
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
This post is very helpful and explains it so that it is easy to understand. <><
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