Slideshow image

“I feel free,” said a woman who received prayer for more joy.  “The decades are lifted off me.”

Decades ago, she was part of a missions team that went to west Africa. She said, “We were glorious.  We were trained.  We were prepared.  We were a team.  We flew south to Africa, and then it all fell apart.  We were a mess.  Our intimate loving fellowship and purpose blew up.  People left the mission one by one.  We never recovered.  I came back.  I have not found true fellowship or connection with other believers since.”

I asked the Holy Sprit to come and release the power of the Kingdom of God upon her now.  I asked the Holy Spirit how he wanted to pray for her.  A thought crosses my mind:  witch doctor.  I ask her if that means anything to her?  And she says something like, “Maybe that explains it  The region we went to had witch doctors. Do you think they sent something evil to break us up?”  

I am clueless and say something like “I don’t know, but I know that God’s love is more powerful.  Let’s pray again.”  I ask the Holy Spirit to come once more and release the power of the Kingdom of God over “witch doctor.” She begins to sway slightly, smile slightly, shed  a few tears slightly, and shares she is feeling free.  Later, I see her across the room.  She is worshipping God with laughter, tears of joy streaming down her face, arms outstretched and swaying to the music.  She got the joy that she had been longing for over dozens of years.

In Mark 1:21-28 as Jesus begins speaking, the listeners recognize immediately that he’s different.  His teaching has authority — they were getting a taste of the Kingdom of God — his perfect rule, reign and authority with love.  Right then, someone influenced by something demonic interrupts.

In verse 23, the New International Version uses the word ‘possessed which when written in the original Greek it is not the word for possessed but a simple preposition which is similar to our word ‘with.’  So in English when we hear the word possessed we think it means it belongs to someone or something — like I possess a lovely diamond engagement ring or someone repossessed my car because I couldn’t make payments on it.  Back then, what the writer was saying was this man who interrupts Jesus does not belong to a demon, but a demon is with him.  A demon, in some way, is present influencing the man speaking.

Jesus then demonstrates the authority of the Kingdom of God by simply commanding the distracting force to shut up and go. The people watching both hear and see this new authority, recover from the distraction, and tell everyone in the region.

Evil forces primary purpose is to distract people from hearing the message of the kingdom of God.  Demons distract.  I think of them like little annoying bugs in comparison to the power of God.

The other day I was on a dinner date with my husband.  It was lovely: good food, good conversation, good scenery; until a little fruit fly shows up and interrupts everything. It’s trying to land on our glasses, our food.  We keep trying to catch it, smash it.  We never did. The beautiful meal was marred.  It’s the same with the demonic, with evil.  It ruins our feasting on the bounties of the kingdom of God in our life.

So, what is distracting you?  What is pulling you away from experiencing the fullness of the Kingdom of God in your life? Some distractions are a matter of life and death, like texting while driving.  Embracing the empowered new life Jesus offers is a matter of “grave” importance. 

We can ask God: What is distracting me?  What is behind my distractions?  What is it distracting me from?  The great news is the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to throw off the enemy’s distractions, so we and others are free.