Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

Daisy was one of the first persons I dealt with who was caught in spiritual conflicts
and suffered from demonic influences. She was a Christian and a university graduate, but
she had severe mental and emotional problems which developed after her father divorced her
mother. Within a period of five years, Daisy had been institutionalized three times as a
paranoid schizophrenic. After about three weeks of counseling with me, Daisy finally found
the nerve to bring up the nighttime visitation of snakes.

"What about the snakes?" I asked.

"They crawl on me at night when I’m in bed," she confessed.

"What do you do when the snakes come?"

"I run in to my mother. But they always come back when I’m alone."

"Why don’t you try something different," I continued. "When you’re in
bed and the snakes come, say out loud, ‘In the name of Christ, I command you to leave
me.’"

"I couldn’t do that," Daisy protested. "I’m not mature enough or strong
enough."

"It’s not a matter of your maturity; it’s a matter of your position in Christ. You
have as much right to resist Satan as I do."

Daisy squirmed at the prospect. "Well, I guess I could do that."

Daisy sighed, sounding like she had just agreed to take castor oil.

The next week when Daisy walked in she said, "The snakes are gone!" If her
problem had been strictly a neurological or chemical imbalance, taking authority over the
snakes in Jesus’ name wouldn’t have worked. But in Daisy’s case, the problem was
spiritual.

James wrote: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). But if
you don’t resist him, he doesn’t have to go. Or if you just pull the covers over your head
in fear and say, "O God, do something about these demonic influences," the evil
spirits don’t have to leave. Resisting the devil is your responsibility based on the
authority you possess in Christ.

Dear Father, thank You for providing me with such wonderful power. Help me not to be
afraid to use it for my sake and others.  

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This daily devotional is published and distributed by http://www.GOSHEN.net/

It is written by Neil Anderson at http://www.ficm.org/