I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has no place in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here. John 14:30-31.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
The devil has no place in the sanctified life, but that does not mean he will leave you alone.
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 17:33.
He is the god of this world and Adam, of his own free will, gave him that position of dominion over the worldly, so he is roaming about the earth looking for someone to devour. So expect him to keep returning even though you have cast him out.
Jesus cast him out and won over him in the wilderness. Jesus checked his three advances and took checkmate, but I tell you that “When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.” Luke 4:13. He was not giving up, he would come again and again. But Jesus overcame him again and again, until He took final victory when I raised Him from the dead.
But you are still in this world, though when you are born again from above you are not of the world, but you are in it and the devil is crouching at your door, just waiting for a crack that will let him in. You are no longer beneath Satan. You, in Jesus, have overcome the world. But to overcome you must do just that, overcome.
This is where many turn back from following Me in the sanctified life. They get discouraged and give up because they cast the devil out, but he came back with seven spirits worse than himself. But Jesus told you about it ahead of time. You should not be surprised. You should not be taken off guard. You should expect it and be ready for it, and this may surprise you, but count it pure joy!
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patient endurance. And let patient endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4.
But the next few verses of this scripture tell you how to get through the trial perfectly: wisdom. Ask Me for wisdom.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8.
For you know just what to do to win every time. An accomplished and skillful boxer is looking for a chance to show off his skills.
Accordingly, I don’t run aimlessly but straight for the finish line; I don’t shadow-box but try to make every punch count. 2 Corinthians 9:26.
Jesus told you from experience how the devil operates. He comes to steal from you. And he does it by misrepresentation and deceit, he either offers you something that attracts you to sin or that beats you down into fear and makes you unable resist the onslaught, such as with sickness or lack. He is out to steal My Word from you, kill your fruitfulness, and destroy you by your own hands.
You can answer his misrepresentations, deceit, and onslaughts with the truth of My Word, check him in his tracks, and cast him out every time, but you must not be surprised if he returns bringing the same tactic again. When Eve gave in to the devil, it was not the first time he had talked with her. If you note, she was familiar with him.
Let us consider an example. Let us say Satan has attacked you with the symptoms of what is termed a terminal disease and you have received a bad report from the doctor for the tests they have taken. You must rise up by faith and speak that by the stripes of Jesus you are healed and are a temple of My Holy Spirit that nothing unclean can enter and cast him out. You then cast your cares on Me for restoration and give a shout of joy and sing songs of thanksgiving until you work it out of your spirit into your body.
The Holy Spirit within will quicken your body without as you worship with Him in Spirit and truth. Give Him expression and He can go to work performing My Word, as He did at creation.
The unclean demonic spirit, since you cast him out of you, has now lost his ability to express himself in the world, so he goes wandering through through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Do you recall when Jesus cast the legion of demons out of the possessed man of Gadara, the demons begged to at least go into the pigs or they would have to go back to the abyss. So what does the unclean spirit you cast out that finds no where to go, i.e., no person is accepting him in to do his unclean works through them say? Jesus told you. It says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; he wants to put you back in bondage a second time and thus have a place to express himself into the earth. And when it comes, if it finds your soul unoccupied, swept, and put in order, it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.
Do you see? Once you cast the devil out, he can only come back in if he finds your soul and spirit empty. Unoccupied. The devil found no place in Jesus. He was filled with My Word and with the Spirit, He was busy and occupied with My affairs.
But let us go deeper. He finds the rooms he once was in EMPTY.
Go back to the proverb we studied in our last Life Lesson.
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Proverbs 24:3-4.
How are the rooms filled with good and precious treasures? BY KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge of what?
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:2-3.
Knowledge of who I am, who Jesus is, and who you are in Him. And in Jesus are ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. IN HIM YOU ARE COMPLETE. Lacking in nothing.
You are filled with all the fullness of the Godhead. There is not any place for the devil in you. He has met his match, you are not unoccupied, but totally occupied, spirit, soul, and body. And that is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Every bit of you filled with Me and I am love. I am light. And I am peace. Yahavah Shalom.
Keep your eyes on Jesus to run without the encumbrance of sin. And how do you keep your eyes on Him? He is My Word. Keep your eyes on My Word.
My son, give attention to My Words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:20-23.
Be careful what you hear, guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the issues of life.
There is nothing wrong with your faith if what you cast out of your life returns. You have not lost your victory or your miracle, it just is to be expected that when the devil wanders about he will try to come back and take up abode in you. Simply submit to Me, that is, keep declaring My Word that healed you and do not question whether it really worked. It did work but the devil will come back to try to steal it from you by playing another round of his diabolical game of chess. Speaking the truth is resisting him and then he must flee.
And Jesus tells you if he finds your inner rooms empty and unoccupied, this means you are never going into the deep secret place of prayer with Me, that he will come with seven more unclean demons to enter in and make the last state of the man worse than the first.
Do you recall that when Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were told by Nebuchadnezzar to fall down and worship an idol of his they refused, and the punishment was to be put in a fiery furnace and burned to death? Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to turn up the furnace seven times hotter to wear them down and scare them. But that did not phase them for they were full of love for Me and full of the Word, so they sang praise in the furnace and came out not even smelling like smoke. And Jesus appeared and walked with them. Full, no room for the evil one and it protected them outwardly and inwardly from attack.
For you have made the LORD, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down. Psalm 91:9-13.
When you are full of the knowledge of My Word, Satan can find no place in you. For if you continue in My Word you are truly My disciples and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. My Words are Spirit and life. Filled with life, death has no place in you.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1-2.
Jesus went into the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit. Do you see now why Satan found no place in Him?
Jesus calls to you that if you are thirsty, that is, empty, come to Him and drink! Drink deeply until you overflow with the fountain that rises up within you unto eternal life. And that living water that flows in and fills you to capacity so that you also flow out to a thirsty world, offering them the Word of life, is the Holy Spirit Himself.
When you are filled with the Holy Spirit no unclean spirit can enter. Purity and light, cannot dwell together with impurity and darkness. Light always wins and fills everywhere it is released with light. Get in the light, put every bit of you in the light, and no darkness will overcome you.
Eat and drink for the journey and you will never go back into slavery a second time. That is why I fed My people with Manna in the wilderness. Now you who eat the trued bread that came down from Heaven have eternal life.
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord (Adonai) LORD (Yahaveh), “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the Words of the LORD.” Amos 8:11.
But I set a table before you in the sight of your foes, I anoint your head with oil and overflow your cup. What does that tell you? Every time you are attacked by the devil and his demon unclean spirits, I am offering you an alternative, a banquet of My Words to fill up on and win.
I love you. You have to feed to fight.