Demon Possession

We are talking about demon possession on Wednesday evenings now as we study the section of our study on angels that has to do with demons and so this is probably one of the topics that most interests people about the whole study of demons is the whole concept of demon possession. What it is, what its manifestations are, is it possible for a believer to be demon possessed? We probably will not get to that last question tonight. Probably will wait on that till next week. But last week we began the study of demon possession by talking about the reality of it. One of the dangers of our humanistic and secularist culture is to explain everything away on a physical level. Rather than admitting that there are spiritual forces that play in our lives, whether those be godly influences and God's work in our life or on the other side of things, whether they be demonic powers at work. But our culture today has a tendency to explain all of those things away as just purely physical phenomenon. And so the reality of demon possession, we established that, then we talked a little bit about the frequency of it. And we saw that there was some evidence in the Old Testament, but there seems to be a real spike of demon activity in the gospels. And that obviously is because of the presence of the Son of God on planet earth. And so demons marshal their forces, if you will, Satan concentrates his attack against God's Son. And Jesus encountered demons a lot in his ministry. And then you see some of it in the book of Acts, it's kind of tapering off then. The apostles are still dealing with some of that. And then there's not much of that that you hear later in the New Testament in Paul's later epistles. He just doesn't have a whole lot to say about demon oppression or possession, although he still talks about the fact that we do battle against spiritual wickedness in high places. And so we've still got to be careful to put on the armor. So the frequency heightened during the ministry of Christ, but obviously still very much present. And we'll see that again tonight. What we want to pick up tonight is with the character of demon possession, what it is like, what demon possession really is. And we're going to start with a word study. So let's talk a little bit about the contribution of a word study. What we're going to do is take the Greek word that is translated by the English words possessed by a demon or inhabited by a demon. It's this word that you see on the screen. It's a little difficult to even pronounce. I've anglicized it, put it in English, but the word is dim on the examinus. And it really has three parts to it. And the three parts of this word actually define for us what demon possession really is. This is the New Testament word for demonization or being afflicted or possessed with a demon. It is used 12 times specifically in the New Testament and always used in the present tense, which means it is a continuous activity. And so demon possession is a continual control of a demon over someone. But I want you to notice the three parts of the word. The first part is you can see diamond, which obviously is the Greek word for demon. And so what we're talking about here has to do with demons, the involvement of demons. Then the next part is this little three letters right here. IDZ is stuck on the end of diamond, the concept of is, that part of the word, the Greek word means to be an active cause of something. So to this point, you've got the demon being an active cause. And then ominous is simply the passive ending of the verb. This is a verbal form and this is the passive ending, which means that the human being, the person who is afflicted by a demon, is more passive in the sense that the demon has taken control. The demon is now the active one in the relationship, if you will, in the involvement. And the person is more passive. So it's the control of a demon over a person. The demon is active, the person is being acted upon by the demon. So the person himself or herself is more passive and the demon takes control. So the idea from this word study of the actual word used in the New Testament for demon possession, the idea quite clearly is literally a demon caused passivity. A demon caused passivity. In other words, control over a person by a demon. And that's an important concept. Demon possession means that the demon is really in control now of the mental faculties of that person. The word possessed may be a little misleading. The idea of possession may indicate ownership. And that's not really the concept in demon possession. Demons are invaders. They don't own, they invade, they come from the outside and take over. But the person is not owned by a demon. They become passive because the demon takes control and begins to exercise his influence through the person. So really the better word is control. And demon possession really is the control of a demon over the personality of a person. That's really what we're talking about. So this word, which is the word that's used in the New Testament for demon possession, has really informs us as to what we're talking about and what it really is. A demon caused passivity. The demon becomes the controlling influence over the person who kind of the personality of that person moves into the background and the demon controls their personality. So that would lead me to a definition. Let me go ahead and give you that and then we'll pause and see if you have any questions. The definition of demon possession is this and I'll read through it fairly slowly and then give you an opportunity to maybe grasp what all we're talking about here. The inhabiting of a human. So demon possession is the inhabiting of a human. By one or more demons who exercise varying degrees of control, exercise varying degrees of control with resultant physical psychological and spiritual manifestations with resultant physical psychological and spiritual manifestations. So that kind of an expansion on that word that we've looked at, demon possession can be defined as the inhabiting of a human by one or more demons who exercise various degrees of control with resultant physical psychological and spiritual manifestation. We'll talk about some of the elements of that definitions would go on through the study. Sometimes the Bible describes this in other terms. For instance, you may have noticed the term in your Bible having a spirit like the witch at indoor, the Bible says in 1 Samuel 28, had a familiar spirit. That means that there was a demon that kind of linked up with her to cooperate with her on a continual basis to provide her the information she was seeking from beyond the grave. This was a familiar spirit, a demonic spirit that was familiar to her that was in kahuts with her that worked with her on an ongoing basis. So sometimes it's it's described that way. Sometimes it's described in the Bible as being troubled with an unclean spirit or oppressed by the devil. All of those expressions are used, but they cover the same ground as what we've just talked about. And that is the control of a demon over the personality of a person. The idea of inhabiting or kind of indwelling comes from a couple of scriptures that I want to put on the screen for you. The first is Luke 830. Notice how demon possession is described here. This is the demon possess man in the tombs at Gideira. Jesus asked him, what is your name? Legion he replied because many demons had notice gone into him. So it's described as demons actually going into him, inhabiting him. And there are other places also in the Bible where this is true. For instance Matthew 12, notice how Christ describes demon possession. When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest that's not fine. And that's what it says, I will return to notice the house I left. That's picturesque language obviously, but the picture is actually leaving a house and going back into a house. When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spiritual wicked than itself and they go in and live there. It's a very clear terminology of inhabiting. It's like going into a house and living in a house. The final condition of that person is worse than the first. This is how it will be with this wicked generation. Jesus describing the nation of Israel in that particular instance. So that's where the idea of inhabiting or kind of indwelling comes from, from those kind of descriptions in the Bible, which do seem to really indicate that. Spirit possession is the Holy Spirit actually inhabiting a person. Now we're going to see a little bit later. There's a little bit more to that when you talk about demon control and demon possession. There's a little bit more to it, but I'm going to hold off on that. Just remember that a demon is a spirit being. A demon cannot be contained inside a body. He can move in and out. The real question is does he have as much influence right here as he would inside my left arm? That kind of thing. Some of you are looking at me really funny. But the idea is there really a spatial connotation here. Is there really the demon actually being inside your body or can a demon influence us just as much from outside? We'll talk about that later when we talk about demon possession and the believer. But that's how we would characterize demon possession from the word that's used and the descriptions that are used in the New Testament. Before we talk about the change in personality in demon possession, any questions to this point about what demon possession is? Actually, that is at the very crux of what we're going to talk about later when we talk about the Holy Spirit or when we talk about how much influence a demon can have on a Christian. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer, which basically means the Holy Spirit maintains an abiding presence with us is with us all the time. Now many people say, well that means a demon can't get inside me. And I think that, and that is, I think to some degree true, the difficulty is it gives some people a sense of false assurance like I can never be influenced by a demon. And I think we can be. I think we can be influenced by a demon because a demon doesn't have to be down inside you to influence you. He's a spirit being. He can influence me from out here too. The real question for a believer is can a demon take away our standing in Christ? And the Bible makes that very clear in Romans 8, no demon can take away your standing in Christ, can remove you from your position in Christ. So that's the key thing to hang on to, but don't get a sense of false assurance that just because you have the Holy Spirit and you means demons can't bother you, you have a sinful nature in you too, don't you? And the Bible describes that as a warfare. They're battling each other just because you have the Holy Spirit in you doesn't mean that you're a sinful nature can't influence you. It can. Well, same thing could be said of a demon. So I'm not, that was a long answer. I'm not sure if I got really okay. But we will talk about that a little bit more. The important thing to see here is that demon possession, as we call it, really is demon control that the whole personality of an individual is under the control of that demon. Yes, Sarah. There, there seems to be, and this is just from observation, there's not a direct verse that teaches us, there seems to be a measure of willingness to give over control to a demon. And demons don't just barge in against a person's will. There seems to be a measure of kind of an invitation through either a cult activity or sinful behavior. So a person who says no to those things, I don't want to get near to that is in a real sense saying stay away from me. They could get away now whether or not they can rebuke or would even know to rebuke those spirits. The only way we can rebuke a spirit is through Christ. And so I would be, I would be very suspect of an unbeliever calling on the power of God or Christ himself to think. I think when an unsafe person has become, has come out of the influence of demons, the only way to fully overcome that is to get saved is the gospel. And then you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within to do battle and the power of Christ to give you the power over the enemy. But I do think unbelievers can keep demonic influence away by not getting involved in deeply ensuing and a cult activity and so forth. Otherwise, every unbeliever would be demon possessed and that's not, that would be an overstatement, that's not the case. Okay, very good. Thanks. Other just bill. Yes. Yes. Yeah, that's, that's very true. If we leave a vacuum in our lives or as, as Jesus was really using that illustration to, to point out the nation of Israel, they had cleaned up really good. Ferrisayism, ferrisayical Judaism was outwardly very clean. You know, they cleaned up their lives. They looked like they were holding righteous and doing all the right things, but there was no spirit on the inside. Nothing, the Lord Jesus was not inside. God was not worshipped in their hearts. And so really was a vacuum and Satan just rushed in to take that over. It's interesting that in the analogy Jesus is using, where Satan rushes in is in the place of false religion. When false religion has cleaned up a person but has not filled their heart with the presence of the Lord, then that's fertile ground for Satan to come in and take over. It's not, it's not just terrible degrading immoral sins, but it's religion that can do the same thing. So there is a vacuum. We've got to fill our hearts with something. We don't fill it with Christ, then we leave open the opportunity for Satan to come in. Right. Yeah. Okay. Good point. Any other questions before we look at what happens when a demon possesses the change in person? This is the change in personality. Okay. Let's take a look at that and where I want you to look, I want you to actually turn to this passage is Mark five, because we'll come back to it in just a moment. This is the familiar story of the demon possessed man in the tombs at Goodara. He's such an interesting case study because he he shows so much of what demon possession is all about. We're going to get into some of the actual marks of demon possession in a few moments, but just to kind of summarize, I want you to see in the big picture, the change in his personality, because there is an amazing change in this man's personality that's been wrought by demonic possession. Mark five, verse one, they went across the lake to the region of the garrisons when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. Now just notice how different this man's behavior and actions and attitudes are to the average person to what we would call a normal person. And this indicates that great change in his personality. No one can bind him anymore, not even with a chain. Verse four, for he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. I mean, this is bizarre behavior. Verse six, when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice. What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? In God's name, don't torture me for Jesus had said to him, come out of this man, you impure spirit. Then Jesus asked him, what is your name? My name is Legion. He replied for we are many and he begged Jesus again and again, not to send him out of the area. This is not this is not a normal human personality coming through here. It's not a normal human personality in the sense of behavior in the sense of what it's saying in the sense of his unusual strength in the sense of his sub mutilation, all of those things. It's not normal and this is attributed to the possession of a demon coming through in his personality. His whole personality has changed. I want to read a little bit for you from a book, an excellent book on angels and demons by a man who was for 35 years, a professor of theology at Moody Bible Institute. He wrote a book that I've used a good bit in this study. Angels elect an evil Fred Dickerson is his name. He talks about some of the change in personality that can occur in demon possessed people. Some of this is from scripture. Some of it is from counselors who have worked with people who are obviously demon possessed. He says as noted the manifestation of the demon in habitation may be mild or severe. It may vary from mild harassment to severe subjection. Present day counselors have found that in some cases there may develop supernatural abilities to heal, to speak in unlearned languages or nonsensical babblings, to foretell the future, to have predictive dreams, to speak with another voice, to work miraculous tight feats as did the magicians of Egypt, or to psychically diagnose illnesses or troubled thought. In other cases demonized persons may become suddenly angry. They may be driven to hurt themselves or others or become depressed in suicidal. He compares that to the demonic of Gideira here. And then he makes a clarification is demon possession or demonization is not merely a term for schizophrenic illness. For that schizophrenia is a chemical emotional problem that does not allow the proper tracking of thought and emotions. Neurotransmitters in such cases are not functioning properly. There is a physical chemical reason for that in the brain. But he says in demonization the personality of the demon controls to some degree and at times eclipses the personality, the person he inhabits to display something of the inhabiting demon's personality through the means of the victim's body. Note again the case of the demonic of Gideira where the human randegesus but the demon wanted to flee, wanted to retreat. There is this almost schizophrenic type of activity but this is not a brain disorder. This is a demon problem. We have to be careful about attributing, as we have said before, all mental illness or physical illness to demons but just remembering that sometimes demons can do those same kind of things when they control the personality of an individual. So those are some of the changes that may take place in a person in demon possession. Now I want to mention just for a moment the responsibility of the person's possessed. We talked about this a little bit last week and it was just mentioned before as we talked about one of the questions you asked. It does seem that in most cases what initiates demon possession is some kind of voluntary yielding to temptation to sin which weakens the will. The more a person gives in to sin this is why the deeper you get involved in sin the more your will, your character is compromised and weakened and makes you more susceptible to influence from wickedness, evil powers, even demons if you will and eventually to the control of demonic powers. Now I think that's generally the case that seems to be the case in scripture especially with a lot of the Old Testament evidences of this you see. But in some cases the personal moral responsibility is not real clear and someone brought this up a week or two ago in our study and so I want to kind of go back to it in Mark chapter 9 verses 20 and 21. This will be on the screen for you. This is when the man brought his little boy to the apostles and they could not healing so they brought him brought him to Jesus when the spirit saw Jesus it immediately through the boy into a convoction he fell to the ground and rolled around foaming it at the mouth. Jesus asked the boys father how long has he been like this from childhood he answered. Now that makes you wonder what did this little child do could he have been so deeply involved in sin that he had weakened his will so much that demons were invited basically to come in and this case in particular seems to indicate that in some cases there may be less moral responsibility on the individual and maybe more responsibility on the environment or surroundings. It could well be in this case that maybe the involvement in wickedness by parents or the involvement in idolatry or a cultic type activity by the parents may have provided environment in the home where everyone in that home is susceptible at least to the influence of demons. So we have to at least leave the door open for that it's hard to imagine how a little child could be so deeply involved in sin that they would be inviting possession of a demon. So that would lead us to believe that it may sometimes be because of the surroundings. I can tell you from personal counseling with people even recently of a case where deep sin and demonic type activity on the part of the family was responsible for the scarring of an individual to a point that they believe they were being oppressed by demons. I think that can happen so I think maybe that's the kind of case you've got here. That's what we're talking about with the character of demon possession and what it is, how it's defined, what it looks like in scripture. Any other comments or questions? Yeah, it's clear that in that case it was not the man that was recognizing Jesus or talking with Jesus. It was the demon speaking through the man and that again is evidence of control over his entire personality, his entire function of his personality, of his thinking is known to the control of the demons and the demons are actually speaking through him. So yeah, it's very clear in that case because remember when Jesus says what is your name? It's the demons who speak, they respond. Legion because we are many. That's not that man speaking, that's the demons speaking. So total control of the personality. Okay, since we're talking about this man, let's stay here in Mark 5 and move to the symptoms of demon possession. What does demon possession actually look like? What are the symptoms of it? What are the marks of it? Well, there are some marks suggested by scripture first and again the most important place to look, the most lengthy description is here in Mark 5. So let's just look at some of the symptoms or marks of demon possession. One is unusual physical strength, verse 3. This man lived in the tombs, no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. And verse 4 goes on, describe he'd been chained often and he just broke him apart. So unusual physical strength, almost like superhuman strength, can be a symptom or a mark of demon possession. And then I think you could probably say another mark would be fits of rage. Verse 4, you try to chain this man and he goes into a frenzy. He just, he tears, he tears him apart, tears chains apart, breaks irons on his feet and you can almost visualize that's not a very passive type of activity. That's a very violent kind of activity. And so you imagine along with that goes just a fit of rage. Now again, please, please be careful with this. The next time your husband gets a little angry at you, don't say well you're just demon possessed. That's all it is. Or your wife, be careful with that. We're talking about as a characteristic kind of superhuman strength and violent sudden fits of rage that are just unexplainable on a normal level of someone being provoked by something. I think another characteristic in verses 6 and 7 is something we just noted a moment ago, kind of a split personality of a disintegration of the personality in verse 6. It's the man who runs and falls at Jesus feet, but the demon is shouting out, what do you want to do with me? What do you want with me, Jesus? Don't torture me. The man is running toward Jesus because he wants deliverance. The demons are pulling back. They don't want anything to do with Jesus. And so this kind of disintegration of the personality and bizarre behavior in different directions is sometimes an evidence of demon possession. Another mark would be a resistance to spiritual things for 7. When the demon shouts, what do you want with me, Jesus? Some of the most high God and God's name don't torture me. One anything to do with spiritual things, especially with Christ. Another mark may be in verse 7, excessive sensibility. The demons recognize who Jesus is. They have unusual ability to recognize things. Another mark, verse 9, the alteration of his voice. Jesus asks the man, what is your name, but the man doesn't reply. My name is Legion. He replied for we, we are many. The person, the ones who are talking are the demons. The alteration or the control of someone's voice can be a mark of demon possession. This may be a little bit of a stretch, but in verse 13, what is often called occult transference. In other words, the transfer of demons or demonic power from one person or object to another. Verse 13, the demons go into the interest spirits, came out, went into the pigs, and they rushed down the bank into the lake, and were drowned. There are others that are mentioned by people who deal with this a lot. I want to mention some of those in a moment, but these are marks that are at least suggested in this account of scripture that may accompany demon possession, demon control. Question, comment. There are other marks of demon possession that are noted by counselors, people who deal with this a lot and write on this a lot. Professor Dallas Theological Seminary by the name of Meryl Unger, he's dead now, but was an Old Testament professor there for many, many years, and wrote several books on demon oppression and possession. He listed several marks that had been noted by people who dealt with those who were oppressed by demons. Here's some that he listed projection of a new personality, supernatural knowledge, including the ability to speak in unlearned languages. That's interesting. The ability to speak in languages that you've not learned. Supernatural physical strength, moral depravity, in other words, very deep levels of moral sin. In addition, there may be deep melancholy or seeming idiocy, ecstatic or extremely malevolent or ferocious behavior, spells of unconsciousness and foaming at the mouth. Another counselor, Kurt Koch, who has written also on demon oppression, lists some of these other suggests or marks symptoms resistance to prayer or Bible reading. And we're not talking about, I just feel a little tired today. I don't want to read my Bible. It's not that it is a violent resistance to anything having to do with the Bible or prayer. Restlessness and depression and fear, compulsion to rebell against God or blaspheme, violence, and cursing excessive sexual or sensual cravings, resistance and hatred of spiritual things, inability to pronounce or write the name of Jesus, appearance of media mystic or clairvoyant abilities, inability to act on Christian counsel, resistance to a Christian counselor, inability to pronounce the works of the devil. Again, this just shows the control of a demon over a person, the resistance to let go of that person, if you will. Speaking and unlearned languages, this man, in fact, are three of these counselors. At all three, he mentioned that same thing. He warns those who put so much stress on speaking in tongues that Satan has his counterfeits. And all three of these men who've been extensive counseling and work with people who were demon possessed indicate they notice the ability to speak and unlearned languages. That's very interesting. Now obviously, again, some of these marks can be there just in a person's personality or can have physical causes, but demons can also bring all of these kinds of marks and symptoms on people. Okay, comments or questions about that. Okay, that's a great question. How do these people even get to a Christian counselor? Do they know that their demon possessed? And lots of cases know, and lots of cases they come just because they can't explain their bizarre feelings and behavior. Sometimes they seem all right. And other times they're just like they're totally opposite and they maybe it scares them or the, but a lot of times it's a family member or a friend who's noticed this kind of behavior that just is unexplainable. And they say you need some help and they get them to a counselor and it's the counselor who begins to notice kind of pattern, especially when it comes to spiritual things and begins to identify this is a kind of a problem. This sounds like demonic oppression. Now only Christian counselors would pick up on that. Again, secular counselors would have other ways of rationalizing it away. No spiritual forces involved at all. That's primitive ancient ignorant mindset. You know, that's that's what they would say. But Christian counselors sometimes can pick up on that. I can remember my first exposure to what I think was a demon possessed person was when I was a student of Peabont Bible College. And a friend of mine and I would go down every Saturday to a very bad part of town and we would, it was very rough part of town and we would hand out tracks on the street, it was kind of a street evangelism. And I was handing out tracks one day with my friend Steve White and we were, I was fairly out on the side of the street where there was a pretty rowdy bar and the bar owner came out and told me to get away from his bar and stop handing that stuff out. So I just walked down the street, maybe a couple of stores. Well, he came after me, just rushed at me and just started pummeling me, just started, it was violent. And a police car came down the street and he saw that and he stopped. And by that time my friend had come across the street and realized what was happening. So thankfully I'm still here. But it was, I can, I'll never forget that it was so sudden and violent rage against the gospel. Evidently guys were walking into his barn at these tracks and he's hand, he picked up one and looked at it and he just went off. And I don't, obviously I don't know for sure, but the kind of reaction he had just seemed so bizarre that I suspect it was demonic possession. That was my first experience with it and it really, it really shook me. I mean we had to leave and go back to school. It was bad, but I've seen it to where I think that's what I was seeing. But I was what 18, 19 years old to time. That was my first experience with it. It's crazy. Okay. Symptoms, those are some, some of the kind of symptoms that you can, you can have when, or person can have, when oppressed by a demon. Let me just very quickly mention degrees and demon possession. There can be, and I mentioned this in the definition, there can be varying degrees of control, varying degrees of effects. And when you think about it, it makes sense. There would be at least three reasons for that. Number one would be the degree of wickedness in the character of the demons. Okay. We talked about the fact that Jesus said, remember in that example in Matthew 12 that the demon who is out of the house goes back, finds it clean, takes in. Well, I think we've got that passage here. Don't we Matthew 12? I think I've got it here, Tim in this place. Jesus says, or the demons says, I will return to the house. I left one of the arrives. It finds the house and occupies what clean put in order. Next verse says, then it goes and takes with it. Here it is. Seven spirits, more wicked than itself. So there, there are varying degrees of wickedness among demons. So obviously the level of control would in part depend on the level of wickedness of the demon who's in control. I mean, that stands to reason. A second thing that may lead to varying degrees of control would be the number of demons that are inhabiting. Remember again, the man in the tombs at Gideira, Luke 8 verse 30, the number of demons. What is your name? Legion because many demons had gone into him. So he's such an interesting case study as we saw earlier, all those characteristics because he demonstrates a lot of the characteristics of demon possession. Why? Because there are so many demons in him. So the degree of demon oppression or possession may vary because of how many demons are involved. And then the third variable can be the rank of demons inhabiting someone or possessing someone. Remember demons have different ranks. We've seen that earlier in principalities powers, the different rulers, the different names that are used of them. And so if you've got a high ranking demon that is a flicking or controlling someone, obviously there's going to be more greater degree of control and effects from that. Okay, I want to go ahead and finish up. It's eight o'clock, but just let me mention this the continuation of demon possession. I just want to say this basically, obviously there seems to be at least in the number of descriptions of demon possession, a real spite during the ministry of Christ, but there are evidences of it in the book of Acts with the apostles. Early church fathers, the church leaders who wrote in the first centuries of the Christian faith, they gave documented cases of demon possession in their time. And that has continued the descriptions I read for you earlier about some of these Christian counselors and theologians that have had firsthand experience. It seems to still happen today and especially especially in areas where the gospel has not penetrated the darkness of Satan and there are real satanic strongholds. A lot of missionaries can tell you stories about demonic oppression that we don't see to that extent in this country where the gospel has not penetrated yet and it's still very dark and Satan has a lot of grip and control on people through religions that create fear of the spirits and so forth. There's a lot of demonic oppression among those people. That's about all we have time for unless you have a real quick question that's going to sit with you for a week. All right, let's pray. Father, we know that the enemy we are dealing with does not want us does not like us to expose his strategies or what he's doing. So father, I pray that as we describe our enemy, we will do so in a spirit of total dependence upon you. Being careful to depend upon your spirit who gives us victory and provides us with the strength overcome the evil one. So father, would you keep us humbly submissive to you? Help us never to think that we know our enemy well or that we can defeat him because of our knowledge of his tactics or because we have such strength in our spirit. We have such strength in ourselves, deliver us from that kind of presumption that he would love to feed on. Help us to stay totally under your control. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.