People live in habitual sins thinking that they are innocent and therefore accepting them as part of the human nature!
I once found myself in a typical male-only crowd listening to some heated arguments about what is a harmless behaviour! The discussion was about being hooked on giving a ‘second look’ to visually desirable persons including complete strangers! The habit may have seemed ok to this group because fire didn’t fall on anyone from the sky, but God’s view in the following scripture is totally different.
Matthew 5:28 (NLT) But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Habits are spiritual and unless they are dealt with that way, one cannot break away from them. When habits go unchecked, they become part of your character and if these habits are sinful, then you are on the highway to destruction! It doesn’t take long during a human’s lifetime before you start ‘harvesting’ from your sinful lifestyle!
In the scriptures below, we read Jesus telling two different individuals whose lifestyles had started ‘paying’ that they should sin no more or something worse would happen to them!
John 5:14 (ESV) …See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you… John 8:11 (ESV) …go, and from now on sin no more…
It is obvious that the issues the woman and the man in the above scriptures faced were as a result of sin. Sin had caught up with them. They were forgiven and healed but Jesus told them, the worst thing they could do from then onwards was to go back to their former lifestyles!
It is easy to throw caution to the wind and go about reveling with anything the world can offer while thinking of those that are facing calamities as unfortunate.
Luke 13:1-5 (NIV) Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
In so many words, Jesus says, don’t be cocky because you are not suffering. Unless you repent, it is just a matter of time, for your day of reckoning is coming!
My personal experiences and scriptural incidences set me thinking of the many sinful habits we embrace today that lead us to early death or worse still, eternal death!
The biggest question was ‘How do I help others shake off their habitual sin?’.
I then decided to prepare the following materials based on what worked in braking the power of habitual sins in me!
What is a Habitual Sin?
A habitual sin is simply a sin that you are unable to stop and has become part of your daily character!
The life of a Christian is expected to keep us away or break the binding force to habitual sins.
Therefore, a practicing Christian is not expected to live in habitual sin.
If anyone pats you on the back and says it’s alright to continue with a bad habit, that person is an agent of evil irrespective of their status, social decoration or academic persuasion.
1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
If you are unable to get personal victory over evil in any area of your life don’t just console yourself with the scriptures. If it’s a habit that you can’t break, seek help urgently because you could be a shelter or an epicenter of evil. Actions bred by this evil are likely to destroy your life and the lives of others around you.
A habitual sin is fueled by a demonic force that you can’t wish away!
When you sincerely seek deliverance from evil, you will be born in the Kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit will come into you and lead you in living a life that pleases God. The Holy Spirit breaks the binding forces that tie you to bad habits!
You may not believe that you can live right, free of desires of the flesh, free of idolatry and greed but, you can once you understand that the root cause is bigger than you think and it’s to do with demons.
Demons can be cast out and be kept off you by taking away their legal rights on you!
In the following paragraphs, I will explore with you how to deal with demons by tackling their legal rights on you!
Demons enter and live in humans when their legal rights come to effect in the spiritual world.
How?
This is through our attitudes! Though many legal rights are as a result of our actions or actions of our ancestors, the biggest chunk come from our attitudes!
What are some of these attitudes that we harbour in our minds?
Living in unforgiveness, pride, rebellion, anger, hate, among many others!
Demons’ Legal Rights
When Jesus walked on earth as a human, the biggest part of His ministry was deliverance!
Deliverance is simply defined as getting rid of unclean spirits from a human being!
Many people He mingled with, looked ok and leading a normal life yet unclean spirits controlled them but they didn’t realize. They most probably blamed themselves for their many hard-to-overcome shortcomings, normally a clue that they were being controlled by demons!
Proverbs 26:2 (NLT) Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim.
Normally unclean spirits or demons are sometimes identified as curses. They occupy our lives because they have (spiritual) legal reasons or grounds to do so. Working behind the scene, demons seek permission from the Creator to occupy a certain area of our life.
God loves us very much and He allows some of these things to happen to teach us lessons of righteousness. The scriptures say that our present sufferings cannot be compared with the glory that is awaiting us when we overcome!
The following scriptures give us a glimpse of why demons have been given permission to deal with sin in humans. These reasons are what we call the demons legal rights.
Job 1:12 “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses….” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.
If you study the book of job and follow his arguments with his friends when they came to see him during his great afflictions, Job had traces of self-righteousness and maybe hidden pride. This could have led satan to seek permission to destroy Job and what he had! We get a clue from the following scripture.
Job 38:4 (NLT) “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.
Then we have Simon the apostle. He clearly was ahead of himself in everything before the Pentecost!
Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.
Simon’s case could have been pride. Immediately before this request, Peter was involved in an argument of who among the disciples was the greatest. Peter may have emerged the winner among the disciples and his heart could have ballooned with pride.
2 Chronicles 18-22: Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him and also prevail; go out and do so.’ Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.”
Disobedience was the factor in the above scripture. When we disobey God, satan sees it and does not waste any chance in seeking permission to hurt us!
Matthew 18: 33-35 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. ‘This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’
The issue in the above scripture was unforgiveness. The jailers in this parable are actually demons.
We can see in action some common reasons that justifies the devil to get permission to send his demons to us. The reasons mentioned above are fruits of our attitudes such as pride, deliberate disobedience, unforgiveness and a self-righteousness before God.
In the scriptures above we see how demons seek permission behind the scenes to tempt. They stalk you and study you and when they see an opportunity they seek permission to do their assignment.
Who is satan? Please note that satan is lucifer, he is also the devil and he is only one.
What is a demon? Demons, impure, unclean or evil spirits are intelligent beings just like our soul but without bodies. They are an army under the command of the devil to hurt humans. In their existence, they seek to occupy a suitable body and if the body dies, they jump into another body. Demons also influence people from outside the body.
Your body is capable of housing your soul and a number of demons who will constantly entice you to do evil because they enjoy it and its in their nature.
We know by now that God breaths the soul into a formed infant’s body in the mother’s womb. When the baby is born, anybody can tell that the baby has nothing bad in it but an innocent and trusting nature in them. We all want to protect it and as the body grows, the young child is loving, happy, confident and angel-like. This is because they have nothing impure living in their body until they reach the age of knowing good and evil. Then, they change and the devil gets permission to inflict them with demons and from this stage onward its a hell’s game! Demons take full advantage of the young human’s changing hormones and maximize on any damages they wish to inflict! This becomes the stage of demonization in the life of that human! The age or the intensity of demonization may vary with different people!
When Jesus walked here on earth, He met people and some of these people were hosting demons in their bodies. He didn’t just pat them on the back and said “it is ok”, no, He cast out the demons living in them which made them happy and were willing to became part of his life!
Luke 8:1-3 Soon afterward, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him, as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene,from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza.…
From my personal experience, living with demons within us is a no-win-situation. The intensity of temptations is too high to sustain. They create the binding forces to bad habits!
Some people say that they are being tempted by God! We should never say that temptations come from God but from what is within or around us. The only reason that a demon has permission to tempt you is because of your personal attitude as discussed earlier. These are pride, deliberate disobedience, unforgiveness and self-righteousness.
James 1 : 13-15 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Who entices you? The demons within or outside your body. From personal experience, it’s easier to deal with demons outside your body than those within you. Those within you should be cast out.
Demons within you align themselves with your thoughts and make you believe that all the thoughts are your thoughts. I believe that the percentage of your own daily thoughts depends on how demonized you are. The more demonized you are, the higher the percentage of your thoughts originate from demons and your moral compass shifts making line between good and evil greyer!
Breaking the Demons’ Legal Rights to live in us
If we explore our thoughts, pick out and resist attitudes that give demons the rights to live in us, then we are nearly there.
God loves us and however legally guilty we are, He does not leave us as orphans. He has already provided away out to break the legal rights that the devil has on us through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
Though we have contributed to many of our sins, some of the legal rights the devil has are generational. They could have come from sins of your parents, grand parents or great grand parents. You could call them curses. Only Jesus can break them else you are done! Galatians 3: 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us.
I therefore highly recommend the following clips if you wish to get more on healing, deliverance and wining in the spiritual warfare.
How to be delivered from demons by Derek Prince
How to pass from curses to blessings by Derek Prince
How to find your place in the body of Christ by Derek Prince
The Holy Spirit as a guide by Derek Prince
[Article By Joseph GM]
Live In Victory 