Everything You Need to Know About Satan and Demons

We know from scripture that the devil and demons are real, but compared to many other topics in the Bible we have little information about them. You’ll find much more in scripture about the nature of God, salvation, and Jesus’ life and ministry than you will about the demonic. Here’s what that tells us: our thoughts should be occupied with God and his goodness a thousand times more often than about the devil and his minions.

Demons are fallen angels.

Demons weren’t created as demons, because God created everything good. Peter gives us the origin story about demons:

2 Peter 2:4 (NLT) For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment.

Some angels sinned, and God cast them into hell. That’s about all we know about how they got started on their destructive path, and it leads to our second thing:

Some demons are already bound; others are influencing the world.

2 Peter helps us to establish the first point. So does Jude 1:6. But clearly there are other demons who are not yet bound. They’re the ones wreaking havoc on the earth:

Ephesians 6:12 (NLT) For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

When we put these passages together, we’re left with one clear option: some demons are already in hell, others are free to influence the world. Jesus interacted with demons (Matthew 17). You and I might encounter them as well. But here’s the good news:

Demons have very limited power.

Demons don’t have divine qualities. They’re not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent. They can’t be more than one place at one time. They can’t read your mind. They can’t force you to do anything.

But demons can study and observe. They’re constantly looking for ways to get a believer off track. They know what presses your buttons. They know the trappings and sins you struggle with that you may have been able to hide from everyone around you. And they use that information to tempt you, to accuse you, to lie to you and tell you that God couldn’t love someone like you.

This isn’t to say that demons aren’t powerful or shouldn’t be respected. They just have no power when compared to the Spirit of God (1 John 4:4). And that leads to this truth:

Every Christian can fight demons.

You don’t need a pastor or a priest to do spiritual warfare. Any person who has trusted Jesus for salvation has the authority – in Jesus’ name – to deal with demons. Jesus’ early followers learned this after they came back from their first mission trip into the world:

Luke 10:17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

Notice that this was a larger group of Christ-followers, not just the original 12 disciples. That’s probably why they were so surprised at the demonic response to their commands. These were regular Christians, just like you and me. The authority comes from the name of Jesus, not from the person speaking.

Demons cannot possess a Christian.

This last point about demons addresses a common question among believers: Can Christians be possessed? Here’s the simple answer: No. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit takes residence in our heart (2 Corinthians 1:22). There isn’t an empty house any longer where a demon can reside.

Read the rest of this article at pursuegod.org/warfare.

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