Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A spirit of fear is a scared little demon

My pastor once said that a spirit of fear is not some big, fierce monstrous demon that comes to scare you. On the contrary, it is a scared little demon that seeks to express itself (its characteristics) through you.

How true, I thought to myself. Up till then, I had always imagined a demon of fear as some big, hairy monster-like entity that scares people.

Recently, I found a little scripture to back up the point that my pastor was making.
Luke 11:14
14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke
Notice that it was a mute spirit and that is why the man who was possessed by it could not speak. The mute spirit was expressing its "muteness" through the man! But once it was cast out, the man was able to speak.

Remember the woman with a spirit of infirmity?
Luke 13:11
11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
A spirit of infirmity is a spirit of weakness or a weak spirit. It is not some big, strong spirit that comes to make you weak. This weak spirit expressed its weakness through the woman so that she could not even stand up straight. But when Jesus loosed her from this spirit, she had the strength to stand up straight.