Deliverance:
It is for You and for Me...
... even Jesus was tempted!
And the devil does not come to us in red or black, with horns and tail, but as a friend, as one of us!
When deliverance from the demons and Satan is mentioned, we always think about the drug-addict or alcoholic or the prostitute... but in fact it is for everybody, for you and me... even Jesus was tempted by Satan!.
David fall in the temptation of adultery with Bathseba... he had 7 horrible chastisements, corresponding to his 7 penitential Psalms... and he was delivered!. (2Sam.11-15, Psa. 51, 130, 32, 6, 38, 102, 143).
Judas was tempted and fall... Peter was tempted and fall, he denied to know Jesus, even under oath, and he was delivered!... the other Apostles fall also to the temptation and left Jesus alone at Calvary, only John was present, and they were delivered!...
Even Jesus Himself was tempted by
Satan, in chapters 4 of Matthew and Luke, and he was tempted precisely when he was praying
and fasting... so, you and I are going to be tempted, even if we pray hard and well, and
do great penance...
... Jesus did not fall into temptation... but He gave us a good lesson
to be alert... because the Bible says:
"Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you." (1Pet.5:8-10).
Our life is a struggle against the devil:
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against
the devil's schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the
spiritual forces of wickedness in the air." (Eph.6:10-12).
This is why Jesus told us to pray always the Our Father saying: "lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil." (Mat.6:13).
How the devil is going to attack us:
Probably, using the same three kind of temptations he used against Jesus in Mathew 4 and Luke 4, always using the weakness of our flesh and the offerings of the world:
1- Pleasures:
First Temptation: "tell these stones to become bread."
(Mt.4:3)... Jesus was hungry after 40 days of fasting!.
The devil is going to tempt us using our honest needs of bread and sex
and happiness, he is going to try to convert us into gluttons, alcoholics,
drug-addicts, smokers, homosexuals, masturbators, fornicators, adulterers,
compulsion to pornography...and bring into our bodies all kind of sicknesses and
diseases...
2- Pride, specially religious pride:
The Second Temptation to Jesus was of pride: "Then the
devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is
written: "`He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in
their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' (Mt.4:5-6)...
Since Jesus fought back with a Bible quotation, now Satan tempted Jesus with a Bible
quotation, Psalm 91.
The devil is going to attack us using our natural pride and vanity, and
knowledge, he is going to try to involve us in all kind or errors and idols and heresies
(all heresies came from men using the Bible, thinking they knew about the Bible
more than even the actual Church of Christ)... and he is going to try to create in us the
compulsions of lies, stealing, anger, hate, ...
3- Power, specially religious power:
The Third Temptation to Jesus was of power, "I will give you
all the world... if you will bow down and worship me." (Mt.4:9)
The devil is going to try to get us involved in the power and knowledge
of the Occult: Horoscope, divination, witches, magic, spiritism... avarice, riches,
political power, social power...
The results of the devil's attacks... and how to fight back:
Temptation:
It is going to be constant, up to the last minute of our life on earth,
and we will always can stand it, as Jesus did, because "No temptation has
overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be
tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape,
that you may be able to endure it." (1Cor.10:13).
So, we have to be always sober, and watchful, as Peter says, resist
him, firm in our faith... (1Pet.5:8-10)... and be strong in the Lord and in his mighty
power, putting on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil's
attacks (Eph.6:10-12).
Jesus fought back to the 3 temptations of the devil
with 3 quotations of the Bible, and the 3 times quoting the Book of Deuteronomy:
In the first temptation: Dt.8:3, "Jesus
answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that
comes from the mouth of God" (Mt.4:4)
In the second: Dt.6:16, "Jesus
answered him, "It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test"
(Mt.4:7)
In the third: Dt.6:13, "Jesus said to him,
"Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve
him only" (Mt.4:10).
1- Sin:
It is the first result of falling into temptation... and sin is the
greatest evil of a Christian... and of a pagan!...
When we are in sin, the devil dwells in us, when we are in the grace of
God, God dwells in us... and all of us right now are either the children of God or the
children of the devil (1Jn.3:10).
How to erase Sin?: Repent and Confess it to a Minister of Christ, that
simple!... because Jesus gave to his disciples the power that only God had before, the
power to forgive sins or not to forgive them (Jn.20:23, 1Jn.1:9).
2- Compulsion, obsession, oppression:
This is not just a sin, but a compulsion to do often a special kind of
sin, it is a bad habit, a craving to lie or steal or to drink alcohol or to take drugs...
it is homosexuality, or masturbation... it is an obsession or oppression of the devil.
How to fight back?: Please, look at Deliverance
or the specific compulsion: Alcohol, Drugs... Homosexuality... etc. in the Index
3- Possession:
This is the worse kind of results of the attack of the devil. In the
Bible they appeared as heretics, with the power of divination, or with convulsions,
deafness, dumbness, blindness, demented, severe infirmities... (Jn.9:44, Act.16:16-18,
Mark 1:26; 9:17-29, Luke 9:42, 11:14, 13:11, Matthew 12:22, 9:32-33, 17:14-21).
How to deal with it?: We are told that this kind of diabolic
attack can only be dealt with prayer and penance... the disciples could not cast out the
devil in Mat.17 and Mr.9... this is the special Exorcism practiced in the
Church by experts, with special permission of the local Bishop.
Look at Divine Healing Exorcism