“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’”Luke 11:24

There are unexplainable, imperfectly timed events that take place in our life that have no rhyme or reason to them. These events can intersect our lives at a time when everything is going well, when our devotion to spiritual living is strongest, when life is being guided by God’s promises and then WHAM we are blindsided.

Have you experienced something similar to that? The bible explains that you may be experiencing a spiritual attack. Jesus taught that we have an enemy whose sworn purpose is to “steal, kill and destroy.” This enemy of your soul, Satan, does not like that you are loved by God, have a relationship with God, and that God has forgiven all your sin. Satan will do anything he can to keep you from the knowledge of God and disrupt you from living for God.

In Luke 11 Jesus is teaching on prayer and he says, “when you pray say…” Jesus taught that when we pray we are to use our words. We are to speak our prayers to God as if He is sitting next to us. There is something powerful and intimate about using our words in conversation with God.

¹⁴ Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.” Luke 11:14

This demon possessed man lost his ability to talk. More damaging is he silenced this man’s voice to pray. I believe with a word Jesus liberated him from the control of this evil spirit and immediately the man spoke.

The most important part of this story is not the miracle, although that is pretty important, but the point Jesus made in verse 24-26. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed. There is no doubt in God’s power to set people free but what we do with our freedom determines how long we remain free.

Ephesians 6:12 teaches us that our battle is not flesh and blood. A carnal approach to defending or defeating our enemy will be futile. It is the Holy Spirit living inside us who enables us to withstand the attempts of the enemy to unseat us from our position in Christ. As long as your “house” is occupied and fortified by the Holy Spirit no other spirit is welcomed in.

We will produce the characteristics of the spirit that is permitted to live inside of us. For this man in Luke 11, the mute demon caused the man to be mute. If the Holy Spirit is living inside us we will cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. The continual production of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives will keep temptation from overtaking us and give us a sure footing to stand against the efforts of our enemy.

Be strong in the Lord!