Neil Anderson Devotional for Friday, January 25, 2002 ,
 If you are looking to feed and challenge your faith, visit
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N E I L   A N D E R S O N   D A I L Y   D E V O T I O N A L
             from Freedom in Christ Ministries

January 25

YOUR POSITION IN CHRIST

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from
you (James 4:7).

Daisy was one of the first persons I dealt with who was caught in
spiritual conflicts and suffered from demonic influences. She was
a Christian and a university graduate, but she had severe mental
and emotional problems which developed after her father divorced
her mother. Within a period of five years, Daisy had been
institutionalized three times as a paranoid schizophrenic. After
about three weeks of counseling with me, Daisy finally found the
nerve to bring up the nighttime visitation of snakes.

"What about the snakes?" I asked.

"They crawl on me at night when I'm in bed," she confessed.

"What do you do when the snakes come?"

"I run in to my mother. But they always come back when I'm
alone."

"Why don't you try something different," I continued. "When
you're in bed and the snakes come, say out loud, 'In the name of
Christ, I command you to leave me.'"

"I couldn't do that," Daisy protested. "I'm not mature enough or
strong enough."

"It's not a matter of your maturity; it's a matter of your
position in Christ. You have as much right to resist Satan as I
do."

Daisy squirmed at the prospect. "Well, I guess I could do that."
Daisy sighed, sounding like she had just agreed to take castor
oil.

The next week when Daisy walked in she said, "The snakes are
gone!" If her problem had been strictly a neurological or
chemical imbalance, taking authority over the snakes in Jesus'
name wouldn't have worked. But in Daisy's case, the problem was
spiritual.

James wrote: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James
4:7). But if you don't resist him, he doesn't have to go. Or if
you just pull the covers over your head in fear and say, "O God,
do something about these demonic influences," the evil spirits
don't have to leave. Resisting the devil is your responsibility
based on the authority you possess in Christ.

Dear Father, thank You for providing me with such wonderful
power. Help me not to be afraid to use it for my sake and others.


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Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< http://devotionals.crosswalk.com >.
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