Mark 1:21-28

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 24 “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

25 “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

-Mark 1:21-28

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Let’s talk about evil spirits.  Most of the time when we talk about evil spirits or demons in the modern world, it’s from a fictional perspective.  We watch fictional horror movies who use the ideas of evil or demonic forces to scare the audience.  Because our thoughts of evil spirits are often connected to these fictional movies, it’s easy to believe that REAL evil spirits don’t exist.  Oh, but they do!  They’re just smarter in real life than in movies.

What I mean by that is that in the Western world, the strategy that Satan (the devil) has been using is to convince people he’s not real and that he doesn’t exist.  In the award winning movie The Usual Suspect, there’s a great quote at the end of the movie that says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn’t exist.”

So when we try to follow God, not only do we have our own sinful nature to contend with, but there are evil forces at work that seeks to stop us from connecting with Jesus.  They are not trying to scare us like in the movies, they are trying to do something much, much worse—they are trying to destroy our connection with Christ.

So if you find it hard to connect with God, it’s for good reason.  Both your sinful nature and evil forces are at work to try to stop you from doing so.

BUT, as we can see in this passage, God is bigger and more powerful than our sinful nature.  God is bigger and more powerful than these evil forces.  He is still able to draw close to us despite all these obstacles.  The fact that you’re reading this devotional is proof of that. 

When you pray to God today, add this into your prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”  It’s part of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6—a template Jesus gave us to teach us how we should pray.  If Jesus taught it, we should probably do it.  Remember, He is bigger and powerful than our mess and He’s bigger and powerful than any evil forces out there.