One of the primary emphases in the Gospel of Mark is Jesus’ concern for believers to defeat Satan and his demonic powers. Now we know this is not done by human strength but by using the authority in the name of Jesus to defeat the enemy. In Mark chapter three, verse twenty-seven expresses entering the strong man’s house with binding and spoiling. This power over Satan is evident in the driving out demons or evil spirits.
Demons are spirit beings who have personalities and intelligence. As members of Satan’s kingdom and as enemies of God and humans, they are evil, malicious, and organized with different levels and delegated authority under Satan.
Demons are the power behind idol gods. To worship false gods is essential to worship demons.
The New Testament today is estranged from God and seized by Satan. Demons are within the hierarchy of the rulers of this age. Christians must wage continual warfare with them. Demons can, and often do, live in the bodies of unbelievers and use their voices to talk. They enslave such individuals and influence them toward evil, immorality, and destruction. Demons can cause physical illness in the human body, although not all sickness and disease are from evil spirits.
People involved in spiritism and magic are associated with evil spirits. This activity can lead to demonic bondage. Evil spirits will be active in the last days of this age, promoting the occult, immorality, violence, and cruelty; they will assault God’s Word and sound doctrine. The ultimate outpouring of demonic activity will be in the antichrist and his followers.
Jesus attacks the power of Satan and the demonic. One of Jesus’ clearly stated purposes in coming to earth was to bind Satan and set free those enslaved by him. Jesus’ binding of Satan, accomplished in part through the driving out of demons and more complete in His death and resurrection, shatters the power of Satan’s realm and restores the power of God’s kingdom. Hell, the place of torment, has been prepared by our Lord for the devil and his demons.
Scripture teaches that no true believer who inhabits the Holy Spirit can be demon-possessed. The Spirit and demons can never live in the same body. Demons may influence the thoughts, emotions, and actions of Christians who have not received deliverance from old strongholds or who fail to follow the leading of the Spirit.
Jesus promised true believers authority over the power of Satan and his cohorts. On one occasion, evil spirits declared in Acts, chapter nineteen, verse fifteen, “Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are ye?” By knowing Jesus, the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering, we can confront, and break the power, that demons exert over us and others. As disciples in God’s kingdom, we are to wage intense warfare through the power of the Holy Spirit. In this way, we can set others free from the power of darkness.
According to the parable of Mark chapter three, verse twenty-seven, spiritual conflict involves three aspects: declaring war against Satan according to God’s purpose; entering Satan’s house (any place where he has a stronghold), attacking and overpowering him by prayer and proclamation of the Word and destroying his weapons of demonic perception and temptation; carrying off his possessions.
Believers should recognize that we are not in conflict against flesh and blood but spiritual forces and powers of evil. We are to live before God, fervently committed to His truth and righteousness. Believers have faith that Satan’s influence can be broken in any specific area of his domain and realize that the believer has powerful spiritual weapons given by God to eliminate Satan’s strongholds. We are to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Challenge Satan and his power directly by knowing and using the authority in Jesus’ name, by using God’s Word, by confessing the power of the cross and the efficacy of Jesus’ blood, by praying in the Spirit, by fasting, by driving out demons. Pray especially for the Holy Spirit to convict the lost concerning sin, righteousness, and the coming judgment. Pray for and eagerly desire the manifestation of the Spirit through gifts of healing, tongues, miracles, signs, and wonders.