Demon Fear

This carving of a demon's head gave me chills when I saw it in a courtyard at the impressive Flagler mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.  There were four of these demons clinging to the four sides of a large marble fountain in the center of the courtyard.  They were surrounding the gleaming white marble statue of a beautiful, innocent-looking young woman standing in the center of the fountain.  I thought the location of these leering demons around this lovely woman was very strange and I wonder what the sculpture had in mind with such a design.

 

 I have a good idea what Satan has in mind when he surrounds us with leering demons in real life situations.  He wants to bring us down as far as he possibly can.  There are countless negatives he throws our way.  I'm going to cover a few of them in the next several blog posts.  Here's the first negative demons have mastered and the one I'm using this statue to represent:  FEAR.

 

What are some things you are afraid of?  The Demon fear is well-aware of every little fear that nibbles at your mind and heart -- and he knows how to maximize his ability to stir up your imagination.  After all, he's had a lot of practice, not only with you, but with all the thousands of generations preceding us.

 

Here's an example of my imagination being stirred by one of those wily evil-mongers who dug his claws into my mind:  One evening some years ago, I was driving to Wednesday night Prayer meeting when a fearful thought grabbed me (literally!).  I suddenly imagined my beloved 17-year old daughter in a horrible car wreck.  She was at that moment driving the busy interstate highway to a class in a neighboring city.  I imagined her beautiful, young body lying on the side of the road - in staggering detail.  It seemed very real and crushingly heartbreaking.  Within minutes, my heart was pounding and I was crying.  Fear had surrounded and totally invaded me.  Has anything like that ever happened to you?

 

What made that experience even more amazing was what happened when I walked into church a few minutes later.  I was still horribly upset and scared when I sat down in the pew.  Then, the power of the Holy Spirit swooped in and I suddenly realized what was happening -- I was under demonic attack.  I immediately prayed for God's protection and in that same moment, the Demon Fear was banished by a greater power and an immediate peace enveloped me.  It was truly amazing!  The memory of that moment of victory is still vivid and causes me to smile and praise our powerful King Jesus every time I remember it (:

 

The Demon Fear is very real and powerful.  On the flip side of that fearful reality is this empowering truth: “Greater is He that is within you, than he that is within the world” I John 4:4.  I always breathe a sigh of relief when I remind myself of that wonderful, positive promise.