Daily bible readings October 13, 2023

  October 13, 2023

    Happy Friday everyone!!! Today's reading continues in Luke 11, 14-26:

    When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

    “When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”

    This reading is all about the power of God compared to the power of Satan. Jesus is targeted as an exorcist who drives out demons using Beelzebul's (Satan's) power. His response to this is that a divided kingdom won't stand. If we rephrase that sentence, Jesus is saying that the devil won't stand if he attacks his own demons. There is no logical explanation to why Satan will give power to Jesus, just for him to drive out Satan's army. If Jesus isn't on Satan's side then he must be on God's side. 

    We're then given the example of a strong man guarding his palace with full armor. Until a stronger man comes by and strips him of everything he had. That armor that he trusted turned out to do nothing compared to the immense strength of the second guy. What does this mean to us? It's safe to assume that the first guy is Satan. The palace to me appears to be your soul, or your life, why? because Satan wants it all to himself. The suit of armor is your flesh. He hides inside of you and guards himself after layer and layer of sin. Then here comes God and his everlastings and infinite strength. Satan never stood a chance against God. 

    The final paragraph of today's reading is what happens after a demon leaves you. It wanders around looking for a place to shelter, since it doesn't find any. What does it do? It goes back to the place it stayed before. This time he brings friends and leaves you worse off than before. We are always going to be attacked by demons, especially since we are recently cleansed. Satan will attack stronger than before to chain you like before, because you're a bigger threat to him than before. We must not be discouraged and lose hope, because we know that God's grace is infinitely stronger than Satan's power. If we run to God only when we're in danger then Satan will keep attacking us when we retreat from God after the problems. However, staying with God after the problems are over, allowing him to enter your heart, and stay there as a guard is one-thousand times better than keeping a clean yet unguarded home. With God everything will be alright, with God you'll be able to sleep during the storm. Stay safe out there everyone, demons surround us constantly, but with God they can't harm us in any permanent way.


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