¹⁴ One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, ¹⁵ but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” ¹⁶ Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

¹⁷ He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. ¹⁸ You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? ¹⁹ And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. ²⁰ But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. ²¹ For when a strong man is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe— ²² until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.

²³ “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.

²⁴ “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ ²⁵ So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. ²⁶ Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

²⁷ As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

²⁸ Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

Luke 11:14-28

Dear God, what an interesting exchange. I don’t understand spiritual warfare as taught and demonstrated by Jesus enough. I’ve read books like This Present Darkness that showed a certain view of spiritual warfare, but I don’t really understand it. What Jesus describes here is a bit foreign to me.

What really struck me as I read this passage this morning was the people in the first paragraph just have no idea what’s going on, but they are trying to figure things out. Their finite human minds are trying to make sense of Jesus and what’s happening. Is he legit? Should he be embraced or feared? Should they follow him or ignore him? They just didn’t know. And while I know that I am to follow Jesus, there is still so much I don’t understand. And frankly, I don’t know that I ever will understand a lot of it on this side of life. The percentage of knowledge and understanding I have against the universe’s reality is so infinitesimally small that I can’t imaging it would even register.

Father, I’m walking into this day today completely ignorant. I know the people I’m worried about. I know what I think the problems are, but I don’t really understand the problems. So please give me the knowledge and insight you need me to have, and then help me to willfully accept thing things that are not for me to know. And help me to know when I need to pray more about demons and Satan messing with different situations. Help me to not miss an opportunity to do something you need me to do.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen