Personal Demonic Presence

Friday, April 8, 2022

Scripture Resource Passage: Matthew 9 

Reading today’s passage connects you with a spiritual power-encounter. Two blind men and one with a speech impediment are on the scene. The following reflection provides an entryway into investigating such occurrences, and today’s troubling international events.

Each illness cannot be clearly connected to demonic influence. Similarly, not all national conflicts can be written off as merely our human lust for power.  However, revealed within political structures evil can be realized with bullets or rocket attacks.

^“While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke” (Matthew 9:32-33^a). Spiritual reality is truthful. There is a personal demonic presence in our world.

Sometimes, but certainly not every time, God brings healing to desperate people. Could the same be said of nations? Today’s passage documents an occasion when two blind men, and one who could not speak, were healed.

We would do Jesus an injustice were we to directly attribute all speech impediments to a personal demon. However, disciples must likewise not automatically dismiss evil’s presence at either personal or national levels.

Precisely how each individual’s life, or the lives represented by a nation are influenced with evil remains beyond our spiritual awareness. We know that today’s international waves of war are indeed tsunami’s of chaos and death. Are these waves merely a human lust for power? Consider the following Life Application Questions as entry points for praying through today’s Scripture passage.

Life Application Questions

What spiritual values help you remain hopeful when illness dominates?

What are your beliefs about the origins of illness?

Which spiritual practices help sustain your determination to follow Christ?

Is today’s personal and national violence exposing tectonic shifts in the powers of evil?

If your country was being invaded by an armed force, which spiritual resources would help you?

Thank you for reading. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Let prayers for peace and the healing of the nations persist.