We like to pretend there is no dark side of this life, and I mean spiritually. Or we say that there is but ignore the things of it and partake in those things or infiltrate our brains with those things and think it has no bearings on us whatsoever.

As someone who has seen that dark side, face to face, I can say with whole certainty it is crucial when that we know when we are playing with fire. Having seen and experienced an actual demonic attack on me as a child I know that I am very sensitive to those things and some that has never experienced it cannot comprehend what I have seen and felt, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real. You don’t have to be “obsessed” with the demonic (and I strongly discourage one from being so) to see and understand. But a basic understanding can help in more ways that you know.

Key verses that the bible has on the “dark side” itself.

-1 Corinthians 10:16-22

            -With the key verse being 21 & 22: “Ye cannot drink from the cup of the Lord, and the cup of the devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

-1 John 4:1-3

            “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:…..”

-James 2:19

            “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble”       

-Ephesians 6:10-13

            “Finallly, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the whiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

In that last verse, principalities in Greek refer to spiritual beings of both angelic and demonic. Obviously in this case Paul is stating that about demonic beings.

So, how can we, when many warnings are given to us by the living breathing Word of God, keep a blind eye to the evil that overtakes this world and places itself in so many areas of our lives causing many disturbances spiritually, emotionally and physically?

We must remember that Satan is ruler over this world (John 14:30) but his authority is not absolute and he does have limitations but we know for a fact that Satan himself has so many people of influence under his wing so that these people that have all this power, fame and money can persuade others to live a life like theirs calling them to things that are not of God. If we are of God, we cannot under any circumstance have any doings with Satan. And the things we allow in our minds and homes absolutely can have demonic spirits behind them. We can’t ignore them and simply say things like “I don’t pay any attention to those things, I don’t let Satan bother me, it’s all for fun and we can ignore the things that aren’t of God.” That is incredibly foolish! We are to “Abstain from all appearances of evil” 1 Thess 5:22. Why are we so quickly to forget that Satan wants our very soul. He wants to rip that out of you because he knows he can never obtain salvation thru Christ Jesus so he wants to take us with him, it’s like the saying “if I can’t have it, nobody can.” BUT we can and we do. And because we have that salvation, we have made the decision to hand our lives over to God, to present our bodies a living, holy sacrifice unto the Lord and to give God full reign over our lives yet, we still choose to hold on to those things that do not edify our souls, grow us in faith or bring us closer to our Lord Jesus.

I’m not saying we must go overboard or to be foolish on the matter, there is a way to use the discernment that God gave each of us believers by way of the Holy Spirit, to navigate this throughout our lives. We may have to put forth a little more effort to plan around things, search things out (*try the spirits) but if we ask God to guide us through this, he will not forsake us or leave us to do this alone. It is the will of God that we live for him and by directing our paths (Proverbs 3:6-7) He will certainly show us things that we need to avoid. Proverbs 2:10-11 say, “when wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.”

Satan is not to be feared, “for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2Tim 1:7) rather than fear, our responsibility as Christians is to be alert and resist and he will flee from us (James 4:7)

It is such a powerful thing that the very one trying to kill the soul of the whole world cannot touch those that are Gods children. We are His. He is our protector and comforter. We need to, in all things, listen to the Holy Spirit and let God protect us from the evil one, even in the simplest of forms.

-Elizabeth Grace.