“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines 
the course of your life.” ~ Proverbs 4:23

“Matters of the Heart” is a weekly blog that deals with the deepest issues of the human heart, the issues we all face but sometimes don’t want to talk about. The heart is the programming center of our lives. What is programmed into our heart will affect every area of our lives. Learn how to examine your heart and how to program your heart for success.

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We don’t hear much about demonic activity today, yet it is definitely going on, and at alarming rates. Perhaps you are a victim of it.

What is demonic activity? Simply put, demonic activity is the disruptive attempt of demonic spirits to divide and destroy you and everything that pertains to you. 

Let’s take a look at some facts about demons:

1–Demons do exist. Contrary to much current teaching, demons are real. Scripture provides abundant evidence of their existence in passages such as Ezekiel 28:18, Matthew 25: 41, and Revelation 12: 4.

Demons are a category of evil spirits who do Satan’s bidding in the earth. They are his evil “lackeys” who carry out his dirty work in the earth. It is generally believed that demons are the fallen angels who followed Satan when he rebelled against God and who, as a result, fell from Heaven with Satan. Some scholars, however, believe that demons may be the product of the union of fallen angels with the daughters of men, as recounted in Genesis 6: 4.

Satan (aka, the Devil) now has his headquarters in the Second Heaven, which is immediately above our firmament and under the Third Heaven where God and His angels dwell.  From the Second Heaven, Satan and the fallen angels give orders to demons to wreak havoc in the earth and upon individuals, particularly those who follow Jesus Christ. 

2–Demons have an agenda. That agenda is to carry out Satan’s instructions to destroy you, particularly if you are a follower of Jesus Christ. They do this in a variety of ways, but primarily through the tactic of “divide and conquer.” Their primary modus operandi is deception.

3–Demons have names. They are named according to their nature. For example, a spirit of anger is an evil spirit that tempts people to anger. A spirit of lust is an evil spirit that tempts people to lust. A lying spirit is an evil spirit that tempts people to lie. 

4–Demons seek to inhabit physical bodies, whether human or animal. Because demons are spirits without bodies, they continually seek either to inhabit a physical body or to attach themselves to one in order to express themselves in the earth. For example, an evil spirit of murder is powerless unless it has a body through which to murder.

4–Demons are the lowest in rank and power in Satan’s kingdom. They do not strategize. That function falls to Satan and his higher-ranking evil spirits who reside in the Second Heaven. Demons simply carry out on earth the orders that are given them by Satan and the fallen angels. 

5–Demons do not die. Because they are disembodied spirits, the same demons that were around thousands of years ago are still around today, tempting people to commit the same kinds of sins.

6–Demons operate through deception. Their goal is to keep their activity undercover so that people will fall into their traps. They present as good that which is evil. 

7–Demons attack in a variety of ways. Here are a few of them:

• Sickness
• Mental Illness
• Twisted Communication
• Spreading False Doctrine
• Discouragement

8–Demons enter a life in a variety of ways. Here are some of them:

• Through rebellion against God-ordained authority;
• Through an anti-Biblical worldview (e.g., secular humanism, globalism, Mother Earth philosophies)
• Through participation in New Age practices (e.g., yoga, martial arts, Eastern mysticism and meditation, goddess-worship); through the occult (séances and other Satanic rituals), and witchcraft (e.g., Wicca, the New Paganism, horoscopes, Ouija boards);
• Through disobedience of the Word of God;
• Through neglect in prayer, worship, and the study of God’s Word.

No one is immune to demonic attack. But Jesus said this in John 10: 10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” The key to resisting demonic activity is Jesus Christ. When you are in Christ, you have all the authority and power you need to drive out demons from your life. 

Remember this verse in 1 John 4: 4: “Greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world.” HALLELUJAH!

Now, it’s YOUR turn: How do you deal with demonic attacks? Please leave your valued comment in the box below.

TWEETABLE:  “Are Demons Destroying Your Destiny? by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio (CLICK TO TWEET).

For additional resources on understanding demonic activity, you may wish to check out the following books:

101 Questions & Answers on Demon Powers by Dr. Lester Sumrall

Identifying the Hierarchy of Satan by Joy A. Schneider

Dealing with Hindering Spirits by Perry Stone

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