Man of the tombs.

In the bible book of Mark chapter 5 there is a strong story about a man who lives in the tombs. He is literally a cemetery dweller. Kind of creepy. The story begins with a very hard detail about this particular man. He had an evil spirit. The people around him thought it was best to try to chain him up, hands and feet and that he best be tucked away among the dead, out of the main flow. But he couldn't be bound. He busted loose over and over again. Pretty strong evil. But make no mistake about it. Even though he kept busting out of the chains, he was chained up by the influence of evil.

Now pause. It's just a few days away from the first Tennessee football game of the season. Everyone (well, a lot of people) is excited with lots of expectations for the Vols new season. Where are you going with this Damon? Stay with me. In the midst of daily living....even fun, daily living, we don't really like to think about things like evil spirits. Let just stay upbeat and focus on the new season. There is nothing wrong with being excited as your team begins its new season, but let's not pretend that even in this very city where football hype is king, there are people at kick-off that are struggling with evil spirits of all sorts. We get this story in the bible to help us see that people being affected by evil spirits is real. We don't always understand it and know what all that means, but we need to humbly admit that it's real and not ignore it's reality. This man in Mark chapter 5 has an evil spirit. How did that happen? We are not told, but it gives us pause to take stock of the very real existence of an enemy of our souls. The bible calls him the devil or satan and his forces are often called demons or evil spirits. That's what is happening with the man in the tombs.

This story gives us a great chance to say, BE ALERT! Another bible book, Second Peter, chapter 5 verse 8 and 9 talks about our enemy the devil. "Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith.....". I appreciate this call. Be alert, sober and self controlled. We are not called to entertain the devil as an invited guest. We alertly stand and fight. We are not pushovers. We are passionate, Jesus lovers who resist our enemy the devil. So fight!

Face the reality of evil.

Integrate intelligence on the enemy.

Grow progressively more aware of evil and Guard your heart!

Handle the weapon of the Words of God in the bible.

Take the fight to evil.

We are foolish to ignore God's teaching that our enemy and evil is real. So let's learn what God's words teach us as intelligence for this battle and keep being alert and not lulled to sleep. Guard your heart against the enemy and evil. One way we can do that is to regularly be spending time taking God's word into our heart and mind. If you don't know exactly what that is, humbly ask for help. It might be a life and death request at some point. And stand firm against the devil. He is not welcome in you. Aggressively seek God's help for protection and consider taking up proactive, prayer assault against the devil and his kingdom. We can actually do this!

And what has to be at the forefront as we consider all of this? This is very important. I don't write this flippantly. We need Jesus in this! Jesus, Jesus, the power of Jesus' blood. And this story in Mark continues at this point with these very words...."When he saw Jesus.....". Yes! That is who we need.

We'll continue this story next week, Lord willing.

There's more.