Good morning Awaken family! I pray that as we are stretching into the depths of this beautiful summer that you are embracing it with joy. Today I am writing from a new discovery or revelation if you will that comes from the story of Jesus confronting the man filled with the legion of demons in Mark 5:1-20.
Many of us have probably read this story on many occasions, but today I feel the Lord stirring a prophetic word through it. I was skimming across YouTube on Saturday night and I happened to come across this animated reading of this story. The reader then began to comment how when these demons were in this man, they drove him mad. They caused him physical pain, isolation from the rest of the community and the torture was insurmountable. Just picture for a moment these demons twisting his bones and flesh. Picture the mental disturbance that they caused to influence him to gouge out his own flesh. It’s a horrific scene.
Then Jesus steps into the picture and suddenly the man runs toward him. We hear this exchange where the demons are basically begging Jesus for mercy. Up until this point, maybe in my finite flesh and understanding, I saw Jesus having compassion on these demons. I thought that his compassion was unwavering even to the demons. However that works out theologically, I am no expert, but what I realized in this moment was how narcissistic these demons are. I mean think about it. They see no problem with filling this man with pain, cutting his flesh and destroying his relationships with those around him. But as soon as they are exposed they scream for mercy?! It’s actually quite sick. I believe that the focus of Christ’s compassion was on the man. And as an act of justice I believe that Jesus sent them demons into the pigs to destroy both the ceremonially unclean animals and unclean spirits.
This got me to thinking about how sometimes as Christians we develop relationships with people who can become narcissistic. I’m not calling anyone a demon by any means. But there are spirits that can have an influence on other people because they choose to partner with that which is against God’s will.  They can see you as a host and pretty soon they are dumping their depression on you. They are looking for you to resolve their problems and to make them feel better about themselves all at your expense. And if you notice, they will come to you for help, but then they don’t practically apply it. In reality they are trying to place you on a cross that only Jesus satisfied. They are trying to heal wounds that only Jesus can mend. And when we call them out and are honest with them and tell them they need to change, instead they go into victim mode without ever considering the damage that they’ve caused to you. In the middle of these relationships we see how maybe we can emotionally relate to the possessed man’s decline of health and well being.
So what I suggest today is just look at your relationships with integrity of heart. If you can’t be real and you can’t be you without worrying about someone else’s backlash, it may be time to move on. The healthiest relationships are the ones where everyone can be real and trust in God to correct and redirect. Scripture tells us time and time again to remove the bad leaven from amongst ourselves to keep it from negatively affecting the rest of the lump. I believe this community that this demon possessed man lived in represents believers who would rather stay uncomfortable in their circumstances rather than have an uncomfortable confrontation. The change that Jesus may want to bring may stir up an anger towards Christ because we think what we want is best. But the reality is that God wants to remove what is destructive, no matter how many benefits that we think we see are in these circumstances, to give us something better and life more abundantly:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” John 10:10.
I hope that you found this helpful and edifying. I pray that you have a blessed week and God bless.