Daily Devotionals by Ardith Keef

     Don't give the enemy room.
     There are certain things in the life of a believer that give demons permission to get closer than they otherwise would be allowed.
     For example, when Christians indulge in deliberate sin, demons have an entrance. When Christians dabble in drugs or make excuses for clearly unscriptural activity, the powers of darkness are not stopped by the usual barriers and they will delight in torturing the Christian.
     The symptoms are usually severe depression, anxiety and paranoia.
     There are some fairly simple sins of the mouth that will allow demons this kind of room, but usually it is a deliberate sin of commission or omission.
     I believe in some cases there are simple chemical imbalances that beckon to satan and he just delights in kicking us when we are down. For that reason, we are prevented from any form of judgment and must not issue condemning conclusions unless we have cold, hard facts. Even then, there must be two witnesses and the situation should be addressed by the elders of the Church.
     Christians today suffer from depression and anxiety as in no other era. Much is from known sin - pornography, blatant worldliness, etc. But there are other things that are more subtile which have been taught by godly teachers over the centuries, but are now unaddressed because of psychology and passivity in the current era.
     What comes out of the mouth creates Life or death.
     If there is no known sin, examine your daily speech. Women, are you at any time disrespectful to your husband? It doesn't matter if he is an Olympic jerk - you are not allowed to be the Holy Spirit. You may not speak to him disrespectfully.
     Husbands, are you angry and sarcastic with your wives? If so, the enemy will come in and have a heyday with your emotions.
     We have been lovingly admonished, and we have a supernatural protection from the enemy.
    The thing that has been ignored in the Church today is that when the Soldier of the Cross indulges in the tiniest deviation from his biblical course, the enemy will pounce!
     Oh, Soldier! Look away from all that will distract.
     It simply isn't worth it!