How To Evangelize A Demonized Man

Robinson Sadiq, Grace Walk Pakistan National Director writes:

"This man thought that he is possessed and his Pastor told me the same, and I just told him that since 2000 years ago Jesus Christ took our sins on the cross and set us free and devil is defeated now and he has no power. And the good news is Jesus lives in you and your life is his life. So rejoice in the Lord. Then he cried and blessed the Lord and felt free! Praise the lord! Hallelujah!"

This is the biblical approach to the gospel of grace! (The pictures are of Robinson sharing the gospel of grace with the man.)

Decisions We Regret Making

Intimacy with God is challenging if you believe that you’ve made an irrevocable mistake that has brought His disapproval. When we’ve made choices that we believe have fouled things up, it’s hard to really believe that God will give us the very best we might have had otherwise. We sometimes tend to think that even though He will bless us, it won’t be as good as it might have been. Even though we may believe it is our own fault, this kind of attitude will interfere with how we perceive God charting our life course.

Have you made decisions which you believe might have messed up the way your life could have been if you had made wiser choices? There is good news which can set you free from that kind of damaging perspective. The news is that God’s love is bigger than your mistakes! No mistake you have ever made or ever could make will cause your life to jump track.

You belong to God and it is His responsibility, not yours, to insure that you stay the course. That fact is inherent to the very meaning of the word grace, which suggests it’s all up to Him, not you. You may make apparent detours in life, but God’s love for you is great enough that He won’t allow you to veer off His assigned path and wander out of His will for your life.

The Psalmist said that “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all” (Psalm 103:19). This world doesn’t exist in a cosmic setting in which events happen by chance. Everything in existence functions under the superintending guidance of a sovereign God. On the grand scale, “By Him all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether [it is] thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16).

God is a big God who has everything under control. The stars don’t hang there in the sky on nothingness. They are held there by the omnipotent will of a sovereign God. The tide on the beach doesn’t coincidently stop at its boundaries and return to the sea. It is ordered back by divine design. The earth doesn’t keep spinning on its axis under its own momentum. God designed it that way.

However, this same God who attends to the majestic details of the universe also gives meticulous attention to the minutia of life. For instance, the Bible says that He has the hairs of your head numbered. That’s serious attention to detail! Not one baby bird falls out of its nest and dies apart from His direction. (See Matthew 10:29-30). He is God of both the macroscopic and the microscopic. Nothing is too big or too small to be beyond His direct control.

Considering that man is God’s crowning touch in creation and that Christians in particular are His divine workmanship (see Ephesians 2:10), don’t think for a minute that God isn’t up close and personal in the affairs of your life. The Bible says that God “ponders” all your goings. (See Proverbs 5:21) The word denotes the idea of somebody walking alongside you with His face inches away from yours, carefully examining, scrutinizing, analyzing every move you make. Not only does God ponder your actions, but He even ponders your attitudes and the motivation that cause you to do the things you do. (See Proverbs 21:2) Make no mistake about it, God has His eye on you and always has.

There is not one person who is continuously on my mind, but you are never out of God’s conscious thought or away from His immediate attention. He has been obsessed with you for all eternity and can’t take His mind off you. He is so in love with you that He has committed all the resources at His disposal (which are considerable) to your well being. God has never glanced away from you for a moment, so that in that moment you did something He didn’t expect. He has set you right in front of His face and will keep you there forever. (See Psalm 41:12) David, the Psalmist said, “You scrutinize my path” (Psalm 139:3).

Don’t believe the lie which suggests that you have made choices which now negatively affect how God relates to you or limits the extent to which He can use your life for His glory. The prophet Daniel saw it clearly when he said that all the inhabitants of the earth add up to nothing when compared to God’s divine determination. He wrote that God “does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can ward off His hand” (Daniel 4:35).

Before I understood this truth, one time I was scolding myself for a wrong choice I had made. “Because of my own foolishness, now God can’t do the thing it was obvious He had planned!” I thought as I considered the situation at hand. At that moment, a thought popped into my head and said, “Don’t kid yourself. You’re not that strong.” I think I know whose voice that was, don’t you? God will do what God wants to do and we flatter ourselves when we think that we are big enough to stop it.

(This article is an excerpt from my book, A Divine Invitation. For more information about the book, click here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=738 )

A Singing & Dancing God

So many of us have a distorted concept of how God feels about us. We mistakenly believe that because our behavior isn’t always what we think it needs to be that somehow that affects His attitude toward us.

Of course you know that He loves you. After all, He’s God so the fact that He loves you is a given. But have you ever stopped to think about how He feels toward you? You know that, in human relationships, it is altogether possible to sincerely love somebody and yet still have negative feelings about them based on how they act.

Pause here for a moment and describe the way you think God has felt toward you most of your life:

What words did you use? There was a time when I would have used words like “frustrated, disappointed, hopeful (that I would do better),” and even “impatient.” That’s’ what I honestly thought, but the truth is that God isn’t like that. His feelings toward us don’t have anything to do with our behavior. Your past or present actions don’t have one iota of influence on how He feels about you.

Your God is a Loving Father, a Comforting Mother, a Faithful Friend and a Passionate Lover. However, He doesn’t relate to us in those roles in the imperfect way we have experienced them in this life. He is the perfect personification of the best of each of those relationships.

Which of the following words describe what you think God is doing right now:


___ Worrying ___ Resting

___ Laughing ___ Hoping things turn out well

___ Feeling anger ___ Singing

___ Frowning ___ Biting His fingernails

___ Celebrating ___ Loving


You know the correct answers here. God isn’t sitting up in heaven, hoping that things turn out okay down here on planet earth. If He were, He’d be worse off than we are. At least we can pray. He wouldn’t even have anybody to pray to for help!

I’m kidding to make a point. God is God! He has everything under control. He knows the end of the story. In fact, He wrote it and knows it’s a good ending. Is He indifferent to what goes on in this world? Of course not, because He hates to see us hurt ourselves. But God isn’t sitting up there with His mind worrying and wondering how it will all turn out in the end.

Somehow, by an act of His sovereign power that is way above our human understanding, He already has it all worked out. When Jesus finished His work at the cross, the Bible says, “He sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). Why did He sit down? Because there is nothing left to do. It has all been accomplished in Christ so the only thing left now is for us to enjoy the relationship we have with Him until the time comes when we see Him face to face.

God isn’t busily working from heaven, trying to make sure it all turns out well down here. His focus is on you and the relationship you share with Him. He enjoys you and wants you to enjoy Him too. Consider the way His actions and attitude are described in Zephaniah 3:17:

"The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”

This verse is the source of the title for today’s study. The Bible actually teaches here that God is singing and dancing at this very moment. The word exult is the Hebrew word which means to twirl in excitement, as in dancing. The verse goes on to say that God will “be quiet in His love,” literally meaning that He will renew you in love as He works in your life. Then it says He will “rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” The literal translation of that phrase would mean that He acts joyful and sings songs over you.

Can you imagine God singing as He joyfully works in your life to accomplish His purposes for you? That’s what the Bible says He is doing at this very moment!

I was teaching from this verse one day when Helena came to me afterward and said, “I was reading that verse not long ago and noticed that it says the Lord sings over us with joy.” ‘Lord,’ I asked, ‘Do you really sing over me? What could you possibly sing about me?’ “Immediately,” she said, “one of my favorite old songs from years gone by popped into my mind, word for word. At first I tried ti dismiss it, thinking, ‘This can’t be the Lord.’ But the song wouldn’t stop, and shortly I knew it was indeed the Lord singing a song to me."

Helena continued, “I heard Him sing to me, ‘You are my sunshine, My only sunshine, You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away!’ I realized then” Helena said, “just how much he loves me! To think that I am the sunshine of his live absolutely overwhelmed me!”

Someone might protest, “Why would the Lord sing a song to her like that one?” Don’t think that the only songs He knows are religious songs. He sang the song to Helena that He knew would thrill her heart. He wasn’t singing to Himself, but to her.

What song do you like that God might sing to you?

Remember, God knows your favorite songs too. He knows your favorite places, your favorite everything! His plan is to see to it that you are able to enjoy it all – beginning now and reaching forward beyond this earth-life toward the non-existent boundaries of eternity. Every good thing you enjoy in life is His love song to you.

The background music is always there because He is always singing. Do you recognize the tune? Remember, He doesn’t only know the religious songs. He knows every song and sings a thousand stanzas to you everyday – in the laughter of children, in the beauty of a sunset, in the music that stirs you, in the flavor of your favorite food, in the intimacy of your marriage. He knows your favorite song.

The song of God’s love for you resonates through the universe. Jesus said, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). Do you hear the tune? Do you recognize Him singing to you?

My favorite place on this earth is the British Virgin Islands. All of the Caribbean is beautiful, but there is something about the beauty of these particular islands that is almost hypnotic to me. As Melanie and I vacationed there one summer, I lay in a hammock at Cane Garden Bay on Tortola, unable to keep my mind on the book I had brought to read. I stared out over the powdery, white sand across the crystal clear, blue water. As I watched sailboats on the horizon, at one point I literally felt a deep sense of joy and prayed, "God this is awesome! You did a great job here!" At that moment, a thought entered my mind as a still, small voice and gently whispered, "This is nothing. Wait until you see the rest I have for you!"

Think about your life for a moment. There have certainly been times in life when God sang His love to your through things you have seen, heard or experienced. Describe a time in your life that you know was God singing His love to you.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote the poem, "Aurora Leigh." Consider the meaning of what she wrote:

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.


What does it mean to say that "earth's crammed with heaven?"

What common bushes have you seen afire with God in your life?

The reality is that God does sing to you in everyday life. If you want to move further toward a greater sense of intimacy with Him, it is important to begin to see and hear Him in the day-to-day details. Many see and hear God only through religious things, but if you want to learn to experience Him in a greater way it will be very helpful for you to begin to look for "his fingerprints" on the situations and circumstances of your daily routine.

God is too big to be contained by religious trappings. The psalmist said that, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." The world is His pulpit, from which He declares His love. We can see His face and hear His voice in a thousand places if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

Your God is singing and dancing over you. He has prepared so much for you. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him -- but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV). God wants to show you that Spirit-filled living, the grace walk, is nothing less than a perpetual dance with Jesus Christ.

Pause and reflect on the most meaningful relationships you have had in your lifetime. Can you see ways that God communicated His love to you through those relationships? Think about the relationships you have now. In what ways is He communicating His love and acceptance through you toward the people He has placed into your life?

(This blog was taken from my book The Grace Walk Experience. Click this link for more information on the book: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=586

Living As A Nonconformist

As we present ourselves to God, the Scripture says, “do not be conformed to this world.” What does it mean by “conformed?” It causes me to think of times I’ve seen construction workers prepare to pour a driveway or sidewalk. The first thing they do is to build a form that will hold the concrete so that it takes the shape they have designed. That’s what the world tries to do to us, even the religious world does it.

Structures are laid out and we are taught to stay within the bounds set for us. “If you want to know God’s will, there are certain things you must do. You have to do your part.” So we are told.

If you act outside those bounds, you will be sanctioned. Jesus ran into this challenge constantly. Everybody, including the religious world of His day, thought He had lost His mind because He didn’t go with the flow in terms of how they believed things ought to be. He was a nonconformist and his nonconformity provoked those around Him.

Paul is telling us something very important about how to know God’s will with certainly. It’s this: don’t stay inside the world’s form. Don’t be con (with) formed by the world. Get outside the box they have built for you. You don’t have to jump through a series of religious hoops to know God’s will. That’s nothing but a bunch of religious hype.

Take Paul’s advice and don’t allow the world, even the religious world, to press you into its mold so that you approach things in the same way. The Bible says that apart from God doing His work in us, our attitudes and actions will be formed by others. How we think and how we live will take shape because of influences other than Christ.

What practical implication does this biblical nonconformity have on your potential to know God’s will for your own life? The answer to that question varies from person to person. What prerequisites have you been told are necessary in order for you to know God’s will in your life? I’ve already given you one that I taught for years – that you should become holy although, in reality, you already are.

What other faulty ideas have “formed” the way you have thought about how to know God’s will that you now realize are wrong? Remember, knowing God’s will isn’t a hard thing. Religion will try to make it that way, but your loving Father certainly has no part of that. His yoke is easy.

We take on the philosophies, beliefs, values, and habits of the worldly and religious cultures in which we live. In another passage, Paul warns against being taken captive. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).

There are many traditions that we are taught are necessary to know God’s will, but many of them are empty deceptions consisting of the philosophy or man. If we allow it, these will influence the way we think about God’s will. They aren’t God’s way, but they attract those who believe knowing God’s will is a hard thing.

It is interesting to see how many Christians take a defensive stance against the behaviors of the culture around us — things like dress, music, entertainment, or other external things — while remaining seemingly unaware of the dangers of the world’s ideas. And yet, from our thinking, flow all the rest of our life’s decisions and actions. We must be aware and on guard, because the worlds of both the unrighteous and the self-righteous will surely try to conform us to their shape.

(This article is an excerpt from my book, Walking in the Will of God, (Harvest House Publishers, 2009) For more info on the book, click here: http://gracewalkresources.com/item.asp?cID=0&PID=555

Damnatio Memoriae

Damnatio memoriae is the Latin phrase literally meaning "condemnation of memory" in the sense of a judgment that a person must not be remembered. It was a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate upon traitors or others who brought discredit to the Roman State. The result is to erase someone from history.

The sense of the expression damnatio memoriae and of the sanction is to cancel every trace of the person from the life of Rome, as if he had never existed, in order to preserve the honour of the city; in a city that stressed the social appearance, respectability and the pride of being a true Roman as a fundamental requirement of the citizen, it was perhaps the most severe punishment.

It's the idea that all the good you may have thought a person expressed in the past now must be rejected because of the bad you think they've recently embraced. Those who have previously appreciated the contribution of the now-exiled person are instructed to avoid any further reference to that person or his past contributions.

A sad thing, but just the way arrogant religionists, uh, I mean, egotistical Roman leaders were.