Ephesians 4:21-32 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Paul shares a short passage in the book of Ephesians encouraging Christians to walk in new life with Christ now that they are saved. This passage is commonly taught and broadly understood, but there’s a phrase in verse 27 that is often overlooked. The Bible says, “Neither give place to the devil.” The word “place” means to give up a spot for habitation or give power to the devil. So how does one “give place” to the devil?
We know that the demonic world is a place of hierarchical structure. Ephesians 6:12 says “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” There are levels of power and rank in the workings of the evil spiritual realm. Of course, Satan is not omnipresent so he cannot take up residence in each of us, for that he has his dark army of evil spirits to help him as he attacks all mankind.
Because Paul’s admonition is “neither give place to the devil” we can understand there is an action of allowance on the part of a Christian which must be avoided. If the danger is in giving place, we have to understand what that means in a practical sense so we can intentionally avoid that pitfall.
Pastor Vlad Savchuk very aptly describes three main doors to demons in his blog post by the same name (link below). He lists inheritance, intrusion, and involvement.
1. Inheritance
Inheritance is the generational aspect of spiritual warfare. It’s commonly understood that certain tendencies and emotions tend to get passed down within a family, however there is a spiritual aspect to this passing down. Spirits with functional names like addiction, anger, anxiety, lust, and depression are often, unfortunately, passed down within a family from generation to generation. This chain of generational iniquities can keep an entire family line under spiritual bondage!
2. Intrusion
Intrusion refers to the situations of abuse or being taken advantage of that have spiritual repercussions as well. It is highly likely that someone who was subjected to abuse is now dealing with some level of spiritual warfare. Demons work like spiritual bacteria, endeavouring to infect wounds, they’ll take a situation of neglect, hurt, or abuse and work to make it worse by causing residual pain and hurt that will leak into a multitude of other areas of a life.
3. Involvement
Involvement has to do with our own personal choices and the spiritual consequences they bring. By involvement in the occult or engaging in active or habitual sinful practices or addictions, one has likely given place to an evil spirit. In this arena, there are four common doors that we regularly find in the people we help: bitterness, sexual sin, idolatry, and witchcraft.
- I already wrote a thorough blog post on bitterness, which you can check out here.
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Sexual sin is a fairly obvious door and many comprehend the severity of those sorts of sinful actions. Regularly indulging in pornography, fornication, or other similar activities will undoubtedly give place to a spirit of lust and other specific demons set on deceiving you more in the area of your sexuality. Those guilty of gross sexual misconduct with legal consequences are the perfect example of lives that continually makes choices allowing the spirits to have power. As you make choices for sin, you’re also choosing to give more power to the demon behind that sin. Many struggling with addictions in the area of their sexuality are discovering their inability to gain victory in their own power, because they have given the demons place, those spirits have legal right over them.
- Idolatry is a tricky one, some flippantly joke about their hobbies or favorite past times, but idolatry is actually the simple process of obeying anything but God. I believe every form of spiritual warfare by involvement has roots in idolatry. We regularly walk those we counsel through the process of rejecting their connections to the spirits they have given power.
- Witchcraft is a very serious door that must be closed immediately. The world of the occult is very real and very powerful, but God has given us the power and authority to stand against it. (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8) If you have participated in activities related to witchcraft and new age spirituality or the like, you must close the doors to these practices immediately.
Evil spirits have to be given an open door to come into your life, and they retain their grip through strongholds. But the Bible tells us to pull down strongholds through the power of God (2 Cor 10:4). A Christian who has given place to the devil in the past, though he may currently not be sinning, may still have demons lurking waiting for the perfect time to entrap him. The reality is, there is a high likelihood that if you have lived a normal Christian life, you have some level of spiritual hindrance which needs to be eradicated. If the Lord has highlighted a specific area of your life through which evil spirits may have gotten entrance, please feel free to reach out to me privately via email at freeinchrist317@gmail.com.
Check out what Pastor Vlad Savchuk has to say on his blog post, 3 Main Doors To Demons