Today’s Scripture: Mark 5:1-20
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” – John 8:36
Every night for three nights we had listened to the slow beat of the African jungle drum and the piercing screams of the people as they shattered the night with the terrifying sound of the African death wail. A woman had died giving birth to a child, and those nearest her gathered night after night to scream for hours. In their screams, we could detect the horror that held them–the hopelessness, the agony of spirit, the fears that Satan whispered to their lost souls. And we were made very much aware in a new and powerful way of the hate, the cruelty, and the delight Satan displays in tormenting those who belong to Jesus. His foul, ugly personality came through loud and clear in the din of the death wail that kept us from sleeping.
Scripture records a visit of the Lord Jesus to the country of the Gadarenes. Mark 5:2,5 tells us, “When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him… Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” What did Jesus do? Jesus took one look at the man and knew that those who said he must be bound in chains were wrong. In fact, what he needed was to be set free. And that’s what Jesus did.
Satan has our world bound in sin, and Jesus is the only one who can deliver them. While they cry out in hopeless despair, He has sent us out with the message of hope, found only in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that can deliver anyone–anytime–anywhere.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for setting me free from the vise-like grip of Satan, so that I can tell others where freedom lies. Amen.
To Ponder
Do you know someone crying out for release from Satan’s grasp?