Only with God can we be protected from the demons

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

AND also, only with God can we manage to drive out demons when they happen to succeed in possessing us. Let’s always remember that the demons who are spiritual beings—they are originally good angels who decided for all eternity to go against God upon their creation—are always under the power of God. They can never win over God no matter how smart and clever they are.

That they are always around and are ever scheming to ruin our lives should make us feel ever in need to be with God, since only with him can we deal with them properly. Without God, there’s no way we can resist their temptations. They are much smarter than us.

They always offer attractive arguments. That is precisely the dynamic of demonic tricks and temptations. In the case of Eve, the first woman, for example, she was made to look at the forbidden tree and fruit. And she fell for it, because she “saw that the tree was good to eat, and to the eyes, and delightful to behold.” (Gen 3,6)

We should never take the devils for granted. They are always around, ever scheming and plotting against us in many, many ways, and often in a manner that is so subtle that we may not even notice him. As St. Peter would put in his first letter: “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” (5,8)

We should never consider the devils as a myth, or as some kind of literary device only to highlight a point in the drama of our life. They are as real as you and me. Our problem is that we think lightly or, worse, falsely of them. And so, we become completely unprepared to deal with their antics.

But in spite of that unfortunate fact of life, we should remember that the devils cannot do anything against us unless allowed by God. And if allowed, it is because God in his mysterious providence can always draw a greater good from any evil the devils may cause in us.

Just the same, we should always be guarded against them, especially when we happen to enjoy a lot of privileges in life. That’s because these privileges, like some power we may wield, if not referred to God and to our duty to love everyone, irrespective of how they are, can only spoil us and make us vulnerable to the antics of the devils.

Nowadays when we enjoy a lot of conveniences and advantages due to our technological progress, we should be more wary of the evil tricks of the devils who can make use of these conveniences and advantages to convert them into some kind of sweet poison.

Let’s always remember that whatever convenience or advantage we enjoy should lead us to level up our desire to serve and not to be served, to love God and everybody else more. Otherwise, there is no way for us to escape getting spoiled and becoming more vulnerable to the tricks of the devil.

To be with God always, given our condition here in this world, can only take place when like Christ we are willing to deny ourselves and carry the cross, as Christ suggested. (cfr. Mt 16,24)

And only to be with God always can we manage to derive a greater good from whatever evil the devil can play on us!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com