Overtaken

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: 

who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil; 

for God was with Him.

Acts 10:38

There is not one single child of God that should be living a life of oppression, obsession of ungodly things and most definitely not possessed with evil spirits.  

An inspiring promise is given to those of us who have purposed in our hearts to live victorious lives in God.  God tells us in His word that whoever overcomes, will be dressed in white attire; and He will not erase their name from the book of life, but their name will be confessed before our heavenly Father, and before His angels:   

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.  Revelation 3:5

Knowing this, we should never allow our self to reach a point of oppression because of the enemy.

Evil spirits can oppress people. To oppress means to bear down, come against, or bind from the outside. This oppression is accomplished by evil spirits in various ways. They cause your flesh to minister to your spirit and ultimately manage your flesh, they cause depression, create negative circumstances, and insert wrong thoughts into the mind such as thoughts of suicide, immorality, unbelief, fear, etc. Demons create Satanic circumstances and situations which tempt men to sin:

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were OPPRESSED of the Devil; for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38)

Demons can also possess human beings:

For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Mark 7:25-26

And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. Mark 9:17-18

Demon possession is a condition in which one or more evil spirits (demons) inhabit the body of a human being and take complete control of their victim at will. Some people prefer the term "demonized" rather than possession, but regardless of the term, the possessed person is host to demons. "Possession" does not mean a person is not responsible for his own sin. His responsibility rests with the factors that led to his condition.

Possession can happen willingly. A person may desire to be taken over by spirit powers in order to conduct seances, pronounce curses, become a witch, or secure some other supernatural power. Possession can also occur unwilling. An individual does not ask to be possessed, but through sinful thoughts, actions, or contact with the occult, possession results.

Demonic powers operating in parents and the sins of the parents can affect the next generation:

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; Exodus 20:5

This accounts for demon possession or oppression of children such as recorded in Mark 7:24-30 and 9:17-21.

There is also such a thing as demon obsession. This is a condition where one becomes obsessed by an abnormal interest in or preoccupation with demons. It is an unusual interest in the occult, demons, and Satan which controls interests and pursuits in a dictating manner. Such obsession with demon powers can lead to possession by them.

A true believer cannot be possessed by a demon because the Holy Spirit cannot inhabit the same temple as an evil spirit:

What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.   1 Corinthians 6:19-20

When you belong to God and are filled with the Holy Spirit, you cannot belong to Satan and be filled with his spirits at the same time. The Holy Ghost will not abide in the same "temple" with Satan.

But this does not mean believers cannot be affected by demonic powers. It is these powers against which we wrestle. Satan uses demonic powers to attack believers from the outside through oppression and other symptoms. But he cannot possess the true believer. To "possess" indicates inside occupation. To "oppress" or bind indicates control from the outside. The activities of believers can be Satanically directed if they allow demonic powers to oppress them. Such oppression or binding by evil powers permits Satan to use them for evil purposes.

This is what happened when Peter, a disciple of Jesus, was used of Satan to try to divert Jesus from suffering for the sins of all mankind. When Jesus described the suffering He was to go through, here was Peter's reaction:

Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.  Matthew 16:22

Here was Jesus' response:

But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.  Matthew 16:23

Jesus did not mean Peter was actually Satan. He recognized that at that moment Peter had allowed Satan to operate through him. He was not demon possessed, but he was allowing Satanic spirits to influence him.

Believers, by their own actions, give place or make room for Satan to use them. 

Neither give place to the devil.  Ephesians 4:27

When a person is born again (baptized in the name of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit), his name is written in a special book in Heaven called the book of life. Only those whose names are in this book will be residents of Heaven for eternity:

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of  fire.  Revelation 20:15

It is possible to have your name written in the book of life, but later blotted out because of turning back to sinful living:

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels. Revelation 3:5

If a believer continues in known, un-confessed sin, there is a point at which he can cease to be a true follower of Christ. Apostle Paul expressed his own concern that he not be "cast away" after preaching to others:

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.   1 Corinthians 9:27

Apostle Paul realized that sin, especially continued un-confessed sins of the flesh, could result in the loss of his own soul even though he had preached to others.

By continuing to live in sin we will eventually end up in a backslidden condition. This means we will no longer be a true follower of Jesus Christ. If we continue in known and un-confessed sin, no one can tell us at what point we cease to become a follower of Jesus and again become part of Satan's Kingdom. It is God that determines that point. But if it does occur, we are opening our self up to greater attacks of the enemy, including the possibility of demon possession. This is why it is important when we sin to immediately confess our sin and turn from unrighteousness:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. 1 John 1:9-10

Jesus is called the Word of God in many places in Scripture.  If the Word of God does not dwell in you, then Jesus does not dwell in you.

It would bode well for us, when we find ourselves overtaken in sin, that we seek God.

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 5:14-15

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