So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I am speaking to thoughtful people. Consider what I say. Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share the one bread. Look at the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? Am I saying that idols or food sacrificed to them amount to anything? No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot take part in the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we really stronger than he is? 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
New English Translation
Sometimes I hear people say, “All roads lead to Jesus” or “Every religion is about Jesus, they just serve Him differently.” However, that’s not true. Any religion that worships a name other than the Lord’s is actually worshiping demons. Paul made that clear in 1 Corinthians 10. See, a lot of times people water idol worship down in one of two ways. Either they water it down saying it’s a different way of looking at Jesus or they say that it’s just a piece of wood, it’s not got anything behind it. Yet, neither is true according to scripture.
With the knowledge that idol worship is the worship of demons, life gets a whole new spiritual world perspective added to it. There is a spiritual world all around us. Denying such an existence leaves people open to a whole new world of hurt. For example, if people deny its existence, how can they minister to someone caught in idol worship? It’s not possible! If a person doesn’t acknowledge the spiritual part, then they don’t understand the complexity of the situation nor do they see that person living with that idol worship is connecting with a dark spirituality that is harming them. How can you connect with a person going through that if you ignore the core of what they are going through?
That raises the question, what can a Christian do for a person in that situation? Ephesians gives us that answer:
Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:11-13
New English Translation
Okay, so what Paul is saying is that to battle against the evil spiritual world, we have to have our full armor of God on. What is the armor of God?
Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God). With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and petitions for all the saints. Pray for me also, that I may be given the right words when I begin to speak—that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:14-20
New English Translation
Here we see instructions on how to grow spiritually so that we are equipped to pray for someone and intercede for them. Let’s break this down.
The Belt of Truth
What does a belt do? It keeps everything together. Without your belt, everything is going to slip, fall, and make your life very difficult. Whelp, without truth, so will your life fall apart. Doesn’t matter if it’s the most innocent of things, tell the truth. Be honest with people about things whether it be anything from what your relationship with a person is and the boundaries you place in that relationship, or what you believe on a certain topic, or what God has told you concerning something, you must be honest and upfront about it or you’re not actually living in truth. Sometimes we let white lies or withholding information slide by, but that’s still plain and simple not telling the truth.
Breastplate of Righteousness
What does a breastplate do? It protects your heart. The same is true for righteousness. When you live a life seeped in righteousness, you’re living life applying scripture and intentionally examining your behavior and adjusting it as necessary. There are so many layers to this. It’s not only about how you perceive your actions, it’s also about how others perceive your life. There is a difference between living life based on the opinions of others and living life so intentionally with God that you have made it so that no one can justify a perception other than the truth. In that, we have to take a step back and ask ourselves, “how does this look to others? Does that accurately portray me and my walk with God? Could this look bad to others?” This applies to even the simplest of situations. At one time, I held a party with a bunch of my friends and they decided to play a game called Sardines. I told them if we were playing that game, which involved hiding with each other, that we would keep the lights on and there would be no one hiding in bathrooms. The reason for this was because our party had mixed genders. One of my friends didn’t understand why I insisted on this, so late that night she and I stayed up talking about the Bible and faith, and the Bible questions she had spoke directly to what I was practicing through putting boundaries on our games. Then, I was able to explain to her that, though we knew nothing would happen and that we were all godly kids, we would be talking about the time we spent together with others, maybe even with non-Christians. If we begin to talk about hiding in the dark or bathrooms with the opposite sex, it can be perceived incorrectly as that person wasn’t there and wouldn’t know nothing happened. So, remember, assumptions come from perceptions. Perceptions are developed off of what you offer people. Are you offering people things that will help them build good perceptions of you and God? Or are you giving them stuff to build a less than lovely perception, even if out of context?
Shoes of Peace
What do shoes do? They allow you to move more swiftly and smoothly. Peace allows you to move in the same way. Being someone who makes peace rather than starts issues helps you to experience peace yourself as less people will find issue with you and you yourself are making less issues. Also, note how Paul mentioned it was a thing of preparation. You have to prepare yourself to be a person of peace. What does your daily life prepare you to be? Do you constantly prepare yourself to see the worst? Or do you prepare yourself to see things the way God does and deal with things properly?
Shield of Faith
What does a shield do? When you hold it up, it protects your face and your chest. In terms of life, faith protects your mind and your heart. However, you have to be willing to hold up the shield. How does that apply to faith? Well, essentially, you can’t expect someone else to do all the work in your faith. No one else can determine for you that you have faith or actively live faithful enough that it checks the box for you and them. You personally have to spend time in scripture, spend time in prayer, take the time to understand and clarify what you believe and why you believe it, and you have to make the decision to walk in a relationship with God. If you’re not walking in faith, then you’re walking in the darkness of this world, which opens your heart and mind to a world of painful attacks.
Helmet of Salvation
What does a helmet do? It protects your head. Salvation does that same thing. With salvation, your mind is shielded by God as He speaks to you daily and ministers to you. When the rest of the world is being smacked on the head by a bunch of junk, those living in salvation have God protecting them from that. Now, it is true that we can choose to take that helmet off and believe the lies of the enemy. However, if we keep that helmet on, there is nothing Satan can get through it!
Sword of the Spirit
What does a sword do? It strikes down the attackers. Scripture is our sword. When things try to distract us from our faith or sway our beliefs and convictions, we turn to scripture and it gets struck down as we rely on the truth. I have experienced this truth in my own life. I had a situation where every time I shared what convictions God has taught me to live by, a certain person would argue with me about them, tell me I shouldn’t live that way, and do everything in their power to try and sway me away from that. However, every time that happened, I told that person the exact scripture God pointed me to so I could build my convictions and lifestyle upon it. This sword is not so you can harm others by pulling it out and slaying people down. It’s so that you can stand strong in your walk with God as scripture tears down the attacks of the enemy.
What next?
After Paul instructed them in how to strengthen their spiritual walks, he tells them to pray and petition in the Spirit. What does in the Spirit mean? That means praying in agreement with what the Spirit is praying. To do that, you have to ask the Spirit what He is praying so you can pray it, too. Sometimes that involves speaking in tongues, sometimes Holy Spirit just prompts you to pray about something. It’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.
You’re probably asking, “What does this have to do with interceding for those caught in demon worship?” Good question. The thing that you have to understand is that if you are not strengthening yourself, then you’re not prepared to intercede for someone else in prayer. You can talk to a person, argue with them, even judge them all you want, but if you’re not interceding in prayer, the spiritual connection they have with their demon worship won’t be broken.
Are you strengthening yourself spiritually? Have you been putting on the armor of God? Are you ready and able to intercede for people? I encourage you to take some time and inventory your spiritual life. Let God tell you where you need to improve, then actively begin doing it. Then, ask God who you can intercede in prayer for. There are several people that I regularly intercede for and then every once and awhile God asks me to intercede for someone additional to those people by texting them a prayer alongside my personal prayer time. Every time He has had me do that, He used that to impact someone’s life. Other times, God asks me to intercede for someone that I am unable to connect with and text a prayer to. However, knowing God, He did something great in that time. I know that if you open yourself to letting God use you in these ways, He will do amazing things!