An Uncontrollable Spirit

Time for a Spiritual Escalation

Defining What We Know About Spiritual Warfare – Part 5

Over the course of the last several installments, we’ve done our best to re-define what spirits are. As you know, I am one who does not follow conventional thinking nor accept the beliefs, culture, habits, or practice of average human-beings. When we settle for what culture tells us we decrease our ability to understand God’s will for us. ^[1] Therefore, the opposite of settling for what’s normal is to take what we know to the next level, specifically the next level in prayer.

When we settle for cultural thinking when it comes to the idea of spirits, godliness, God’s Spirit, and spiritual things, average thinking only gives us average results. Therefore, if we’re going to be inspired by God, we must be willing to search out and allow Him to take whatever we think to the next level. That being said, we want to share with you one of two types of spirits. We’ve categorized spirits into two categories to make this as simple as possible. The first category is the uncontrollable spirits. We’re starting with this one because it is the one that we’re most familiar with. When we hear the word spirit, our first thought goes to demonic spirits and those that are not inviting. Spooky. The word by itself makes us uncomfortable. We often avoid the topic altogether. Now that we have your attention, you’re ready to go with us to the next level on this topic and how it impacts how we pray.

Spiritual Escalation
Allow me to begin with a well known story in the Christian faith. Jesus often had crowds of people following Him as He traveled from place to place. During one of His travels (you might remember this story), a father brought his son to Jesus’ disciples to be healed. This young boy was possessed by what his father called “an evil spirit.”

Now, this story gets interesting because this father, first, was able to define what was troubling his son as an evil spirit. No one corrected his assessment. When the disciples were unsuccessful at resolving the issue, this father escalated the situation.

In my line of work, when a frontline employee cannot handle a situation, the situation gets escalated to a higher level. In this case, this parent said your disciples, your frontline team, your frontline followers could not do anything about my situation. Therefore, I want to bring it to You. I’m escalating my problem to a higher level for resolution.

What I would like you to pay very close attention to is the description this father lays out about this spirit that’s classified as “an evil spirit.” Once I heard the description the only word that came to mind was “uncontrollable.” Listen to what happens when this evil spirit takes possession of the young boy.

This spirit ceased the child. It takes possession of him, ceases him, so he no longer has control of himself.
This spirit throws him violently to the ground. That’s what this uncontrollable evil spirit does.
This spirit caused the son to foam at his mouth. As a result of this spirit possessing the young boy, foam starts to come out of his mouth.
This spirit causes the boy to grind his teeth.
This spirit made the boy become rigid. He is no longer able to flex like himself.
This spirit throws the child to the ground into violent convulsions.
This spirit causes him to throw himself in the fire, out of control.
This spirit will at other times cause the boy to throw himself in the water, out of control.
This spirit takes such control that the boy no longer has control of whether he stands, whether he is able to move, walk, or even talk. ^[2] Out of control! He no longer had self-control.

That’s what this evil spirit does. This is the description of “an evil spirit”, which has taken control of the son. This description is important to us understanding the classifications of an uncontrollable spirit and a controllable spirit.

An evil spirit yields in a person becoming out of control, losing self-control. To take this story further, if Jesus wanted this young boy to remain out of control, He would have simply let this evil spirit remain. Instead, Jesus rebuked the spirit that took away his self-control. ^[2] Therefore, Jesus knew that this young boy no longer had control of his body.

Using this story we know that an evil spirit removes one’s ability to be in control. For any spirit coming upon us that negatively impacts control of our body, we need to ask Jesus to reprimand the spirit. We should pray this…“Lord, will you rebuke any spirit that’s impacting my body so that I can return to my senses and regain control of myself? In Jesus’ name.” This is how we pray when it comes to spiritual things. This my friend is next-level prayer.

We have so often seen occasions in society, where people have made us think that being out of control is one of those things brought on by God’s Spirit. In fact there is nothing that supports it. So where did we get this from? Regardless of where it came from I know one thing. It’s common thinking. Therefore, it’s our goal to come against such limiting thinking when it relates to spiritual things and prayer.

I know from this account of Jesus’ interaction with the young boy that He was not accepting of this out of control behavior. Jesus restored his self-control. Ordinary people believe that God’s Spirit takes possession of a person in an uncontrollable way. Because that type of thinking goes against what the Bible, the Scripture, God’s word, and even this story of Jesus tells us, we can’t remain average, normal, and ordinary. God’s Spirit doesn’t take you from control. That’s what evil spirits are for. He restores you to control.

Question: In what way have you been led to believe that God’s Spirit is an uncontrollable spirit?

[1] Romans 12:2 NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed January 12, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/ROM.12.2.NLT
[2] Mark 9:17-29 NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed January 12, 2023, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/MRK.9.17-29.NLT
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.