In Galilee, the land north of Judea, the people of Israel refused to honor God for many, many years, even though they had known His loving care and His wonderful power. A wicked king made a gold calf for them to worship (1 Kings 12:28-3128Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. 31And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. (1 Kings 12:28‑31)). The people followed the way of Satan for many years until even children suffered from wicked spirits.
When Jesus came to this earth many years later, in that land of Galilee there was one poor boy who was terribly tormented by an evil spirit. It often hurt him; it made him unable to hear or speak, and it tried to destroy him many times by making him fall into a fire or into water. His father heard of Jesus and brought his son to Jesus to see if He could help him. At that time, Jesus was away up on a mountain, and sadly, the disciples could not help this boy. But then Jesus came down from the mountain, and the father ran to Him and begged Him to help. He said, “If Thou canst do anything ... help us.”
This man did not know that Jesus was the Son of God and that there was no one too hard for Him to cure, or he would not have said “if.” Jesus told the father he only needed to believe, and He commanded the evil spirit to leave the boy and not return. That spirit didn’t like to obey, but it had to. So it hurt the boy one more time so badly that everyone thought the boy was dead. But it came out of the boy because the Lord Jesus was stronger than the evil spirit, and the boy was freed from that tormenting spirit. Sometimes we see boys and girls who obey like that demon obeyed ... causing more trouble, and obeying only because they have to, not because they want to obey. Do you obey your parents like that?
The Lord Jesus went to that poor boy who looked dead, took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was healed. The Lord Jesus is so kind and gentle and yet so strong. He is stronger than any evil spirit and stronger than any problem we might have.
This story shows how awful Satan is, who has no kindness for anyone and who even wants to harm children. How different he is from the Lord Jesus, who did good to all and was tender and kind to children. He came to earth to break the power of Satan, as God had promised (see Genesis 3:1515And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15) and Hebrews 2:1414Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)). Even now, it is because of Satan and the sin he introduced into this world that there is suffering and war and all the other bad things in this world.
Messages of God’s Love 8/31/2025