A Lesson From Jodi Arias

     A couple of months ago I was making a delivery to the panhandle when I went into McDonald's to get breakfast.  While I was eating the breakfast, I sat beside the TV.  Jodi Arias was giving her testimony.  I didn't know anything about her.  We don't have cable TV, we just have Netflex and Roku, so our news sources come from the internet.  I got the impression that in 2008 she shot her boyfriend twice and stabbed him 17 times. I heard her give a minute, detailed account of what happened just before the murder.  She said, "I picked up the gun, my fingers were on the trigger.  I remember thinking, 'This will stop him.'  Then I don't remember anything."  The newscaster then came on and said, "Her testimony was just blown all to pieces, how are we to believe she remembers all the details right up to the time of the murder?"  But I knew in my heart that she was telling the truth.
     In my past, I have been exposed to three people who had demons manifest.  In all three cases, they did not remember what happened when the demon came up.  I knew that a demon manifested that brutally murdered this man.  While I sat there pondering what I had heard, I asked God to allow me to understand what had happened.  He then dropped a scripture into my spirit that said that if you have hate in your heart, you are a murderer, and then I understood.  Jodi Arias hated this man.  Not only did she hate him, but she "fixed her eyes" on the hatred.  She petted that "raccoon".  I know that we can all justify this response because she was abused in so many ways, but we are not talking about what the man did, we are talking about how she responded to what he did.  She hated him.  When she allowed hate to enter her heart, she allowed the spirit of murder to enter.  Then the spirit of murder got stronger and stronger as she "fixed her eyes" on how much she hated him.  
     Now I don't know about you, but I have a hard time understanding demons and demon possession, but I can understand hate entering a person's heart.  Then with her thoughts - which were fixed continually on her hatred - she gave permission for the spirit of murder that was in her to take over.  Her sin was to hate.  The result of her hatred was that a spirit was allowed to manifest and BRUTALLY DO WHAT IT WANTED TO DO.  Wow!  Then another scripture came to mind.  If you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery.  This is the same thing.  Once lust or hatred enters the heart, we have a choice, we can "fix our eyes on it" or we can turn our back on it, confess our sin and go on with our life.  If we choose to fix our eyes on "lust" or "hate" or "jealousy" or "greed" or "unforgiveness" or "bitterness" or "revenge" or "selfish ambition" or ... you get the point, that spirit becomes stronger and stronger until at some point it takes over and acts out.  That is why pornography is so destructive.  It "fixes our eyes" on lust.  And the more we "fix our eyes" on it, the stronger it becomes until it has an opportunity, and then the spirit manifests and the spirit is allowed to BRUTALLY DO WHAT IT WANTS TO DO.  That is why the crimes are becoming more heinous.  We no longer control the direction our thoughts are taking.
     I know that some of you understand what I am talking about, but the hatred or lust that is inside of you is so big that you don't know how you can ever overcome it.  You can't, but God can.  All you have to do is call upon His name...Jesus...and say, "Jesus, I need for you to rescue me."  Then open your heart wide for Him to come in.  Invite Him in.  Say, "Search my heart, O God, and know me.  Try my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me into paths of life everlasting."  Then humble yourself and accept your guilt, and confess your sin.  If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  As far as the east is from the west are our sins from us.  You are clean and holy.   However, the enemy knows the way back into your heart.  You have to now "fix your eyes on Jesus".  Turn your back on the sin, and guard your heart.  Don't let him back in, and if he gets back in, quickly confess your sin and turn from it.  DO NOT "FIX YOUR EYES" ON THE SIN AGAIN.  If you do, it will overtake you and the end will be worse for you than it was before.  And then finally, "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  When there is a spirit of praise and thanksgiving in your heart, and when your "eyes are fixed on Jesus", there is nothing the enemy can do to you.
     This is a side note.  We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.  He has created us to be victorious.  And we will "overcome" the enemies that are inside of us.  We have to do it His way, though.  We have to humble ourselves and accept our guilt.  I know Jodi Arias was abused.  I know that she did not have it easy, and she could easily point the finger at her boyfriend to justify her actions.  We can't do that.  We have to point the finger at ourselves and say, "I am guilty."  The battle that is inside of us is ours, no one elses, and our God will rescue us if we let Him.  He has come to heal our broken heart, and He has come to set us free.