We tend to think that demons exist like they do in horror movies: standing in the corner of a baby’s room at 3 a.m., watching the child sleep in his crib, the family dog standing on all fours as the only one who notices its presence. The demon feeds off of fear, scaring an individual night after night and latching on to them when they sense terror, growing larger and stronger as the fear does the same. How is the demon finally removed? By exorcism, a bone-chilling ritual that supernaturally rips the demon out of the victim and sends it right back to hell.
In a lot of ways, these horror movies are correct.
However, Hollywood fails to portray the entire truth of how such demons operate.
Our culture — thanks to the media — has slowly accepted the belief that demons are these large entities that haunt us at random times during the night, opening and closing doors and breaking lamps downstairs, inducing fear on the household so that they can latch on and oppress the weakest and most fearful member of the family.
There is a certain amount of truth in this, but it must be understood that demons do not just come out at night and make random noises around the house. Instead, they are eagerly and actively searching for a fearful mind, attempting to attach itself and begin haunting the victim one thought at a time, like a parasite digging its claws into a host and latching on for food.
One. Thought. At. A. Time.
Demons often enter our minds through common experiences of life. They look for small negative thoughts, like a tiny insult made in passing. The thought acts as a seed, planted firmly in our minds, taking root and growing deeper, watered by the continual replaying of the scenario. It may not seem like it at the time, but we subconsciously — and often, consciously — dwell on that comment over and over and over again until we come to believe it is true.
As the thought grows stronger, it begins to engulf our minds — which, in turn, consumes our entire lives. The demon constantly pushes the thought to the surface, reminding you of your failures, your mistakes, your limitations. He reminds the 7th-grade girl that she’s on the verge of being overweight every time she takes a bite of food. He slips in that nagging thought of ‘worthlessness’ every time the high school boy tries to make a friend.
This, my friends, is how demons work.
Like in horror movies, the demon latches itself onto anything negative, anything that can serve as a stumbling block to prevent the individual from living a full, healthy life. As the negative thought continues to resurface in your mind, the demon begins to grasp on tighter and tighter, fully aware that it now possesses a fair amount of control of your life.
The demon isn’t just passing by your window at night to scare you — he’s there all day. He’s that nagging thought inside your mind, telling you you’re not good enough, reminding you of that one limitation that now interferes with everything you do. That one little comment made seven years ago has now been played in your mind like a broken record, like a bad song stuck on repeat. You see it, hear it, believe it — constantly, every waking moment of your life consumed by this negativity. It is always there, always ready to resurface, always prepared to ruin anything remotely positive.
This is why our insecurities become so much harder to destroy if we do not take action and exorcise the demons that continue to oppress us. We cannot ignore these thoughts. The longer we live with this negativity, the stronger our insecurities become.
The stronger the demon becomes.
Jealousy, as an example, can only be ignored for so long. The more it comes up, the greater it becomes. Until we properly exorcise our demons, we will continue to live oppressed and possessed, controlled and let down by our jealous thoughts.
The demons you see in horror movies are real. Instead of playing hide-and-seek behind your door or in your closet, they are hiding in your mind, latched on to specific thoughts that continue to seemingly pop up out of nowhere.
It is time to exorcise these demons. We must no longer ignore them and hope they just disappear as life goes on. Why? Because they are actively feeding off of fear and weakness and continually growing stronger. We must rise today and exorcise the demons that are using our minds as their own personal playground. We must dig up the deeply-rooted insecurities and plant our minds like a tree by a body of water, sending out its roots by the stream and continually being replenished and renewed.
