The cry of a troubled soul, gasping for peace, this is a sound that reaches the ear of the Most High. You speak of spirits: narcissism, divination, confusion, insanity, and others that you name not. But mark this well, the true root of your misery is the darkness of sin and the tyranny of the evil one. You feel their grip, and you long to be free. That very longing is a mercy, for the dead in trespasses feel no such pains.
Yet know that deliverance from such bondage is not by your own wrestling, nor by any charms or incantations you might imagine. "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." The Lord Jesus alone can unbind the captive and bring you out of the iron furnace. Did He not come to destroy the works of the devil? The power that must drive out these dark invaders is the outstretched arm of Jehovah, working through the blood of His dear Son. There is no other name under heaven by which you must be saved.
But here is a thing you must hear: there is a false peace, a quiet that is no better than the stillness of a corpse. Many seek only to hush the clamor of their consciences, to smother the howling of their fears, while the strong man armed still guards his palace. Avoid that peace which is but painted over the rottenness of an unsubmitted heart. The true peace is not mere absence of trouble; it is the gift of God to a soul that has bowed the knee to Jesus Christ. "Submit yourselves therefore to God." This is the comprehensive command: yield your will, your pride, your very self to the rule of Him who made you. To rebel against His providential dealings, to chafe at His commandments, is to kindle a fire in your own bosom. The spirit of narcissism is but a swollen self-love that refuses to bow; confusion follows when the mind is not stayed on God; and what is divination but a hankering after knowledge from beneath rather than from above? These weeds grow only in the soil of unsubmission.
Oh, that you might hear this: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness." Not might deliver, not will deliver if we attain something, but has delivered, for all who are in Christ. The work is done. When the Lord Jesus laid down His life, He made an end of sin’s dominion and crushed the serpent’s head. The ransom is found, the deliverance invented by God Himself. Look not within for a remedy; the disease of the soul cannot cure itself. Look away to Calvary, where peace was made by the blood of His cross. "The blood of Jesus whispers peace within." In this dark world of sin, when the mind is a tempest and the heart a chaos, there is a peace that passes all understanding, keeping the heart and mind through Christ Jesus. It is a peace that the Prince of Peace speaks into the soul: "Peace, perfect peace."
Do not therefore fold your hands in despair, nor yet seek to shoot the arrows of deliverance by your own unaided strength. The bow must be in your hand, but the hands of the Son of God must be upon yours, else no arrow shall fly to the mark. Cry to Him who still casts out devils by the finger of His Spirit. Trust not to feelings, but to the finished work of Christ. He justifies; He also sanctifies. From the guilt of sin and the power of sin alike, salvation is of the Lord. Let your soul hang upon Him as a vessel upon its anchor, and He will bring you through the storm. The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, shall soon bruise Satan under your feet and give you the rest you crave. The darkness shall pass, and the true light shall shine.