A word about flies...and words
| 09 February 2010
Flies are drawn to decay. It's what they live for.
Long ago, it was actually believed that rotting meat produced maggots. It made sense. Whenever meat would begin to spoil, maggots and flies were always present. Today, we know that rancid food does not create flies, but it does attract them, every time.
Flies are quite filthy. In fact, one fly, landing on your food, carries more bacteria than hundreds of cockroaches marching over it! Not a very appetizing thought, but this much is clear: Flies are not only drawn toward decay; they spread it.
Demons are the flies of the unseen realm. Death and decay attract them. It's what they live for. They not only show up when they smell it. They spread it wherever they land.
Jesus was accused of being empowered by the prince of demons, Beelzebub, who's name can mean, “lord of the flies” (Mt 12:24). The religious leaders were incensed by the fact that Jesus was drawn toward filth. It's true. He was notorious for socializing with tax collectors and “sinners”; for befriending them; for having fun with them; for healing them. To do such things was an outrage.
By declaring someone “unclean”, The religious leaders would expect the community to avoid all contact with them; to shun them. Anyone who violated that decree of rejection would, themselves, become “unclean”. The decay would spread (Lev 5:3, 15:31).
Our words invite the unseen. Scripture tells us that the spoken word has power; life and death, in fact (Pr 18:21). The reality is, words of rejection, spoken over others, provide a place for the demonic to land. Then, it spreads (James 3).
Jesus' attraction to decay was redemptive. He came to destroy the work of the devil. Wherever he was drawn, he spread life. He would intentionally touch the weak, the despised, the diseased (Mt 4:23, 24). He loved them into relationship with Himself and restored them to the very community that spurned them (Mt 8:1-4).
When we speak life, we invite the Kingdom; the angelic; the very presence of God. Lives are changed; destiny is released; healing occurs; demons flee.
When we declare life, death is removed. The flies have nowhere to land.