Before we can answer this question we need to realize that a man is a spirit, he has a soul and he lives in a body. His body is created by God to house his spirit and soul. Before a man is born again God gave him a new spirit to replace his old dead spirit. Then God gives the Holy Spirit to him to reside in his new spirit at the moment his is born again. The man's spirit now quickened by the Holy Spirit enables him to relate to God. Please read my earlier posting - "Christian's New Heart" for more details.
We must also realize there are three separate degrees of demonic influence - oppression, obsession and possession. If a man "gives place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27) then Satan will send demons to oppress him. Later on if he continues to give place to the devil, inevitably he will be obsessed and possessed with demons.
Let us look separately at how Satan and his demons can affect and influence the lives of the natural (unsaved) man and the born again Christian.
The Natural Man
When the natural man is in total demon possession of his whole personality (spirit, soul and body) we can say he is "demonized".
An example of a biblical account of total demon possession is the demonized madman of Gadara in Mark 5:1 - 20. We can learn from this account.
First of all, this mad man was not a Christian; he had never been born again because Jesus had not yet gone to the Cross to purchase mankind's redemption. Notice that at first Jesus commanded the "unclean spirit" to come out, but almost immediately He asked for the name of this unclean spirit, and the demon replied that the name is Legion which refers not only to the name of the unclean spirit but also to its number. There is apparently one unclean spirit, by its name brought in with it many other evil spirits to inhabit the man. This is being described in Matthew 12:43 - 45.
I believe the same principle in Matthew 12 is at work in the life of a person who has been delivered from sickness or disease. Notice that the Scripture calls sickness or disease "devil oppression":
"... God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38, NKJV, emphasis added).
Many times the devil tries to put the same sickness or disease right back on someone who was healed. Then "the last state of that man is worse than the first" (Matt. 12:45). Of course, not every case of sickness and disease is caused by the direct presence of an evil spirit. But sometimes sickness or disease is the result of the presence of an evil spirit that is enforcing the affliction.
I believe that is the reason why it is not enough just to cast an evil spirit out of an unsaved person. His "house" needs the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill the vacuum left by the evil spirit that causes his sickness and disease. In other words, this man needs to be born again by the spirit of God.
The Born Again Christian
As I have said before a Christian's spirit becomes the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23, NKJV, emphasis added).
In other words, the condition for a person to become a dwelling place of the Spirit of Christ and God is that he must love Jesus and obey His commands.
Paul said, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Cor. 6:7).
It is obvious that only a true christian who loves Christ and obey His Word has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his "inner most being - his heart" and he becomes one spirit with Christ.
This is the condition by which he cannot have a demon. In other words, the true christian cannot be demonized.
But, he still can be oppressed and obsessed in his body and soul if he "gives place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27) in his christian walk.
The first place Satan starts to work is in the mind. One of his greatest and most powerful weapons is the weapon of suggestion. I believe by not "giving place to the devil" means not giving him any place in our thought life. Any christian can be oppressed by an evil spirit. No christian is immune to Satan's suggestions and oppression, but we don't have to yield to his suggestions. We have the authority in Christ Jesus over any oppression the devil tries to bring against us.
Paul said, "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:16,25, NKJV, emphasis added).
One way of giving place to the devil is "lust of flesh" - also "lust of eyes and pride of life". Jesus Himself was tempted by the devil with these temptations (Matt. 4:1 -11). Jesus at all times filled with the Spirit of God did not at any time gave place to the devil.
Demons can still cause sicknesses and diseases to the christian's body and soul life. Otherwise, we are tempted to believe that all christians are sickness free and disease free and we know this is not true. Just as in the case of the unsaved man not all sicknesses are attributed to demon oppression.
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