Hi Rex,
I hope you'll follow this post, and give the scripture some deep meditation.
The OP says "dwell within them" which is tantamount to saying posession. A Christian being opressed does not have an indwelling demon, there's no rooom since the Holy Spirit has taken up residence.
Let's look at pictures of the Temple in the gospels. I want you to think carefully about what John and Jesus are explaining to you in 3D.
John 2:13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house has eaten me up. 18 Then answered the Jews and said to him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Verse 18 is the backlash which can be expected whenever a person is delivered from evil spirits.
Note: the creatures and furniture were all real, solid or animated objects. They are physical substance like the Temple itself. They need a physical substance in which to shelter/reside.
Consider v 16 -
Genesis 14:21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, [souls]
and take the goods to thyself.
Mark 11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; 16 And would not suffer that any man should carry [any] vessel through the temple. 17 And he taught, saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard [it], and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
This
'all the people was astonished at his doctrine', graphically expresses how differently Jesus 'taught', than the scribes and Pharisees. (Note!)
Matthew 21:12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, [Mark 12:16, 17]
and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said to them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Where did He heal them? Had they been allowed into the Temple with their infirmities? What did the Law say?
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, 16 And said to him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? Psalm 8:2
There is significant difference between the work of the breath of God which gave Adam his human spirit and animated his body, and enabled his blood to circulate carrying oxygen to the cells, and, the way an unclean spirit attaches itself to a part of that body.
When the Holy Spirit comes in, He is in fellowship with the person's whole being, as far as He is able, and His mission is to glorify Christ, expelling all foreign bodies and sinful behaviours.
The battle which is experienced between flesh and the Spirit, is partly about strongholds of habit of the flesh, as well as when those habits have opened the door to others spirits. But they should lose, if the person
co-
operates with the Holy Spirit and not the flesh.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4, 5, 6.
The Holy Spirit also animates the whole body, in the same way as the human spirit does, causing it to cry out
according to truth.
1 John 5:6 '... And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
It is that 'cry', which informs the believer, (and fellow-believers) and enables him/her to
overcome sin, the flesh, strongholds and the devil.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Hebrews 12:9
