When I read this passage—Psalm 135:1-21—about the vapors ascending from the ends of the earth, I recall one of the funniest yet most penetrating sermons I ever heard.
The psalmist writes, “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasures” (v. 7).
The sermon I heard included this verse about the vapors ascending from the ends of the earth. The sermon was entitled “The Devil Can’t Swim.” It was preached by a young evangelist who was on fire for the Lord.
His major point was that the devil hates water (especially the water of the Word of God and the River of Life of the Holy Spirit). He used as his text the account of Jesus casting the demons out of the man called Legion. The demons cried out to Jesus and asked Him not to send them to a far country. Jesus sent them into a herd (more than 2,000) of swine, and the swine ran down a steep hill into the sea and drowned (Mark 5). He said that demons don’t like water because they always go to the dry places when they are cast out.
He based this on Luke 11:24, which says, “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.'”
This evangelist then proceeded to tell us how we can drown demons just as Jesus did. He said that when we praise and worship the Lord with all of our hearts, vapors are sent from earth into the heavens, and glory clouds form.
God dwells in the midst of our praise.
When these glory clouds are filled with the vapors from our praise, they begin to release the showers of blessings from the Lord—the former and latter rain, the refreshing rain of the Holy Spirit. Remember the old hymn “Showers of Blessings”? One verse says that “mercy drops flow from His throne,” and this literally is what happens in the spirit realm when we praise the Lord. As the rain of the Holy Spirit falls, the demons have to flee because they hate that kind of water. If you want to drown the devil, keep praising God all the day long.
Lord, help me to drown all the demonic forces that may try to come against me today. I will praise You all the day long.
READ: 1 Kings 18:1-46; Acts 11:1-30; Psalm 135:1-21; Proverbs 17:12-13
Linda Sommer is the author of Around the Word in 365 Days, from which this article is excerpted.
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