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Praying out demons: CAST them out instead!

There are many today who will attempt to pray over a person who is obviously in demonic bondage, but they don’t even consider the thought of casting out the demon spirit behind the bondage. What is the usual result? The person remains in bondage and the prayer does little or no good.

God has given us authority over demon spirits, and along with authority comes responsibility. We were not given authority over demon spirits and told to cast them out for no reason! When we pray over a person who has a demon, asking the Lord to remove it, we are basically asking Him to do something that He told us to do:

Matthew 10:7-8, “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

Now some might ask, “What about the verse where Jesus tells His disciples that this kind can come forth by prayer and fasting only”? In that scenario, an unusually strong demon was involved and Jesus clearly told His disciples that their faith levels weren’t high enough to cast it out, and that they needed to spend more time in prayer and fasting before they could drive this particular demon out:

Matthew 17:19-21, “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”

Let me ask you this question, did Jesus pray and ask His heavenly Father to remove the demon? No, He commanded it to come forth like any other demon spirit:

Matthew 17:18, “And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.”

Jesus was considered the son of Man while He was here on earth… Why? Because He was our example, and as our example, He went about doing the works that He intended us to do as well:

John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”

Are we not given authority over ALL powers of the devil? If so, why couldn’t the disciples tackle the stronger-than-usual demon and cast it out freely? They could have, if they had spent more time in prayer and fasting. Jesus made it abundantly clear that the reason they were unable to cast it out, was because of their lack of faith:

Matthew 17:19-20, “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief…”

We don’t see Jesus and His disciples going about praying for demons to come out, do we? Where did we get this concept of praying out demons? Let’s stop praying for demons to come out, and start acting on our God-given authority and do as Jesus commanded of us… let’s cast them out!

Mark 16:17, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils…”

Who we REALLY are – Our identity in Christ

This is one elementary subject that most Christians still don’t fully understand, and it is a powerful key to spiritual breakthrough for countless believers around the globe today! Don’t believe you’re just an old forgiven sinner just because some pastor tells you so. Look these things up in the Word of God for yourself and know the truth. For Jesus said clearly that if we continue in His Word, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free!

John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

The opposite of truth is deception or false beliefs… and will cause you to live in bondage unnecessarily. This subject is no exception. If you see yourself as a failure, you will not be able to boldly exercise your authority in Christ because you will feel unworthy (even after the Blood of Christ has made you worthy). If you claim to be unworthy after the Blood of Christ has made you worthy, then you are denying the work of Christ in your life!

I want you to say to yourself, “I am worthy, because JESUS’ blood has made me worthy!”

You are loved by God the Father

You are loved by God, not because of what you’ve done, but because of who you are. The Bible tells us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He longed to have a relationship with you even before you became His child!

Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

This one may be hard to get your mind around, but it is true. God loves us with the same love that He had towards Jesus Himself! Look at this passage in scripture:

John 17:23, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

Jesus said that the greatest love a man can show for his friends, is when he lays down his life for them. Jesus laid down His life for us – that is how valuable and dear we are to Him!

John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

As a matter of fact, if we don’t realize the love of God, we cannot be filled with the fullness of God. We will lack His fullness in our lives until we come to know of His deep love for us:

Ephesians 3:17-19, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

You were purchased at a steep price

The wages of your sin is death (see Romans 6:23), but Jesus paid that price for you. God’s Word tells us that we were purchased by the precious Blood of the Lamb:

1 Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Revelations 5:9, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed (meaning purchased) us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;”

Why did Jesus purchase us with His own Blood? Because of His deep love for us, and He deeply desires to have a loving relationship with you and I.

Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

We are justified and declared innocent

If you have repented of your sins and accepted the gift of God, referring to the forgiveness of sins through the precious shed Blood of Christ, then God’s Word tells us that we are justified:

The power of your thoughts

The power of your thoughts – Where many strongholds begin

The enemy loves to put thoughts into the believer’s mind. Those thoughts (if meditated on), produce strongholds, which produces feelings, which lands you into bondage… all because you listened to the devil more then your heavenly Father! I am going to use a common stronghold here in this teaching as an example… an incorrect perception of who you are in Christ. There are many other strongholds out there, but this teaching will give you a general idea of how many strongholds are formed.

How it works

Two voices are speaking: Satan likes to come along and tell you, “Look at that sin you did 5 years ago! That was so bad! You are such a failure!” But Jesus, through God’s Word, tries to tell you that if you turn to Him, you will be forgiven (1 John 1:9), and your past will be forgotten: Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”

You are faced with a choice: You can either listen to Satan’s lie that you are a failure, or you can listen to God’s Word that tells you that your past has been washed away and you are a new creature in Christ! 2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Whichever voice you listen to will crowd the other one out: If you have two dogs who fight all the time, and you can only afford to feed one of them, how do you know which one will win? The one you feed! The same is true in the spiritual realm. The more you listen to Satan’s lies and deception, the more he will build strongholds in your mind, and the more strongholds that go up, the harder it will be to hear God’s voice. The other side of the coin is true too… the more you feast yourself on the truth in God’s Word, the more it tears down strongholds and makes it harder for the enemy’s voice to penetrate your system.

If you listen to Satan’s lies that you are a failure, he will continue to feed you that lie, and it will grow into a stronghold (a lie that is believed, or an incorrect thinking pattern). Your feelings are quite often a direct result of your thoughts. If you think you are a failure, you will feel like one.

If you listen to your heaven Father, who is speaking truth to you through His Word, you will begin to tear down the strongholds in your life. When you meditate on the truth in God’s Word, it will become part of you, and before long, you will be feeling different, simply because you are exchanging lies of the devil for the truth in God’s Word. When you believe that your sins are forgiven, you can then allow your conscience to be cleansed from dead works by the blood of Jesus: Hebrews 9:14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

A practical example

Let me show you how many believers end up feeling like losers… guilt-ridden by their pasts. It all starts with a simple voice of condemnation from the enemy. Satan, through his network of evil spirits (that’s how the devil speaks to people, since Satan can’t be everywhere at once), injects thoughts into their mind that remind them of their past and their failures. They begin to listen to his voice and agree with it. They did sin, and they failed. But instead of looking at the solution, which is repentance and the blood of Jesus (which washes away sin), they continue to listen to the enemy who keeps reminding them of their past. As they continue to do this, stronghold(s) are formed. A stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern based on lies and formed in deception. Once a stronghold is in place, the person naturally thinks of their past instead of focusing on the fact that their past has been forgiven and wiped away. They believe they are a failure instead of believing the truth in God’s Word, which tells them that they have been forgiven, washed clean, and even God Himself has chosen to forget their dirty past! So instead of feeling like a child of God who was washed clean in the blood of Jesus, they feel unworthy, guilty and consider them self a loser. What a shame for a child of God to feel that way!

Your thoughts can affect how you feel

When you believe something, it will affect your feelings. When you believe you are a failure, you will feel like one. When you believe you are a forgiven saint, you will feel like one.

The difference between a guilt-ridden Christian and a light-hearted and joyful Christian is often one simple thing… what they are thinking about. Guess who’s thinking about the sin, the guilt and the past? Now guess who’s thinking about how they have been washed clean and they are a new person in Christ Jesus?

Whatever you keep your mind on (think about often) will affect your whole being. Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

An exception to the rule: Evil spirits are known to directly affect our emotions, feelings, etc. King Saul was tormented with fear and depression directly. However, evil spirits often use our thoughts to access our feelings, and this is done through the creation of strongholds. This is what we are addressing in this teaching… how the enemy uses our thoughts to build strongholds, and how strongholds affect our feelings.

In a nutshell

Thoughts from the enemy (if listened to) turn into strongholds (lies believed or incorrect thinking patterns) which affect how you feel (you feelings often stem from your beliefs) and can cause you to remain in bondage to plain simple ignorance. Jesus made it clear that it’s possible for a believer to remain in bondage to sin even after they’ve been set free, all due to ignorance of the truth in God’s Word (John 8:31-36).

If you think you’re a failure, you’ll feel like a failure. If you think you’re a new creation (washed clean from your past), you’ll feel clean and new… alive in Christ!

Spiritual Warfare versus Torment

A lot of Christians get demonic vexation (oppression, harassment, torment and troubling by evil spirits) and spiritual warfare confused. Many of God’s children live their lives being troubled by evil spirits simply because they think it’s normal and consider it spiritual warfare. I have news for you, I see people break free from what most people live their lives battling with, because they recognized the vital difference and sought the help they needed to break free! Notice that Jesus went about healing (setting free and making whole) ALL who oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38)? That tells us clearly that it is not ‘normal’ to be tormented, oppressed or harassed by evil spirits!

What spiritual warfare involves

Spiritual warfare involves three key elements:

1) Temptation: It is normal for a believer to be tempted to sin. James 4 tells us how to deal with temptation, and it’s by resisting the devil and drawing near to God. As you do that, the power of temptation will seize. For more information on breaking the power of sin in your life, see the teaching Forgiven Sinner or Saint?

If you do as James 4 tells us, feeding yourself spiritually by setting aside a steady devotional time each day with God, and do your best to resist the temptations, but you just cannot overcome it, then I suspect demonic bondage. It is not uncommon for people to be held in bondage to things such as uncontrollable anger, or addictions such as pornography as a result of demonic influence.

2) Accusations: This is where the enemy tries to continually badger us with our past, or even things that aren’t even true. The enemy tries to drive us into the ground spiritually via means of guilt and shame. If you’ve confessed your sin(s), then they have been washed away by the blood of Christ, and there’s no need to look back. As a matter of fact, we are told NOT to look back! Philippines 3:13, “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” Satan is know as the accuser of the brethren (Revelations 12:10), and is known for trying to drag a person through their past to pull them down. If you struggle with guilt from past sins, then I recommend the teachings Dealing with Guilt and Condemnation vs. Conviction.

If you follow the steps laid out in the teaching Dealing with Guilt, and nothing you do seems to solve the problem, there’s likely one or more strongholds that need to come down, and it’s possible that unclean spirits are causing the shame and guilt and need to be cast out.

3) Deception: The enemy is always trying to get us to believe his lies. What’s the first thing he did with Eve? He tried to deceive her into thinking that God lied and she would not surely die if she ate of the tree. I see the enemy deceiving many people today into believing they are merely forgiven sinners, and not the heavenly saints that they really are. I see the enemy trying to deceive people into believing there is no hope for them, or that God is angry with them (even after they turned from their sin and repented of it). It is not uncommon for a person to have a hard time accepting the fact that they are forgiven, because the enemy has been constantly telling them that they messed up too much to be forgiven.

You can learn more about these elements, as well as Biblical methods for overcoming each one in the teaching Spiritual Warfare.

The difference between torment and warfare

Warfare: Physical warfare involves sending fiery darts (or bullets) towards your opponent, and they send fiery darts (bullets) back your way. The same is true with spiritual warfare; the devil throws fiery darts your way in the form of temptations, accusations and deception, and you fire fiery darts his way by tearing down his strongholds. Your enemy cannot gain access to you when you are properly guarding yourself and letting his fiery darts hit you.

Torment: In war, there are prisoners of war (POW), those held captive by the enemy for purposes of torment, torture, and sometimes even death. The enemy has gained the power or ability to torture the victims. The same happens in the spiritual battleground, people fall for temptation, sin, and then fall into the enemy’s hands. Paul tells us not to give place to the devil in Ephesians 4:27, and in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11, we are told not to hold un-forgiveness in our hearts, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us (gain a ‘right’ to

The Blood is Enough – Complete forgiveness!

This is a powerful and liberating teaching that we must understand in order to experience true freedom from guilt and shame of our past. It is absolutely essential for us to realize the forgiving power of the Blood of Jesus! Nothing we can do will ever add to or take away from the work that Christ did on the cross. As the song sings, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!”

I think one of the reasons why it is so hard to grasp the true forgiving power of Christ’s shed blood is because it just seems too good to be true. Wouldn’t you agree? But God’s Word is true, and it even tells us that through Christ, we have exceedingly great and precious promises:

2 Peter 1:4, “Whereby are given unto us EXCEEDING GREAT and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

The word precious in the above verse refers to the Greek word timios, which actually means valuable or costly! These promises that God has given us, cost Jesus dearly… He paid a steep price for our redemption, healing and deliverance!

I believe the Holy Spirit has showed me that if you have to do something to receive forgiveness of your sins, then you will always wonder if you’ve done enough! Look at this passage in scripture:

Galatians 3:11, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”

Knowing that your conscience is clean is very important. A while back, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “You need to KNOW that you are clean… your faith depends upon it!”

The Blood of Jesus was shed to not only forgive, but to remove sin!

In the Old Testament, the priests would sacrifice lambs, goats, etc. to cover the people’s sins. However, this sacrifice was not significant to remove the stain of sin. But since Christ shed His blood, our sin can be REMOVED from our account! In Hebrews 10, it paints us this picture very clearly.

Hebrews 10:1-22, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Serving Christ

By: Stephen Kingery

One of my favorite Scriptures is found in the last chapter of Joshua, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15) I purposefully left part of this verse out to get to the heart of the matter. Joshua was giving the Israelites a speech prior to their entering the Promised Land. He was telling them that they could choose to serve either the gods of the people who dwell in the land, or they could choose to serve the Lord.

Just like Joshua and the Israelites we in America have a choice to make. Are we to serve the gods of American culture – cable TV, sports, pleasure, sexual immorality, drugs, politics, gambling, drinking, money, power, prestige – or will we serve the Lord.

Joshua and the Israelites made the correct choice, they chose to serve the Lord. Unfortunately, they did not eliminate the culture of the people whose land they conquered. The people and culture, little by little, invaded the lives and hearts of the Israelite people. Soon they were up to their eyeballs in “serving” the gods of the people whom they conquered. Are we, as Christians in America today, falling to the same fate that they did?

I would like to look at three areas where we need to be steadfast in our serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Those areas are – our lives, our talents and our finances.

Serving Christ With Our Lives

First, and foremost, we need to serve Christ with our lives. Now you may say, “I am a Christian. Of course I am serving Christ with my life.” But are you really? What does it mean to serve Christ with our lives?

Don’t Quench The Holy Spirit

By: Stephen Kingery

I started this ministry because I see something happening in our churches that is a deep concern to me. There are far too many of our members who attend worship services who are not, and are not becoming, grounded in the word of God. I also see many members who are drifting away from the fellowship of the church. If their faith was strong and their love for God mature, I don’t think this would happen.

Also, the reasons people give for staying away from the fellowship is puzzling to me. It seems that when the slightest occurrence of some out-of-the-way comment that tends to hurt someone’s feelings is made, people simply “quit church.” Does this mean that they no longer want to be a Christian? That is certainly what the term “quit church” implies. I’ve often said that I can’t imagine what any person could do to make me want to end my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

The Holy Spirit is a real and vibrant part of every true Christian. In order for a true Christian to “quit church,” there must be a tremendous quenching of the Spirit. Let’s take a look at the Holy Spirit specifically as He relates to the life of a Christian. In this study I hope that we can learn more about what the Holy Spirit does, or at least should be allowed to do, in our daily Christian lives.

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16,17) Jesus told us that we would have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that He would be in us, actually living in us. This is an awesome thought indeed, the Holy Spirit being in us and a part of us. However, He does not impose His will on us. We are not robots occupied by a “spirit” going about doing what the “spirit” wants us to do. Quite the contrary is true. We still have a free will, fully able to exercise it at our discretion.

Do You Know What It Takes To Crucify The Flesh?

By: David Hopkins

The flesh is the part of us that resists our transformation into the new person in Christ.

And since this is the case the devil wants to use the pleasures of our flesh to keep us enslaved to our old habits and sinful attitudes.

We have daily choices to live according to God’s righteous desires, and deny sin. When we use our power to choose God’s way instead of sin’s way, we crucify our flesh.

God helps us crucify our flesh through the Holy Spirit so that we may live in the newness of the Spirit.

The desires we must crucify include fornication, covetousness, stealing, and lying plus follow the rest of the Ten Commandments.

As we put these things to death, we are able to then put on the new man, renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created us.

1 Peter 4:1-2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

When a man is crucified, he dies. And when you die, you’re dead.

Therefore those of us who belong to Jesus need to crucify the flesh so that we become dead to the flesh, dead to our passions, and dead to our desires.

Applying the Word is Power

By: Daniel N. Brown

In God’s plan for every believer is peace, hope, and a good future (Jeremiah. 29:11). It is His will that we live abundant
and prosperous lives but the enemy will try to destroy every ounce of peace and hope we have by bringing doubt into our minds.

If you are experiencing doubt and discouragement in your life right now, it is because the devil is robbing you of the
blessings that God has for you. The devil is a thief and it is his only mission to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came that
we may have life and may have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

Did you notice the word “may”? Webster’s Dictionary describes “may” as permission, opportunity, perhaps, and possibly.

God has done His part by sending His Son to die on the cross, not only to save us from our sins, but also to give us life abundantly. Whether we have life abundantly or not depends on us!