The Holy Spirit.
When Jesus came into my life, I saw Him in the Book of Revelation as the ascended Christ, the victor and deliverer. At that point I became a man completely filled with the Holy Spirit. Rivers of living water gushed up out of my soul. "‘Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified" (John 7:38,39).
The one predominate work that the Holy Spirit did in my life from the beginning, was to make Jesus real to me. I knew that Jesus was alive. I could experience "real-time communication" with Him through the Holy Spirit. People tried to give me their opinions about Christianity, but the Holy Spirit was always my teacher.
I cannot explain everything about the Holy Spirit of God. I do not understand the various ways the Holy Spirit is experienced by different people. There are a few simple things that I can share with you.
In order to be a child of God, you need to have His Spirit joined to your spirit. That is what happened when you were re-born. You were joined to God, much in the same way Adam was before he rebelled against God. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19).
You became a container for the Holy Spirit when you made Jesus Lord.
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would come after He (Jesus) ascended back to Heaven to take His (Jesus’) place here on earth.
Knowing how we could feel fatherless if we could not experience His presence, Jesus said the following; "I will not leave you as orphans [fatherless]; I will come to you" (John 14:18).
He told His disciples, after His resurrection but before he ascended, that they would be immersed into the Holy Spirit. "For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5). "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
He told them not to worry after He left. He explained that the Holy Spirit would take His place and make Him (Jesus, God) real to them. Read what Jesus told them in John 14:16-26.
Jesus told them that the Holy Spirit would make Him real to them. "When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me" (John 15:26). "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7).
Jesus told His men that he would come back soon. He did! He came back in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and Jesus are not different people; they are the same, but in different form. The Holy Spirit can actually dwell inside humans, where Jesus was restricted to one human body.
That sounds simple, but the devil has convinced men and women to complicate things. Entire denominational structures have been built around what people believe or do not believe about the Holy Spirit. Often what people believe is some sort of tradition that is not even Bible based.
How does this filling happen?
John 15 says that we are connected to our source like a branch on a vine. We are not independent containers like a water glass that must be filled from an outside source.
It is a matter of staying connected to the vine. The sap in the vine represents the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. We need to abide in the vine. Jesus says that obedience to His Word is what keeps us abiding. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is being flooded with God when we are connected to Him, as the vine is to the branch. His "sap" flows into us and we stay connected if we abide.
I submit that we become flooded or filled with the Holy Spirit when the various obstructions, in the connection between the branch and the vine, are removed.
Are there degrees of being filled? I submit that there are degrees. When you are full of the Holy Spirit, all areas of your life will begin to be changed. The fruit of the Spirit will begin to be manifested in your life. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22,23). You will be hungry for the Word of God. Jesus will be real to you. Christianity will be more than a mental understanding; it will be alive and real. You will know that you are in relationship with God.
Ideally, every Christian would be filled with the Holy Spirit when they are born again. Sometimes it happens like that (as it did with me), but not always. The New Testament shows different experiences. At Ephesus, Paul encountered a group who had believed, but who had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. "And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19:6).
Another incident took place while Peter was preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God…" (Acts 10:44-46).
Paul prayed a blessing for the church in Ephesus. He wanted them to experience the reality of God in their present day lives. "…experience for yourselves, the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience…that they may be a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself" (Ephesians 3:19 extracted).
I believe that a lot of obstructions can keep us from the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
The major obstructions are:
Pride. (James 4:6)
Religious tradition. (Mark 7:13)
Fear. (Luke 11:11-13)
Doubt. (Luke 11:9-10)
Inadequacy. (Luke 11:13)
Other big obstructions are:
Not wholly submitting your will to God. Refusing to give up some sin in your life.
Not living in obedience to the Word of God.
Not addressing spiritual and demonic strongholds in your life.
Going to "other gods" to obtain your needs.
Ask God to show you what may apply to you.
The Holy Spirit desires to do two fundamental things in your life:
1. To make Jesus real to you so that He (Jesus) can make you whole. He wants to set you free from past bondages and prisons. He wants to make you holy like God.
2. To make Jesus real to the world through you. In other words, to glorify or reveal God. Jesus’ only body on this earth is the Church. The Church is His body. We represent Him to the world in the same way that He represented the Father to the world when He was here. You are part of His body, the Church.
What about the gifts of the Spirit? Please study 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. One type of gift is part of our personality, and other types are given to operate in special situations as determined by God. I have personally had many of the gifts operate in my life from time to time, but not all of them. I have witnessed gifts such as the word of prophecy and the word of wisdom that only the Holy Spirit could have spoken. My wife and I have participated with the Holy Spirit in casting out demons, and have seen the results of people being healed and set free.
I do not feel it is proper for people who have received the gifts to make those who have not received them feel as if there is something wrong with them. Neither is it proper for those who have not received the gifts to criticize those who have; that is criticizing God!
Speaking in tongues is a valuable and powerful gift. God uses it not only in public ministry, but more importantly, He uses it to take control of our mind for His benefit. James 3:4-5 says that the tongue is like the rudder that guides the entire ship. If you want to give Jesus the rudder of your life, you should give Him your tongue. There is a more in depth teaching on the Holy Spirit in the ISOB curriculum, lessons 117 and 118 .
One time, early in my walk with God, I took a Jewish friend to church with me (he asked me, I did not pressure him). During the service, the person right behind us was prompted by the Holy Spirit to speak out in tongues. My friend turned and stared at him while he spoke. Later, my Jewish friend invited Jesus to become His Lord. He saw Him as the Jewish Messiah.
On the way home he asked me about the "funny language" this man spoke. I explained 1 Corinthians chapter 12 to him. Then he told me that he understood what the man had said in Hebrew and that he had learned it in Hebrew school as a young boy. Here is what my Jewish friend heard that morning:
"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days… Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem…They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks " (taken from Isaiah 2:2-5).
However, wholesome speech in your native language is more important to God. Your words are much more powerful than you can imagine. What you say will not only tend to cause things to happen on earth, but your words will tend to bind the underlying thoughts to your mind forever. Negative words will put you and others into darkness. Positive and God controlled words will set you and others free. You will experience a peace that is much like Heaven in your heart. Negative words will put "Hell" into your heart.
Ask God to show you what areas in your life are keeping the fullness of the Holy Spirit from being manifested in and through you. The presence of God through the Holy Spirit is worth any adjustment you may need to make.
Prayer. "Lord Jesus, the Word of God says that you have a desire to fill me with your Spirit so that You and I can be more intimate. I am hungry for you and your presence in my life. Jesus, I believe your Word. I confess to you that I want everything you have for me. Come, Jesus, baptize me with the Holy Spirit and fire. I am open and ready for the fire in my life. I renounce and repent from all sin in my life. I forgive everyone who has wronged me. I offer myself to you a living sacrifice. You are sovereign over my life. Have your way. I offer to you all of my members, my mouth, my tongue, my hands, feet, ears and eyes. Take it all!"
For more information on this subject, read Chapter 11 of the book Grow or Die. The reference is on the second page of this book.
We need to be set free.
Since 1979 Jesus has progressively set me free from "prisons" that I had been put into by sin. A lot of these "sins" were things that others had placed on me. Some of them were my own doing. Some of them were simply things that were passed down from former generations. I believe that all three of these are causes of bondages and prisons in our lives.
So many people are too proud to admit that they need help or that they need to be set free from slavery. "Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, ‘If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to anyone. How do you say, You will be made free?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever practices sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. Therefore if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed’" (John 8:31-36).
Notice, Jesus spoke this to the Jews "who had believed on him." They did not want to hear that they were slaves and that they needed someone to set them free. So many Christians today are the same way.
Jesus’ mission statement spoken on the day He started His ministry emphasized setting people free. He said, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour" (Luke 4:18,19).
Paul tells us in Romans Chapter 6 that we have "already" been set free from sin’s slavery. "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-- whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Romans 6:16-18).
It is true that we have been (past tense) set free. It is also true that we need to be (future tense) set free. Legally we are no longer slaves to sin and Satan once we make Jesus our Lord. However, there is a progressive realization of that fact. Progressively we work out that truth in our lives.
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, [not in your own strength] for it is God who works in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire] to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:12,13 - added phrases from Amplified Bible).
A good example for visualizing this truth is the story of the Israelites coming out of slavery in Egypt and going through the desert toward the land promised to them by God. This story is recorded in the Books of Exodus and Numbers.
The Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians for over 400 years. Egypt is the type of the "world" to which we were slaves prior to Jesus saving us.
God sent a deliverer, Moses, to confront the slave-master Pharaoh. Jesus came and confronted our slave-master Satan.
The people of Israel were led across the Red Sea in a supernatural way out of the hands of Pharaoh. Their former slave-masters had no more dominion over them. Likewise, we were baptized into Christ and have been taken out of the hands of Satan.
However, God did not take the Israelites directly to the Promised Land. He led them through the desert. The deserts of your life are going to come. They are part of God’s program and you need to know how to respond in faith. The Israelites did not respond in faith.
We see in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 that God tells New Testament believers to be warned of the ways of the Old Testament children of God.
God provided for the Israelites in the desert in a marvelous way. Several times He provided for water to gush out of a rock. He provided fresh bread from Heaven every morning (Exodus 16:15). Their clothes and shoes never wore out. God turned the bitter pool at Marah into a wonderful fresh water lake (Exodus 15). Yet they kept murmuring against God and Moses because they were not used to living by faith in the unseen God. They continued to want to live by their natural senses, even preferring slavery.
These Israelites show us that being a slave for a long time can give us a slavery mindset that is not easily overcome. God knows how to walk us through the overcoming process, but so many times we do not like God’s ways.
What are some of the symptoms of the slavery mindset? Give yourself a check-up.
One of the sneakiest types of slavery is slavery to oneself, otherwise known as selfishness. When we continue to yield to our own selfish desires, we become slaves to our old fallen nature, the flesh.
A lack of identity is the primary attribute of a slave. Slaves have to get their identity from someone else. That is why you see people in the American culture running around trying to get fancy cars, having certain types of friends, dressing a certain way, being part of a movie star’s fan club, etc. In some cultures it may include belonging to the proper tribe or family. They are trying to define who they are by how they look, what they drive and with whom they associate.
How are we supposed to receive our identity? I believe that God created us to receive our identity through having a relationship with another being. We are designed to become like the person with whom we become intimate. As we discussed in Chapter 7, we receive our identity from whom we obtain our needs. God wants us to become intimate with Him in order to receive our identity from Him. He has taken up residence inside of us. If that does not give you identity, self-worth and dignity, then nothing will!
During the first century, the Romans dragged people from their homes and made them slaves. Families were forever separated, never again to see their parents, children, brothers, sisters or spouses. Most likely the women and men were raped and beaten. They completely lost their identity.
From the slave's point of view his life was now different. He had no identity of his own; he was a non-person. The only thing that he had left was what he could do in his work. The only scale or measure of who he was now was the way he performed his task. If his master looked at him with pleasure because his task was done well, he could feel some self-esteem. Even if another slave admired his work, or perhaps someone else up the ladder of authority gave him one compliment, one measure of "well done," he could feel good about himself.
His life was now a formula. (How I perform) + (how you feel about my performance) = (my self-worth).
The human being was created by God to obtain his worth from God's unconditional love. Now exactly the opposite has happened; humans feel like all love is totally conditioned upon how they performed, and worse, how their masters feel about their performance.
Slaves are "men-pleasers" (Ephesians 6:5). They are constantly trying to get the applause and approval of other people. Their work has no other meaning. If their boss, their parents or teachers are pleased with their work, they feel good about their self worth; if not, they feel like "nothings." They are always attempting to get friends who will give them their identity and self-worth.
Slaves work for "eye-service" (Ephesians 6:5). While they are being watched, they work hard, but as soon as their authorities turn their backs, they goof off. They hold in their resentment against their authority. They criticize them and bring them down all the time.
Slaves Complain. They always blame their problems on other people. In their mind, their horrible state of being is always somebody else's fault.
Some slaves become very good at manipulation. They learn how to please and even "love" others, so that they will be "loved back."
Slaves do not like obeying authority. They have learned that authority is bad; they hate their authorities.
Slaves have no authority so they are always manipulating others in order to serve their own needs. Some slaves use their sheer brute force, like shouting and screaming in order to get others to conform.
Slaves have no self-esteem so they use other people, religion, amusement and immorality, which are some of the same things the Israelites used in the desert to achieve some sense of self worth.
Now let us go back to the story of the Israelites. God was trying to work the slavery mindset out of them by their journey in the desert. Only two of the original group made it, Joshua and Caleb. The only other ones who made it to the Promised Land were the children of the original slaves. Perhaps they did not have so much of the "old slave life" to try to forget.
Why did Joshua and Caleb make it? If you read the accounts in Exodus and especially in Numbers, both of these men spent a lot of time with God. They spent a great deal of time outside the Tent of Meeting where the presence of God abided while the others went about their earthly interests.
It is the same with you today. If you spend more time with entertainment and with minding the things of the world than you do with God and His Word, you too will remain as a slave.
Joshua and Caleb determined to believe what God had said. They did not consider final truth to be what they saw with their eyes. Final truth to them was what God had said.
In Numbers chapter 13, Joshua, Caleb, and ten others went into the Promised Land on a spying expedition.
"Send men so that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel. You shall send a man from every tribe of their fathers, everyone a ruler among them" (Numbers 13:2).
Notice God told Moses that He had given this land to the sons of Israel. That was God’s Word, His promise!
Twelve spies went in. Ten gave a bad report.
"But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there" (Numbers 13:28).
"Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.’ But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are’" (Numbers 13:30,31).
"We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:33).
Seeming like they were grasshoppers to their enemy was part of the slavery mindset. Ten of the spies looked at their enemies, two of the spies looked at God’s Word!
If we know that it is God’s will for us to be free, then we need to know what we need to do in order to cooperate with Him so that the task can be accomplished. Remember that we do have a free will. God will never impose His blessings on us. He must see that we are willing to receive and to give up those things that are hindering us. God will not set us free from our friends, but only from our enemies. If we are holding on to old slavery based habits as something that we like and enjoy, God cannot help us get free.
Sometimes God instantly sets new believers free from demonic situations. I don’t know why He does some this way and others have to take the long road. It seems like it has nothing at all to do with the person being set free; it is simply God’s plan for each individual.
Sometimes it is a combination of both. All I can say is, you should be prepared to let God have His way in your life.
Sometimes we have strongholds that are demonic and sometimes the strongholds are in our "flesh," or patterns of our old nature. Galatians 3:13 tells us that Jesus took our curse for us so that we could go free. However, we need the knowledge and the will to cooperate with God.
How strongholds get a foothold in your life:
a. Your sin. All sins give demons a foothold, but one of the worst is sexual sin. Sexual acts bind two people together spiritually in a very unique way.
b. Generational sin. Demons follow families for generations, and gain the right to put the same diseases and curses on them (the law of inheritance). Demonic religions are based upon worship of ancestral spirits in order to perpetuate curses and control of families. They convince people, even Christians, that they must pay a price to a witch doctor or a spirit for protection and blessings. Some even purchase items and drinks as a way to receive protection and blessings. These people believe that by contacting and being in touch with the spirit of their ancestors they will be blessed and have protection from evil. Actually, just the opposite happens. They become prisoners to Satan, the enemy of their soul!
Most festivals like Mardi Gras in America are designed to perpetuate curses over regions. Sometimes even family reunions can be used by demons to perpetuate family curses. Voodoo, many religions and most occults have festivals. Generational curses are one of the most powerful ways that demons attach themselves. Generational spirits often attempt to captivate young members of a family during the teenage years. This is the time when rebellion is most evident. If they cannot succeed, they will try again later in life.
c. Sin in the world. This world is full of sin, which promotes demon activity.
d. Weights, or oppression you might receive from someone else. A very common tactic used by demons is to sexually abuse a young person and thus gain entry for the rest of his/her life. A weight is not a sin you performed, rather it is oppression against you by someone else’s sin.
e. Through an idol in your life. Many religions are based upon the spirit world. They believe that objects such as stones, rivers, trees, etc., contain living spirits. They fear and thus worship these spirits so that they will meet their needs in life. An idol can be anything that you make more important than God. It can be a person, a habit, a custom, even a Christian denomination. An idol is anything or anyone in your life to whom you go for your needs other than God. You worship whoever or whatever supplies your needs. It is an act of your own free will.
f. Rebellion against authority. If a person does not submit to Jesus as Lord, that person, by default, will be under the control of some other being. Eve was deceived by Satan, and she deceived Adam. Adam should have taken dominion over Satan but he did not. Eve, in effect, took inordinate authority and Adam did not exercise his ordained authority. The original sin demonstrates how authority and sin are tied together. Obviously, they both should have submitted to the authority of God’s Word (the Tree of Life).
g. A "soul tie" type of relationship can bring powerful strongholds! This kind of relationship can be with friends, parents, family, even your spouse. I know of men who can only go so far with their relationship with the Lord because they love their worldly wife more than they do God. I know of others who are held back because they have a friend, perhaps a lifelong friend, who has such a strong influence on them that they are not free to give their entire will to God. I know of many that worship their family heritage and make idols out of their parents. The antidote for this is to be brave enough to really put this type of relationship on God’s altar and truly allow Him free access to either keep, break or change the relationship. He will do it if you give Him free access and cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
h. Christians can be vulnerable (some disagree with this). If we are influenced by demons before coming to Jesus, there could be a period of time before we receive deliverance. Some never do receive deliverance based upon the fact that they do not wish to totally yield. Obviously, a Christian cannot be "possessed" by a demon, but they sure can be influenced. It does not matter if we use the term possessed, influenced, oppressed or whatever. What matters is that we know how to get rid of demonic activities in our lives!
These Scriptures show that we are still vulnerable even after we believe. "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough" (2 Corinthians 11:3,4).
Some say that the blood of Jesus protects Christians. Yes and no. The blood protects us when we are obedient Christians. We cannot presume God’s protection if we are living in disobedience. "...who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance" (1 Peter 1:2). Christians do need deliverance. I have personally been involved with some absolutely amazing demonic deliverance that resulted in Christians being healed and set free! This is not doctrine but it is factual testimony.
The Scriptures show us a process that God often uses for getting us free. If you look at Isaiah Chapter 61 that Jesus was quoting in Luke 4:18-19, you will see His mission statement expressed. "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD" (Luke 4:18,19).
Here is how Jesus often starts the process:
He heals your broken heart. He knows that when you come to Him that you have been most likely beaten up by the world, and have received some type of heartbreak. It may be in a relationship, a career, or whatever. He gently heals this through His Holy Spirit.
He speaks (proclaims) a word of liberty into your life. God normally deals through His Word and through a promise.
He gives you eyes to see Him, to see what kind of condition you are in or have been in. You always need to make the choice. He will not set you free from your friends, just your enemies.
Then He gives you liberty from your captivity. God’s ways of setting us free are amazing. He has and uses many different ways. I can personally testify that He does indeed do it!
Isaiah 61 continues with more, including giving you joy, making you an "oak of righteousness," rebuilding your personality and character, providing for your material needs, and putting you into ministry for Him to reach out to your realm of influence.
How can you cooperate with God?
Here is what Jesus said about getting free. "Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31,32).
First you must continue in His Word. The word "continue" is a strong word. It means to settle down, abide, and make our home in His Word. It does not mean to look at His Word once a week or even five minutes a day, it means to sustain your very life by His Word. "But He answered and said, It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’" (Matthew 4:4).
The word used in this Scripture for "word" is "rhema." Rhema means a personal Word spoken from Jesus to you. You must invest time with God to receive His rhema.
Next you must be committed to being Jesus’ disciple. That means to be so united to Him that He is your teacher in everything. It means that you drop your pride and allow God, who knows you better than you know yourself, to have His way with you. He also loves you more than you love yourself. When you are going through discipline with the Lord, remember He is doing it because He loves you.
The result will be that we will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. "Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). Knowing Jesus is knowing the Truth. Having a personal, close, intimate relationship with Him is the only thing that will really make you free.
God may use many methods of delivering this freedom to you. He may cause demons to be cast out of you, or out of the influence of your life. Or He may take you through a long process of getting free through pouring the Word into your life.
My own personal experience has been one of displacement. I continually pour the Word into my vessel, and everything that is not of God comes out, including demons. Matthew 8:16 is an example of Jesus casting out demons with His Word. It says, "And evening coming on, they brought to Him many who had been possessed with demons. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick."
We are responsible for becoming slaves to various things and people (excepting of course those issues that have to do with our childhood). We become slaves to whomever or to whatever we yield. Only we can exercise our own will (volition) in yielding. The cure is to begin to yield to Jesus in obedience to His Word, and by doing so you will become His bond-slave. In that, and that alone, will you find perfect liberty and freedom.
"Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-- whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16).
Be honest. Confess your sin. Practice honesty and truth at all cost. When you lie, you make Satan your father.
Renounce any contact you have had with anything demonic: music, porno, TV, movies, drugs, alcohol, occult, horoscope, Quija boards, fortune telling, card games, etc.
Renounce any relationship to family ties that may be used to pass down curses. You can be courteous to family without receiving their curses.
Stay close to Jesus through prayer, His Word, selective friends and church groups. Keep your mind filled with Godly things. The mind is the battlefield.
Be open for whatever ways God wants to deliver you. Desire to be free and don’t limit God. He has many ways to set you free. His mission is to set you free (Luke 4).
Forgive. This is the big one! Here is a principle that is too often overlooked. Jesus taught it this way:
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). This can be interpreted, "forgive us in the same measure as we have given forgiveness to those who have sinned against us."
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:14,15).
It’s not that God does not want to forgive you, He will not override your own will. Holding in bitterness and resentment towards another person hurts us. We bind that sin to ourselves, and that will destroy us. The wages of sin is death. What we need is the free gift of God, which is forgiveness.
So many people are tormented their entire lives because they will not forgive. Sickness, disease, poverty and many other maladies have been instantly healed when forgiveness is accomplished.
Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is an act of the will. The root word for forgive carries the meaning to cut away or remove.
When someone really hurts me and even uses treacherous means to take advantage of me, it does not feel good. The first thing I want to do is to expose them and to see justice accomplished. However, I know that is not how God works. I then recall the meaning of forgive; to cut away. So I say with my mouth, "Lord, I forgive so and so. I take his sin off of him and put it onto You." You see, without Jesus, we cannot forgive because He is the only one who can take anybody’s sin. He is the only way we can forgive.
If you will do this with everyone in your life, The Holy Spirit will fill you in a mighty way, and you will unlock the hands of God to work on your behalf. You will be set free from things you didn’t even know existed.
"Lord Jesus Christ, I confess that you are my Lord."
1. Personally affirm your faith in Christ. "Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are the Son of God and the only way to God - that you died on the Cross for my sins and rose again so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life."
2. Humble yourself. "I renounce all pride and religious self-righteousness and any dignity that does not come from You. I have no claim on Your mercy except that you died in my place."
3. Confess any known sin. "I confess all my sins before You and hold nothing back." Now list and confess them.
4. Repent of all sins. "I repent of all my sins. I turn away from them and I turn to You, Lord, for mercy and forgiveness."
5. Forgive all other people. "By a decision of my will, I freely forgive all who have ever harmed or wronged me. I lay down all bitterness, all resentment and all hatred." Now list and confess them.
6. Break with the occult and all false religion. "I sever all contact I have ever had with the occult or with all false religion. I renounce all the works of the devil, Satan, and other evil spirits in my life. I confess and renounce all my occult practices and sins as abominations before You, a Holy and righteous God. I renounce any occult influence from my forefathers." Now list and confess them.
7. Prepare to be released from every curse over your life. "Lord Jesus, I thank You that on the Cross You were made a curse, that I might be redeemed from every curse and inherit God’s blessing. I renounce every curse from my forefathers. On that basis I ask You to release me and set me free to receive the deliverance I need."
8. Take your stand with God. "I take my stand with You, Lord, against all Satan’s demons. I submit to You, Lord, and I resist the devil. Amen!
9. Expel. "Now I speak to any demons that have control over me." Speak directly to them. "I command you to go from me now. In the name of Jesus, I expel you! I pray that any evil power or ability I may possess, or which have oppressed or possessed me, be completely destroyed or removed from me. I commit myself, my body, my mind, my personality, my emotions, my whole being to the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Lord and savior. I pray this in the mighty Name of Jesus, believing I am delivered."
It is important to have Godly counseling during and after deliverance.