Spiritual warfare: The battle in your mind

Home > Spiritual warfare: The battle in your mind

Spiritual warfare consists of struggling against evil forces in our minds. The Bible is clear that this is
not a battle which is fought on a physical plane at all, but rather a spiritual one:
Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Who are those principalities, powers, rulers or darkness and such? They all stem from Satan's
kingdom, but since Satan is not omnipresent (can be everywhere at once), he works through a
network or an army of demon spirits. When a person says, "The devil is on my trail!" it is highly
unlikely that Satan himself is assigned to the job, but rather one of the troops in his army, which
would be a demonic spirit.
Defensive spiritual warfare
There are two kinds of spiritual warfare, offensive and defensive. In defensive spiritual warfare,
demonic spirits (under Satan's command) are launched what is known as fiery darts, as Ephesians
6:16 tells us:
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked."
These fiery darts come in one of three forms; temptations, deceptions and accusations. I will briefly
cover each of these in this teaching, but there are additional teachings available on this site that
specifically address each one of these.
Spiritual warfare dart #1: Temptations
Satan couldn't freely play havoc on Eve's life because he had no rights to her, so what did he do? He
went about trying to get her to give him those rights. He tempted her to sin because sin gives the
devil a foothold in our lives. Ephesians 4 is telling us to put off our old sinful nature and in verse 27,
it tells us that we can give the devil a foothold in our lives through sin:
"Neither give place to the devil."
The devil tempted Eve in the garden because he had no 'place' in Eve's life, but he wanted one! If

Satan wants more legal grounds in our lives, you can expect some temptations to come your way.
That's his way of getting you to fall and give him a place to operate. The moment we fail and sin, it
is important to quickly turn from those sins and repent so that we can be forgiven and the legal
ground removed.
Spiritual warfare dart #2: Deception
I have seen Satan beat up more Christians then I care to admit. Countless believers are living in
defeat because they have been deceived. The enemy has deceived them and caused them to believe
and live a lie. If we allow deception to take hold, strongholds can then be formed in our minds.
Strongholds are incorrect thinking patterns based on falsehood. Demonic spirits love to use these
strongholds to their advantage against a child of God. Strongholds have tremendous power to affect
our feelings and emotions. Many blood-bought children of God Almighty feel guilt-ridden and
worthless because they don't see themselves they way they ought to. Many Christians feel unloved
and not good enough to be accepted by God because they see Him wrongly. Their perception of Him
has been damaged and causes them to see Him as a distant and cruel taskmaster instead of a close
loving Father who longs (deeply desires) to have an intimate loving relationship with them!
2 Corinthians 11:3, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled (deceived) Eve through
his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
Spiritual warfare dart #3: Accusations
Satan is known to be the accuser of the brethren. Not the accuser of the sinners or the world, but
the children of God. He could care less about badgering those who are in his kingdom, but he loves
to pick on the children of God.
Revelations 12:10, "...the accuser of our brethren..."
He accuses us by reminding us of our past sins and failures. If we listen to his accusations against
us, we will begin to mediate on our pasts and it isn't long before we begin to feel guilt-ridden and
see ourselves as failures. Both of which has been dealt with on the cross! Has not the blood of Jesus
washed away our sin? Then we ought not to be thinking about it anymore.
Satan loves to take a child of the Almighty God, who's been washed clean in the blood of Jesus and is
without spot nor blemish, and make them feel dirty, worthless and see them self as a failure. If we
pay attention to the devil's accusations, they too can form strongholds in our minds that need to be
torn back down before we can experience freedom.
Offensive spiritual warfare
Then we have offensive spiritual warfare, which usually consists of tearing down strongholds that

have been formed in our minds when we have taken the bait and accepted the deceptions and lies of
the devil. Since strongholds are incorrect thinking patterns based on error, the correct weapon we
are supposed to use to tear down such strongholds is through meditating on and applying the truth,
which is found in the Word of God.
Ephesians 6 speaks of the weapons that we are to use in spiritual warfare, and in verse 17 we are
told to take up the sword of the Spirit, the offensive piece of weaponry:
"...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
A sword is an offensive weapon meant to tear down and destroy the enemy. This is exactly what
meditating on the truth in God's Word does to strongholds, it tears them down! Strongholds are built
on error, and torn down through truth.
The devil tells you: "You're a failure! Look at your past!"
God's Word tells you: "What past? The blood of Jesus has washed it away!"
If you meditate on the error, you will begin to feel guilty and see yourself as a failure, but if you
mediate on God's Word, you begin to feel clean and victorious!"
In a nutshell, spiritual warfare is a battle that goes on in our minds between error and truth. If we
can know the truth and focus on it, while at the same time ignoring the error, we will be successful in
spiritual warfare hands down!

What's on your mind? Where the battle is fought

Home > What's on your mind? Where the battle is fought

It is shocking how many believers are pulled down simply because of the thoughts they allow
to fester in their minds. There is a great deal of spiritual victory that many believers can
access simply through changing the way they think, and controlling the thoughts that flow
through their minds! Read on and I'll show you how it works.
This teachings is actually a sequel or addition to The Power of Your Thoughts. The purpose of
this teaching is to get you to stop and think about what you are thinking about.

What are you paying attention to?

Whatever your paying attention to will become magnified in your eyes and in your life.
Whatever you give heed to, will become more important to you. Let's take two people, Steve
thinks about his sins, past and how badly he's messed up in life. Bob on the other hand,
keeps thinking about how he's a new creation, his past has been washed away by what Christ
did for him on the cross and he's a new person in Christ Jesus. Steve, because his attention
is constantly on the problem, it becomes larger in his eyes than the solution to his problem,
and that is the Blood of Jesus. Bob on the other hand, doesn't even see his past, because
he's always thinking about the Blood of Jesus, and how he's so clean, it's as if he's never
sinned! Can you tell me which person is going to go around feeling guilt-ridden, defeated and
condemned? Can you tell me which one is going to feel clean, on fire for God, and grinning
from ear the ear... overflowing with the love and victory of God? I hope this opens your eyes
to see why so many Christians are living 'defeated' lives and walk around guilt-ridden and are
lacking the joy of the Lord in their lives. And without the joy of the Lord, where is their
strength supposed to come from? After all, as Nehemiah 8:10 tells us, "For the joy of the
LORD is your strength."
That's why the enemy tries to get your mind and thoughts derailed and off of the truth that is
in God's Word. He tries to get you to worry about things that in reality, you have no reason
to be worried about! Praise God!
Is it a sin problem? That's been dealt with in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness ." In plain
English, it doesn't matter what you've done, if you are willing to take it before the Lord, you
can be forgiven of it!
Is it a financial problem? Is not God your provider? Can't He supply all your needs
according to HIS riches? Is His riches less than yours? Is not God the one who giveth the
power to gain wealth? Deuteronomy 8:18, "But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it
is he that giveth thee power to get wealth , that he may establish his covenant which he
swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day."
Do you need a healing? Has that not been paid for on the cross? Has not His stripes been
given as ransome for your healing (Isaiah 53:5)? Did not Jesus demonstrate this by healing
EVERYBODY who came to Him (Matthew 8:16-17)?
Perhaps one of the biggest differences between a victorious believer and a depressed or
defeated believer, is the very thoughts that go through their mind day after day. Yes, demon
spirits can and do play a big role in depression, fear, etc., but many times all they have to do
is get our thoughts derailed and because of our ignorance of the truth, we begin to become
fearful and depressed.

Fear and depression can also be caused by evil spirits, as Saul was tormented by evil spirits
who caused fear and depression to sweep over him. 1 Samuel 16:14, "Now the Spirit of the
LORD had left Saul, and the LORD sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and
fear." (NLT)
Does God want us to be depressed? No! He wants us to be full of joy! (John 15:11)
Does God want us to be fearful? No! He wants us rest in His love, which expels all fear! (1
John 4:18) We have not been given a spirit of fear again to bondage, but of power and love
and a sound mind! (2 Timothy 1:7)
Does God want us worrying about things? No! His Word tells us not to worry about
anything! (Philippians 4:6)

The vital link between thoughts and feelings

I believe Philippians 4:6-8 paints the picture quite well, " Be careful for nothing (Don't worry
about anything); but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God.And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (refusing to worry about anything
opens the door to God's peace in our lives). Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things (set our minds on good and positive things
that uplift and build us up)."
Isaiah 26:3 also makes a vital connection between what we fix our minds on, and how we
feel, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he
trusteth in thee."

Is God worried about it?

Do you honestly believe that your heavenly Father is worried about the things you and I
worry about? If He isn't worried about it, why should we worry about it? Are we not His own
children? As a matter of fact, His Word says that He cares for us! 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all
your care upon him; for he careth for you."

What we should be thinking about

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think
on these things.
Colossians 3:2, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." To set your
affection on something in the Greek means to exercise the mind.

Instead of exercising our minds on negative things and worrying over things we ought not be
worrying about, let's begin to do as God's Word says and begin exercising our minds on
positive things that build us up. Instead of looking at the problems in our lives (sin, poverty,
sickness, etc.), let's begin looking at the solutions (forgiveness, blessings, healings, etc.),
which are in Christ Jesus!

The $64,000 question

Let me ask you this... if you could take inventory of the thoughts you've been thinking over
the past week, what kind of thoughts were they? Were they mostly negative or focused on
problems and cares of this world? Have they mostly been thoughts that tear you down and
get/keep your eyes on the problem? Or were they positive thoughts that have been building
you up? How much time have you been spending over the past week thinking about the
goodness of God and how God is your healer, deliverer, provider, etc.? Or were they mostly
thoughts concerning the cares of this world... aka, problem focused thoughts?
I encourage you to stop looking at the problems in your life, and begin looking at the
solutions that God has provided for you as His child! Get your mind off the problem, and onto
the solution! If it's a healing you need, then begin to research the scriptures to learn what
God's Word has to say about healing. If it's finances you need, then begin to research the
Word and see what it has to say about your finances and God's provision for you.
Deliverance? Same thing! Get your mind off the problem and onto the solution, and seek
God's Word on the matter. For Jesus said that whosoever shall seek shall find (Matthew 7:7).
Notice that Jesus didn't say "Sit there and think about the problem, and the solution will
come on it's own." No... Jesus said SEEK, and THEN you will find!

Praying out demons: CAST them out instead!

Home > 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 ..."

The power of your thoughts

Home > 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: Who you are in Christ

Home > Spiritual warfare: Who you are in Christ

An incorrect perception of who you are in Christ

I see it all too often; children of God who are feeling like failures, sinners, and guilt ridden.
What does this do to a person? It strips them of faith, strength and causes them to feel
hopeless and worthless. The exact opposite of what a child of God should be feeling like! If
that isn't bad enough, it also prevents them from confidently seeking out a love relationship
with their heavenly Father.
If you see yourself as a failure, you will feel like a failure. Thoughts and perceptions are
among the primary elements that affect our feelings. Demonic bondage is another cause for
negative (depressive, fearful, etc.) feelings, but even demons like to play with our thoughts
and often indirectly affect our feelings through our thoughts.
How do you deal with past failures?
First, you must stop thinking about your past. If you haven't yet repented for the wrongs
you've done, then do so now. Give it to the Lord, and leave it there. God does not want you
to continually think about your sins. Even He has chosen to erase them from His memory:
Hebrews 8:12, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more."
So if God put them to rest once and for all, then who are we to keep reminding ourselves of
something that God Himself chose to forget? As a matter of fact, we are told to forget the
things which are behind us:

Philippines 3:13, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are
before."
Second, you need to begin to look at the truth. You need to realize and grasp what Jesus has
done for you, and realize that your sins are forgiven and never to be remembered again.
They have been washed away from you as far as the east to the west:
Psalms 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us."
If our sins have been removed from our record, then what good reason do we have to
continue beating ourselves up for them? Did the work Christ did on the cross for us mean
nothing to us? It is important to realize the steep price that Jesus paid for our sins, so we
can be forgiven (made right with God, as if we've never sinned). God wants us to approach
Him with a clean conscience with no more remembrance of our past failures!
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?"
Hebrews 10:22, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."
Why did God choose to make us new creations in Christ? Because He didn't want our past to
be a part of us anymore!
2 Corinthians 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."
You need to see yourself as the new creation that you really are, instead of the person you
used to be! If you have turned to God and repented of your sins, then they are removed from
your account. So stop thinking about something that no longer exists on your record!
What does God's Word say about me?
I was hand-crafted by the creator of the universe!
Psalm 139:14, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are
thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well."
My heavenly Father deeply cares about me!
Isaiah 49:15-16, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have

compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."
My heavenly Father rejoices over me with great joy!
Zephaniah 3:17, "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will
rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing."
There is no condemnation awaiting me!
Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..."
My sins are cast into the depths of the sea!
Micah 7:19, "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our
iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
I am no longer the person I used to be!
2 Corinthians 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."
I am considered a son of God!
1 John 3:1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God..."
I am no longer a child of the darkness, but of the light!
Ephesians 5:8, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as
children of light:"
I am loved for who I am, not because of what I've done
Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us."
There is also a great list of Anti-stronghold Bible verses that I recommend verbally repeating
to yourself daily to tear down various strongholds.

Dealing with Guilt

Home > Dealing with Guilt

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons so many of God's children are living defeated lives, is
because of guilt. Guilt is one of Satan's biggest weapons against us. It tears us down, it

makes us feel dirty, unworthy, robs of us of our faith and confidence in Christ Jesus. Jesus
not only came to cleanse us from our sins, but also set us free from the guilt of our sins. If
you want to live a life of spiritual victory, you need to have a conscience freed from the guilt
of your past. 1 Timothy 3:9, "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."

Two kinds of guilt

There's two kinds of guilt in the Bible. There's Godly sorrow that leads a person to
repentance (2 Cor 7:10), which is know as conviction and it comes from the Holy Spirit (John
16:8, "when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin..." - NASB). Once a person
repents, the guilt lifts and they feel relieved and joyful that their sin(s) have been forgiven.
Then there's another kind of guilt, and that's condemnation or accusations from the devil.
Satan loves to torment God's people by reminding them of their pasts, and continually
holding their sins before them even after their sins have been forgiven. This is condemnation
and there is no good that comes out of it whatsoever. It tears us down, makes us feel dirty,
unworthy and robs of us of our faith and confidence in Christ Jesus. It's a lie from the father
of lies, and it needs to be ignored.
The difference between condemnation and conviction is explained in much more detail in the
teaching Condemnation verses Conviction.
In this teaching, we will be dealing solely with the negative kind of guilt called condemnation.

Guilt is a door to the enemy

I have seen how guilt can be an open door to be tormented by evil spirits. False guilt is
actually a symptom of unforgiveness in your heart that is directed at yourself. In Matthew
18:23-35, Jesus tells us how important it is to forgive those who have wronged us, and how
we can be turned over to the tormenters (evil spirits) if we are unforgiving. Colossians 3:13
tells us to be, "...forgiving one another..." The phrase 'one another' in NT Greek translates to
the word Heautou, which includes THEMSELF! Bitterness, regardless who or what it's about,
defiles a man (Hebrews 12:15). Spiritual defilement is what makes a person open to unclean
spirits. It is very possible for a person to be harassed by evil spirits or come under their
power, just because a person has refused to forgive them self.

How guilt is cultivated and nurtured

Guilt is cultivated when you continually allow yourself to dwell and think about how badly
you've messed up, your pasts, the sins you've committed, etc. The enemy loves to remind us
of our past failures, so he can keep us thinking about them. The problem is, if we allow
ourselves to fall for this trap, it allows the enemy to build what they call a stronghold in our
minds.
Your best bet is to learn what is going on, and stop Satan dead in his tracks. Learn the
difference between condemnation and conviction, and stop listening to condemnation.

Condemnation comes from the devil, and it's meant to build strongholds in your mind and
weaken you spiritually.

The stronghold of guilt

When a person who has repented of their sin(s) but continually feels guilty day after day,
even after being told that their past has been washed away and their sins have been
forgiven, is facing what they call a stronghold. A stronghold is a lie that is believed, which
results in an incorrect thinking pattern. The stronghold of guilt is often not alone, it is usually
accompanied with an incorrect perception of themselves or an incorrect perception of God
(which are both strongholds in themselves). People who have a stronghold of guilt rarely see
God for who He really is (including His awesome forgiving nature) or they don't see
themselves correctly. They are new creations in Christ who's past has been washed away (2
Corinthians 5:17), but they simply don't believe it because they have a stronghold in their
mind that needs to be torn down.
If this describes you, then I highly recommend reading the teaching on Strongholds.

How to deal with guilt

Step 1: Understand the nature of God's forgiveness towards you. The teaching on The
Forgiveness of Sins is a great teaching to help you there.
Step 2: Repent of your sin(s) if you haven't already done so. They big key to being forgiven
is repentance.
Step 3: Know that your past sins have been forgiven, and that you are now clean in Christ
Jesus. Stop thinking about your past sins and start thinking about the new person you are in
Christ. We are NEVER told to mull around our past sins, but rather to forget the things which
are behind and press forward. (Phil 3:13, "...this one thing I do, forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.")
Step 4: Forgive yourself! Jesus made it clear that we are to be forgiving, and that includes
forgiving yourself. You need to release yourself from the bondage of unforgiveness. If God
chose to forgive you, who are you to hang onto something that God chose to let go of? This
is a major source of bondage, and I can't stress how vital it is for you to release yourself
from your past. Colossians 3:13 tells us to be, "...forgiving one another..." If you look up the
phrase 'one another' in that verse in the NT Greek, it translates to the word Heautou which
includes THEMSELF! It is vital to be forgiving towards yourself!! Bitterness (the fruit of
unforgiveness), regardless who or what it's about, defiles a man (Hebrews 12:15).
If a stronghold of guilt exists, then the feelings of guilt may not disappear overnight, because
strongholds need to be torn down by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). A great
place to start is learning how to recognize condemnation from the devil, and stop paying

attention to it. One teaching that will show you how to recognize condemnation
is Condemnation verses Conviction.
Once you know the difference between condemnation and conviction and can recognize
condemnation when it's thrown at you, you need to guard your thoughts, and when you see
condemnation coming your way, pay no attention to it. Treat it for what it really is... a lie
from the devil. You can learn more about how to take control of your thought life in the
teaching The Power of Your Thoughts.
If nothing seems to work, you may need to have a spirit of guilt or condemnation cast out.
There are particular evil spirits that go around and hang around people like a thick black
cloud, constantly making them feel dirty, unworthy and guilty. They usually thrive on
strongholds of guilt though, so usually your first step to getting rid of this spirit is by tearing
down the stronghold by which it's holding on. If you tear down the stronghold, and still feel
like a black cloud is following you around, I would read the article on Seeking a Deliverance
and pursue having it cast out.
There's a teaching that specifically addresses Strongholds that I recommend reading if you
suspect you have one or more strongholds to be torn down.

The Blood of Jesus takes sin away

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. Wherefore when he
cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then
said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above
when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to
do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever , sat down on
the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For
by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost
also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their
minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more . Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus , By a new and living way, which he hath

consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having a high priest over
the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water ."
In the Old Testament, they used to offer sacrifices each year to cover the people's sins. The
blood of Jesus does far more then cover sins, it takes them away. It removes them from your
identity... it removes them from you as far as the east to the west! Psalms 103:12, "As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
Revelations 1:5, "And from Jesus Christ, who... washed us from our sins in his own blood."
Psalms 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us."
Matthew 26:28, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins." Do you know what the NT Greek has to say about the word 'remission'
here? "Forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed),
remission of the penalty."

Christ died so your conscience could be cleansed

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."
Why do you think God wanted us to be new creations when we enter His royal family?
Because He doesn't want your past to be a part of you anymore! He wants you to be washed
clean from all your sins and wiped clean from your past!
Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and
will not remember thy sins."
God knew that if He didn't forget our sins, they would forever be before Him, and it would
hinder the closeness that He desires to have with us. Therefore, God Himself said that for His
own sake, He chose to not only forgive your sins, but also forget them and cast them into the
depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).
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 ?"
Not only did God chose to forget your sins, but He also wants you to forget them as well.
God's Word tells us to, "...draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience , and our bodies washed with pure water." (Hebrews
10:22)

Worship is one of the most intimate ways in which we commune with God. Jesus tells us that,
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John
4:24) The truth is, if we have repented of our sins, and believe upon the blood of Jesus to
wash us clean, then we are clean from those sins, and if we approach God in worship with a
dirty conscience, we won't be approaching Him in truth. Hebrews 10:2 tells us how
worshipers should have a conscience clean from sin, "...the worshipers once purged should
have had no more conscience of sins." God doesn't want us hanging onto our pasts when we
come to worship Him! He wants us to approach Him through worship from a conscience
washed in the blood of the lamb!
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus tells us, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." If
you look up the word 'labor' in the NT Greek, it basically means to toil under a burden. What
kind of people are heavy laden and labor in their souls? People who are laboring under the
burden of guilt. Jesus wants you to come to Him, and shed your old heavy burden of guilt. He
died so you could be released from it... won't you make the choice to let go of it today?

Condemnation versus Conviction

Home > Condemnation versus Conviction

A lot of believers hear condemning thoughts, and some believers even think it's God telling
them these things. My friend, nothing could be further from the truth! God NEVER tells you
what a loser you are. Jesus said He came not to condemn the world, but to save it (John
12:47)!

What is condemnation?
Condemnation comes from Satan and is meant to tear you down. Condemnation continually
points out what a failure you are, and how badly you've messed up. Condemnation is showing
you the problem, but avoiding the solution.
Jesus did NOT come to condemn the world (John 12:47). There is no condemnation in Christ
Jesus (Romans 8:1). Satan on the other hand is KNOWN for accusing the brethren (Rev
12:10).
Why won't you ever hear God telling you what a failure you are? Because Jesus said, "I came
not to judge the world, but to save the world." (John 12:47)

What is conviction?
Conviction is known in the Bible as Godly sorrow. God's Word tells us that Godly sorrow is
what leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). Condemnation tells you, "You are such a failure!
Look at what you did!" while conviction tells you, "Come to me... and I will forgive you!"
Not only is God willing to forgive your sins, but He longs (deeply desires) to do so! Isaiah
30:18, "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you , And therefore He waits on high to
have compassion on you . For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who
long for Him." (NASB)
1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness."
Romans 2:4, "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"
Conviction shows you the answer to your problem. Conviction shows you the blood of Jesus
that wipes away your sins!

What is the difference?

Conviction shows you the answer (the Blood of Jesus, which washes away sin), while
condemnation shows you the problem (the sin, the past and your failures). Condemnation
shows you the problem, but conviction shows you the answer.
Condemnation shouts, "Your past! Your sins! You loser!" But conviction shouts, "The Blood of
Jesus washes away sins! Come to Jesus and be forgiven of your sins! You can be forgiven!
Your sins and past don't have to be a part of you anymore!"

Understanding the nature of God's forgiveness

It's so important to understand the nature of God's forgiveness and His desire to wash us
clean from our pasts. The Forgiveness of Sins is a great teaching that will show you the
nature of God's forgiveness.

The Blood is Enough - Complete forgiveness!

Home > 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. Wherefore when he
cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then
said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou
wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo,
I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By
the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I
remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
And having a high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water."
Jesus tells us in Matthew 26 that His blood is shed for many for the remission of sins. The
word remission here is referring to the Greek word aphesis which means:
"Forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed),
remission of the penalty."
With that said, read this verse to yourself and meditate (that is to soak in) it's meaning!
Matthew 26:28, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins ."
John the Baptist also confirmed this when He said that Jesus, the Lamb of God, taketh away
the sin... not just cover... but taketh away!
John 1:29, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world ."
How do we receive this forgiveness?
First, we need to understand that the forgiveness of our sins is considered a GIFT... this
means that we cannot deserve it or earn it in any way, but we must receive this gift.
Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God ."

We are told that through faith in Christ Jesus, we can obtain forgiveness of our sins through
the blood that He shed for us:
Galatians 2:16, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ , even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith
of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified."
John 3:15, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Romans 3:28, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law."
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."
Galatians 3:24, "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith."
As you can see through the verses above, it is through faith in Christ Jesus that we are made
right with God. The Bible even goes on to show that if we try to make ourselves righteous by
our own works, then we are missing the whole point, and therefore we are not truly
accepting the work that Christ did as significant!
Galatians 5:1,4, "So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and
don't get tied up again in slavery to the law... For if you are trying to make yourselves right
with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ ! You have fallen away from
God's grace." (NLT)
What it means to be justified
Justified is another powerful word used in the Bible to describe the forgiveness of our sins
and restoration of our relationship with God. This brings us to one of my favorite verses in
the Bible!
Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ."
If we take the word justified in this verse, and look it up... we are given the Greek word
dikaioo, which means, "to render (that is, show or regard as) just or innocent: - free, justify
(-ier), be righteous." When a person is justified, it makes them innocent... just as if they
have never sinned! That my friend, is exceedingly great news for us! This is the very reason
that we can live a new life in Christ, is because when we have repented of our sins, we are

made right with God and have the righteousness of God upon us! Righteousness of God is
upon us? That's right! Look at this...
Romans 3:22, "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe..."
This is often referred to as part of the divine exchange. Christ was punished for our sins, so
that we can receive forgiveness, He was given our shame so that we can receive His
righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him."
Our life in Christ (the exchanged life)
Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me."
After we repent (confess and turn from) our sins, and believe upon Jesus Christ and the work
that He has done for us on the cross, our life is in Christ and we are identified with Him and
His righteousness, thereby setting us free from guilt and condemnation. For the scriptures
say that those who are in Christ Jesus, are dead to sin and there is no condemnation
awaiting them:
Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
In Roman's chapter 6, we learn that our old self was crucified with Christ and buried with
Him, and we are raised to new life in Christ Jesus:
Romans 6:3-6, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be
also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
When we are raised to new life, also known as the born again experience (see John 3), we
are also considered a new person; old things having passed away and all things became new:
2 Corinthians 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."

1 Peter 1:23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever."
True repentance is to "Go and sin no more"
Luke 13:3, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
In the above verse, the word "repent" goes back to the Greek word metanoeo, which means,
"to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction)." To
repent of a sin is not simply to confess it as sin, but to actually turn from it and change your
mind about it.
John 8:11, "She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn
thee: go, and sin no more ."
In Ephesians, those who have stolen are told to go and steal no more:
Ephesians 4:28, "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his
hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
What about restitution?
First off, let me say that if we had to go back and make right every wrong we've ever
committed, that would lay an unbearable (if not impossible) burden on countless people who
have lived a worldly lifestyle for many years... and this is certainly not the burden that Jesus
laid on those who's sins were forgiven in the New Testament. Jesus said that those who are
laboring under heavy burden (remember, Jesus wasn't speaking of a physical burden here,
but a spiritual or soulish burden - I believe this is clearly referring to guilt), are to come to
Him where they will find rest...
Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest."
If a 60 year old man comes to Jesus after a very sinful life, how could he possibly rest if
there was no way that he could ever undo all the evil he had done throughout his lifetime?
But yet, Jesus made it clear that if those who are heavy laden come to Him, He will give
them rest.
Let us take a look at a few examples of sinners who were forgiven their sins.
Jesus told of a tax collector (notorious for stealing and being unfair to others) who was
justified at the temple...

Luke 18:10-14, "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other
a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am
not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice
in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful
to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:
for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be
exalted."
In the above verse, the Greek root word for justified means to be just as if you've never
sinned!
Another example of this is found in Luke 3, when crooked tax collectors approached John the
Baptist and asked what they should do:
Luke 3:12-13, "Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what
shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact [which means collect] no more than that which is
appointed you."
This all lines up with what Paul says in Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:28, "Let him that stole steal no more : but rather let him labor, working with his
hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
When we first meet Paul his hands are dripping with the blood of Christians. He went about
killing fathers, husbands, children, etc. Did he ever go back to apologize to the victim's
families? Paul never went to anybody (that we know of) to make any wrongs right, but rather
repented of his old ways, turned to God and moved forward with the gospel. If you think
about it, every husband/father he killed, caused a home to lose their breadwinner... so he
likely caused financial problems for many Christian homes. Paul never went back and repaid
for all the losses he caused when he was persecuting the Christians.
Some of the disciples were fishermen, and in those days, fishermen were usually among the
lower class and unfair in their business practices. If it were important for them to make their
wrongs right, don't you think that Jesus would have instructed them to go back and make
those wrongs right before coming to follow Him? But rather, He merely told them to repent
and come follow Him!
Matthew 4:19, "And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
The woman caught in the very act of adultery (see John 8:3-11) was forgiven free and clear
without having to go back to the injured wives, and apologize for what she had done. She

was set free and clear with no strings attached! According to the OT law, a woman who lived
this lifestyle was to be put to death!!
Another women in Luke 7 was said to have lived a very sinful lifestyle, yet she was also
forgiven in one sweep and was never told to go back and make any wrongs right. I'm sure
that anybody who has lived a sinful lifestyle has likely stolen or cheated others at some time
or another during her life.
Luke 7:47-48, "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she
loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy
sins are forgiven."
In Matthew 9, Jesus forgave a man of all his sins, and gave no further instruction to make
wrongs right...
Matthew 9:2, "And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and
Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be
forgiven thee ."
It is not preached to repent and seek forgiveness from all the people who we have ever
wronged... but rather to repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus and the work that He did on
the cross for the remission of our sins:
Mark 1:15, "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye,
and believe the gospel ."
Restitution because of love
Though we aren't commanded to make all of our wrongs right with those we have wronged,
we are commanded to love one another. I believe that there are times when the love of Christ
working through you, will convict you to return something you may have stolen, or go ask
somebody for their forgiveness, simply because it is fulfilling Jesus' command to love.
Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And
the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets. "
I belive the story of Zacchaeus is a good example of a person wilfully -out of the love of their
heart- doing something to restore where they have wronged. Jesus never told him to repay
anything, but Zacchaeus wanted to repay 4 times what he stole:

Luke 19:8-9, "And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my
goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I
restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house
forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham."
My friend, when we realize how precious and costly that the gift of God is, it will change the
way we think, the way we live and will empower us to live a new and transformed life in
Christ! It should motivate us to walk in love, as we are loved, and do unto others as Jesus
has done for us. Once we realize the love of God for us, it should prompt us to treat others
as we would like to be treated!
Romans 13:8, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law ."
Reconciliation because of love
Now I do believe that there are times when it is important to do what we can to mend broken
relationships. The Bible tells us to be at peace with all men whenever possible (see Romans
12:18). If we have wronged our brother, and refuse to be reconciled with him, then turn
around and expect God to honor our worship, I believe we are only fooling ourselves. We
cannot expect to have a close relationship with God, and yet neglect our relationships with
other fellow believers.
Matthew 5:23-24, "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that
thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;
first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
The Bible is clear that if we love God, we will also love our brethren as well:
1 John 4:21, "And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his
brother also."
1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
Your goal should never be to rush into the room, yell, "I'm sorry!" and run away; your goal is
to be reconciled with that person as a result of your love for them . Now if you go to
somebody, and they are not willing to forgive or be reconciled, then the responsibility is off
your shoulders. Don't hold it against yourself if you were unable to restore the relationship.
It takes two people to be reconciled and you cannot force that other person to forgive.
I want to make it clear that this does not mean we have to go back to every person we've
ever wronged and apologize (that would be legalism), nor does it mean that we should live at

peace with others even if it causes us to compromise with their lifestyle. Jesus was not afraid
to make enemies if they were out of line and doing what was wrong. The goal here is that if
somebody was wounded by your wrongdoing, then your goal is to love them as Christ loved
you, and that may mean going to them and attempting to restore the broken relationship.
We are entitled to a clean conscience!
Because of the costly work that Christ did for us on the cross, we can be forgiven of our sins,
and the stain of guilt removed. So much so, that God's Word states clearly that we can enter
the throne room with boldness because our sins are removed from our account!
Hebrews 10:2,19,22, "...The worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of
sins ... Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus ...
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience , and our bodies washed with pure water."
This is powerful my friend... VERY powerful! This means that because of the work that Jesus
did for us on the cross, you and I are entitled to a GUILT FREE conscience!!
Colossians 1:22-23, "...he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his
death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very
presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single
fault . But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly . Don't drift away from
the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been
preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed by God to proclaim it." (NLT)

Three Stages of Bondage

Home > Three Stages of Bondage

There are three stages of bondage in the believer that needs to be addressed. I highly
recommend attacking stage one first, then stage two, and then if there are still bondages
left, proceed to stage three. Even if you need deliverance from level three bondages,
attacking the first two stages will prepare you for a successful and lasting deliverance from
stage three bondages. If you try to attack stage three without getting stage one and two
dealt with, you could be in for an unsuccessful and disappointing deliverance session that
takes you nowhere. The enemy can often use stage one and two bondages to fuel his ability
to hang a stage three bondage over you. Stage one gets your facts and beliefs strait, stage
two cuts off any legal rights the enemy has on you, and stage three is the work of casting
him out.

Before I begin I want to make a point very clear, this is only a brief look into the basics of
how these three bondages work and how to be freed from them. I highly recommend further
reading in some of the books I have recommended at the end of each section. Especially
before attempting the stage three of deliverance! Deliverances can be scary, and dangerous if
you go into one without knowing what you are doing, or having God's hand guiding you, and
therefore I highly recommend reading at least a couple good solid books on deliverance
before attempting to cast out demons, unless you know the Holy Spirit is leading you through
the whole process.

Stage One: Ignorance, strong holds and deception

The first stage of bondage is caused by ignorance, strong holds, and the enemy's greatest
weapon in this stage is deception. Understanding a correct picture of who God is, and who we
are in Christ will dissolve a lot of cases involving stage one bondages.
The primary weapon of the devil to put a person into stage one bondage is deception. It is
extremely common and there isn't a person alive who hasn't been deceived in one way or
another. If you keep in God's Word, which you use to pull down strong holds, Jesus said that
you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Stage one bondages are caused by
deception and lies from the devil, so the way to combat them is with the truth, which is
found in God's Word. God also says that, "My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge."
Ignorance is a nasty disease that we need to defeat!
Your picture of God: If you see God has a taskmaster, you will act like He's one, and you
will hurt the intimacy that God wants to have with you. You will put up a wall between
yourself and God when you don't see Him as a loving God. Is there one person in your life
that you know loves you to pieces? Maybe it's your spouse, parent, friend or even your pet.
You can feel that person's love, and have a very special relationship with that person (or
pet). Now think if you saw that person as a cruel taskmaster with a cold personality? Even
though it's not true, it would kill your relationship, wouldn't it? Think how God feels when you
see Him as a cold and cruel taskmaster? It kills the relationship that He gave His son so that
you could have with Him! Why did He give His son? So that we could be reconciled with Him,
like it was before Adam sinned! Our relationship with God means so much to Him, that He
gave His son so it could be restored!
Who you are in Christ: If you think of yourself as an evil and worthless piece of meat, you
will live like it. You cannot live contrary to what you believe. The truth is, you have died to
the old self, you are no longer associated with your past! If you have accepted Christ, you
are a whole new person! The Bible refers to us believers are saints! We are not simply
sinners who are forgiven, we are saints! It may be true that we 'were' sinners, and that
we've been forgiven, but we are no longer sinners, we have been washed by the blood of
Jesus, and we are whiter then snow! You are not just a servant of God, but you have been
adopted into God's royal family as a child of God!

Legalism verses the law of grace: This is a vital thing you need to understand; it's the law
of grace. Many Christians feel they must goto church every Sunday, and keep a list of laws in
order for God to accept and love them. This is not true, God has already accepted you just as
you are, and He loved you so much while you were a sinner, that He sent His son to die for
your sins! Our good deeds should be a result of our love for God. Scripture says that we have
died to the law, and are no longer subject to it. We are under a new law now. It's a law of
grace, and it's worked out through love. When we realize the love God has for us, and the
hate that God has for wrong, we not only stop sinning, but develop a hatred against that sin.
This breaks the power of sin in our lives. It's not a question of doing right, but a question of
why you are doing right. Are you doing it because you feel obligated and are trying to earn
favor with God? Then you have fallen from the law of grace and into legalism. The reason we
are to do what is right should come out of our love for God and as we realize His love for us,
we will naturally become more like Him and do what's right because we want to, not because
we feel obligated to.
Your sins are forgiven: If you aren't sure your sins are forgiven, you will be experiencing
guilt, and a feeling of unworthiness to live in victory. The enemy moves right in on this
weakness and fault in your belief system, and uses it against you. Guilt gives the enemy
room to move in and make you feel worthless, and therefore he keeps you fighting from a
defeated position. You must know that your sins are forgiven so the enemy won't hang guilt
over your head! Look at Luke 7:47, where Jesus forgave that woman who lived a very sinful
life, with no strings attached! Also look at other stories where Jesus said "Your sins are
forgiven" with no strings attached. And Paul is another great example of how he was moved
from a sinful lifestyle right into the kingdom of God without any strings or conditions
attached!
Recommended reading: The Bible, the Bible, and the Bible!! The Word of God is the single
greatest way to combat the lies and deceptions of the devil! A great book to help you realize
who you are in Christ is Victory over Darkness by Neil T. Anderson.
Some other good books to read are on spiritual warfare and include Basic Training by Kim
Freeman, Spiritual Warfare Derek Prince, Battlefield of the Mind Joyce Meyer, The Beginners
Guide to Spiritual Warfare Nail T. Anderson & Timothy M. Warner

Stage Two: Legal rights are involved

Stage two bondages have a root and that root could be unforgiveness in a person's heart, unrepented sins in that person's life (things they are hiding that they know is wrong), ties
which need to be broken (cursed objects, soul ties, etc.) and things which may need to be
renounced (vows made with Satan, spirit guides/demons that a person has welcomed into
themselves, etc.). The goal of addressing stage two bondages is to break yourself off from
any legal grounds that the enemy has gained in your life. This list is not a complete and
detailed list, but it's goal is to give you an idea of some of the things which can give legal
grounds to the enemy in our lives.

Unforgiveness: Unforgiveness is one of the biggest tools the devil uses against God's
people. It not only cuts us off from God's forgiveness (Mark 6:15), but it also turns you over
to the tormenters (Matthew 18:23-35), which are demons. You give demons legal grounds in
your life when you are bitter and unforgiving against others. Unforgiveness is a sin which can
defile a person (Hebrews 12:15). Unforgiveness in itself is a sin which should be repented of.
Unconfessed sins: If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John
1:9), but if you hide your sins, you are giving the enemy ground in your life (Proverbs
28:13). Act 3:19, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
Unholy soul ties: 1 Corinthians 6:16, "What? know ye not that he which is joined to an
harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh." When two people become very
close, especially though sexual relationships, soul ties are formed. If the soul tie is unholy, it
can serve as a demonic spiritual bridge between the two persons. This can allow the demons
tormenting one person to torment the other person. These soul ties should be renounced and
broken in Jesus' name and the sins which have caused the soul ties should be repented of
and forsaken. Also, if any gifts or objects (rings, personal gifts, etc.) were given to you from
the person whom you may have had an adultery or committed similar sins with, they should
be sold or destroyed. Even a harmless thing like a watch can hold a soul tie together formed
from an adultery, fornication or a similar sin.
Cursed objects: Deuteronomy 7:26, "Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine
house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt
utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing." Cursed objects such as idols, occult books, rings,
etc. can bring a curse upon your life and your home. Land can also be cursed as a result of
the sins of it's inhabitants (Leviticus 18:27).
It is Biblical to burn occult or cursed objects. Deuteronomy 7:25, "The graven images of their
gods shall ye burn with fire... for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God." It's also evident
in the NT as well, Acts 19:19, "Many of them also which used curious arts brought their
books together, and burned them before all men..." Ezekiel 20:7, "Then said I unto them,
Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the
idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."
Spoken curses: Your words have the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21), and if you
have said something that has bound your soul (such as declaring, "I'll never amount to
anything" or "I want to die"), then you should repent of it and take it back (renounce it out
loud). Matthew 12:37, "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt
be condemned."
Generational curses: The sins of your ancestors can also attribute to your spiritual
bondages and troubles (Exodus 20:5). The remedy to break this, is to repent on behalf of

your ancestors for their sins (Nehemiah 9:2), and to break any curses (in the name of Jesus)
that may have come upon you as a result of their actions.
Unholy vows: James 5:2, "But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven,
neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay;
lest ye fall into condemnation." Any unholy vows you have made need to be repented of
(Leviticus 5:4-6), and renounced (taken back) and broken in the name of Jesus.
There's also a teaching specifically on Legal Rights.
Recommended reading: Spiritual Housecleaning by Alice & Eddie Smith is a great book on
cleaning your home of cursed objects. Free at Last by Larry Huch is a great book on breaking
free from generational curses. Seductions Exposed by Gary L., Dr. Greenwald is a great book
on the transferring of spirits and soul ties. How to Cast out Demons by Doris Wagner is a
great book at uncovering the legal roots of your spiritual problems and casting out demons.
Breaking Generational Curses & Pulling Down Strongholds by Vito Rallo is another really good
book to get ahold of. The Bait of Satan by John Bevere will show you the dangers of
unforgiveness in the spiritual realm.

Stage Three: Demons must be driven out

Stage three is when strong enough demons are encountered that are not leaving
automatically and must be driven out. Even after a demon's legal grounds have been
removed, they often do not leave on their own. Some of the lesser demons may, but it's not
that common for a stronger demon to pack up and leave on it's own. This is why Jesus made
it clear that there is a need for the deliverance ministry (Mark 16:17). If demons
automatically left a person when they accepted Jesus, then why did Jesus tell us to cast out
demons? The solution to demonic bondages would instead be just to accept Jesus and the
demons automatically leave. The problem is, it doesn't work like that in real life, and that's
why we there are times when it's necessary to drive out demons. Jesus referred to the
casting out of demons as children's bread, which means it's not even for un-believers, but for
us believers.
Prayer and fasting: Some demons are so strong that not only is it necessary to cast them
out, but a higher then usual level of faith, which is only obtained through prayer and fasting,
is required when getting them out. After the disciples tried to cast out a stronger demon(s)
and were unsuccessful, Jesus told them that there are some demons that will come out by
nothing by prayer and fasting (which builds one's faith to the high levels that is required
when casting some demons out). Mark 9:29, "And he said unto them, This kind can come
forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting."
Understand your authority: As children of God, we are given authority over all powers of
the enemy. Some people wonder why the demons seem to ignore them, sometimes it's
because that person doesn't have enough faith in their authority and the demon is strong

enough to resist what little authority that person is exercising. The more faith in your
authority you have, the more of your authority you will be able to use. It is therefore
important to understand and stand firm on the authority that God has given you.
Binding and loosing: Binding is like spiritual handcuffing. It's temporary and it's very useful
when a demon starts manifesting and you aren't ready to actually cast it out (let's say you
are winding down a deliverance session and you need your sleep, and the demon(s) begin to
manifest and raise their ugly heads). Or perhaps, the demon is interfering with the
deliverance and it needs to be bound. Another good use of binding, is to bind the evil spirits
that are preventing a person from accepting Jesus.
Loosing is when a captive is loosed from something. For example, in Luke 13:12, Jesus
loosed the women who was bound by Satan and had the issue of blood for 18 years.
Identifying the demon by it's name: If you are privileged to know the name of the
demon(s) you are facing, it is very helpful to cast it out by it's name. For example, "Spirit of
lust, come out in the name of Jesus!" If somebody yells out "Hey you!" in a crowd, would you
respond? Likely you wouldn't even pay attention to them. But if they yelled "Hey Bob!"
(providing that was your name), they would have your attention in no time. Same is true
when dealing with demons, which is why it is so helpful to know their name when dealing
with them.
Casting it out: Contrary to what many may think, there's nothing magical about this step.
It's a matter of standing on your authority and commanding the evil spirit (by name if
possible) to leave in the name of Jesus.
Demon groupings: Often, demons will group, and there will be a strong man. The strong
man could be hate, while the lesser demons could consist of anger, bitterness, jealousy, envy,
etc. Sometimes it is better to cast out the strong man first, and therefore the lesser demons
give you little or no hassle in wanting to leave, while other times it is better to get rid of the
lesser demons first, and therefore the leader can no longer draw power from them and it
makes it easier for the leader to be cast out. This is a more complicated area of deliverance,
and is best led by the Holy Spirit. Always pray and ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance
whenever attempting a deliverance.
Recommended reading: Free in Christ by Pablo Bottari is an anointed book on deliverance
by a Spirit filled minister who is well versed in this ministry; his book will build you up and
educated you on how to go about a deliverance - VERY uplifting book! They Shall Expel
Demons by Derek Prince is another dynamic book on the casting out of demons. The
Believer's Authority by Kenneth E. Hagin is a great book on our authority over the devil as
believers. Other great books on deliverance include Unbound by Neal Lozano, Demons &
Deliverance by H. A. Maxwell Whyte, and Pigs in the Parlor by Frank & Ida Mae Hammond

Radical Deliverance Practices

Home > Radical Deliverance Practices

One thing I have came to realize is that not all deliverance ministries are not the same. Not
every church that claims to function in the area of deliverance is not necessarily casting out
demons. Other deliverance ministries will tell demons to leave, but refuses to get involved
with the messy manifestations that often accompany a true exorcism ministry session. Often,
the minister will say something along the lines of, "I don't allow demons to manifest when
I'm ministering." My response to that is, "So you have found a way to do this that is superior
to the deliverance ministry of Jesus Himself? You have found a way to do things that is better
than the way that Jesus did things?" What I've found is that these types of ministers often
look down upon those of us who practice deliverance in a way that allows the demons to
manifest.
Am I looking for a violent manifestation? Absolutely not! As a matter of fact, I prefer
that they don't manifest violently, for the sake of the person being ministered to as well as
everybody else present. It is never my desire for anybody to get hurt. I prefer demons to
manifest, but just not in a way to which could cause anybody present physical harm.
However, there are times when violent manifestations cannot be avoided, so the best we can
do is forbid them to manifest in a way that could harm those present and then have a couple
decent sized people there to hold them down so that nobody gets hurt. When I say that I like
to have the demons up and manifesting, I am looking for any sign that the spirit is "up" and
that I'm not just trying to deal with something that could be hiding deep within the person. I
look for things such as eyelids that will not open, an evil presence in their eyes, shaking,
body twitching, etc. I prefer the mild manifestations when possible unless it is in a public
setting where others would benefit from seeing the demon manifest as well. I believe one of
the the reasons that Jesus let demons scream and throw people around in public, is so that
everybody could witness what was really going on and had no doubts as to the genuineness
of the situation.
Not all deliverances are going to produce a manifestation. Many times they manifest in a mild
fashion (yawn, burp, cough, body twitch, shaking, an evil look in their eyes, etc.) while other
times they manifest by screaming or even a violent manifestation where the person must be
held down. I do not require a manifestation in order to claim victory, but I like to at very
least have the person tell me that they felt a release. This teaching is addressing those
deliverances where the demons come up to manifest in some way or another. In the case of
public exorcisms, it is more helpful when the spirits manifest in such a way that those
present are able to see what is truly going on. My favorite is when they come out screaming
in an ear-piercing evil scream that nobody has any doubt is a spirit. Of course, that isn't

always the best manifestation if it's not done in the right environment (and the police show
up).
Let's take a closer look at the primary example we find in scripture where Jesus forbid a
demon from speaking:
And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into
the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught
them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in their
synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what
have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I
know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold
thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried
with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they
questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this?
for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about
Galilee.
Mark 1:21-28 KJV
Notice that even after Jesus forbid it to speak, the spirit STILL manifested violently and
screamed as it came out! Jesus did not forbid the spirit from manifesting, He only forbid it to
speak. Sometimes it is appropriate to forbid a spirit from manifesting, and in Jesus' case,
there were times when He would forbid them from speaking because they were making a
scene because He was the Christ (Luke 4:41). If you want to get technical, that reason does
not apply to us. Although I will say, there are times when it is appropriate for us to forbid a
spirit from speaking. I just don't do it all the time, nor do I forbid them from manifesting in
most cases. This is consistent with the ministry that Jesus modeled for us.
Let me make this very clear: I do not try to get demons to manifest for entertainment
purposes. I minister deliverance, and manifestations are just a part of what takes place
during our ministry sessions. My heart is to get people set free and healed, and if I have to
be spit on, screamed at, and hold down a manifesting body, then so be it! It's the nature of
this type of ministry. This is what Jesus had to endure, but He did it because He genuinely
wanted people to be set free.
It is my intent to do the work of Jesus, the way that He did it. Most of the time, He
allowed the demons to manifest. He even did public deliverances , where He would minister to
somebody before a whole crowd of people, so that all could see the power of God setting that
person free. Now, that is very much a personal choice by the person receiving deliverance, if
they are willing to do that. I do not encourage dragging somebody who is battling an
sensitive issue (lust, porn, etc.) up front and embarrass them before the world. If they are

dealing with a spirit of anger, for example, they may be more than happy to be delivered in
public so that others might learn. Again, I believe it is a choice that is best left to the person
being ministered to.
I actually prefer to see the demons come up and manifest. Why is that? Because it
usually makes them much more cooperative and a lot easier to deal with. The nature of a
demon is to operate in darkness, where they are not seen or exposed. When they are
exposed and brought out into the light, as the Holy Spirit did numerous times in Jesus'
ministry, they are weakened and therefore have good reasons to tremble in the presence of
the man of God who knows His authority and is about to cast them out.
To forbid a demon from manifestation, in my opinion, gives them permission to hide, which
makes it more difficult to get them out. I have nothing against forbidding a spirit to manifest
violently. I want them to manifest so that they are easier to deal with, but I don't want
anybody to get hurt.
Another reason why manifestations are beneficial is in public exorcisms. The thing
with public exorcisms, which is an important part of the evangelism calling (at least it was in
the early church and Jesus' ministry), is that if the demons don't manifest, the people don't
get to see the power of God tread down the kingdom of darkness in a visible and tangible
way before the eyes of people. Seeing the power of God displayed in the driving out of evil
spirits, was an important key to the evangelistic ministries of Jesus and the early church. As
a matter of fact, this is the type of evangelism ministry that Jesus called us to carry out:
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.
Matthew 10:7-8 KJV
Notice in Philip's ministry, MANY saw him doing public deliverances and as a result, they
came to believe in Christ !
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And
the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing
and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice,
came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and
that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.
Acts 8:5-8 KJV
I believe that part of the calling of an evangelist, is to drive out spirits in a public setting.
Jesus gave the commission to go forth and drive out spirits and heal the sick while we're

preaching the gospel of Christ ! We think it's radical to do a public exorcism in a church
setting, where there is a room full of believers (which is great, because it is a good learning
experience!), but do you know that what Jesus and Philip were doing, was in a truly PUBLIC
setting where there were non-believers watching what was going on? Why isn't the church
today doing this? Then we wonder why we're not getting the same results as the early church
got. We have brought the commission that Jesus gave us, down to our level. We'll go
forth and preach the gospel, but we won't cast out demons while we're up there preaching so
that people can see the manifest power of God in action.
There are many lost people today that would never accept Jesus based on somebody merely
bringing them the gospel, but if they see the manifestation of the Spirit, the casting out of
demons and the healing of the sick, they will come running to Christ! There will be MANY
people in hell because nobody came to them with POWER along with the Word!
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power...
1 Thessalonians 1:5 KJV
Jesus made it clear when He commissioned the disciples (including us today!) to go forth and
preach, not just to preach, but to demonstrate the power of God in conjunction with our
preaching! I believe this is one of the powerful keys that brought the results we read of in
the early church. They did what Jesus told them to do, not just preach, but also demonstrate
the power of God to the world around them. This was Jesus' whole ministry, was
demonstrating the power of God along side teaching and preaching!!
Then there are those who have softened their approach in order to make it "seeker friendly"
so that is less offending to others. These are the ministries that point their fingers at those
of us who welcome manifestations, as if we are out of order. They try to separate themselves
from us radicals who take God at His Word and do what we were commissioned to do. I
believe in such cases, there is a pride issue at work because they are not only belittling our
ministries, they are belittling Jesus' own ministry! What a shame to look down upon
deliverance ministries that let demons manifest, when Jesus' own ministry is among
them. It is sad when Jesus' ministry methods is looked down upon as being "out of order".
After all, who do you think caused those spirits to scream out while Jesus was teaching
amongst the people? It was the Holy Spirit who CAUSED the demons to
manifest! Unlike the demons, who's nature is to hide in darkness so they are not seen or
cast out, the Holy Spirit wanted the demons to come out in the open where they were the the
light, and many that were present would have the opportunity to see the power of God set
somebody free! The Holy Spirit completely humiliated those demons, by dragging them out
into the open, so that Jesus could go about demonstrating the power of God by casting them
out in front of a whole group of people! Yet today, we have a "problem" with demons
manifesting, and wouldn't even think of allowing demons to manifest in front of a group of

people, much less non-believers! Then we wonder why we our churches are so much different
than what we read about in the early church.
It's as simple as this: if we want the results that the early church saw, then we need to do
what Jesus told us to do . We need to demonstrate power along with the Word that we're
preaching.
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.
Matthew 10:7-8 KJV
Disclaimer: I am not against anybody who casts out demons in Jesus' name, even if they
use a softer approach and try to avoid manifestations. If people are being set free, then
praise God! However, I do have my concerns about those who ultimately look down at those
of us who don't mind the manifestations as if we were out of order. Anytime you look down
on such ministries, you are looking down and belittling Jesus' own ministry. I believe that to
get the ultimate result, and operate in the capacity that Jesus has called us to, then we need
to do what He did, the way that He did it. I don't soften up deliverance ministry so that it is
more socially acceptable. I don't have a problem with demons manifesting. I want the people
set free.

Spiritual warfare: Tear down strongholds

Home > Spiritual warfare: Tear down strongholds

I think too many people make strongholds out to be a complex subject. Strongholds are
merely incorrect thinking patterns. They are patterns in our minds that are programmed to
think contrary to the truth.
For example, a common scenario is where a person feels dirty, guilty and is shameful of their
past. They are so used to thinking about their past, that it's driven the person to think and
feel like a failure! They feel unworthy to have a close intimate relationship with God, which
greatly affects their spiritual strength, faith, and relationship with Him. No wonder Satan
tries to build such strongholds in our minds!
So how does Satan build these strongholds?

He starts by reminding us of our past failures and sins. He brings up things that we ought not
to be dwelling upon, and tries to make us agree with him on how badly we failed. We then
have the choice to listen and agree with him, or listen to God's Word (which is telling us that
those sins have been washed away). If we take the devil's bait and begin to mediate on our
failures, it will begin to pull us down spiritually and strongholds will develop. We will begin to
see ourselves as failures because we've taken the bait and chose to meditate on a lie that the
devil has fed us!
It is also not uncommon to find a person who picks up a demonic spirit through sin (such as
fornication), and that demon uses it's newly gained rights (or ability) in the person's mind to
quickly build strongholds. Since the demon is able to influence the person from the inside
now, it can get the job done much quicker. This is not an uncommon scenario! Not only does
the demonic spirit(s) need to be driven out, but the stronghold also needs to be torn down
before the person will experience a complete breakthrough.
Strongholds can and do play a big part of how we feel
If we think we are a failure, we will feel like failures. If you think you're hopeless, you will
feel hopeless. If you know you are forgiven, you'll feel clean inside. If you constantly think of
your past failures, you will see yourself as associated with them. If you constantly think of
how you have been separated from your past when the Blood of Jesus has washed it away,
you will feel bright and clean inside. Changing the way you think can make a big difference in
the way you feel!
How do we tear down strongholds?
Strongholds are build upon deception and lies that we've accepted into our minds. So how do
you counter a lie? How do you counter deception? With the truth. Where do we find the
truth? In the Word of God. As we can see in Ephesians, this weapon is known as the sword of
the Spirit:
Ephesians 6:17, "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
In 2 Corinthians, we are told that our spiritual weaponry is designed to tear down
strongholds:
2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strongholds ;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
This is a great verse that gives us a good idea of how we are to go about tearing down
strongholds in our minds. First, since the sword of the Spirit is the offensive piece of our

weaponry, it is a great tool for tearing down strongholds. You need to go on the offensive to
tear down a stronghold, and the Word of God is the weapon you cannot afford not to use.
So when the devil tries to tell us, "You really messed up, haven't you?"
You need to counter it with, "1 John 3:5 tells me that the reason Jesus went to the cross was
to take away that sin! Hebrews 8:12 tells me that even God has chosen to forget my sin!"
Boy does Satan hate that! It reminds him of the days when he tried tempting Jesus:
Satan said to Jesus, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
(Matthew 4:3)
But Jesus replied with, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)
What did Satan do? After Jesus did that a few times, he had no choice but to hit the road...
his efforts were useless against Jesus! Jesus knew the relevant scriptures to quote, and took
away Satan's ability to influence Him!
Let's go back to 2 Corinthians again and see what else it has to say:
2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God , and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
As we can see, we are told to cast down imaginations. What are imaginations? They are
things that we imagine... the devil usually plants them in our minds when he asks us a
question that starts out with "What if..." Don't waste your time trying to reason things with
the devil. Just throw it out and leave him hanging! Get your mind on God's Word and off of
what the devil is trying to tell you.
What else are we told in this verse? We are to cast down every thought that comes into our
minds that opposes the knowledge of God. What is the knowledge of God? Since God
associates Himself with His Word (John 1:1), if anything comes into our minds that is
contrary to God's Word, throw it out! Do not waste your time thinking about it or trying to
reason with it. If Satan is trying to tell you that God is not wanting to forgive you, then don't
listen to it. Why? Because His Word says otherwise:
Isaiah 30:18, "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on
high to have compassion on you." (NASB)

Not only does He want to forgive your sins, so that your relationship with Him can be
restored, He longs (which means He deeply desires) to do so! One of the last things Satan
wants us to know is God's forgiving and loving nature towards us even after we have messed
up!
As you can see, strongholds are built on lies and deception. How do you counter such things?
With truth! Where do you find truth? In the Word of God! Stop thinking about what Satan has
been feeding you, and begin to meditate on God's Word. Take verses in the Bible that run
contrary to what the devil's been feeding you, and repeat them to yourself over and over out
loud. Think about them often, and meditate on them. The devil got his stronghold built by
causing you to meditate on his lies and deception, so if you want to tear down that
stronghold, you need to begin meditating on the exact opposite, which is God's Word.
Listening to and reasoning with the things the devil puts in your mind is exactly what he
wants you to do. It feed his strongholds when you allow your mind to meditate on Satan's
word (opposite of God's Word). Cut him off at the source and say NO to the garbage he's
been feeding you, and at the same time turn to God's Word. Begin to feed, meditate upon,
think about often and dwell upon on the truth. It will stop Satan dead in his tracks!
It is also possible to have strongholds in place because demonic spirits have attached
themselves to you at some point or another, and need to be driven out. If you work hard at
tearing down strongholds by applying the truths in God's Word and this teaching, and yet you
seem to hit a wall, it may be because a demonic spirit needs to be driven out. It is very
possible (and not uncommon) to experience quite a bit of freedom through applying the
principals in this teaching even if there is a demonic spirit present, but you will only go so far
and feel like you're hitting a wall. That is a sign of a demon at work that needs to be driven
out. It can be awfully hard to battle when they are working on you from the inside out.
Resisting them from the outside is easy, but resisting them when they are on the inside can
be extremely hard. If you seem to have reached an immovable mountain, you might want to
consider the possibility of needing to have an unclean spirit driven out.
Many Christians today believe that they cannot have demons... nothing could be further from
the truth! When you're in the ministry of deliverance, you see very sincere believers manifest
demons quite often. I was one myself... a very sincere believer who dearly loved the Lord...
and yet I faced awful demonic bondages and have been through deliverance! There is a
teaching specifically on Christians having demons on this site that will show you how it is
quite possible for a believer to have a demon and be in need of a deliverance: Can a
Christian have a demon?

Religious spirits

Home > Religious spirits

First, what is a religious spirit? A religious spirit is a demon that wages war against the grace
of God in our lives and acceptance of Jesus' work as true fulfillment of God's covenant
between God and man. The Pharisees were obvious examples of people who have religious
spirits, but many times those of us with religious spirits do not come close to their behavior.
Having had religious spirits myself, I must say that they are very destructive to our intimate
relationships with God. If you want a true intimate relationship with your heavenly Father,
then you definitely don't want religious spirits!
It is said that religion and relationship don't get along, and this is why religious spirits will
work diligently to hinder true meaningful relationships between God and His children.
Religious spirits can manifest in different ways for different people, depending on Satan's
plan for that person's life. For example, one person may be plagued with feelings of never
being good enough for God, while the next person may be infected with self-righteousness
and false holiness.
What are some of the common religious spirits?
Religious spirits, like many other types of demons, have relatives or similar demons in their
groupings. This is a basic list of demons that you might find in somebody who has a religious
spirit:

judgementalism

self-righteousness

religious pride

criticism

legalism

perfectionism

division

error (doctrinal falsehood)

unbelief

doubt

confusion

argumentism

false holiness

salvation by works

guilt

condemnation

fear of losing salvation

fear of God (unhealthy, scared feeling)

intolerance

Some of the common symptoms of religious spirits

Often, people who have religious spirits will find it hard to believe that salvation comes
through the grace of God apart from works of the law. They may find it easy to judge others
or criticize them over petty issues. There is usually a sense of 'earning' your status or good
standing with God. Legalism is a popular bondage today where a person feels that they have
to adhere to a strict set of rules (laws) before they can be made right with God. People who
never feel good enough for a relationship with God, but are continually condemned or have a
guilty feeling hovering over them may have a religious spirit(s) operating in their mind. The
feeling of 'never being good enough' is a dead giveaway , because it shows that the person is
trying to make things right with God themselves and not relying on the work of Christ, which
already paid their debt in full.
If you think of yourself as more important than others, then you almost certainly have a selfrighteous or false holiness spirit. Other things you might look for are feelings that you're
always right and everybody else is wrong, or a weakness with being outspoken. Somebody
who comes across as a know-it-all may also have religious spirits.
Thinking that you can do things apart from God is another dead-giveaway. Jesus made it very
clear that apart from Him, you can do nothing:
John 15:5, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing ."
These are just some examples of what you may look for.

Biblical examples of judgementalism and self-righteousness

Luke 18:9-14, "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a
Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I
thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican,
standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his
breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he
that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
As we can see, somebody who sees themselves as superior to others is often in bondage to a
religious spirit(s) of some kind. This Pharisee felt that he had earned his good standing with
God, and that the sinner had not, therefore he had reason to boast before the Lord. The Bible
makes it clear that our salvation is an undeserved gift from God, lest any man boast:
Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast ."
The Pharisees were always looking down upon others, as if they were superior to everyone
else. Look at this passage where they criticized Jesus for hanging out with tax collectors:
Luke 5:30, "But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do
ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?"
Another example of this is where a woman poured expensive perfume over Jesus' feet, and
washed them with her tears and her hair. The Pharisees had to put in their 2 cents over this
woman:
Luke 7:39, "Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself,
saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman
this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner."
People with religious spirits are often judging and criticizing others in their thought-lives.
They see themselves as holy, righteous, and favored by God, but look down upon others.
Religious spirits are more interested in judgment than forgiveness
Somebody who has religious spirits will often be more interested in seeing somebody 'pay' or
be punished for their wrongdoing, than they are in seeing the person repent and receive the
forgiveness and grace of God. A good example of this is found in John chapter 8:

John 8:3-11, "And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery;
and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in
adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned:
but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But
Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and
wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went
out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and
the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the
woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned
thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and
sin no more."
The Pharisees were known for laying heavy burdens (spiritually speaking) on others, yet omit
the more important matters such as justice, mercy and faith:
Matthew 23:4, 23, "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on
men's shoulders ; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers... Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment [referring to justice], mercy,
and faith : these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Jesus said that if you are heavy laden, to come unto Him and He will give you rest, for His
yoke is light:
Matthew 11:28-30, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Salvation apart from works does not settle well with religious spirits
People who have spirits of religion, legalism, etc. find it hard to accept the fact that their sins
have been paid for on the cross, and that there is nothing that they can do but accept the
gift that God has given them. Religion likes to 'earn' status with God, whereas relationship
accepts the gift that Christ has given.
Luke 7:29-30, "And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being
baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God
against themselves, being not baptized of him. "

Matthew 21:32, "For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him
not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented
not afterward, that ye might believe him."
In the above verses, we can see that the Pharisees felt too proud or self-righteous to accept
a free gift from God; they felt they were already holy or felt they could earn their right
standing themselves. Religious spirits will often hold your past against you , because they
deny the work of Christ on the cross and the way of righteousness through faith in Christ
(see Romans 3:22). Grace refers to something that we don't deserve, but is given to us
because of God's great love and mercy. Religious spirits have little or no room in their
theology for grace!
God's Word makes it clear that if we try to gain salvation through works, then we have fallen
from grace and the work of Christ is of no effect to us:
Galatians 5:4, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the
law ; ye are fallen from grace."
When Jesus would freely forgive a person's sins, it made the Pharisees irate, because it didn't
settle well with their self-righteous spirits. The concept of grace was an abomination to their
doctrine of legalism!
Mark 2:5-7, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be
forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their
hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?"
Here Jesus just forgave a man of his sins, and as proof that He was sent from God... He
healed the man while He was at it! But the religious mindset in those scribes overlooked the
miraculous healing and was quick to judge Jesus for gracefully forgiving the man's sins.
Religious spirits are easy prey to unforgiveness
Do you feel like you've been wronged, and that person deserves justice for what they've done
to you? This may very well be the workings of a religious spirit. Remember, religious spirits
are more interested in justice and punishment than mercy and forgiveness .
Feeling this way is actually a form of pride, because it holds you up on a righteous pedestal
while it sees the other person as a sinner who deserves to be repaid for the wrong they've
done. There is no concept of mercy or forgiveness for the other person, nor is there any
remembrance of how they themselves needed mercy in their own life at some time or
another. They are only interested in seeing that person who wronged them repaid and receive
judgment for their wrong. Beware, this can often be a dead-giveaway of a religious spirit at
work!

Concluding thoughts
Religious spirits are very popular today. If you have religious spirits, please do not hesitate
to seek deliverance from them. They are out to wage war against your intimate relationship
with God. They can make you feel distant from God, because no matter what you do, it will
never be enough, or they can set you up for spiritual disaster through pride and selfrighteousness. Either way, their goal is to nullify the work of Christ in your life, and make it
to no effect for you. Being set free from religious spirits can bring major spiritual freedom
and breakthrough in your relationship with God!
For further reading on religious spirits and how they operate, I highly recommend a book
entitled, "30 Pieces of Silver" by Jonas Clark.

Unforgiveness: Spiritual Poison

Home > Unforgiveness: Spiritual Poison

Unforgiveness is the single most popular poison that the enemy uses against God's people,
and it is one of the deadliest poisons a person can take spiritually. It causes everything from
mental depression, to health problems such as cancer and arthritis. I'm not saying that in
every single case of cancer, it is due to unforgiveness, but I am saying that it can cause
cancer. Cancer comes from the devil, scientist can't explain it, doctors don't understand
where it comes from; it's the symptoms of a curse. God allowed the Israelites to face
diseases and sickness when they disobeyed Him (Deut 28:58-61), and when they would turn
back to Him, He would heal their land and take sickness from their midst (Exodus 23:25,
Deut 7:15). In the New Testament, Jesus gave us two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40),
and if we break those, we can be opened up to curses, just as the people in the Old
Testament were. Jesus never came to abolish the law (Matthew 5:17), but He did come to set
us free from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13), meaning, Jesus paid the price so we can
be set free from any curses we may have come under.

Two commandments given to us by God

Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And
the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Jesus gave us very important commandments to follow; one of them was to love one another,
as He has loved us (John 15:12). Love is the exact opposite of unforgiveness, envy, jealousy,

hate, pride and bitterness. You can't truly love somebody and hold bitterness or
unforgiveness against him or her at the same time.

Our responsibility to forgive others

God sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins, so that we may be reconciled to Him, without spot
or blemish. He asks that we give others the same forgiveness that paid for us. He tells a
parable in Matthew 18:23-35 that says the same thing:
"Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of
his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him
ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be
sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant
therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay
thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and
forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants,
which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took [him] by the throat,
saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought
him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and
cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was
done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his
lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all
that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy
fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the
tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father
do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

Unforgiveness shows we don't really love Jesus

In John 15:12, Jesus commands us to love one another, as He has loved us. True love doesn't
hold bitterness or unforgiveness against that person. If we are bitter or hold unforgiveness
against somebody, then we don't love them as Christ loved us. If we don't keep Jesus'
commandments, then it proves we don't love Him.
John 14:24, "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings..."

Unforgiveness prevents God from forgiving our sins

Matthew 6:15, "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses."

Unforgiveness opens us up to the tormentors (the devil)

Matthew 18:23-35, "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which
would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto
him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord
commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to

be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience
with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion,
and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of
his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took
[him] by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his
feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would
not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his
fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord
all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also
have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was
wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive
not every one his brother their trespasses."

Unforgiveness can block God from answering our prayers

Mark 11:24, 25, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if
ye have ought (something) against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive
you your trespasses."
Matthew 7:7, 12, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you... Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them..."
John 15:5, 10 tells us that if we abide in Christ, we will produce much spiritual fruit, and the
way that we abide in Christ is by keeping His commandments. Verse 12 tells us that His
commandment is to love one another as He has loved us. Verse 7 tells us that if we abide in
Him (by keeping His commandments), and His Word in us, we can ask for anything and it will
be given onto us! The reason a lot of people's prayers go unanswered, is because they aren't
keeping the commandments that Jesus gave us; therefore they aren't abiding in Christ's love,
and if we aren't abiding in Christ's love, how can we expect Him to hear our prayers?

Unforgiveness can defile a person

Hebrews 12:15, "...lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be
defiled."
Notice at the end it says, "many be defiled." This is a VERY common, if not one of the most
common everyday things that defile people! Many bondages can be shed when a person
forgives those who have wronged him or her.

Unforgiveness can give Satan an advantage

2 Corinthians 2:10-11, "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any
thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan
should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."

Unforgiveness can keep a person out of heaven

Matthew 7:12, 21, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do
ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets... Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven."
1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."

Unforgiveness can prevent us from being fruitful spiritually

John 15:5 tells us that if we abide in Christ, we will produce much spiritual fruit, and the way
that we abide in Christ is by keeping His commandments (verse 10). Verse 12 tells us that
His commandment is that we love one another as He has loved us. Therefore, if we don't love
one another, as He has loved us, then we do not abide in Him, and how are we suppose to
produce much spiritual fruit if we don't abide in Him? According to verse 6, the branch that
doesn't abide in the vine will be cast into the fire.

Unforgiveness can open us up to curses

When people in the Old Testament disobeyed God's commandments, it opened them up to
curses (Deut 27:26). When people nowadays disobey God, it can do the same thing; it can
open them up to curses. Curses can cause mental and emotional problems (Deut 28:28),
physical problems (Deut 28:35, 60, 61), financial problems (Deut 28:17, 38, 43), divorce and
unfaithful spouse (Deut 28:30, 56), emotional stress (Deut 28:34), childlessness (Lev
20:21), and that's not all, plus those curses can be handed down to your future generations
(Exodus 20:5).

The blessings of forgiveness

When we forgive, it opens us up to God's forgiveness (Matthew 6:15), it puts us in a
receiving position when we pray (Mark 11:24, 25), it helps us become spiritually fruitful
(John 15:10, 12, 5), and we will know that we have passed from spiritual death to being
reconciled with our heavenly Father when we love each other (1 John 3:14)! When we keep
God's commandments and love one another, we prove that we love Jesus (John 14:21), and
we abide in Christ's love (John 15:10)! What a magnificent blessing forgiveness really is!!!

Opening demonic doors - Even with your thoughts!

Home > Opening demonic doors - Even with your thoughts!

Did you know that a person can welcome an evil spirit into their soul without even knowing
it? It is not an uncommon scene when a person actually welcomes unclean spirits without
having to do anything on the outside --your thought-life is quite capable of opening
doors all by itself! What happens is the enemy (working through unclean spirits)
approaches a person at a time of need in their life, and gets the person to agree with the
demon's bait. This bait can be very appealing to the person and it can even seem harmless
and beneficial at that point and time. The enemy is known to disguise himself as an angel of
light, as to deceive people into giving him access into their lives:
2 Corinthians 11:14, "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."
I feel it is important to understand how the enemy works, so that we can equip ourselves to
stand against him schemes. Paul said that they were not ignorant of Satan's devices... this is
something that many in the church today cannot claim:
2 Corinthians 2:11, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his
devices."
The thing I've found with unclean spirits, is that they almost always offer some kind of 'sweet
reward' to get a person to grant them access into their life. It could be forbidden sexual
pleasure, supernatural power or knowledge of some kind (mind control, fortune telling, etc.),
even healing (through occult powers) and physical defense (martial arts). Jesus made it clear
that even evil thoughts can defile us (make us vulnerable for spiritual infection):
Matthew 15:19-20, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts , murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man ..."
When we yield ourselves, whether it be our thoughts, actions and so fourth to the enemy, we
are giving him access to our souls (mind, will and emotions). Here is a brief list of some
popular spirits and how they often make themselves appealing:
Spirits of rebellion - The spirit seems to take the person's side and whisper to them, "I will
stand up for you... I will stand up for YOUR rights!" The spirit is looking for the person to
say, "Yeah, I need that!"
Spirits of divination (fortune telling spirit) - The spirit offers the person supernatural
secrets into the future that others do not have access to. If the person begins to seek this
sort of power, they are letting the demons know that they are welcome.

This is why I cringe every time that somebody tells me how their child is reading Harry Potter
books... that child is letting the occult spirits (demons) know that they are interested in what
the occult has to offer, and this gives them the right to move right in on that child! I have
seen AWFUL things happen to children who have been involved in Harry Potter, yet so many
parents are ignorant and convinced that it is a harmless storybook.
Automatic writing - This type of spirit offers beautiful 'out of this world' writings to the
person that they wouldn't otherwise be able to produce. However, let's never forget that
demonic power is very expensive and lands the person in bondage. Again, when a person
begins to seek this forbidden power / ability, they are making themselves available for the
spirits to enter.
New age spirits (including Yoga) - Energy healing along with better mental and physical
health are offered to the person, when in reality it's only bait to land them in bondage.
Again, when a person partakes in Yoga, or seeks energy healing, they are opening
themselves up to these spirits.
Spirits behind Karate (including spirits of mind control) - The person is offered an 'out of
this world' means of defending them self that the average person does not have. When a
person begins to seek this power found in martial arts, they are welcoming spirits of mind
control and such to come in and make themselves at home.
When a person breaks a board with their hand, there is an evil spirit that goes ahead of their
hand and breaks the board before their skin even touches the board ! If you take a macro
slow motion video of a young boy breaking a 2x4 in half, you will eye-witness this fact. The
same spirits will cause a person to be able to strike a seriously harmful blow to somebody
else's body, and do far more than more than a mere physical blow would do the person. That
is because evil spirits are involved. One time a man came to Christ after earning a high level
ranking in karate, and not long afterwards, his karate instructor said to him, "You have lost
the spirit of karate!"
Spirits of lust / perversion - The person is enticed to enter a world of forbidden pleasure.
If the person begins to seek such pleasure, they are letting the spirit realm know that it's
okay to feed them more pleasure in that area of their life. Once the person has a spirit in
them such as lust or sexual perversion, it can become very difficult to resist the strong pull
that the spirit has on that person.
Spirits of addiction - These spirits often promise a world of escapism from reality for the
person who is trying to cope with life. When a person turns to escapism, it can open them up
to addiction which grows into a bondage where spirits of addiction are involved and it seems
nearly impossible to break free (without deliverance that is).

Spirits behind cancer - The spirit offers the person a pleasurable 'they will pay' feeling that
comes from bitterness and unforgiveness. Let's be honest, it can feel good to hold a
grudge... but it will block God's forgiveness for your own sins! (See Matthew 6:15) When a
person turns bitter, it invites an evil spirit into their system which will aggravate the cells in
their body, which will cause abnormal growths, tumors and such.
Witchcraft & warlock spirits - These spirits offer supernatural power to 'get even' to an
offended person. This can be very appealing to somebody who has been rejected or hurt in
this world. When a person begins placing curses or seeking to learn about witchcraft, or even
seeks to have a witch place a curse for them, it lets the spirits know that they are welcome
in that person's life. God's Word tells us not even to seek somebody with occult power, lest
we become defiled ourselves:
Leviticus 19:31, "Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be
defiled by them: I am the LORD your God."
Occult spirits - The lure of supernatural power and knowledge of the unknown. When a
person seeks such occult power and knowledge, they are making themselves available to
those spirits.
Spirits of bondage - A person may think it's best to make a vow, in order to help them stay
motivated to do or not do something, however, the Bible is clear that oaths can bind the soul
(see Numbers 30), and it's not uncommon to find scenarios where a person has unclean
spirits that entered in through vows that they have made in the past. Rash vows can be
forgiven (Leviticus 5:4-11), and must be renounced (taken back) verbally. I also recommend
verbally breaking the vow in Jesus' name and declaring it void by the power of the Blood of
Jesus.
Spirits of self-pity, etc. - The spirit whispers to the person, "You poor thing! You deserve
much better than that!" When a person agrees with such thinking, they are welcoming such
spirits into their souls (mind, will and emotions). After all, it can feel good when
"SOMEBODY" agrees with that person's pity party!
And the list goes on! These are just a few of the ways that demons make themselves
appealing to a person's fleshly desires. When we leave the Word of God behind and seek to
satisfy our own fleshly appetites, it can give unclean spirits access into our lives. Most
people do not even realize what they are getting themselves into, and then they
wonder why they have lost control in that area of their lives afterwards!

Deliverance Prayers

Home > Deliverance Prayers

Below are some sample deliverance and bondage breaking prayers. Please understand that
there may be other factors involved in any given bondage, such as if you are trying to break
a soul tie with a rock group, but refuse to get rid of any CD's that you have from them. If
you're suffering from a deep bondage in these areas, it may be a good idea to have a strong
fellow believer present incase the demons begin to manifest.

Breaking soul ties

Heavenly Father, I confess and repent of the sin of ___________ (name the sin which caused
the evil soul tie, such as adultery or fornication), and I ask that you forgive me of this sin.
[Now is a good time to destroy or get rid of any physical gifts or other objects that could hold
the soul tie together, such as a gift given in an adultery, etc. Anything that could hold the
bond together between you and that person.]
In the name of Jesus, and by the power of His blood, I now renounce, break and sever all
unholy soul ties formed between ___________ (name the person) and myself, through the
sin of ____________ (name the sin which caused the evil soul tie, such as adultery or
fornication).
I now command any evil spirits which have taken advantage of this unholy soul tie to leave
me now in the name of Jesus!
(Repeat this prayer if you have more then one evil soul tie to break)

Renouncing ungodly vows

Heavenly Father, I repent and renounce the vow I made to ____________ (name the demon
or person, or even God, that you made the vow to) to preform ______________ (describe
what the vow entailed). I realize this was foolish and rash on my behalf, and I ask that you
will forgive me and release me from the bondage that this vow has brought me under.
In the name of Jesus, and by the power of His blood, I now renounce, break and nullify the
vow to ________________ to preform ___________, and I confess that I am released from
this vow and it's bondage in Jesus' name.
I now command any evil spirits which have taken advantage of this unholy vow to leave me
now in the name of Jesus!
(Repeat this prayer if you have more then one unholy vow to break)

Renounce involvement with unhealthy (demonic) music

Heavenly Father, I confess that I used to listen to unhealthy demonic music. I ask that you
will forgive and cleanse me from this sin.
In the name of Jesus, and through the power of His blood, I now renounce, break and sever
all soul ties that have been formed between myself and the unhealthy music (name specific
songs and artists/groups if possible) I used to listen to and enjoy, as well as any soul ties
formed between myself and the artists and groups (name them specifically if possible) and
demonic influences that have produced these unhealthy songs and music.
In Jesus' name, I also renounce, break and nullify any curses that I may have come under as
a result of listening to the unhealthy music I used to listen to and enjoy.
In the name of Jesus, I now command all evil spirits to leave me that have taken advantage
of these soul ties I have just renounced. In the name of Jesus, I also renounce and command
any evil spirits that have taken advantage of any curses that I have come under as a result
of listening to unhealthy music to leave me now in Jesus' name! I also renounce and
command any evil spirits that have entered me through my listening to this unhealthy music
to leave me now in the name of Jesus'!

Breaking generational curses

In the name of Jesus, I confess the sins and iniquities of my parents (name specific sins if
known), grandparents (name specific sins if known), and all other ancestors.
In the name of Jesus, and by the power of His blood, I now renounce, break and sever all
cords of iniquity and generational curses I have inherited from my parents, grandparents and
all other ancestors and break and sever all unholy soul ties formed between myself and my
parents, grandparents and all other ancestors.
In the name of Jesus, I now loose myself and my future generations from any bondages
passed down to me from my ancestors and I command any evil spirits which have taken
advantage of these cords of iniquity, generational curses and unholy soul ties to leave me
now in the name of Jesus!

Deliverance Prep 101: What you can expect!

Home > Deliverance Prep 101: What you can expect!

Preparing somebody to receive and maintain their deliverance is very important. This is a
basic list of things that you might explain to somebody before you walk them through
deliverance. I always like to make sure they understand what is going on, and not feel
confused or in darkness over the process of deliverance.
Deliverance is often a process
While deliverance can be a one-time event, it can also be a process. If you don't receive all
your freedom at once, don't be discouraged! Sometimes it takes time to dig out all the junk
in our souls. One session you may address one area of your life, while in another, you may
address bondages in another. Or sometimes you may have several sessions to address issues
in one area of your life. Either way, don't be discouraged. Many times it takes multiple
sessions before a person is completely delivered. Sessions can range from a few minutes to
several hours, depending on the bondage that must be sorted out and worked through.
Never be discouraged , but keep pressing forward to receive what Jesus purchased for you
with His blood on the cross! Sometimes it may even take more than one minister to bring
that freedom, as different ministers may be more knowledgeable in various areas of
deliverance.
The goal of deliverance is wholeness
It is easy to think of the deliverance ministry as a quick-fix... simply casting out demons
takes away all of a person's bondages. The ministry of deliverance is often a process which
involves more than simply driving out the demons. There are usually strongholds to be torn
down. Since strongholds are incorrect thinking patterns, this is done through the renewing of
your mind according to the Word of God. There is often inner healing that needs to take place
as well. I cannot stress how important it is to pursue an intimate relationship with the Lord
once you have been delivered. If you neglect your relationship with God, the enemy would be
more than happy to begin finding ways to cause you to lose your newfound freedom.
The purpose of deliverance is to receive freedom from any hindrances in your life that would
keep you from walking in the fullness of God's plan for your life and your relationship with
Him.
The four elements of deliverance ministry
Deliverance ministry can be generally broken down into 4 groups of ministry:
Legal grounds , as many of us call them, are basically things in a person's life which are
giving or have given a demon the right to enter or remain in the person. Unconfessed sins,
ungodly soul ties, unforgiveness, holding cursed possessions (occult rings, etc.) and so fourth

can give demons a right to inhabit and torment a person. These legal grounds are removed
through repentance, renunciation, extending forgiveness, etc.
Strongholds are basically incorrect thinking patterns in your mind. If you think God is angry
with you, then you will feel like He is (when nothing could be further from the truth). If you
think you are worthless, then you will feel worthless. Strongholds are torn down as you
meditate as specific areas of God's Word which reprograms your mind to think differently. If
God sees you as a precious child of His, and you begin to realize and believe that... it will
change the way you see yourself for example.
Inner healing is often required when ministering to somebody who has been abused, raped or
has been exposed to a traumatic experience. Inner healing is a working of the Holy Spirit and
is received as a person releases the inner hurt and pain from past experiences and allows the
Holy Spirit to come in and heal those wounds. Forgiveness often plays a part in this releasing
process and is done by faith (even if you don't feel like you could ever forgive somebody for
the damage they've done). Oftentimes, self-forgiveness needs to be received as the person is
holding things against themself which must be released.
Casting out demons is where the demons are confronted in Jesus' name and driven out of the
person. This step is where the actual demons are expelled from the person and cannot be
overlooked in most cases. Even if you do feel a measure of freedom after tearing down
strongholds and breaking up legal grounds, demons may still be present and need to be cast
out.
What you can expect during a deliverance
Sometimes you may manifest a demon, other times it seems like nothing happens when they
are being expelled.
Mild manifestations often involve coughing, spitting up phlegm, burping, deep yawning or
sighing, pressure or pain in areas of your body, shaking, screaming, etc. If you feel these
things coming at you, don't resist them... let the demons manifest and come fourth. Demons
may use your vocal system to speak through you to the minister.
Stronger manifestations are usually found in cases where a person is being delivered from
severe oppression, deliverance from occult involvement or Satanism. You are often not
conscience when these spirits manifest. They can cause your body to levitate, physically
struggle with those present for the deliverance, cause a demonic convulsion, and so fourth. If
you have been involved in energy healing, new age practices, false religions, witchcraft,
occult, Satanism or other deeper demonic practices, then it doesn't hurt to let your minister
know in advanced so he or she can have additional support present during the deliverance
session.

Feelings or emotions will often rise up as spirits are confronted. For example, if we are
dealing with a spirit of grief, the person may experience deep levels of grief as it is
manifesting and being driven out.
You may experience loss of consciousness or partial loss of consciousness. As the spirits
manifest, some will suppress your conscious as they manifest. Sometimes you feel drownded
out but are still aware of what is happening. Other times nothing happens along these lines
and you are fully conscience. If you do feel yourself falling into a deep sleep stage, I wouldn't
try to stop it... it is recommended to allow the demon to come to the surface where we can
deal with it.
Demons may speak through you at times to the minister. Sometimes they will simply take
control of your mouth and speak. You may or may not be aware of this when it happens, but
don't try to prevent it. If you hear yourself spewing out curses and foul language towards
your minister, don't be ashamed... it happens!
Sometimes spirits can be stubborn and require persistence to drive them out. If the minister
repeatedly confronts the same spirit, don't worry... I often have to spend a little time just
trying to get the demon to come to the surface so I can deal with it. Demons can resist our
authority and therefore they require persistent pressure before they cooperate.
Things not to do during deliverance
The enemy can try to bombard you with doubt, fear and make you feel like you will never be
set free. I advise to fight those feelings as much as you can. Saying to yourself, "I will never
be set free!" is doubting the work that God is trying to for you and wages war against your
faith. You might find it helpful to say to yourself something along the lines of, "I resist those
feelings and believe in the work that Jesus is doing in my life!"
It is important not to be afraid of the demons. God is much more powerful, and His angels
are here to assist! We may encounter some strong spirits that will resist our authority (that
is why we need to be persistent), but your freedom has been paid for by the precious Blood
of Christ, and we need to stand on that as we confront and battle the spirits at hand.
When demons are manifesting or being driven out of you, it is usually best not to do much
talking. Spirits often leave through the person's mouth, and it is true that we can hold them
back from coming out if we obstruct their passageway. If you feel something evil coming up
your throat, don't try to stop it from coming out... let it come fourth!
Hanging on to your bondage can literally keep you from being delivered. It is important to
LET GO and allow the demons to be released. Trying to remove a spirit of fear while you're
choosing in your mind to agree with it (being fearful) is not an easy task. You need to be

determined to have faith in Jesus, which is the opposite of fear. Let those demons come
out... let them come to the surface and be expelled... don't hold them back!
Keep your minister informed on what is going on
Before your deliverance, while filling out the questionnaire, do you experience any
uncomfortable feelings, nervousness, shaking, etc. while trying to answer certain questions?
If so, let the minister know what the questions were because it is likely arousing a spirit in
you that doesn't want those legal grounds to be broken.
Throughout the deliverance session, the Holy Spirit may bring to your remembrance a past
sin or situation that may have opened the door to demons... tell your minister about this
right away so they can help you remove any legal grounds to the spirits. If you feel the Holy
Spirit sharing anything with you during your deliverance, don't hesitate to share it with your
minister.
You are often going to experience things that your minister cannot perceive or know about.
For example, physical pain in an area of your body indicates a spirit manifesting. If the
minister knows where it is, he or she may place a Bible over that area of your body and
confront the spirit. If you feel any discomfort, pain or pressure in your body or confusion,
headache, racing thoughts, irrational emotions, etc. rising up in your mind, then it can be
very helpful to let the minister know what is going on. If you feel release from a spirit or feel
something leave you... let the minister know. If you experience any feelings of anger, hate,
rage, rebellion, the desire to run out of the room, etc., I recommend telling the minister
about what is happening. Always try to keep him or her posted on what is going on inside
you, unless they are right in the middle of casting it out and you feel it is coming out of your
mouth (I mentioned above not to talk or obstruct your airways as the demons are being
expelled).
YOU are often the best person to determine whether the spirit has left. Did you feel a release
or relief as if something has left you? Let the minister know! Sometimes they can go into
hiding (to trick you into thinking they are gone) and other times there are additional spirits
to be driven out, but keeping your minister updated on what is happening is helpful. Normally
speaking though, when you feel a release, it means that spirit(s) had departed.
Have questions? Don't hesitate to ask!
It is important to communicate with your minister while doing deliverance; if there's
something you don't understand, don't hesitate to ask him or her. We may not have all the
answers, but I believe it is important to help you understand the best we can.
If demons return, don't hesitate to seek freedom again

Every once in a while, a person may re-open doors to the demons which they were delivered
from. When this happens, if the person has repented for any sins committed, then there is no
reason to hesitate seeking that freedom again. Sometimes a person can feel embarrassed or
condemned for messing up again or allowing the spirits to re-enter them. This is a tactic of
the enemy to keep them from re-seeking that freedom. I do not judge or condemn those who
re-seek that freedom, but rather encourage you to do so... it's your freedom... don't let the
devil re-claim that area of your life!

Strongholds

Home > Strongholds

The process of deliverance often consists of three main parts: Tearing down strongholds,
removing legal rights and then casting out the remaining demons. If you try to cast out
demons without taking away the strongholds or legal rights that they are holding onto, then
you can't really expect to achieve a complete successful deliverance. Removing these two
blockages is vital in going about a complete and successful deliverance.
There is a teaching specifically on Legal Rights too that you may want to go through as well.

What is a stronghold?
A stronghold is a faulty thinking pattern based on lies and deception. Deception is one of the
primary weapons of the devil, because it is the building blocks for a stronghold. What
strongholds can do is cause us to think in ways which block us from God's best. For example,
if you think you have to confess all your sins to everybody you've ever wronged, you'll feel
just awful and guilty until you do all that, and even then, you'll probably feel guilty, because
you probably forgot many people that you didn't confess your sins to. All unnecessary, and a
waste of time, all because you were deceived and thought that you had to do something that
you really didn't have to do.
An example of a stronghold at work: A common scene is somebody who is scared of God,
and has a hard time feeling His love and presence. They view Him as a cruel taskmaster, and
not as the God that is really is to them, and therefore, they put up there own wall which
makes it hard for them to receive God's love, presence and draw close in their relationship
with Him. If you saw your spouse as a rude and cruel dictator, you probably wouldn't be as
apt to snuggle upto Him and love him as you would if you saw him as a loving and kind
person who loves you and cares for you. If you see somebody as mean, it's hard to receive
their love, isn't it? That's how our perception of God can hinder us from feeling His love and
presence in our lives. It is VERY important to have a correct perception of God if we want to
live victorious lives in Christ Jesus!

Two very destructive and common strongholds

The first one, where you see God incorrectly: One of the most popular and devastating
strongholds to have, is an incorrect image in your mind of who God is, and how He sees us.
People who see God as a taskmaster, live their lives with an unhealthy fear of God. There's a
good kind of fear of God, which is more like a holy respect for Him, but there's another kind
of fear that is very unhealthy that the enemy wants us to have, and it's the kind of fear
where we see God as a taskmaster, cruel, cold, distant, uncaring and would snap the whip at
us the moment we step out of line. People who are afraid they've committed the
unpardonable sin are almost guaranteed to have this stronghold. People who find it hard to
feel God's love and presence, often have this stronghold too. If you feel God is distant and
cold, or question if God loves you, then you need to get this stronghold torn down.
One awesome book that will help you break down this stronghold is Blessed Beyond Measure
by Gloria Copeland. It talks about the goodness of God, and it's impossible to read that book
and be the same person when your done seeing the love and goodness that God wants to
bless us with!
The second one, where you see yourself incorrectly: People who suffer from this have a
hard time seeing the new person that they are now in Christ Jesus, and often suffer from low
self-esteem. They don't understand what Christ did for them, and how it applies to their own
life. Common symptoms of this stronghold are guilt feelings (questioning if you've really been
forgiven of your sin(s)), low spiritual esteem (they feel like sinners, not saints), they lack
spiritual confidence that we are supposed to have in Christ Jesus, they may still struggle with
sin (Jesus said that if you keep in His Word, which tears down strongholds, you will be free
from the power sin has over you - John 8:31-34), and overall you don't feel 'worthy'
spiritually and lack the joy of the Lord in your life. If you even remotely struggle with this
stronghold, the teaching Forgiven sinner or saint? is an absolute must-read!
One of the best books I've seen for tearing down this stronghold is Victory over Darkness by
Neil T. Anderson. It will teach you of the new person you are now in Christ Jesus, and help
you be victorious over the darkness through an understanding of your identity in Christ.
I mention common other strongholds over on the Three Stages of Bondageteaching.

How to tear down a stronghold

2 Corinthians 10:4, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strong holds ."
Strongholds are birthed and dwell in deception (which are lies and false beliefs), so naturally
the cure is to bring the truth in God's Word on the scene. You debunk the lies of the enemy,
with the truth, which is in the Word of God! The Bible says that our weapons are mighty for
the tearing down of strongholds (2 Cor 10:4, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."). What is our primary offensive

weapon? The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph 6:17, "...the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God."). Truth dispels deception and lies, and therefore the more
truth you bring into a situation, the more the darkness must flee. This is where it's important
to grow in God's Word, is because it is your primary weapon for tearing down the strongholds
of deception that the enemy has been feeding you.
In John 8:31-36, Jesus tells us that we can be held in bondage due to strongholds in our
lives. And His solution was to, "continue in my word... and ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free." (v. 32-32) Strongholds are torn down as we meditate on God's
Word, which is truth!
A great list of Bible verses you can meditate on, which will help you tear down strongholds in
your life can be found on the anti-stronghold Bible verses
page: http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/bible_verses.php
Another great list of anti-stronghold confessions can be found in the Blessing
Confessions list.

Casting out demons

Home > Casting out demons

What is needed to cast out demons? One word... authority! Who has such authority? God's
children... the believers! How do we exercise our authority? Through a spoken command in
faith directed at the unclean spirits. The more faith we have, the more authority we can
exercise.

Spiritual authority
Jesus sent us fourth into the world as He was sent fourth (John 20:21), to do the works He
did (John 14:12), and He gave us the authority to do the work at hand (Mark 13:34).
What does it take to drive out demons? Authority! As we can see in Mark 1:27, "And they
were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves saying, What thing is
this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits ,
and they do obey him." As we can see in Luke 4:35, Jesus was not afraid to exercise His
authority either, "And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him . And
when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not."

Luke 10:17-19, "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are
subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power (translates to AUTHORITY) to tread on serpents
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt
you."
Does every believer have authority over demons? Yes! We are all seated with Christ in
the heavenly realm (Eph 2:6), which means we are above the demons in rank of authority!
Mark 13:34 also tells us how we are given authority to carry out the work that is laid before
us. Mark 16:17 tells us that them who believe will be casting out demons.
There is a teaching specifically on Your Spiritual Authority that will deepen your
understanding even more on this subject.

The importance of "In the name of Jesus"

How did Jesus' disciples go about casting out demons? Through His name. Luke 10:17
tells us, "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject
unto us through thy name ."
How did the early church go about casting out demons? Through His name. Acts 16:18
tells us a story where Paul, "turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of
Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
How are the believers today supposed to be casting out demons? Through His name. As
we can see in Mark 16:17, "these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they
cast out devils."

Authority is exercised through 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..." Obviously they had the
authority, but they weren't able to use it because their level of faith wasn't high enough to
access the level of authority that needed to be exercised to drive out that particular kind of
unclean spirit. Some evil spirits are stronger and harder to drive out, and sometimes prayer
and fasting is necessary to build our faith up so we can drive them out, as we can see in the
next verse (21), "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Conclusion
As believers, we have been given authority in Jesus' name to drive out demons. We access
our authority through faith and exercise our authority with a spoken command directed at the
unclean spirit. As Paul clearly demonstrates in Acts 16:18, "Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her . And
he came out the same hour."

How does all this apply to us today? Mark 16:17 tells us, "These signs shall follow them that
believe; In my name shall they cast out devils."

The most common obstacles

Not enough faith - Jesus said that some demons only come out after prayer and fasting,
which builds your faith to the higher levels required to cast out some of the stronger demons.
Mark 9:29, "And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and
fasting."
Unwillingness to be delivered or let go - if the person is not willing to give up certain
things in their life that are giving the enemy the legal right to remain, or they are not willing
to let go of certain demons, there's little you can do to drive out those demons.
Legal rights were not broken - if you try to go about a deliverance without first breaking
off any legal grounds given to the enemy, you will almost certainly fail, and even if you are
successful, the demons will almost certainly come back with even more demons, making a
worse mess then before.
Important steps were not taken - there are some steps that can make a day and night
difference in a deliverance session, such as getting ahold of the demons names and
commanding them by name. If you simply command all the demons present to leave, you will
likely be ignored; it's like somebody trying to get your attention in a crowd by yelling "Hey
you!" Many times when Jesus cast out demons, He referred to them by name, and He got
their attention in quick order. Not every deliverance session requires you to refer to the
demons by name, but it sure helps when you are able to get ahold of their names, either
through the person your ministering to (if they accepted a spirit guide by the name of
Daemon, then they would obviously know the name of one or more spirits that are in them),
another way to get the name is by the symptoms they are causing, for example, extreme
guilt feelings are often caused by a spirit by the name of guilt, and other ways to get their
names are by a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit, or from the demons themselves (if
they manifest, ask them for their name).
The person hasn't accepted Christ - trying to cast a demon out of an unbeliever is like
trying to kick somebody out of their apartment when their rent is paid up; it isn't an easy
task and even if you did succeed, they are bound to come back with several more even worse
evil spirits as Jesus warned in Matthew 12:43-45. This problem can be easily solved by
asking the person if they would accept Jesus, with a mouth confession as the Bible says, and
believe with their heart in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:9-11, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the

heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."

Abortion and spiritual bondage

Home > Abortion and spiritual bondage

Abortion is known to bring emotional torment in it's aftermath, yet few understand this as
being demonic and spiritual bondage. Abortion, as far as the Bible is concerned, is nothing
less than the murder of an innocent person which God has created, and is a source for great
spiritual bondage.

What makes abortion murder?

The token that the pro-choice use, is that the fetus (unborn child) is not a person yet, but
only a mass of tissue. (For that matter, many today also believe that we evolved from apes,
and are nothing more than a mass of tissue ourselves!) If the fetus were simply a mass of
tissue without a human spirit, then I think we could justify abortion. However, the fetus is
not simply a mass of tissue, but rather a person to whom God is knitting together their
physical body in the mother's womb.
If the fetus was simply a useless mass of tissue , then abortion may be excusable.
But if the fetus happens to be a real person, who's body is being knit together in it's
mother's womb, then abortion is nothing less than murder of an innocent life. Just because
somebody's body is still being knit together, does not mean that they are not yet a human
being. Children are not fully developed until age 18 or so, but we would never consider them
any less than a human being!

At what point does the spirit join with the body?

At what point does the baby (whether born or unborn) actually become a human being
possessing a spirit? Does this happen when the child is 18 years old, and is said to be an
adult? Does this happen when the child says it's first words? How do we know when this
happens? We could assume it takes place at the age 18, which would make it seem ok to kill
anybody under 18. That would be silly, wouldn't it? Who is to say that the baby isn't a real
human until it leaves the womb? This is what the pro-choice argue, but do they have any
proof of this? Can it be backed with scripture? Absolutely not! It is nothing more than an
assumption, at which, they are not capable of backing with any real proof!

Nowhere in the entire Bible does it give us even a hint that the child does not
become a human being with a spirit until it leaves the womb!
Luke 2:21, "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his
name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angelbefore he was conceived in the
womb ."
2 Kings 4:17, "And the woman conceived , and bore a son at that season that Elisha had said
unto her, according to the time of life."
If you take the word 'conceive' in the above verse and look it up in it's Hebrew roots, we are
given the Hebrew word harah, which interprets to: "A primitive root; to be (or become)
pregnant, conceive (literally of figuratively): - been, be with child , conceive, progenitor." For
a woman to conceive, it literally means that she is now WITH A CHILD. What do the prochoice tell us? That it's not really a child, but just a mass of tissue! Sounds like those who
believe we came from apes, and are still just a mass of tissue ourselves!
An unborn child is still a person in the eyes of God : The Bible is clear that God formed
us in our mother's womb, and He knew us before we were even CONCEIVED!
Genesis 25:23, "And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb , and two manner
of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the
other people; and the elder shall serve the younger."
God is saying that there are two persons living in this woman's womb, and each of them will
bring fourth a nation.
Isaiah 49:1, "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath
called me from the womb ..."
Here we see the Lord calling somebody from the womb... clearly, the person was there, or
God would have been calling nothing from the womb. The Bible is also clear that He knew us
from the womb:
Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee ; and before thou camest forth
out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."
Also notice in the above verse how God sanctified and ordained somebody before they were
even born! How could this take place if there was not a real human being present in
the womb?
Here's another verse that helps show us how God brought David out of his mother's womb...

Psalms 22:9, "But thou art he that took me out of the womb : thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breasts."
Can a mass of tissue be filled with the Holy Ghost? Can a mass of tissue leap for joy?
Apparently, John the Baptist was much more than tissue, as we can see in the following
verses...
Luke 1:15, "For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor
strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb ."
Luke 1:44, "For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe
leaped in my womb for joy ."

What abortion clinics don't want you to know... The Silent Scream
Fetus' have feelings... as we can see in Luke 1:44, John the Baptist leaped for joy when he
heard Mary's voice. During an abortion, it is true that the fetus can feel the pain and reacts
to the danger. The silent scream is where a baby is being killed, and the child expresses
unspeakable terror just moments before being killed. Since the Silent Scream is a subject all
in itself, I am going to point you to a Web site, where they go into much more detail on the
Silent Scream, and even show a video of an abortion in action where you can clearly see the
Silent Scream taking place... a word of warning, this film is very graphic and not
recommended for children to view! After all, abortion is not a pretty scene, and is nothing
short of gruesome murder of an innocent and helpless child! Click on the link below for more
information on The Silent Scream:
SilentScream.org
Abortion's aftermath is proof alone that abortion is indeed spiritual! Jesus made it clear that
murder is a source of spiritual defilement:
Matthew 15:18-20, "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile
a man ..."
Some women may not seem to be tormented so badly by abortion's aftermath, but that is if
their conscience has been sheered as by a hot branding iron:
1 Timothy 4:2, "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron."
Satan is not a dummy when it comes to deceiving the world (isn't he known for his clever
deception?). There are some women who experience little or no torment after having
abortions, but I believe they are simply 'spared' as to deceive the rest of us that it's okay to

have abortions and not all women will be tormented afterwards. Wouldn't it make sense if
Satan keeps 3% of those women who have abortions to be examples of how not all women
are tormented after having an abortion, so that they could tell the rest of us how they have
not been negatively affected by their abortion? Don't fall for Satan's clever deception.
If a fetus (unborn child) was simply a mass of tissue, then it would be impossible
for any woman who believes such a lie to experience such awful mental torment and
shame after having an abortion.
The truth is, abortion is a source for enormous spiritual and mental bondage and torment. It
is a means for spiritual defilement, just as cold-blooded murder is, and opens a person up to
unclean spirits (demons) to enter and harass the person. Studies have shown that abortion is
also linked to suicide because of such torment and bondage... many women feel it's better
that they weren't even born if they have to face such torment. Nobody knows what it's like to
be in bondage, until they are the ones facing it in their own lives, and the sad truth is that
many women today don't realize what they are getting themselves into until it is too late,
and the damage is already done.
Women who have had abortions are almost always said to experience some or many of the
following symptoms:
- Bondage to shame and guilt
- Nightmares relating to the abortion
- Feeling that God would never forgive them
- Depression which can lead to suicide (Studies show that abortion is linked to suicide)
- Self-hatred for allowing themselves to do such a thing
- Sleep disorders - finding it hard to get to sleep at night
- Flashbacks and even hearing sounds of children crying
- Desire to have another baby to replace the aborted baby
- Inability to form a true loving bond with her other children
- And many many more...
The list of side affects from an abortion are long. Jesus made it clear that murder is a means
for defilement, and defilement is an open door to unclean spirits to come in and play havoc in
a person's life. I believe behind almost every (if not every) case of suicide, is a spirit... a

demon that drives the person to take their own life to end the pain they are facing. People
who have came close to suicide will often admit that there was a force that was 'driving'
them to take their own life. It often tells them that they could end all of their problems by
pulling the plug.

The linkage between abortions and suicide

Abortion is nothing less than murder, and opens the door to spirits that will drive a person
into the ground. Depression is a common side effect that is experienced by those who have
had an abortion. It is not uncommon for this depression to affect the person so badly that
they are driven to suicide. Suicide is almost always, if not always caused by a demon... how
does a spirit of suicide enter these women? They have been defiled through murder,
which opens them up to a murder-related spirit of suicide!
In 1986, the University of Minnesota did a study and reported that a teenage girl who has
had an abortion within the past 6 months, is 10 times more likely to commit suicide than a
teenage girl who hasn't had an abortion! In 1987 a study revealed that 28% of women who
have had an abortion attempted suicide later on. An 18 year old girl admitted that two days
after her abortion, she wrote a suicide note to her parents and boyfriend, then went down
stairs and found her dad's gun and put it to her head.
When running somebody through a deliverance, it is a good idea to keep an eye out for a
spirit of murder or suicide. When a person defiles themselves through murder, they have
opened legal grounds for related spirits to enter them. Many women who have had abortions
have picked up spirits of suicide, as a result of being defiled through murder.

Who is behind the pro-choice movement?

As the Bible tells us, we do not wage war against flesh and blood, but against various ranks
of evil spirits (demons):
Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places."
Those who have had a decent amount of experience in the ministry of deliverance, usually
have came across quite a few spirits that go by the name Jezebel. The Jezebel spirits are
what was behind the evil queen in the Bible which went by the name Jezebel, and are alive
and well in many women today. Jezebel is accurately said to be Satan's woman. I personally
believe that the women's rights movement is fueled by ruling spirits of Jezebel. The goal of
Jezebel is to usurp the woman's authority over the man in the household. The spirit of
Jezebel is said to be known as 'extreme selfishness', and is the cause of many working
mothers today, which can afford to stay at home with their children, but refuse to do so for
the sole purpose of driving a better car and living in a better home. This same spirit tells
America that the unborn child can be a hindrance to woman's rights, and that it is more

important that the woman can choose to abort the hassle rather than preserving the child's
life.
Let me ask you this, if abortion is the murdering of innocent children (which it is!), then
would you put it past "Satan's woman" to be behind such a horrific mass-killing in the world
today?
I didn't want to go into much detail on this (the spirit of Jezebel can be a teaching all in
itself), but I did want to give you a brief understanding of the demonic force that we are up
against in this battle against abortion.

Deliverance from abortion's aftermath

The good news for those who have had an abortion is that they can be forgiven, and set free
from the aftermath of it. It is almost always necessary that such individuals go through a
deliverance to rid themselves of any unclean spirits that they have picked up, tear down
strongholds that have come on the scene, receive quality post-deliverance discipleship and
maintain a healthy relationship with God so that they can receive and hold on to their
freedom. It may be possible to receive a measure of freedom without a deliverance, but I
would never bypass this step if I had an abortion (murder) in my background. It's possible to
experience a certain amount of freedom, without dealing with the root, but in such cases
they will still remain in bondage in some way or another and it just doesn't go away. If
unclean spirits are involved, then the partial freedom that they find will be continued to be
challenged, and fought for as the spirits continue to work on the person to pull them down
and torment them. After complete deliverance, the person may still need post-deliverance
discipleship, but the problems will go away and the person will not have to continually fight
against the negative 'pull' in their system.
If the person has allowed guilt and shame to overtake them for a measure of time, then it is
vital to tear down strongholds as well. True repentance of such a sin is an absolute necessity,
and without which, true deliverance cannot be attempted. Abortion must be repented of for
what it really is, and that is murder of an innocent child. The person must learn to forgive
themselves as well for what they have done, and learn to love and accept themselves as
Jesus loves and accepts them. They also need to believe and accept the forgiveness that
Jesus has for them (have Bible verses handy to assure them of God's forgiveness). It is also
important to be sure that any bad soul ties (sex outside marriage) is broken, and the sin of
fornication (or adultery) needs to be brought before the Lord in repentance as well before the
deliverance process begins. After true repentance has happened and legal grounds have been
broken up (bad soul ties broken, etc.), then it's time to move on to tearing down any
strongholds that are present and begin casting out the spirits that have entered the person.

Demonic legal rights

Home > Demonic legal rights

The process of deliverance often consists of three main parts: Tearing down strongholds,
removing legal rights and then casting out the remaining demons. If you try to cast out
demons without taking away the strongholds or legal rights that they are holding onto, then
you can't really expect to achieve a complete successful deliverance. Removing these two
blockages is vital in going about a complete and successful deliverance.
There is a teaching specifically on Strongholds too that you may want to go through as well.

What are legal rights?

A legal right is something that can give demons an opportunity to enter or harass us, or
gives them the right to remain in us even when we try to cast them out. Some of the most
common legal rights that are faced when ministering deliverance are:
Sins (especially willful sins): When we commit sin, it gives the enemy a legal right to
affect or bother us in one way or another. The deeper the sin, the bigger the door that is
opened to the devil. When a person allows unholy thoughts to enter their mind, it can open
the door to a demon of lust, which eventually causes the person to commit adultery and the
matter is compounded. It starts when the enemy tempts us to think the wrong thing, then
when we accept it and make it a habit, it opens the door for the enemy to move in further,
then behind the bad habit which can be formed, lies a demonic compulsion that isn't easily
resisted. If the person continues down this path, he continues to open more doors to the
enemy, and eventually that person finds himself committing adultery, rape, etc. because the
feelings and desires the demons push on that person are irresistible. Once he commits those
sins, mega doors are then opened, and the problem is like a snowball going down the hill. Sin
opens the door to demons, which push us in the direction to more sins, which open us wider
to more demons, etc.
The remedy? Repentance! Verbally confess and repent of your sins that have given the
enemy legal rights in your life. If you recognize a particular sin or sins that has opened the
door to the bondage you are seeking deliverance from, it helps to specifically repent of that
sin. Any larger or gross sins you can remember are always good to repent of specifically.
1 John 1:9 tells us to confess our sins. If we don't confess our sins and instead we hide them
from God, it leaves that sin remaining in our lives. We need to confess our sins in order to be
forgiven.
Soul ties: It is possible for two persons to share spiritual ties (like spiritual bridges that
connect the two persons). Some of the most popular and destructive soul ties are formed

during an adultery or fornication. 1 Corinthians 6:16 warns us not to have sexual relations
with a prostitute because we become one flesh (flesh as in soul realm kind of flesh, not a
physical flesh) with that person. This ungodly soul tie is like a rope between two persons that
demons can use to their advantage to cross from one person to another. If that person had
demons tormenting them, and you had sex with them, it unites the two persons, and
therefore a soul tie is created, and the demons tormenting that person can also have rights
to torment you. This does not apply to married couples, because there is no unhealthy soul
tie created from sex within marriage. The Bible says that the marriage bed is un-defiled, and
defilement is required to create an evil soul tie.
The remedy? Repentance, renunciation and breaking of soul ties! First, specifically repent of
the sin which caused the soul tie to be formed in the first place. Then you can use your
authority in Jesus to break and sever the unholy soul tie. Saying something like this should
do the job, "I now renounce, break and sever all unholy soul ties created between myself and
_____ through the act of adultery in Jesus' name!"
There can also be soul ties between yourself and another person, without any sexual
relationship involved. Sexual relationships are one of the best way to create a very strong
soul tie, but it's not the only way. Other soul ties can be created through unhealthy
relationships, such as being so close to a parent that you take their advice over God's advice.
Again, repentance and the breaking of the soul ties in Jesus' name is the way to go about
solving this problem.
Another thing that could hold back the breaking of a soul tie, is a physical object given to
you from the other person, through a sinful relationship. If you were given a ring, or bra or a
love gift through an adulterous relationship, for example, then those gift(s) can hold the soul
tie together. If the gift is valuable, and not necessarily bad in itself, then it's best to sell the
gift. If the gift is demonic or unholy, then it's best to throw away the gift.
Demonic vows: A demonic vow can be like a spiritual signature that the enemy uses as a
legal right to gain access into our lives. Demonic vows can be made consciously or
unconsciously. Often when a person joins a cult coven (a group of witches), they are required
to make vows with the devil. Demonic vows can be made unconsciously just by dabbling with
the occult. Just by getting curious about the occult and reading forbidden materials (including
horoscopes) can give the enemy your spiritual signature; it tells the enemy know that your
interested. Jesus warns us not to make any vows at all. The only vows I can see are practical
and good are those made during a marriage ceremony.
The remedy? But if we have made vows that do not glorify God, then we should repent and
renounce those vows verbally and seek God's forgiveness. Do this verbally, because vows are
made verbally, breaking them is also done verbally.

Unforgiveness: When we don't forgive others, God won't forgive us. When God doesn't
forgive us, it leaves our sins remaining, which can give the enemy legal rights into our lives.
Read Matthew 18:23-35, and keep in mind that the tormenters they are referring to, are
demons. The legal ground the enemy may be standing on to torment you may very well be
rooted in unforgiveness! I've heard that the single most common reason that people aren't
healed, is because they are holding unforgiveness in their hearts, and I believe it!
Forgiveness is not an option; it's a necessity! See my study on "Unforgiveness: Poison" for a
more in depth understanding of how unforgiveness works.
The remedy? Repent for holding bitterness in your heart against others, and make a solid
choice to forgive those who have wronged you (also confirm your choice by verbally forgiving
them), and release the bitterness and hurt from your heart against them.
Ancestral sins: When you involve yourself in the deeper sins or the occult world, you not
only open demonic doors in your own life, but also in the lives of your children and
grandchildren (Exodus 20:5). If your ancestors have committed gross sins or been involved
in the occult, then it's a good idea to confess those sins (to the best of your ability... God
knows your heart), and ask Him for forgiveness (Leviticus 26:40-42). Even though you
personally aren't guilty of those sins, they may have caused curses in your life, and those
curses need to be broken. Common ways to tell if ancestral sins are involved, is if your
siblings or ancestors have experienced or are experiencing the same or similar problem that
you are.
The remedy? The legal grounds have already been broken! If any spirits are remaining, they
must be cast out. For more information, see the teaching on Generational Curses.
Childhood rejection: Much demonic bondage is caused during childhood. For example, if a
parent shows rejection toward their child, a spirit of rejection may enter.
The remedy? If you have been rejected by either your parents or somebody else, you must
make a solid choice to forgive that person(s), and release the hurt in your heart against
them. The spirit of rejection is usually present in this situations, and should be renounced.
Points of weakness: When the person experiences weakness, such as emotional shock,
physical trauma, fearful experiences during childhood, and other areas to which the natural
walls of defense in the physical, spiritual or emotional system of a person are weakened, it
leaves us vulnerable for the enemy to attach himself to us. The same is true with drinking
excessive amounts of alcohol, and especially true with drugs, because they lower our
defenses, and since demons thrive on weakness, they love to move right in and setup camp.
The remedy? If there was any bitterness involved (say somebody caused the traumatic
experience for you, and you are still holding it against them), then you must forgive the
person who hurt you, and repent for harboring bitterness in your heart against them. If the

point of weakness was caused by your own sin, such as drinking or drugs, then confess and
repent of that sin. If the demons entered solely through traumatic experience, and none of it
was anybody's fault, then the demons are 100% trespassers in this situation, and need to be
told to leave!
Spoken self-curses: The words we say have spiritual value, the Bible says to bless and not
curse, and that the tongue has the power of life and death. If you walk around saying, "I
wish I could just die," a demon may hear you and can go to God and say, "Look, she wants to
die!" and here comes a spirit of death. There is a book titled, "Blessing or Curse: You can
choose, " by Derek Prince, which deals with this topic of curses in much detail.
The remedy? Take back what you spoke against yourself, renounce it! Repent for speaking
such thing(s), and break the curse(s) in Jesus' name!
Cursed objects: Physical objects can carry spiritual value, such as idols, occult books, rings,
movies, charms, etc. If you brought any Indian or pagan religion artifacts into your home,
you could be opening the door for demons to enter and bother the people within your home.
Land can also become defiled by the sins of it's owners (Leviticus 18:27).
The remedy? Burn, destroy or get rid of any physical objects that you have located that could
be cursed. Isaiah 2:18, "And the idols he shall utterly abolish." It is Biblical to burn cursed
objects. Repent for bringing such objects into your home if you are responsible for them!
Land can be cleansed by prayer and repenting of the sins of the previous owners.
Renounce demons: Renounce any known demons that have been invited in (ex. spirit
guides), and any interest or involvement in the occult or Satanism. Also renounce any
demons that you know need to be cast out. This helps let the demons know that you are no
longer interested in having them around.
Other helpful things to look for: When did the bondage start? Try to pinpoint how the
problem started and what gave the demons the ability to enter. Look for any involvement in
the occult, sins, vows, traumatic experiences, etc. along with any unusual happenings
emotionally, spiritually or mentally.

The Ministry of Deliverance

Home > The Ministry of Deliverance

This article is directed towards pastors, ministers, and anybody who is interested in entering
the ministry of deliverance. It will give you a brief overview of what you should know before
entering this ministry, and how to effectively prepare yourself for this ministry.
Many people enter this ministry with barely any knowledge of what they are doing, and it's
given the ministry of deliverance a bad name in many people's eyes, because of failed
deliverances, unsuccessful ministering, and people walking away still in bondage, because the
minister didn't really understand what the root of the problem was in that person's life
The purpose of this article is to point you in the right direction and to prepare you for this
ministry, so you will be ready to help and minister to a wide variety of people, in a wide
variety of bondages, and bring them into complete freedom in Christ! This article alone is by
no means a complete manual, it was never intended to be, but it will give you an overview of
what you will need to learn before entering this ministry.

The purpose of ministering deliverance

Guess what? This ministry isn't about demons! That's right! It's about guiding and helping
our brothers and sisters come into the victory that Christ died to give them! The purpose of
ministering deliverance is to set free those who are in bondage. As Jesus was sent fourth to
preach deliverance to the captives (Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
hath anointed me to... preach deliverance to the captives..."), so we are also sent out (John
20:21, "Then said Jesus to them... as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.") to do
the works He did (John 14:12, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do
also..."), and this includes casting out of devils (Matthew 10:8).
The ministry of deliverance is about bringing spiritual victory and freedom to those who are
in bondage. It doesn't matter what you call it (demonized, possessed, oppressed, etc.), if
they are in demonic bondage, whether they need to tear down a stronghold, break up a legal
ground, cast a demon out, or all three... it's still deliverance, because it's setting the
captives free. Casting out demons, is just part of the overall ministry of deliverance.

Four important elements of this ministry

This is where I see some deliverance ministries miss the mark. They think it's as simple as
commanding the demon to come out, and there's nothing more they can do. This is a grave
mistake that causes a lot of people to walk away from a deliverance still in bondage. There is
more to it than simply casting out demons. In Luke 9:42, we are told a story of how Jesus
not only rebuked demons in a boy who was mentally affected by evil spirits, but also is said
to have healed the boy. There is no mention of the boy needing physical healing, but if you
look up the word healed in this passage, one of the meanings is, "to free from errors and
sins...", which is likely what Jesus did with the boy, Jesus removed the boy's legal grounds
(sins) and freed him from errors (strongholds). This case of deliverance required more then
just rebuking demons!

There have been times when I have successfully helped people out of their demonic
bondages, without even having to cast out demons! Sometimes all that is needed is the
pulling down of a stronghold, or a breaking up of a legal right. Other times, all three areas
need to be addressed to bring the person into complete freedom.
A educated deliverance minister should be knowledgeable with all three of these very
important elements, and be prepared to address them without hesitation:
Inner healing: Many times when a person has been abused, rejected, wounded, or hurt in
some way, there is an emotional wound that needs to be healed. Demons will use these
wounds and weaknesses against the person, as leverage to hold them in bondage and get
them to re-open doors so that they can re-enter. Inner healing is a vital step in the overall
restoration process that needs to take place in the lives of many who are seeking
deliverance. There is more information on this process in the teaching Steps to Inner Healing.
Tearing down strongholds: Strongholds are incorrect thinking patterns that people develop
over time, and are often set up and nurtured by demons through lies and deception. Demons
thrive on strongholds, and use them to hang around a person and torment them. I
recommend reading the teaching on Strongholds for a clear insight into exactly what a
stronghold is, and how to go about tearing them down. Failing to tear down strongholds can
hold up a deliverance and prevent us from walking in complete spiritual freedom.
Removing legal rights: Legal rights are things that give demons permission to enter and
remain in our lives. Before demons can often be cast out, it is important to address and
remove these legal rights. The teaching on Legal Rights lists the most common legal rights
and how you can go about removing them. Failing to remove legal rights can hold up a
deliverance very easily.
Casting out the demons: This requires two basic elements: knowledge of your authority in
Christ Jesus over the powers of the enemy, and faith in that authority. Demons are cast out
with a simple spoken command, such as, "I command the spirit of fear to come out in the
name of Jesus!" You can learn more about your authority and how it works from the teaching
onSpiritual Authority.
I believe it is usually a good idea to give the person requesting deliverance a Deliverance
Questionnaire that will give you an overview of their background, the bondages they are
facing, the root or source of their problem, as well as legal grounds, strongholds and any
particular spirits that need to be addressed. Then begin to work with them to receive inner
healing, break up any legal grounds, and tear down any strongholds you see in their life and
of course, cast out any demons that need to go.
It is always helpful to have a general idea of what the different common demons are, what
they do and how they enter, how they usually operate, etc. For example, the Bible speaks of

spirits that cause physical health problems such as the spirit of infirmity, blindness, deafness,
etc. along with spirits that cause fear and depression (King Saul), mental illness, etc. The
teaching on Demon Possession is a good place to start and will help you begin to understand
how demons affect us, and what it really means to be 'possessed with a demon'. I don't
necessarily recommend reading occult books or books on demons that were not written by
solid Christian ministers, because that can cause you to pick up demons yourself! Whatever
you do, don't wander into the dark world to learn about it! The best place to learn about
demons, is from the Bible itself! Whatever you can't find in the Bible, you can learn from
other solid Christian ministers such as Derek Prince, Frank Hammond, or Doris Wagner.

Don't lose insight on what really matters

Do you know what bothers me? When I see people placing so much of their focus on demons,
curses, and what the enemy is up to, that they lose their focus on Jesus and what the true
purpose of this ministry is all about. It is important not to lose sight of what Jesus has done
for us, the goodness of God, and what the true purpose of this ministry is all about. It's not
about the demons at all, it's all about what Jesus has done for us on the cross, and helping
fellow brothers and sisters in Christ come into and walk in that freedom in their lives.
Fear-driven ministries: One thing that I like to watch out for, is fear-driven ministries. I
call them fear-driven, because they often put a lot of fear into people that is NOT from God,
and is completely unnecessary. They don't show you the love of Christ and build you up,
instead they are good at giving you warnings and telling you how serious of a condition you
are in, or how badly you messed up and how serious your sin is, etc. They tell you that if you
aren't careful, the demons will return and you'll be worse off the second time than the first
(which is true if you are a sinner, but that doesn't apply to believers). They give you the
impression that you're in serious danger and if you don't follow their instructions to the tee,
you aren't going to be set free. They overall speak a lot of fear and condemnation to you,
which can set you on the edge of your seat sometimes. By the time you are done, you could
be worse off than before, because of all the false lies and deception they feed people who are
in bondage. I do not affiliate myself with these kinds of ministries, and I don't support them.
I like to keep 95% of my attention on God's goodness, and 5% on kicking the enemy out. I
myself have experienced "bad ministering" before, so I know what it's like. I walked away
worse off than I came. The more I began to see through their tactics (and some of the areas
they were WAY off), the better I felt. But I didn't let that stop me from receiving TRUE
deliverance ministry, and thank God... true deliverance ministry is well worth the wait!
Always remember this important point: It's not about the demons... it's about the
children of God receiving and walking in the freedom that Christ died to give them!

Recommended reading
Free in Christ by Pablo Bottari
They Shall Expel Demons by Derek Prince

Unbound by Neal Lozano

Free at Last by Larry Huch
Breaking Generational Curses & Pulling Down Strongholds by Vito Rallo
Demons & Deliverance by H. A. Maxwell Whyte
Pigs in the Parlor by Frank & Ida Mae Hammond
How to Cast out Demons by Doris M. Wagner
Seductions Exposed - The spiritual dynamics of relationships by Dr. Gary L. Greenwald
Blessing or Curse: You can choose by Derek Prince

Self-Deliverance

Home > Self-Deliverance

Preparations and precautions

This is a basic step by step outline of how to go about a self deliverance. This is not a
complete set of instructions that will work for everybody, and if you need to be freed from
heavier bondages, you may be better off consulting with an actual deliverance minister if you
are able to locate one. These instructions will give you a good idea of how to drive demons
out of yourself. It is recommended that you read up further on this subject before attempting
to run yourself through a deliverance.
The limits of self-deliverance: Self deliverance is very helpful in many situations where a
deliverance minister isn't available to minister to you, and you can be set free from many
bondages simply by running yourself through a self deliverance. However, it can be limited if
compared to a regular deliverance session.
Precaution: If you have come out of heavy or active involvement in the occult or Satanism,
you would be better off seeing somebody else to minister deliverance to you (an experienced
deliverance minister), because the demons encountered in those situations are usually much
stronger, and are best off handled by somebody else.

If you begin to feel like you are losing control as a demon manifests, then stop, and seek
help from an experienced deliverance minister.
Pre-deliverance prayer: As with any deliverance, it is good to pray that the Holy Spirit will
show you what the roots to the problem are, and what needs to be done. Pray for His
continual guidance and strength during the deliverance session. It is often helpful to ask God
to send angels to assist in the deliverance. They can play a powerful role in helping you flush
the demons out.
Warning to non-believers: Deliverance is for believers (Matthew 15:22-28), and is not fit
for unbelievers (those who are outside the covenant). If you aren't a Christian, I wouldn't
even attempt a deliverance, because it's like stirring up a hornet's nest. First accept Jesus,
then seek deliverance. This way, you can prevent the demons from returning with several
more even worse evil spirits as Jesus warns in Matthew 12:43-45. If you aren't a believer, I
wouldn't even try to cast a demon out of anybody; as we can see in Acts 19:13-16, it's not
wise to cast demons out if you aren't a child of God! They did not have authority in Jesus
because they were unbelievers and 7 men got thrown out of the house naked and beaten by
the demon. As you can see, it's not wise or safe to attempt a deliverance without Jesus in
your life!
Prayer and fasting: Prayer and fasting always helps in preparing you for a deliverance.
Jesus said that some kinds of demons will only come fourth through prayer and fasting.
Prayer and fasting builds your faith to the higher levels that is required to cast some demons
out.

1. Knowing what is rightfully yours

If you don't believe what is rightfully yours, it's going to be hard to claim it. Some of the
things you need to have down pat are knowing that your sins are forgiven, knowing that you
are a child of God, and knowing that you have authority over the demons.
You need to understand who you are in Christ. This sounds simple, and is often
overlooked, but is VITAL to your deliverance. If you don't really believe you are who you are,
then you won't have the faith to stand on who you are and claim what is rightfully yours. If
you don't really know that your a child of King, you won't feel like a prince, and you won't act
like a prince. And how are you supposed to defeat the enemy when you don't think like a
child of God should think? If you struggle with this, you need to tear down one or more
strongholds.
You need to know that your sins are forgiven. If you have guilt hanging over your head,
then it will greatly hinder your ability to stand up to the enemy with a clear conscience and
stand up for what is rightfully yours. Guilt is a door opener and keeper, and the enemy often
uses it as a base to launch all sorts of attacks against God's children. You need to understand
the nature of God, and how freely Jesus wants to forgive you of ALL your sins. Luke 7:47 is

one of my favorite verses the Lord showed me one time when I needed to learn this principal.
It tells of how freely Jesus forgave a very sinful woman from all her sins without hesitation!
Another good story on the forgiveness of our sins when we turn to God in repentance is
found in Luke 15. If you struggle with obsessive guilt even after repenting of your sins and
turning from them, then you need to tear down one or more strongholds.
You need to have a correct perception of God and your relationship with Him. If you
see God incorrectly, your going to be an easy target for the enemy. If you see God as a cruel
taskmaster, you'll act like He's a cruel taskmaster, and you will put up walls that will block
you from feeling God's love. Furthermore, the enemy moves in with the power of suggestion
(little things he whispers into your thought-life), and can terrorize the daylights out of you. If
you think of anybody (husband, wife, boss, etc.) as a cruel mean taskmaster, it puts up a
wall and you see that person differently, don't you? Even though you could be completely
wrong in your perception of them, to you, they are a taskmaster in your eyes, and therefore
you shut them out of your heart. This is what we do to God when we see Him as a cruel and
distant taskmaster. We cut ourselves off from experiencing and feeling His love. If you don't
feel God loves you, then you need to back up and take a moment to review how you are
perceiving Him. Many people struggle with this, and it is a stronghold that needs to be torn
down.
You need to know the authority you have been given by God over the enemy. You, as
a believer, have been given authority over all powers of the enemy, and have been given the
authority to bind and loose in the spiritual realm. You exercise your authority through a
spoken word in faith, just as Jesus cast demons out with His word, you can also cast demons
out with your word, which is backed by the authority that Jesus gave us as believers. You
have the authority whether your feel like it not, as long as you are a believer. It is important
to know that that your authority is accessed through faith, and therefore the more you
believe in your authority, the more of it you will be able to exercise. Mark 16:17 tells us that
them who believe will be casting out demons in His name! There's a great teaching just on
yourSpiritual Authority that you may want to check out.
As I mentioned above several times, there's often the need to tear down strongholds in our
lives. There's an excellent teaching just on Strongholdsthat you may want to go through
before attempting a self-deliverance if you sense that there's any strongholds that need to be
torn down.

2. Find the open doors and break off any legal grounds
I believe this is one of the most important parts of the deliverance process. It is important to
find out what opened the door to the enemy, so that we can close it and void their legal right
to bother us. There are a number of ways he can gain access, through sins, ancestral sins
(which causes ancestral curses), unforgiving heart (which blocks God's forgiveness toward
us), dabbling in the occult, demonic vows, fear, etc. Rather then including a more complete

list in this outline, there is a whole separate teaching just on Legal Rights, and how to go
about breaking them up.

3. Identify the areas of bondage in your life

It's important to know what areas of your life are in bondage, and an good idea of exactly
what you are seeking to be set free from. Make a list of the things you want to be freed from.
Know exactly what you want to be set free from. Then try to identify the 'open door' that
allowed the enemy to move into that area of your life. When did it start? If you had it your
entire life, and your parents or grandparents struggled with the same or similar problem,
then it was likely generational. Often you can locate what opened up the bondage, if you look
back around the time in your life when it started. It's always a good idea to become familiar
with the various ways the enemy can gain access into our lives. A good understanding
of Legal Rights andStrongholds is always helpful. There is a Deliverance Questionnaire posted
on this site to help knowledgeable ministers identify areas of bondage in a person's life. This
can be helpful to even an unexperienced person who has a general understanding of legal
rights and strongholds.
It's always a good idea to make some lists pertaining to your bondage. A list of legal rights is
good, and can help you keep track as you are going through the list and breaking up those
legal grounds. A list of the areas of bondage in your life is always a good idea. A list of
strongholds is also a good idea to keep track of. If you need further deliverance from another
minister or need more deliverance in the future (not all bondages are broken in one session it often takes multiple sessions to completely set a person free), it can be very helpful to
keep track of what is going on. If you seek further ministering from an experienced minister,
presenting those lists to him or her can give them a good quick look into your situation and
can save them time trying to uncover the areas of bondage in your life.

4. Casting the demons out

Take authority over the demon spirits within you by issuing a command such as, "In the
name of Jesus, I now take authority over every evil spirit present within me, and I command
each and every one to submit to the authority invested in me by Jesus Christ!"
If you can address the demons by name (lust, anger, suicide, hate, fear, etc.) you will often
find them submitting to your authority easier because it makes it harder on them to write
you off as if you weren't talking to them. If somebody yelled "hey you!" in a crowd, you
probably wouldn't pay any attention to them, but if they yelled out your name, you would be
a lot quicker to respond. The same is true with demons, if you address them by name, they
are a lot easier to get their attention. Notice how many times Jesus addressed the demons by
name, such as deaf and dumb spirits, etc.
Not every deliverance session requires you to refer to the demons by name, but it sure helps
when you are able to get ahold of their names, either through remembering your previous
involvement with evil spirits (if you accepted a spirit guide by the name of Daemon, then

obviously Daemon needs to go), another way to get the name is by the symptoms they are
causing, for example, extreme guilt feelings are often caused by a spirit by the name of guilt,
and other ways to get their names are by a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit, or from
the demons themselves (ask them for their name and listen for their response).
If I have a demon's name handy, I often like to use it. If not, I just proceed without it.
Using your authority in Jesus, command the evil spirits (by name if possible) to come out of
you in Jesus' name! Don't be alarmed if you find yourself throwing up all of a sudden, or
coughing uncontrollably, screaming, etc. It's a good sign, it usually means they are on their
way out! If you want to minimize manifestations, you can forbid them to manifest in Jesus'
name. I usually like them to manifest, because it exposes them even more, and somehow
weakens their power and 'cocky attitude' when they are hauled out in the open where you
can recognize them.

5. Encountering groupings of demons

Demons often work in teams, and if you identify the strongman, it will help you in figuring
out their game plan, and give you a better idea of how to go about casting out certain
demons first and unraveling their scheme. This is important, because this strongman is
usually the big guy that you are going after. Once you cast him out, the lesser demons
usually follow suite much easier. However, sometimes it's better to cast out the lesser
demons, and then deal with their leader after they are all gone and he can no longer play
games or hide behind them.
Since demons communicate with other demons both within and outside of you, I like to forbid
and shut down their communication between each other. I like to issue a command like this,
"I now shut down and forbid all lines of communication between the evil spirits within me,
between themselves, and with those outside of me in Jesus' name!"

6. Binding and loosing

Binding is a temporary spiritual handcuffing. If you get worn out and need to continue a
deliverance the next day, you could simply bind the remaining demons, and continue the
deliverance later on. Binding is also helpful when ministering to somebody else. You can bind
and forbid the demons to interfere with the person as you work with them to tear down
strongholds, break up legal grounds, etc.
Loosing is referring to loosing a captive from a bondage. Jesus loosed the woman from a
spirit of infirmity in Luke 13:12. You might say something like, "I loose myself from the spirit
of fear in the name of Jesus! Spirit of fear, I command you to COME OUT in the name of
Jesus!"

7. Checking to see if you are free

You should feel a noticeable relief when the demon(s) have left. However, they may just be
hiding, and trying to trick you into calling it a success, only to rear up their heads later on.
Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you if there are any demons remaining that need to
be cast out, or whether the deliverance was successful. The long term effect after a
deliverance is usually your best indicator, but when there have been symptoms of the demon
(such as fear, anger, suicidal urges, etc.), then I would expect those to be gone when the
deliverance has been successful.
Don't forget to consider that in many cases, deliverance is a process and not just one
session. If strongholds need to be torn down that the demons are hanging onto, they can
usually take time as you tear them down. When the spirits leave you though, you should feel
the difference and be able to freely walk in your newfound freedom.

8. Post deliverance instructions

I don't walk in constant fear of demons returning, but yet I also advise not to dabble in the
things which opened you up to demons in the first place either. Keep your relationship with
God cultivated, and don't let the enemy tempt you to let him back in.

If you are unsuccessful

Seek further knowledge on the ministry of deliverance, and consider seeking the help of an
experienced deliverance minister. Don't forget to consider that in many cases, deliverance is
a process and not just one session. If strongholds need to be torn down that the demons are
hanging onto, they can usually take time as you tear them down. If you try your best and are
getting nowhere, then I would seek help from an experienced minister.

Demon Possession

Home > Demon Possession

Serious flaw in the phrase 'demon possession'

I think we need to drop the term "demon possessed", because there is no such thing! NOT
even in the life of a NON-BELIEVER! You might be asking, "Here's somebody who's sold on
the deliverance ministry and he's telling us that there's no such thing as somebody being
demon possessed?" Let me explain...
The NT Greek: If you look up the term 'possessed' in the NT Greek Lexicon, it does NOT
refer to ownership, it rather means to be under the power (influence) of a demon. There's a

BIG difference! The Bible, as far as I know, provides absolutely NO backing to the idea that a
person can be possessed (according to modern English) by a demon!
Can a person be influenced or under the power (influence) of a demon? Absolutely! This is
what we address in the ministry of deliverance!
Greek scholars will tell you that this was an error (or at least a misleading impression) in the
modern translations of the Bible, including the KJV. It gives the wrong impression simply
because today's meaning to the word possessed is much different then it was back then.
If you look up the word possessed when used in conjunction with the word demon or devil in
the NT Greek, you'll find that it means to be under the power (influence) of a demon, not to
be owned by a demon. There is a BIG difference! Roughly half of the healings I found Jesus
perform in Matthew were actually deliverances. So if half the sickness and diseases in the
world today were demonically rooted, then a lot of people (including Christians) are without a
doubt influenced by demons. Does that mean that the person is owned by the demon? No
way! Did the demon(s) own the man who Jesus cast the deaf and dumb spirit out of? Of
course not!!
It's also interesting that the Spanish Bible does not use a term that refers to ownership, like
our English Bibles do. Our English Bibles have been flawed because the meaning of the word
possessed has changed, but our Bibles have not been updated to reflect this change.
The keyword is 'influenced', not 'possessed': Another interesting point is that if a demon
truly owned a person, then you wouldn't be able to cast a demon out of him or her, because
the person would belong to that demon. The reason you can cast demons out of people, is
because demons are intruders in their lives. People can be under the power (influence) of
demons, just as they can be under the power or influence of alcohol. The more a person
drinks, the more it influences them. The deeper a person gets into demonic bondage, the
more it influences them. Those who have gotten in touch with the occult and Satanism
demons usually have significant signs of demonic bondages. The deeper a person gets into
demonic bondage, the stronger of an influence the demons will have over them.
The Bible refers to several cases of people who had demons, and uses the word possessed,
but it does not say that the person was under total control of the demon. Actually, some
passages are obvious that the person was NOT under complete control of the demon. Like the
times when deaf and dumb spirits were cast out of the man. All they did was cause the
person to be blind or not be able to speak... scripture does not say that they did anything
else to the man. This alone proves that the word possessed in the NT does NOT refer to
ownership!
Almost every time the NT has used the term possessed in conjunction with demons or devils,
the phrase used was "possessed with." If you replace the word 'possessed' with 'owned' (as it

could have been written if it truly meant ownership), it doesn't sound right at all: 'The man
was owned with a demon.' Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
The bottom line? To be possessed with a demon means to be under the power (which
means influence) of a demon, but it does NOT mean that the demons owns the person. Like
being under the influence of alcohol, the more you drink (or get yourself into bondage), the
more you come under it's influence.
If you are 'possessed' by a spirit of fear, it means you are under the power of a spirit of fear,
which means you will be influenced by the spirit of fear, and therefore you will be fearful.
Same is true with spirits of deafness, if you are under their power, you won't be able to hear.
To be possessed really means to be under the power of that particular demon.

What does it mean to be under the power of a demon?

It means to have a demon, or to be under the power or influence of a demon. It may not be
even in the soul realm at all, it could be a spirit of infirmity affecting your body in one way or
another.
What basically happens is that either you or your ancestors have given a certain amount of
control of yourself or your body over a demon. Some people may be lightly affected by the
demonic, while others may be more heavily affected. It all depends on what strength of
demons are involved, what doors have been opened, and how many demons are involved,
along with other factors that will determine the amount of power or control the demons have
in a person.
A good way to illustrate this is by comparing demonic bondages to drinking; the stronger the
drink, and the more of it you have, the more it will influence your behavior. If you drink too
much of a strong drink, it can become quite noticeable. If you take a sip of wine, you may
not even notice the effect.
Demons can affect the physical body, as well as the mind of a person. Common ways that
they affect a physical body is through sickness and disease, such as cancer or arthritis.
Common ways they affect a person mentally is by fear, depression or even mental illness.
Demons can also hinder a person's spiritual growth.

Some common things that usually indicate demonic bondage

Compulsive cutting or self harm: Mark 5:5, "And always, night and day, he was in the
mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones ."
Physical infirmities sickness or diseases: Matthew 9:32-33, "As they went out, behold,
they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out,
the dumb spake ..."

Matthew 9:25, "When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul
spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit , I charge thee, come out of him, and enter
no more into him."
Luke 13:11, "And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years,
and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself."
Uncontrollable anger: Matthew 8:28, "And when he was come to the other side into the
country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the
tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way ."
Super-human strength: Matthew 5:2-4, "And when he was come out of the ship,
immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his
dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he
had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by
him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him ."
Mental health problems: Matthew 5:2-5, "And when he was come out of the ship,
immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his
dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he
had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by
him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night
and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones ."
Does that sound like somebody who's in their right mind to you? What would somebody in
their right mind be doing roaming the tombs? This tells me that there was a spirit of death
involved, which gave him exceeding interest in the dead. Who in their right mind would be
roaming the tombs day and night crying and cutting themselves with stones? When Jesus
cast those demons out, the man was said to have been "in his right mind" once again (verse
15).
Luke 8:27, "And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man,
which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the
tombs ." What kind of a person in their right mind would go running around in the tombs
naked?
Matthew 17:15, 18, "Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick , and sore vexed: for
ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water... And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he
departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour."
Matthew 9:17-18, "And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto
thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and
he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away : and I spake to thy disciples that
they should cast him out; and they could not."

Mental torment (fear, depression, etc.): 1 Samuel 16:14, "But the Spirit of the LORD
departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him ." I like how the New Living
Translation says it, "Now the Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and the LORD sent a
tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear."

Does Satan Have Access to Our

Minds?
Article ID: JAS450 | By: Hank Hanegraaf

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This article first appeared in the Ask Hank column of the Christian Research Journal, volume 27,
number 5 (2004). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journalgo
to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine
power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up
against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ (2
Cor. 10:45 NIV).

While we would greatly overestimate Satans power by supposing that he can interact directly with us
in a physical sense, an equal and opposite error would be to suppose that he does not have access
to our minds.
First, while Satan cannot read our minds, he can influence our thoughts. Thus, the Bible instructs us
to put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes (Eph.
6:11 NIV). Without it, you are a guaranteed casualty in the invisible war; with it, you are invincible.
Spiritual warfare is waged against invisible beings that personify the extremities of evil; and their
weapons are spiritual, not physical. While they cannot bite us physically, violate us sexually, or cause
us to levitate, they can tempt us to cheat, steal, and lie.
Furthermore, it is crucial to note that if we open the door to Satan by failing to put on the full armor of
God, he does, as it were, sit on our shoulders and whisper into our ears. The whisper cannot be
discerned with the physical ear; it can, however, penetrate the ear of the mind. We cannot explain
how such communication takes place any more than we can explain how our immaterial minds can
cause the physical synapses of the brain to fire; but that such mind-to-mind communication takes
place is indisputable. If it were not so, the Devil could not have tempted Judas to betray his Master,
seduced Ananias and Sapphira to deceive Peter, or incited David to take a census.
Finally, while fallen angels are not material beings and thus cannot interact with us directly in the
physical sense, they are as real as the very flesh on our bones. No doubt much to the Devils delight
we often depict him as either a cartoonish clown with an elongated tail, red tights, and a pitchfork
or as a cultural caricature. Far from silly or stupid, however, Satan appears as a cosmopolitan angel
of enlightenment. He knows full well that without our spiritual armor we are but pawns in a devils
game.
In the final analysis, the whole of Scripture informs us that spiritual warfare is the battle for the mind.
Can Christians Be Demonized?
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is
greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4 NIV).
Over the years, I have read a wide variety of stories that claim to support the notion that Christians
can be demonized. In the end, they all have one thing in common: they greatly overestimate the
power and province of Satan. Some deliverance ministers make a more valiant attempt than others
to provide a biblical basis for the contention that a Christian can be inhabited by a demon. Inevitably,
however, Scripture itself undermines their stories.

First, Christ himself precludes the possibility that a Christian could be inhabited by demons. Using
the illustration of a house, Jesus asks, How can anyone enter a strong mans house and carry of
his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? (Matt. 12:29 NIV). In the case of a demonpossessed person, the strong man is obviously the Devil. In a Spirit-indwelt believer, however, the
strong man is God. The force of Christs argument leads inexorably to the conclusion that, in order
for demons to possess believers, they would first have to bind the one who occupies them namely
God Himself!
Furthermore, I discovered an equally airtight argument against Christian demonization in the gospel
of John. The Jews once again were accusing Jesus of being demon possessed. Rather than
circumvent their accusations, Jesus condescends to reach out to His accusers with reason. The
essence of His argument is, I am not possessed by a demon because I honor my Father (John
8:49 NIV). The point is impossible to miss: Being demon possessed and honoring God are mutually
exclusive categories.
Finally, Scripture does not contain a single credible example of a demonized believer. Instead, the
consistent teaching of the Bible is that Christians cannot be controlled against their wills through
demonic inhabitation. The principle is foolproof. If you are a follower of Christ, the King Himself
indwells you; and you can rest assured that the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in
the world (1 John 4:4 NIV).
Hank Hanegraaf
NOTES

How Satan Gains

Control Of The Mind
Watchman Nee in his book The Spiritual Man states that there are five
ways we give control of our minds to Satan:
1. First, by not daily meditating on God's word.

2. Second, by deliberately considering and living out sin in one's mind.

3. Third, through willful ignorance of God's truth's and moral absolutes.
4. Fourth, by accepting any suggestion in the mind as if from God
without questioning or checking to see if it lines up with God's Word
or past light of God.
5. Fifth, by deliberately blanking one's mind so as to receive
suggestions from evil spirits.
James 4:7 states, "Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will
flee from you." God has a purpose and a plan for each of our lives. Gods
Word commands us:
Ephesians 5:15-17 "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise
men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
Each of the above points we could cover. For the most part they are self
explanatory. Where they are not, we will cover them in this article.
However, none of the above points, except meditating on God's word,
would even be a problem if the individual Christian sought God's will for
them and walked in His will. The way Satan gains control of a person's
mind is when their mind is passive, idle, when they are out of God's will,
not occupied with God's will.
God commands us in His word to know what His will for our lives are
individually. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and
you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." We are walking in the Holy
Spirit when we are using our daily time according to Gods leading through
the Holy Spirit. As long as we are occupied in our use of time according to
Gods will, Satan cannot gain control of our minds.
You have heard the saying, "An idle mind is the play ground of the Devil."
That is literally true. It is only when we disobey God in our use of time,
allow our minds to be idle, that Satan is able to get a foothold.
First, understand that the Bible teaches us that the flesh never did obey
Gods laws and it never will. Paul wrote,

Romans 8:6-8 "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on
the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile
toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even
able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
This passage tells us that the flesh never did obey Gods laws and that it
never will. How then do we bring the flesh under control? How do we keep
from sinning? How do we keep Satan from gaining control of our minds?
By occupying our time and our minds with Gods will. Paul wrote inRomans
13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
flesh in regard to its lusts." As long as you are occupied in doing Gods will,
the flesh does not have opportunity to sin. It is when we become idle and
our minds become idle that our flesh begins to drift toward its natural
inclination to sin.
Let me cite you an example in my own life. When I was in Junior College I
went through a two year Degree in Electronic Technology. This involved
four hours a day in class instruction with a twenty minute break in between
five days a week. I used my twenty minute break to go out on campus and
share Jesus with students. The campus had a population of over 15,000
students. It took me about five minutes to find a student to talk to, ten
minutes to present to them the Gospel through a salvation tract, and five
minutes to get back to class. I saw many students come to Christ during
this twenty minutes a day sharing the Gospel. When I would go out and do
this with my break, God would bless me in my electronics (Luke 6:38).
One day I decided to go to the break room and get a coke and a candy bar.
I sat down at a table and while drinking my coke I looked around and
noticed all the beautiful girls that were on campus. RED FLAG! RED
FLAG! RED FLAG! An idle mind is the playground of the Devil. Now
there is nothing wrong with enjoying the flowers in the field, but I was idle
and once these thoughts entered in, other thoughts also entered in and it
was all down hill from there. Given the opportunity to sin, the flesh will sin.
"An idle mind is the play ground of the Devil," I thought, so I got up and
went out on the campus to look for someone to share Jesus with.
So then, how do we bring our flesh under control and keep it from sinning?
By filling and occupying our time with Gods will. It is Gods will that
Christians use their free time to share Christ with others. When we dont
use our free time to share Christ with others we fill it with worldly things.

We become board and start looking for ways to satisfy the desires of the
flesh. Paul wrote,
Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh with-strong-passion-fights against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one
another, so that you may not do the things that you please."
There is no satisfying the flesh. the more you give into the flesh to satisfy it,
the harder it is to go back to walking in the Holy Spirit, because the flesh
with strong passion fights against the Holy Spirit.
Getting back to our main discussion, how then does Satan gain control of
the mind. Simply stated: when we are not obeying God in our use of time.
An idle mind is the playground of the Devil plain and simple. The way you
gain back control of your mind is by seeking the Lords will in your use of
time and then obeying him in that use of time. That is what Chapter 5 of
Section 1 in the Basic Textbook is all about: it teaches and explains to you
how to set up a weekly schedule in your use of time according to Gods
will.
A second way Satan gains control of the mind is when we place our trust in
what many Christians mistakenly call the Holy Spirit. What do I mean by
this? I mean "God told me to do this. . ." However, what God told them to
do is completely contrary to Gods word. Jesus said in John 8:47 "He
who is of God hears the words of God." God never, ever, ever leads us
contrary to the Word of God. So when we receive anything we think is the
Holy Spirit, the first question we must ask is "Does Gods word agree with
what I believe is the Holy Spirit speaking to me?" Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians 11:14 "And no wonder for Satan transforms himself into
an angel of light." Earlier in the same chapter Paul wrote,
2 Corinthians 11:4 "For if one comes and preaches another Jesus
whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you
have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you
bear this beautifully."
Paul talks about another Jesus and a different spirit and a different gospel.
How do we know who is the true Jesus preached about or what is truly the
Holy Spirit talking to us or what is the true Gospel preached? The
Mormons have a different Jesus and gospel, the Jehovah Witnesses

another Jesus and gospel, and the Muslims a totally different Jesus and
gospel. What is the true Gospel? The Bible tells us who the true Jesus is
and what is truly the voice of the Holy Spirit and what the true Gospel is.
Paul wrote,
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried,
and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (1
Corinthians 15:3-4)
"But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a
gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be
accursed." (Galatians 1:8)
Our faith is not based on air, it is not built on Jesus or the Holy Spirit or the
Gospel; our faith is based on the Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Gospel
taught in the Bible. The Bible is the bases for what we believe or do not
believe. If a voice tells you to do something that does not agree with Gods
Word, it is not of God and is to be rejected plain and simple. God speaking
through Isaiah said,
"And when they say to you, Consult the mediums and the spiritists who
whisper and mutter, should not a people consult their God? Should they
consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If
they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn."
(Isaiah 8:19-20)
Another way Satan gains control of our minds which really relates to what
we have already been discussing, is when we deliberately choose to sin.
Our flesh is in bondage to sin. All Christians struggle with lust. However,
when a Christian deliberately chooses to turn to pornography, they are with
their will choosing to sin. That is a doorway. As a result Satan will take
control of their minds and it will take more than confession of one's sin to
get freed from the bondage of pornography because now unclean spirits
are also involved which are keeping the person in bondage. Ecclesiastes
10:8 states "He who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks a hedge
a serpent will bite him." You must now also ask God to cleanse you from
the unclean spirits and free your mind from bondage to Satan, then bind
the unclean spirits and command them to leave in order to get free.
Christians I have worked with who have willfully turned to pornographic
sights on the web have found afterwards that regaining control of their

minds is a real battle and is not possible in most cases without the help of
other Christians. My advise is occupy yourself with God's will and stay
away from pornographic sights. See my article on Spiritual Warfare titled
"How to Have Victory Over Sexual Sins."
Another way Satan gains control of our minds is through non-Biblical types
of meditation. What do I mean by non-Biblical types of meditation. What
kind of meditation is Biblical, does the Bible teach? Joshua wrote in Joshua
1:8,
"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you
shallmeditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do
according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way
prosperous, and then you will have success."
The Bibles definition of meditation is always doing something with your
mind, never surrendering or blanking it to anyone or waiting for something
or someone to fill it. Meditation in the Bible is always active, it is never
passive. What is the active thing the Bible tells us to do in meditation? It
tells us to study and meditate upon Gods Word, meaning to think about,
muse over: "What is God's word teaching, telling me to do? What is it
trying to teach me?" Meditation here refers to actively using your mind to
study and understand what the word of God is teaching you.
I had a friend once who told me he had a problem spending more than ten
minutes of His time in prayer because his mind would wonder and before
he was done he found he was thinking about sinful things. What was he
doing wrong? He was praying and waiting upon the Lord with a passive
mind. This is not how we are to seek the Lord when we pray. When we
pray, first, we are to worship the Lord, thank Him for His goodness in our
lives, for our salvation and for answers to previous prayers. Psalm 100:4
states "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give
thanks to Him; bless His name." The second thing we are to do is to bring
our petitions to the Lord. Philippians 4:6-7 states,
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of
God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus."
Third, while then waiting upon the Lord you are to read, study and meditate

upon His word.

"He who is of God hears the words of God." (John 8:47)
"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to
all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then
you will have success." (Joshua 1:8)
"He who gives attention to the word shall find good, and blessed is he who
trusts in Yehovah." (Proverbs 16:20)
"Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to
my knowledge; For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, that they
may be ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in Yehovah, I have
taught you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things of
counsels and knowledge, To make you know the certainty of the words of
truth that you may correctly answer to him who sent you?" (Proverbs
22:17-21)
Why does God want us to meditate upon His Word while waiting upon
Him? Psalm 138:2 tells us "You have magnified Your Word according to all
Your name." Someone asks "What is God like?" God tells us in Psalm
138:2 that what God is like is what the Word of God teaches us about what
God is like. God says that His Word is equal to His name. Being equal to
His Name means equal to His character. God tells us in this passage of
Scripture that His Character and what the Bible teaches about His
character are one and the same. This is why God prefers to reveal Himself
to us while meditating upon His word, because God's character, what He
reveals to us about Himself through the Holy Spirit will never be contrary to
what the Bible reveals to us about God's Character. They are one and the
same.
Now what is wrong meditation? Wrong meditation is what Eastern religions
and Satanic cults teach you to do, and that is to blank your mind while
waiting for Satan to come and fill it, and fill it he will.
Years ago I prayed with a man who came forward in church to receive
Christ. He had been heavily involved in Transcendental Meditation. This is
a religion which stresses strongly blanking ones mind in meditation. As a
result many unclean spirits entered him. After he came to Christ, he had

great difficulty gaining control over his mind because he had passively
yielded his mind to Satan for so many years. This is also what Satanists do
to gain instruction from Satan and to receive demons, they plank their
minds. They will focus upon a burning candle and clear their minds of all
thought until an outside force enters their minds and takes control.
This is just the opposite of what God asks of us. God never takes control of
our minds. He created us in His image. That means like God we have free
independent will. God never violates the independent will of anyone. Even
after we give our lives to Christ, he does not take control of our minds.
Jesus will tell us what His will for our lives are, but he will never force us to
do his will. We are always in control of ourselves and must choose to obey
Him. He never requires us to yield our minds and bodies to Him to control
and walk through like demon possession. Jesus was not a man possessed
by God, Jesus was God in bodily form. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:9 "For
in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form." That is what we mean
by Christianity being relationship with Jesus. We seek Gods will for our
lives while meditating upon His word. He then either directly through the
Word reveals His will to us, or speaks to us through the Holy Spirit but
never in contradiction to Gods word. We then choose with our will whether
to obey Him or not. To have a relationship with Jesus then means to walk in
obedience to His revealed will to us individually. But notice we must make
the choice, He never forces us to do anything.
When we choose not to obey Gods revealed will to us, this is
disobedience, and this removes His protection over us and our minds
become open to Satans control. Getting back to our original passage
quoted in this article, in James 4:7 it states "Submit therefore to God, resist
the devil, and he will flee from you." We have no power over Satan. The
only power we have over Satan is Jesus power, and His power is only
available to us when we are walking in obedience to Him. When we are not
choosing to walk in obedience to Christ, we cannot resist the devil and we
become open and under His control, and Satan gains control over our
minds.
You see, there is no in between: either Jesus is Lord over us or Satan is.
This is what Jesus meant in Matthew 12:30 when he said "He who is not
with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." Only
when we choose to walk in obedience to Christ do we have Christs power
over Satan and are we able to gain control over our hearts and minds. Paul
wrote in Romans 1:28 "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God

any longer, God gave them up to a mind void of judgment, to do those

things which are not proper." We are only able to resist the Devil and have
control over our minds when we are choosing to walk in obedience to
Christ, because then God gives us His grace to have control over our
minds. Paul wrote in Ephesians:
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly
walked according to the age of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of
disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our
flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest." (Ephesians 2:1-3)
"This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no
longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being
darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of
the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and
they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for
the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." (Ephesians 4:17-19)
How then do we keep Satan from gaining control of our minds? Paul wrote
"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the
flesh" (Galatians 5:16). How do we know when we are walking in the Holy
Spirit and when we are not? We are walking in the Holy Spirit when we are
using our time according to Gods will (Eph 5:15-17). We are not walking in
the Holy Spirit when we are not using our time according to Gods will,
when we are allowing our minds to be passive and idle. When we do this
the flesh automatically takes over, and since Paul tells us in Romans 7:14
"For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage
to sin," when the flesh takes over, it will sin. James 4:7 tells us that as long
as we are walking in obedience to God in our use of time we can resist the
Devil and that he will flee, and as long as we are focusing with our minds
on Gods will and doing Gods will with our use of time, we will have control
of our minds. Satan can only gain access to the mind of a disobedient
Christian.

How to Have Victory

Over a Passive Mind
May 10, 2000
Subject: How to Have Victory Over a Passive Mind
Hi John:
Note the following passages in the Bible:
"Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to
my knowledge; for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, that they
may be ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in Yehovah, I have
taught you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things of
counsels and knowledge, to make you know the certainty of the words of
truth that you may correctly answer to him who sent you?" (Proverbs
22:17-21)
Paul wrote,
"We are subverting computations and every lofty thing raised up against
the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the
obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Jesus said,
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind, and with all Your strength." (Mark 12:30)
John, the moment you received Jesus as Savior and Lord you entered into
a spiritual battle, a battle that will continue until Jesus calls you home. The
reason why the battle begins after you receive Jesus is because before
you received Jesus you were already in Satans kingdom doing his will. But
now you have defected and Satan will not rest until he gets you back.
The Battle of the Christian walk is in the heart and mind, the thought life,

both organs of the soul. The writer of Proverbs wrote,

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put devious lips far from you. Let
your eyes look directly ahead, and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of
you. Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Do
not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil." (Proverbs 4:2327)
Before we came to Jesus, all we had was our thought life to guide us, our
soul. We never questioned it. It is through our thought life that Satan brings
and keeps us in bondage:
"Sir, you need to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord."
"I am a good person, I go to church, I give the tithe, I am on the board of
deacons in my church."
"But sir, you must receive Jesus to be saved."
"I am sure my good works will more than cover my sins."
Where is this man getting these thoughts? Satan is planting them there.
How do we know what are Gods thoughts coming into our minds verses
Satans thoughts planted there? Only one way: through a thorough
knowledge of the Word of God: the Bible. Paul wrote:
"This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no
longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being
darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of
the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and
they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for
the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn
Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in
Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of
life, you lay aside the old man, which is being-corrupted in accordance with
the lusts of deceit, and that you-be-renewed in the spirit of your mind, and
put on the new man, down-from God which has-been-created in
righteousness and holiness of the truth." (Ephesians 4:17-24)
As you read and study the Bible, you are re-educating your heart and mind,

renewing your mind. You are replacing those old thoughts, planted their by
Satan, with Gods thoughts. The only way you can truly know what is
Jesus voice is by knowing what His Word teaches you on the subject. That
is the problem with a passive mind. We have followed our thoughts for so
long, we arent always aware when we are being controlled by them or by
the knowledge of Gods Word. I have an associate who has problems with
this all the time. He has a passive mind. By that I mean he never questions
what comes into his mind. He acts on whatever comes into his mind
without questioning whether it is from God or not. As a result we are always
clashing in the Spirit. "Friend, where did that thought come from? Did you
ask God whether it came from him? Did you ask yourself whether the Word
of God confirms that it is of God?" "No." "That is why we are always
clashing. You are not scrutinizing your thoughts. Just because something
comes into your mind, no matter how noble it sounds, does not mean it is
of God!"
Often times we will run into each other in the Lords work. The reason:
because he is not scrutinizing his thoughts. To scrutinize your thoughts
means to not just accept any thought that comes into your mind as being
true or of God, but questioning every thought that comes into your mind by
asking yourself the question: "Is this of God? Does His Word support and
confirm it? Does this support what God has already commanded me to do
or contradict it?" Paul wrote:
"Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals. Become soberminded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of
God. I speak this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:33-34)
To be sober minded means to control our thought life, scrutinize it and not
accept or act on any thought as if coming from God until we have
confirmed it with Gods word whether we think it is of the Holy Spirit or not.
Paul wrote, "And no wonder, for even Satan transforms himself as an angel
of light" (2 Cor 11:14). There in lies the battle of the Christian walk, bringing
into submission and controlling our thought life we have listened to and
followed passively without question for so many years.
How do demonic forces attach themselves to us? Satan has no power over
us except the power we give him. Think of the mind as the United States
and all fifty territorial states. Satans goal is to take and steal every one of
these territories. He does it by taking one state at a time. How does he do
this? When he implants in our minds a thought that is contrary to Gods

Word and Gods revealed will to us by the Holy Spirit confirmed through the
Word, when we decide to surrender to that thought and act upon it, then
and only then is Satan able to attach Himself to us in that piece of territory
of our mind. This is why the Bible tells us that our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but spiritual forces. Once we act upon that thought and the
evil spiritual force which put it there then attaches itself to us, we then are
under bondage to that idea and find ourselves not able to say no to the
thought any longer even if we want to.
What is the solution? We must retake back that piece of territory Satan has
stolen from us. Unfortunately once we have surrendered it, Satan does not
want to give it back, and so begins the spiritual battle. Thus we do not find
choosing to submit ourselves to Gods will at first pleasant because of the
spiritual forces that we are fighting against in order to do so. How do we
regain that area of our minds? First, by confessing the sin to God. Second,
by repenting of the sin, by resurrendering that area of our lives to Jesus:
"Jesus, I will to resubmit this area of my life to you and to obey Your will in
this area of my life." Remove from your life whatever is associated with the
sin, whatever tempts you and causes you to fall to the sin. Paul wrote in
Romans 13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision
for the flesh in regard to its lusts." If the flesh has opportunity, it will sin, so
you must remove the object of temptation if you are to go on and have
victory over the sin repented of.
Third, to ask Jesus to cleanse this area of your life with His blood. Fourth,
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth command the unclean spirits
related to go. "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, spirits of rebellion
and unbelief I bind you and command you to be gone or "spirits of lust and
perversion be gone!", whatever the case may be. You must accept by faith
they are gone, not by how you feel, but on God's promise in His word:
"Behold, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and to
tread upon serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall injure you." (Luke
10:19)
Six, do Gods will. Control your thought life and tell yourself to obey God
and then obey God. If you dont, disobedience is a doorway and it will reopen this doorway to Satan and the unclean spirits related and you will find
yourself going through this process all over again.

John, all believers fight these battles. Peter wrote,

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about
like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your
faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being
accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.(1 Peter 5:8-10)
The guarding of the mind, the thought life, is a continuous ongoing battle
24 hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year. So if you are to
succeed in the Christian walk you must resolve and posture yourself
spiritually to fight this battle until Jesus calls you home. You cant let up.
The moment you let your guard down, know and be assured that Satan will
come in and attack you and bring you down.
The moment you choose to use your time for anything other than what the
Lord has commanded you to do with your time, you make your mind
passive and it becomes open to Satans attacks. The only way you can
keep your heart and mind safe and closed to Satans attacks and control is
through obeying the Lord in your life in your use of time. Our Christian walk
until Jesus comes is regaining and taking back territory Satan has stolen
from us through sin and disobedience and then guarding and keeping that
territory. You see you are already in the war and Jesus has already
assigned you territory to guard: Your own heart, mind and soul. We do this
first through a thorough knowledge of Gods Word so we know what the
territory is we need to take back and guard continually. We then keep that
territory we have regained by not just accepting anything that comes into
our minds as being of God, but by scrutinizing those thoughts: "Did that
thought come from Jesus? What does His Word say on it? Jesus told me
he wants me to go through this textbook on Evangelism. I have set aside
this time for this purpose. That thought which came to me to go and do
something else with this time, was that of God? What does his word say?"
"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise,
making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be
foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." (Ephesians 5:15-17)
"No, that thought did not come from God because He commands me in his
word to use my time wisely according to his will. It is His will that I do this
study. In agreement with Him I set this time aside for this study, therefore it
is His will that I use this time for this study. In Jesus' name Satan! I bind
your mouth and your power. You are a liar. I bind your mouth and your

power and command you to leave now and not come back!"
This is how you overcome a passive mind and stay in Gods will and do
Gods will. Because there are unclean spiritual forces involved, to choose
to do Gods will at first is not going to be easy or pleasant, but as you
choose to go against these Satanic suggestions and instead obey God,
God promises us in His word that these Satanic forces will leave and that
the unpleasant experience of the battle will be replaced with the fruit of the
Holy Spirit of love, joy and peace.
"Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
(James 4:7)
"But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the
evil one." (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
"And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who
called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm,
strengthen and establish you." (1 Peter 5:10)
"For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace." (Galatians 5:22)
Sincerely in Jesus,

MIND GAMES: WHEN SATAN TAKES THE BATTLE TO

YOUR MIND
Posted: October 6, 2014 in HOT TOPICS
Tags: battle of the mind, demonic fear, mind games, satanic oppression, spiritual battles

Ephesians 6:12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Throughout the life of the believer, they will constantly face the one area where the enemy (Satan) will
try to play havoc with the Christian the mind. The mind is one of the most fought places where most,
if not all, of our battles play out. Have you ever wondered why, for no particular reason, a thought
would cross your mind? Be it a thought or idea which runs contrary to your nature as a person who is
in Christ? Thoughts of anger, or even thoughts of violence, even sexual thoughts cross the mind and
then we are left wondering Why did I just think that? It because what youve just experienced is not

necessarily you, but its a spiritual matter where Satan attempts (thru the use of a thought or idea) to
manipulate the believer to maybe give into that particular thought, whatever it might be, to undermine
their walk with Christ. This is what Paul was referring to when he states in Ephesians 6:12 that its not
flesh and blood we wage war against, but the spiritual realm where the enemy is trying or attempting
to defeat us in our mind.

Who are those principalities, powers, rulers or darkness and such? They all stem from Satans
kingdom, but since Satan is not omnipresent (can be everywhere at once), he works through a network
or an army of demon spirits. This is why it might seem that a person seems to have a trigger every
now and then when they come into contact with something of either their past, what once use to bind
them spiritually, or something that greatly hindered them. Either way, when the believer comes into
contact with something, be it visual, or otherwise (hearing or touch) it can bring about feelings of the
past, maybe even feelings of guilt. These are all indicators of demonic forces attempting to once again
place the believer back under the chains of past bondage.

There are two aspects of spiritual warfare that each of us go through when Satan comes against us in
our thoughts and they are offensive and defensive methods. The apostle Paul said in this matter two
things we need to keep in mind, and they are For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to
instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) and Do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will
of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Satan comes against us with accusations and words of condemnation (fiery darts), these attacks
mount up against the believer in such a way that at times it almost wears a person down. Some of
those attacks might generate dark feelings of despair, loneliness, anxiety, fear, sometimes, in certain
people, thoughts of suicide. But whatever it may be, they are nonetheless serious attacks of the mind
to the believer. This is why Paul said in Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Thats why when the enemy does come against us, we must take captive every thought when they
come, and they come in three unique ways, temptation, accusation and deception. Satan will tempt a

man or woman with thoughts of something he finds a weakness in, be it lust, pride, ego, desire,
whatever it might be, Satan knows your weakness, and he, if not contended with, will play on those
thoughts, wearing that person down, which, if not taken control of, many succumb to those
temptations. Accusations of past failures is yet another means the enemy attempts to accuse the
believer before the Lord, hence why he is called the accuser of the brethren. Our past, no matter how
bad it might have been, has forever been rendered forgiven because of the cross, we are no longer
guilty under Gods law, for every believer is new in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). The last means is deception.
This is one area where many find themselves, even those who are called by God, yet have allowed the
enemy, through the means of false doctrine, to believe a particular teaching or idea, combined with
the demonic attack which then takes place in the mind, many fall into those areas of being and even
deceiving others (2 Timothy 3:13).

Paul gives us all a clear warning found in Ephesians 4:27 and give no opportunity to the devil. The
fact is, if we keep our faith in Christ and what he did on the cross, this limits the enemies access to our
life and mind. The enemys main goal is to sidetrack us with thoughts which plague us with thoughts of
guilt, temptation, accusation, deception and failure. Yet there is hope, and its found in these words,
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Eph. 6:17) The word is a powerful weapon and
when those thoughts, those feelings come, there is but one offensive course for us to take use the
word of God. The word of God defeats the enemy, for it reminds him of 2 things, 1. He is defeated and
has no authority over us or our life, and 2. We are forgiven hes not. We are new in Christ he is
defeated, cursed forever, damned to the lake of fire for all eternity. So while we might not fend off
every thought or suggestion that comes against us, we can however go straight to the word and state
with such confidence, It is written!.

When Satan says You are a failure, you remind him you are forgiven. When Satan puts an illicit
thought in your mind, shake yourself and take captive that thought and say I rebuke that in Jesus
name. When some demonic influence places in your mind a thought which says Kill yourself or
Youll never find happiness again or Youll never see that child saved or even Youll never be
healed. Rebuke those thoughts and use the word, that our happiness is found in Gods perfect will,
that we can believe for every promise God has given us to be fulfilled, and that healing is a promise

because of the cross. Yes, the mind is the battleground of many in these days in which we live, but it
can be handled correctly if we understand the spiritual aspects of why we face these things in our
mind, whose causing it and how to react to it through the word of God.

Christopher

christopher152@gmail.com

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Battlefield Of The Mind Quotes (showing 1-30 of 75)

Our past may explain why we're suffering but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage.
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tags: bondage, past, sufering
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You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.

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Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Trust and faith bring joy to life and help relationships grow to their maximum potential.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
tags: faith, relationships, suspicion, trust
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Some people think they have discernment when actually they are just suspicious..
Suspicion comes out of the unrenewed mind; discernment comes out of the renewed spirit.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
tags: discernment, suspicion
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The devil will give up when he sees that you are not going to give in.
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Don't reason in the mind just obey in the spirit.

Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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No matter how much we know in any area there are always new things to learn and things we have
previously learned that we need to be refreshed in.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Satan frequently steals the will of God from us due to reasoning. The Lord may direct us to do a
certain thing, but if it does not make sense - if it is not logical - we may be tempted to disregard it.
What God leads a person to do does not always make logical sense to his mind. His spirit may affirm

it and His mind reject it, especially if it would be out of the ordinary or unpleasant or if it would
require personal sacrifice or discomfort.
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tags: confusion
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It is not that we don't have faith it is just that Satan is trying to destroy our faith with lies.
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There are times when God leaves huge question marks as tools in our lives to stretch our our faith.
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If you only do what is easy, you will always remain weak.

Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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People living in the vanity of their own mind not only destroy themselves, but far too often, they
bring destruction to others around them.
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When a person is going through a hard time, his mind wants to give up. Satan knows that if he can
defeat us in our mind, he can defeat us in our experience. Thats why it is so important that we not
lose heart, grow weary and faint.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Asking for something is easy being responsible for it is the part that develops character.
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A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and
wrath are like rottenness of the bones. Proverbs 14:30
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Discouragement destroys hope, so naturally the devil always tries to discourage us. Without hope
we give up, which is what the devil wants us to do. The Bible repeatedly tells us not to be discouraged
or dismayed. God knows that we will not come through to victory if we get discouraged, so He always
encourages us as we start out on a project by saying to us, Dont get discouraged. God wants us to
be encouraged, not discouraged.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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We are not walking in the Word if our thoughts are opposite of what it says. We are not walking in
the Word if we are not thinking in the Word.
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A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you
to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them. Ezekiel 36:26,27
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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We like everything instantaneous. We have the fruit of patience inside, but it is being worked to the
outside. Sometimes God takes His time about bringing us our full deliverance. He uses the difficult
period of waiting to stretch our faith and to let patience have her perfect work (see James 1:4 KJV).

Gods timing is perfect. He is never late.

Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Satan will aggressively fight against the renewal of your mind, but it is vital that you press on and
continue to pray and study in this area until you gain measurable victory.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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The pathway to freedom begins when we face the problem without making excuses for it.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Remember, you become what you think. Think discouraging thoughts, and youll get discouraged.
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The mind should be kept peaceful. As the prophet Isaiah tells us, when the mind is stayed on the
right things, it will be at rest.
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The mind is the leader or forerunner of all actions.

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Pray for your enemies, and bless those who mistreat you (see Matt. 5:44).
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

6 likes
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Our past may explain why were suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and build up) one
another, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
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For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads]
has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial
has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging
to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His
compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed
beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will
[always] also provide the way out (the
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle,
modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains
the power to save your souls. James 1:21
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Battlefield Of The Mind Quotes (showing 31-60 of 75)

Our actions are a direct result of our thoughts. If we have a negative mind, we will have a negative
life.
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However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient,
advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper,
Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you];
but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you]. And when He comes, He
will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness
(uprightness of heart and right standing with God) and about judgment. John 16:7,8
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I had an unconscious, vague sort of understanding that God loved me, but the love of God is meant
to be a powerful force in our lives, one that will take us through even the most difficult trials into
victory.
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Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also
each for the interests of others. Philippians 2:4
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As children of God, one of the privileges we have is believing the impossible.

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For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on
and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are
controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the
[Holy] Spirit. Romans 8:5
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For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty
before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments
and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true]
knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ
(the Messiah, the Anointed One). 2 Corinthians 10:4,5
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So, our weapons are the Word used in various ways. We can pray the word, speak the word, sing the
word, and study the word. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians, our weapons are not carnal (fleshly)
weapons; they are spiritual. We need spiritual weapons because we are fighting master spirits, yes,
even the devil himself. Even Jesus used the weapon of the Word in the wilderness to defeat the devil.
(See Luke 4:1-13.) Each time the devil lied to Him, Jesus responded with, It is written, and quoted
him the Word.
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If our thoughts are going to affect what we become, then it should certainly be a priority that we
think right thoughts.
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your life will not get straightened out until your mind does.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which
is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. Hebrews 13:15
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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DONT GIVE UP! When the battle seems endless and you think youll never make it, remember that
you are reprogramming a very carnal, fleshly, worldly mind to think as God thinks. Impossible? No!
Difficult? Yes! But, just think, you have God on your team. I believe He is the best computer
programmer around. (Your mind is like a computer that has had a lifetime of garbage programmed
into it.) God is working on you; at least, He is if you have invited Him to have control of your
thoughts. He is reprogramming your mind. Just keep cooperating with Himand dont give up!
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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It is unwise to refuse to face reality; however if our reality is negative we can still have a positive
attitude toward it.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide
and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do
hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart. 1 CORINTHIANS 2:16
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The mind is the battlefield.

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Proverbs 15:15: All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and
forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances]. I
realized at that time that most of my life had been made miserable by evil thoughts and forebodings.
Yes, I had circumstances that were very difficult, but even when I didnt, I was still miserable because
my thoughts were poisoning my outlook and robbing me of ability to enjoy life and see good days.
Even if nothing bad was happening at the time, I always vaguely sensed that something bad was
about to happen. Because of that I was unable to really enjoy my life.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up
under it patiently. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Dont receive condemnation when you have setbacks or bad days. Just get back up, dust yourself off,
and start again.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on
and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are
controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the
[Holy] Spirit.
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For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. PROVERBS 23:7

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is unwise to refuse to face reality; however if our reality is negative we can still have a positive
attitude toward it.
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Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not
doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this
reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is
granted to you, and you will [get it]. Mark 11:23,24
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Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you
shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in
quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing? Matthew 6:25
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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La obediencia es algo que llega lejos; cierra las puertas del infierno y abre las ventanas del cielo.
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Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk
not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. Romans 8:1
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When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not
overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned or scorched, nor will the
flame kindle upon you. Isaiah 43:2
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Habakkuk 3:19 says that the way we develop hinds feet (a hind is an animal that can climb
mountains swiftly) is to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress
upon the high places [of trouble, suffering or responsibility]! The way God helps us make spiritual
progress is by being with us to strengthen and encourage us to keep on keeping on in rough times.
Its easy to quit; it takes faith to go through.
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EXPECT TO RECEIVE! TO RECEIVE, EXPECT! And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits
[expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He
may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed
(happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and
long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken
companionship]! Isaiah 30:18
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nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and
pleads in
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Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am
doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed

to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18,19
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Battlefield Of The Mind Quotes (showing 61-90 of 75)

KEEP YOUR TONGUE FROM EVIL! For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days [good
whether apparent or not] keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from guile (treachery, deceit). 1
Peter 3:10
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Because of what Jesus has done, I love and accept myself.

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Thoughts bear fruit. Think good thoughts, and the fruit in your life will be good. Think bad
thoughts, and the fruit in your life will be bad.
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You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination
and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes
confidently in You. Isaiah 26:3
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The more positive you and I become, the more we will be in the flow of God. God is certainly
positive, and to flow with Him, we must also be positive.
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Cuando Dios habla, mediante Su Palabra o en nuestro interior, no tenemos que razonar, debatir o
preguntarnos si lo que l ha dicho es lgico. Cuando Dios habla, tenemos que movilizarnos, no
razonar.
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Mary cant control her actions because she doesnt control her thoughts.
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The truth is always revealed through the Word; but sadly, people dont always accept it. It is a
painful process to face our faults and deal with them. Generally speaking, people justify misbehavior.
They allow their past and how they were raised to negatively affect the rest of their lives. Our past
may explain why were suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Remember, Satan wants you to think that you are mentally deficientthat something is wrong with
you. But the truth is, you just need to begin disciplining your mind. Dont let it run all over town,
doing whatever it pleases. Begin today to keep your foot, to keep your mind on what youre doing.
You will need to practice for a while. Breaking old habits and forming new ones always takes time,
but it is worth it in the end. The present moment is the greatest gift we have from God, but if we are
not present we miss it.
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If you desire victory over your problems, if you truly want to live the resurrection life, you must have
backbone and not just wishbone! You must be activenot passive. Right action begins with right
thinking. Dont be passive in your mind. Start today choosing right thoughts.
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You may have some major strongholds in your life that need to be broken. Let me encourage you by
saying, God is on your side. There is a war going on, and your mind is the battlefield. But the good
news is that God is fighting on your side.
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It shall be done for you as you have believed. MATTHEW 8:13

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And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time
and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
Galatians 6:9
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind (Enhanced Edition): Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Many people in the world are trying to find God, and what we show them is much more important
than what we tell them. It is, of course, important that we verbally share the gospel, but to do so and
negate what we have said with our own behavior is worse than to say nothing.
Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind (Enhanced Edition): Winning the Battle in Your Mind
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Jesus did not worry, and we do not have to worry either!

Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

Mental Spiritual Warfare- How it

happens, What it is, and How to
defeat it
Posted on

April 26, 2010 by stefanierose88

5 Votes

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
Welcome sisters to the second half of my series on mental spiritual warfare. In the first half I
explained what a demon is (evil spirit), the personality of the devil (liar, murderer, crafty, subtle,
wise, evil), and what he tempts us with (worldly wisdom, riches, pleasant looking things, anything
ungodly that we lust after).
Now we will go over how he (and his demons) attacks us mentally, how to recognize it and what
our defenses are.
First I want to let you know something about the nature of satan and the nature of God. God is
omniscient (knowing all things), omnipotent (all powerful), and omnipresent (present
everywhere). Satan, however lacks all three of these qualities. God is far more powerful than
satan, in fact, Jesus told us in John 12:31 that greater is the power of God in us (the believer) than

the power of satan. But if God is more powerful in us, why do we still suffer mental attacks from
the devil?
Most of the time, it is because the Christian does not know how to use the spiritual weapons that
God has given us in defense for those attacks. And often Christians may not even realize that
what they are suffering from is in fact a demonic attack against their minds. So what does a
mental spiritual attack feel like?
The Bible teaches us that human beings are made up of body, mind, and soul. Demons can
attack all three of these areas, but for now we will focus solely on the mental attacks. There are
unclean spirits that affect our mind and are responsible for unclean thoughts, immoral acts
caused by thoughts, oppression, possession, and depression (Matthew 10:1; 12:43; Mark 1:2326). They afflict us with ungodly thoughts and feelings of hopelessness and despair when there is
no logical reason to feel this way. Often, these negative feelings and thoughts occur the most
when we are doing something great for God. The enemy wants to discourage us and distract us
from doing great things for the Kingdom of God.
There are also seducing spirits afflict our mind, soul, and spirit. They do this by influencing the
Christian to believe false teachings and doctrines (1 Tim 4:1). They influence believers to accept
lies as truth in order to bring them away from God and into eternal punishment. These spirits
created false Christs, cults, and false teachers. Our world is very influenced by these spirits and
this is very common. Many Christians are now being lead into false Christian beliefs; even
churches have succumbed to these seducing spirits.
We can know if a teacher is false or if a doctrine is false by going to the Bible. The Lord knew that
many false teachers would flood the Earth and deceive many so he gave us instruction on how to
detect lies. In 1 John 2:4 says The man who says, I know him, but does not do what he
commands is a liar and then truth is not in him. Once again in 1 John 2:6 he writes Whoever
claims to be in him (Christ) must walk as Jesus did. Therefore the Bible tells us that if a teacher
does not do what the Lord commands in the Bible, he is a liar. And if a teacher claims to know
God but does not walk (live) as Jesus did, then is lying.
The ultimate way that we know a teacher is false is if they deny that Jesus is the Christ, the son
of God, the savior of man. In 1 John 2:22 he tells that any man who denies that Jesus is the Christ
is the antichrist and does not know God the Father. In 1 John 4:1-6 he writes to tell us how to test
spirits. John tells us not to trust every spirit, but to test them by seeing if they acknowledge that
Jesus is born of the flesh from God; every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ is not

from God. Those that are not from God, speak from the viewpoint of the world which is ruled by
satan himself.
Demons promote idolatry, false doctrines and they cause men and women to be blinded to the
truth of the gospel. Demons are rebellious and will cause you to have rebellious thoughts and
actions. Demons attack believers by causing temptations, deception, fear and bondage of bad
habits. They target your spiritual life by attacking your belief in the Word, your worship of God
and your work for God. The more work you do for God, the more you will be attacked. We must
remain vigilant and aware of these attacks and the reality of demons and hell. If we dare doubt
the reality of these things we are defenseless against their attacks.
Now that we know how we are attacked mentally and spiritually, we have to know how to defend
ourselves. God is good, and he has not left us without weapons to defend ourselves.
Remember that We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places (Eph 6:12)
The kingdoms of this world we live in are currently under the influence of satan. The philosophy
of the world is satanic and carnal. We must guard ourselves against them, and always test their
philosophy against the Word of God. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col 2:8).
Remember that Eve was tempted by the wisdom of the devil for the wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God (1 Cor 3:19). The world hates God and everything Christ stands for because
it is run by his enemy. Therefore, when you follow Christ, the world hates you too. We will be
tempted and tried and attacked, but we do not have to yield to this temptation.
But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above you are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it (1 Cor 10:13)
Jesus came to give us life and Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy us (John 10:10). Since God
loves us, he gave us 6 main spiritual weapons to be used against the enemy.
1.)

The Word of God

In order to use the Word of God effectively in your battle with the enemy, you must know the
Word very well. Study the Word, memorize it, and know it well. Use the Word against the devil,

because he certainly will use it against you by twisted it into half-truths that are meant to deceive
you.
2.)

Delegated power and authority

Then he (Jesus) called his twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all
devils, and to cure diseases (Luke 9:1). Our authority over the enemy is give to us by Jesus
because of our position in Him as believers. Our power comes from the Holy Spirit.
3.)

Prayer

Jesus prayed day and night and made prayer a priority over eating and business. We should also
take prayer very seriously and when we are being attacked, we should go to the Lord in prayer
and ask for protection.
4.)

Fasting

Fasting is a very powerful spiritual weapon. In the Old Testament, men of God very often fasted
before important battles and in the New Testament the apostles fasted and prayed for the Holy
Spirit, which gives us our power over satan.
5.)

Keys of the Kingdom

These keys include the power to bind and loose, therefore we can bind spirits in the name of
Jesus.
6.)

The name of Jesus

More powerful than any other name, is the name of Jesus, son of God. As believers, we can use
the name of Jesus to fight against attacks of the enemy on our minds. Through the name of Jesus
we can cast out demons and overcome every power of the enemy.
I want to leave you my dear sisters with this- do not fear the enemy. So long as you walk in the
light of Christ, you are prepared for battle. Do not, however, forget the power that satan has over
this world and the unsaved people in it and always be vigilant and test the spirits against the
Word of God.
God bless you all.

 THE PRAYER LEADER

Midnight Prayers/ praying at midnight

Prayers to set free the mind

April 17, 2013 by prayerunlimited

Setting the mind free in prayer

The mind is the most crucial part where spiritual battles are fought. Advanced Learners
Dictionary defines the mind as the part of a person, usually considered to be the brain that
they use to think and imagine things. A Christian needs to protect herself from the fiery arrows
from demonic spirits which continually shoot wicked arrows to ruin our lives. Paul says that we should
put on the helmet of salvation. The helmets work is to secure the head, where the brains are. We need
to stand with Scripture and use the weapons we have to conquer the enemy.
The scripture says;
1Pe 1:13Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is
to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Eph 4:23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind
Ro 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Eph 6:16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked. (KJV)
Signs of a mind that is under attack

Unable to carry out prayers/ difficult in prayers

Feeling sleepy at odd hours.

Mental sickness

Severe headaches/ unexplainable migraines

Mind blankness/short circuiting of the mind eg You become blank while making a
presentation and cant coordinate

Sudden unexplainable drop in performance

Not understanding or remembering anything you have learned

Inability to concentrate and read the bible

Frequent loss of consciousness

Feeling things crawling or moving in your head

Dreaming when your mind is being attacked etc

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (KJV)
10 The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (MKJV)
So what does the devil do with your mind? His main idea is to do the above:Steal, kill and
destroy.
He comes to imprison your mind, demonize your mind, release curses upon your mind, bewitch it, put
yokes upon it, surround your mind with bands of wickedness, place evil covenants upon it, plant evil
seeds upon your mind, put embargos, cause your mind to be averse to scripture, release poisonous
arrows, pollute your mind, place padlocks upon your mind, put evil cages, do brain transfer, bring
spiritual demotion, bring spiritual downgrading, bring spiritual blankness, bruise your mind, allow
serpents and scorpions to terrorize your mind etc etc
Does this scare you? No it should not. We have mighty weapons at hand. God has given us great
weapons which are always at our disposal
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds;) {through God: or, to God} (KJV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds, (MKJV)

You need to arise and be offensive to the enemy. Repent any sin in your life that might have opened a
door to the enemy. You open the door through the five senses: though what you see, touch, feel,
smell, hear & taste, and I must add, through your spirit. Have you allowed your spirit to be controlled
by the devil, like being involved in Satanism at one time in life?
Secondly, ask the LORD to wash and cleanse you. Craft prayer bullets like the ones below to attack the
enemy. Also put on the whole armor of God. This will put you in a defensive mode. You can choose to
pray all the prayer bullets below or the ones you feel quickened by the Holy spirit to pray for.

O Lord arise and take over the gates of my mind, in Jesus name

I take power and authority in Jesus name, and I destroy every weapon forged against my
mind in Jesus name

I uproot every evil arrow and every evil seed planted in my mind in Jesus name

I wipe every satanic pollution & poison upon my mind in Jesus name

I destroy every satanic cage placed upon my mind, and I withdraw my mind from every
satanic prison and coven in Jesus name

Power of God arise, and set my mind free from every satanic manipulation

I destroy all pots of manipulation operating against my mind in Jesus name

I retrieve my mind back by Fire in Jesus name

I renounce and destroy every covenant that works against my mind, in the name of Jesus
I have the mind of Christ. Every part of my mind that is not of Christ, die now in Jesus
name

I cancel every word and every spell released upon my mind in Jesus name

I destroy all satanic embargos and bands of wickedness surrounding me in Jesus name

Every padlock upon my mind, I unlock you now in Jesus name

My mind, receive promotion and upgrading in Jesus name

I command every snake and scorpion operating against my mind to die in Jesus name

I break every satanic hand over my mind in Jesus name

Every evil anointing over my mind, melt away in Jesus name

O Lord, anoint my mind with the power of the Holy Ghost in Jesus name

Arise my mind and love the LORD