Hundredfold Ministries, Int'l

Spiritual Maturity

As we saw in Chapter 10, in First John, Chapter Two, the Apostle John shows us three distinct stages of spiritual growth:

Those distinct stages of growth are: 1) little children, 2) young men, and 3) spiritual fathers. I want to again describe these three stages.

The "dear children” are the spiritual babes in Christ. They are the new converts...and the older converts who have never been matured by the reading and teaching of the Word of God. One may be a Christian for ten years and still be a spiritual child. Often we mistake longevity for spiritual maturity because that’s the way it is in the natural world in which we live. If you have been born for twenty years, you are twenty years old. This is not so in the spiritual realm. In the spiritual realm we don’t measure maturity by time. We measure maturity by one’s determination to know the Lord and His Word.

Spiritual “young men” and “fathers” are more mature, better grounded in the Word, and more broken before the Lord. Problems occur when spiritual “dear children” want to take on the responsibility of the “young man” or “father.” The spiritual child will not yet have learned to “overcome the evil one.” But, in his excitement, the spiritual child may want to take on Satan himself! Those in spiritual authority must not permit such folly. Whenever possible allow only spiritual young men and fathers to work with the deliverance of people from demonic power.

Body Armor Must Be Worn

As we see in Job, Chapter One, the spiritual “dear children” have a protective hedge around them. God asked the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has...?” (Job 1:8-10 NIV).

As we continue reading Job’s story we see that God removed the hedge from around Job and allowed Satan to get to him. To the casual reader it looks like God was cruel to Job. I am certainly not diminishing the agony Job went through but God had something better in mind for him. So also God has something better for us as we grow out of the little child stage into young manhood. The goal of every Christian should be to grow into spiritual fatherhood or motherhood.

While Job stayed behind his lovely, protective hedge he was quite safe - safe in “Daddy God’s arms.” However, we can’t go to distant places to do Father’s will if we stay behind the hedge. But we ask, if we go beyond the hedge, how are we protected? The answer is simple. Father has provided us with a strong set of body armor! We read about it and its protective qualities in Ephesians, Chapter Six:

So as we enter the spiritual “young man” stage, we exchange the protective hedge (which actually can hold us captive) for spiritual body armor. That gives us full liberty to move around and stay protected!

Something else has also changed in this growth process. We have exchanged our “I” centered world of the spiritual child for the “Father” centered world of a maturing young man. We now joyfully realize that our purpose here on earth is to do the Father’s will...for His pleasure.

John identified two other attributes that distinguish the young man from the little child: 1) he has overcome the wicked one, and 2) the Word abides in him. The word “overcome” in itself hints of spiritual warfare, does it not? The abiding of the Word implies Bible study and Scripture memorization, does it not?

He or She Must Understand His Authority

The demonic world would have us believe that they are the most powerful force in the world. But Scripture disproves their claims. We, the believers in Jesus, have ALL AUTHORITY over the demonic world. For Jesus said, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” (Lk 10:19 NIV).

As long as we believe the lies of the demons that they are more powerful and we do nothing to remove them, then indeed, they are more powerful than we are. Not so in truth, but so in practice. As long as we do nothing, they win!

Please note that by these statements I am not saying that every time we spot a demon we are to go after it. No, we definitely are not! This may surprise some but I believe there are times the Lord will allow us to see a demonic hold on someone and we are to do nothing about it. At least, not at that time. We always need wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit before we do anything. The point I am trying to make is that anyone who plans to do spiritual warfare must know that Jesus has already given him or her full authority over Satan and all his princes and demons. We must not fear Satan. We are to regard him for who he is - a powerful, clever, intelligent, vastly experienced, devious liar. Never underestimate his craftiness. But do not fear him. Scripture tells us that we are to fear God only. Remember, “...the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (I Jn 4:4 NIV). The One who is in you has given you absolute authority over every demon in the world!

He or She Must be Free From Known Sin

None of us are above sin. In fact, even the most devout among us sin frequently. Indeed, we sin daily by thinking wrong thoughts about others, idle thoughts that are unchristian, allowing our unholy words to trap us, etc. When I say that one who is to be part of the deliverance team must be free from all known sin, I mean known, willful sin of which we have not repented. I refer to a pattern of long-term sin such as sexual sin, lying, cheating, stealing, deception and the like.

Rest assured that the demonic world knows all about your sin. If you have sinful practices in your life it is no secret to the demons. They will not hesitate to use that knowledge against you should you try to cast them out of their host.

Please note, evil thoughts are not necessarily sin. It’s what we do with them that makes them sin. Demons have the power to send thoughts into our minds. Usually they come in the form of our own voice... “Oh! would I like to get my hands on that money! What I could do with...” These thoughts by themselves are not sin. But, if we begin to add to such thoughts time spent thinking of ways to make it happen, then that is sin. The disciplined believer will ask the Holy Spirit to quickly alert him to such thoughts so they can be taken captive and dispelled.

He or She Must Understand the Demonic World

Most demons aren’t highly intelligent. But they are smart enough to learn quickly if the person trying to cast them out knows about the demonic world and its chain of command. They also quickly learn if he or she knows his Bible and firmly understands who he is in Christ.

On one occasion I was among several people who gathered to pray for the deliverance of a demonized woman. Unknown to me, I was the only one present who had exorcism experience. As the woman entered the room the demon began to show itself.

The woman began acting like a caged animal as she slid along a wall. The demon’s eyes wildly examined all who were present. After looking at everyone in the room, its eyes returned to me, and it spoke directly to me in a heavy masculine voice. “I don’t like you!” it snarled. The demon quickly spotted the one person in the room who had understanding and saw him clearly. Thus, it is better to have an experienced leader of a deliverance team. We must teach other maturing Christians the process but if possible, never put an untrained person as the team leader.

He or She Must Understand the Human Will

The most important thing about casting out demons is the will of the demonized person. Most people who are hosts of demons are more than willing to get rid of them. However, there are some people who say they want to be free when in reality they do not. What they really mean is that they want to be rid of the “bad” things about the demon, but to be able to hold on to the “good” stuff. I remind the reader of the conversation I had with the demonized woman in Chapter Seven. She actually invited the demon to return because she didn’t like having to make decisions. She liked the demon to make decisions for her about what to wear, what food to buy, where to go, etc.

In my early years of casting out demons I made my share of mistakes. I used to spend countless hours trying to cast demons out of people who didn’t want them out. A missionary friend of mine who served in several Asian countries shared this story with me.

He had just begun a church in a small community in the Philippines when the mother of a young woman named Maria called him. She was desperate. She pleaded for him to come quickly and cast a demon out of Maria. He went immediately to their home and began to fight the demon.

It took hours to free Maria from the demon. But he finally won. Everyone rejoiced and my friend went home. A few days later the mother telephoned again. She pleaded, “The demon is back! Please come and cast him out again.”

He answered her with much wisdom. He said he needed to pray about it. In about an hour he called her back. “Sister, I will come to cast the demon out of Maria when she asks me to come.” He also told the mother he would come to her home and pray that the Lord would protect the home and family from the demon. But he was not going to be casting demons out of Maria twice a week endlessly.

Unfortunately, I was not that wise when I began to do battle with demons! The difference is that he understood the importance of the human will...I didn’t.

Thus, we must use counselling and godly wisdom before we begin any attempt at exorcism. We must know what the person’s will is. Does he or she want to be free? Remember that almost everyone will say they want to be free. We must seek the Holy Spirit for the full truth.

In order to not leave you in suspense about the outcome of that woman’s situation I spoke about who invited the demon back because she didn’t like to make decisions, I will tell you that it took almost a year to get her free. What finally caused her to decide she wanted to be free came near the end of the year. The demon began to sense that time was running out and it tried to kill her. Then, and only then, did she become convinced that the demon wasn’t her friend. Once she, with the full cooperation of her will, commanded the demon to leave, it left and didn’t return.

I will list several reasons some people may not want to be free.

1. Freedom from Responsibility

Often a demon will cripple a person physically or emotionally thereby making him helpless. Some people enjoy being this way because this places the responsibilities of life on others such as a father, mother, husband, or children. That person doesn’t have to make decisions that he should be making.

2. Power Over Others

Sometimes a person has a powerful demon and it helps the host dominate other people. The host (or hostess) doesn’t want to lose that power over others.

3. Deep Rooted Sin

Often a demon gets into a person or has free access to that person based on his or her deep rooted sin. Sins such as long-term hatred, sexual perversion, unforgiveness, anger, or rebellion can be open doors to demons. I have counselled with many people who wanted to be free of the demon but would not give up the sin. That sin was what gave the demon its authority in the first place. Again, we come back to the issue of the will. The person must be willing to stop the sin and part with the demon.

4. The Love of Pleasure

Sometimes demonized people don’t want to give up the demon simply because it helps in their search for pleasure. It helps them attain self-gratification.

5. Psychic Powers    

Sometimes the demon grants supernatural powers to its host such as mind reading, knowing the secrets of their friends, knowing future events, and so on. The host may not want to part with this supernatural ability. I refer the reader to the slave girl in Acts, Chapter 16, who told fortunes and made money for her owners. In that story it was her owners who were angry when she lost her powers.

6. Companionship

The demon provides companionship and the person doesn’t like to be alone.

The above list is not exhaustive. There are indeed many reasons some people are not willing to part with the demon spirits that inhabit and/or oppress them. If the person is unwilling to let the demon leave permanently, it is futile to pray for their deliverance.

He or She Must Understand Luke 11:24-26

There are those in the Western world who travel from place to place and specialize in exorcism. I believe that some who specialize in exorcism do more harm than good. I am referring to those who gather large numbers of people together for mass exorcism. They teach on demonism, call those who “think” they may have a demon to come forward, and then proceed to command all the demons to leave! Needless to say, when dozens (or hundreds) of people begin to cough, gag and vomit up demons it is quite an unpleasant scene to behold!

Most often the demons do leave because the speaker has learned to exercise his power over the demons. Unfortunately, the demons are responding to the authority of the speaker who may be leaving town tomorrow. Who is going to be there to stand guard when the demons come back after the speaker has gone? Who is going to instruct, admonish and stand with those delivered during the exorcism service after the exorcist departed? Is this not what Jesus was teaching when He said,

This is the reason I normally do not pray for anyone for deliverance unless I know two things. First I try to discern whether he or she fully intends to follow Jesus with a whole heart. Second, I want to know that he or she plans to fill that clean, empty “house” with God’s Word. (The two exceptions to this rule are when the demonized person cannot speak or express himself because of the demon and when the demonized person is a child). I am also concerned that there is a good, spiritually mature support group that will help the person stay free. We will cover that subject more fully in Chapter 14.<

I trust that I have made the point that to cast demons out of people without the wisdom of the Holy Spirit is a bad practice. We know from Jesus’ words that the procedure is most damaging to those individuals who have little or no intention of fully committing themselves to Jesus. Their end can be seven times worse than when they wandered into the deliverance meeting!

He or She Should Move in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The Apostle Paul lists nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in First Corinthians, Chapter 12. Anyone who intends to cast demons out of people should know about the gifts and be able to use them. I am not going to elaborate in detail on these gifts because this is not the purpose of this book. If the reader doesn’t have knowledge of these gifts, there are many good books that teach on the gifts. He should pursue this study separately.

Among these gifts there are five that are most useful and necessary if one is to overcome the oppression of demon power and set others free. I have noticed over the years that the Holy Spirit will repeatedly use these five gifts during deliverance. They are among the “mighty weapons” Paul spoke about when he said, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (II Cor 10:4 NIV).

The five gifts are 1) the gift of faith, 2) the working of miracles, 3) the word of knowledge, 4) the word of wisdom, and 5) the discerning of spirits. I will give a brief description of each of these gifts as they operate in deliverance:

1. The Gift of Faith

The gift of faith is the supernatural ability to believe God for mighty things...now! We must not confuse the gift of faith with “growing faith.” Growing faith is the continual, ever increasing ability to trust God for the needs of life and our Christian walk. The gift of faith is knowing that God can accomplish all things.

During prayer for deliverance, the Holy Spirit will often speak this supernatural faith into a team member’s heart. At that point he or she takes on an authority and sureness that communicates to the rest of the team and the demon is quickly expelled.

2. The Working of Miracles

The working of miracles occurs when the Holy Spirit enables a believer to use the power of the supernatural world to accomplish things that defy natural laws. A miracle is the manifestation of an event in the natural world that normally occurs only in the spiritual world.

Demons are of the spirit world. When we cause a demon to leave its human host, we are controlling an element of the spirit world. That is a miracle.

3. The Word of Knowledge

The gift of the word of knowledge operates when God imparts knowledge or facts into a believer’s mind that he or she could not otherwise know.

During prayer for deliverance suppose you are trying to learn how a demon gained access to its host. Suddenly, in your mind you know that you know how it happened. The child’s mother bargained with a spirit for the child’s life during a severe infant illness. Often the Holy Spirit will even reveal details of the event. This word of knowledge gives you a surety as if you were an eye witness to that event.

4. The Word of Wisdom

The word of wisdom enables or instructs a believer about how to act or what to do and say in difficult situations.

I know a man who was praying for the deliverance of a demoniac when the demoniac grabbed a knife and threatened him with it. The Holy Spirit gave the Christian brother supernatural wisdom. Very gently he spoke to the demoniac saying, “Jesus loves you and gave His life for you. That same Jesus sent me here to set you free. You cannot do anything to me without His permission. Therefore, I bind you, demon, in the name of Jesus.” Suddenly the demoniac became compliant and passive. He dropped the knife and began to weep. That certainly was a display of God’s wisdom in a most challenging situation!

5. Discerning of Spirits

The gift of discerning of spirits enables a believer to detect the presence or activity of evil spirits. During deliverances the Holy Spirit will often reveal to a team member the deceptive tricks a demon may use to derail the deliverance process. I once saw an evangelist stop during his sermon and take authority over an evil spirit sent to disrupt the service. The Holy Spirit gave him the ability to see the demon in its human host.

These gifts are the divine weapons with which we dislodge evil spirits. Anyone who tries to cast out demons without these gifts will certainly have big problems.

He or She Must Move in Faith

Here we are speaking of “growing faith,” not the “gift of faith” mentioned above. Growing faith is that faith that enters the heart of the believer at rebirth and continues to grow as long as he or she lives. This kind of faith is in every mature believer and has come about by a long, solid walk with Christ.

The one who prays for the deliverance of another must live and move in strong faith. He must be solid. He must be unmovable. He must know that God is in control.

He or She Must Move in Love

The words of I Corinthians, Chapter 13 are particularly applicable here:

Here Paul lays down the very foundation upon which the desire to set others free must rest. If such desire rests on anything other than love, it springs from impure motives. Over the years I have seen many people cast demons out of individuals. Sometimes I question their motives. On some occasions it appeared there was a desire to prove his or her power to others who were present. Or there was pride in the command over demons. Of course, we cannot judge heart motives, only God can do that. I mention this only to illustrate the point. A heartfelt love for Jesus and for the person bound by a demonic hold should be the only motive of anyone who seeks to set others free from demon power.

We can demonstrate absolute need of this love in a practical way. Occasionally a newly freed person will need to be among believers around the clock for days or weeks to gain the necessary strength to remain free. Are you willing to take this person into your home? Do you have enough of Jesus’ love to do this if necessary?

There is great responsibility on those who take on deliverance for another. However, if one qualifies and enters into spiritual warfare, the result will be another defeat for the forces of Satan and another victory for the army of Jesus Christ!