Deliverance
from Demons 101
When you minister to a person in bondage, you will almost always encounter
a variety of elements that are involved in keeping the person bound. There are
often unresolved hurts, strongholds, legal grounds and unclean spirits that
must be dealt with before the person is able to come into complete healing and
restoration in that area of their life. Balanced deliverance ministering
usually involves much more than simply casting out demons.
Pre-qualifying your candidate
The first step in working with anybody is to qualify them. What we do in
this process is determine whether the person is ready or prepared to go through
deliverance, and then be capable of maintaining their newfound freedom
afterwards. This is a vital step that saves a lot of time and helps ensure that
successful deliverance is obtainable, before we even get started. If you enter
into a deliverance session and the person is not prepared, you can waste a lot
of unnecessary time trying to work with them. Furthermore, even if you are
successful, they may walk out the door and the next day pick up those spirits
all over again.
Before a person is prepared to receive deliverance, they must meet the
following requirements:
1. They must be a born-again Christian. If they are not, then it
is impossible for their legal grounds to be removed, by which the demons are
holding onto in their life. How can there be removal of legal grounds without
the forgiveness of sins? And how can a person receive forgiveness of sins
unless they accept and believe upon Jesus? It is vital that the person be born
again before you can effectively minister deliverance to them. The ministry of
deliverance is geared towards the children of God (those in covenant with Him),
as Jesus told the gentile woman (who didn't have a covenant with God) who
sought to have a demon cast out of her daughter:
Matthew 15:26, "But he answered and said, It is not meet (fitting) to
take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs."
2. They must be willing to give up anything and everything that is ungodly
in their lives. If a person enjoys pornography and is unwilling to give it up, then
it will be nearly impossible to cast out their spirit of pornography without it
coming right back. Please understand that it is possible to enjoy pornography
or feel attracted to it, and yet be willing to let go of it at the same time.
Just because a person may find pornography pleasurable, does not mean they are
not ready to be delivered. The big question is... are they ready to give it up?
They must be willing to break up those legal grounds in order to receive and
maintain their freedom from it. Furthermore, and this is very important; they
must be willing to communicate about their past openly with the person who is
ministering to them. It is important that you, as a deliverance minister, is
aware of the areas of bondage in their life, and the underlying roots to those
bondages. If they choose to hide something from you, it may very well keep you
from being able to effectively diagnose the roots to their bondage and deal
with them.
3. They must be willing to do whatever is necessary after their deliverance
in order to come into and maintain their newfound freedom. This
often involves the meditating on certain Bible passages and verses on a daily
bases. Doing this is vital to the tearing down of strongholds. For example, if
a person suffers from low self esteem, then it would be beneficial for them to
study the Bible passages which speak about the person whom God has made in us,
how much He loves us, and how we were created in His image. If a person has
been seeing God has a cruel and distant taskmaster, then he or she needs to
meditate on scriptures which speak of the loving nature of God, how Jesus loved
us even while we were sinners, the parable of the prodigal son (see Luke 15),
etc. The devil builds strongholds by feeding us lies on regular bases, so we
must tear down those strongholds (believed lies) through feeding our minds on
God's Word on a regular bases.
I also believe that they should be serious enough about their relationship
with Jesus, that they can set aside a reasonable amount of time to spend with
God on a daily bases. Ministering to individuals who are not established in the
Word can be more time consuming and burdensome. Much of the overall deliverance
process involves the renewing of their minds according to the Word of God, and
therefore there needs to be a continual washing of the Word (see Ephesians
5:26-27) on regular bases. It is a lot easier to effectively minister to an individual
who is built up spiritually through a continual relationship with Jesus Christ.
However, in some cases, having this luxury is not possible, as by the time many
desperate individuals come through our doors, there is no time to build
themselves up and they need immediate attention.
Chapter 2
Understanding the basic
elements of bondage
I have broken the common areas of bondage into four basic groups, and when
you are working with individuals in the deliverance ministry, you will often
encounter one or more of these four areas in any given bondage.
1. Strongholds play a vital role in a vast array of bondages. Tearing down
strongholds is essential as demons rely on them to strength and power in that
person's mind. A stronghold is basically an incorrect thinking pattern that has
been burned into the person's mind. The enemy often works to build these in our
minds through continually injecting thoughts into our minds which are not in
sync with God's Word, and therefore gets us to habitually think along those
lines. Other strongholds are often formed in our minds as we are raised up in a
certain environment, such as a child who feels that all father's are mean,
because he was raised by a cruel and cold father. Strongholds, regardless if
they are demonically inspired or naturally learned, they must be torn down
through the renewing of our minds according to the Word of God.
2. Unresolved hurts must be brought out in the open and healed. A
person who has been hurt through abuse for example, must recognize their
unresolved hurt feelings, and be willing to place them in Jesus' hands so that
He can heal them. Holding on to hurt feelings can hinder the Holy Spirit from
being able to effectively minister to that area of their life. They must also
realize the provision that God has for their wounds, such as how part of Jesus'
ministry (which is still alive and well today through the work of the Holy
Spirit) was to heal the brokenhearted (see Luke 4:18). The individual must
allow themself to release the hurt in their heart, and allow the Lord comfort
and heal their wounds.
3. Legal grounds must be cleaned up, as demons can use them as an excuse to remain. If
a person has invited a demonic spirit into their life through sin, then that
sin will remain a legal right for the demon to hang around until the person has
repented and turned from their sin. Sometimes breaking up legal grounds
involves more than simple repentance, such as the breaking of soul ties,
renouncing vows made to Satan, and so fourth. It is important to figure out
what the legal grounds are, so they can be broken. Otherwise, the demon can
either put up a fight when you're trying to cast it out, or if you do cast it
out, they can freely return at a later time.
4. Indwelling demons must be driven out in many cases before the
person can experience a breakthrough in their situation. Why did Jesus cast
demons out? Because otherwise they wouldn't have left the person. While it is
possible for demons to leave once their legal grounds are removed, I would not
count on it. Some demons are more stubborn than others, and require the
minister to take the offensive step of casting them out before they will go.
Chapter 3
Uncovering the areas of
bondage
Uncovering the roots of the person's bondage is perhaps the most important
part of any deliverance session. If you don't address the root of the problem,
the chances of that person experiencing lasting freedom is remote. This is a
very important key in the overall deliverance process and must not be
overlooked.
The best way to go about this is to use a good questionnaire, and ask them
specific questions about their background, their bondage, when it started and
so fourth. The goal here is to get an idea of what the entry point might be,
what strongholds can be found, if there are any unresolved wounds that must be
healed and what demons you are up against. I have two questionnaires that I
use, and you are welcome to use these as well. The first is a very brief
miniature questionnaire, where the goal is to take a basic bondage and find the
root quickly. The second is an extensive and detailed questionnaire that does a
great job at digging deep into the person's past to uncover a wide variety of
bondages. I am not going to claim that even my extensive questionnaire is
complete and covers every situation you will encounter, but it is a great place
to start. The Holy Spirit is amazing for uncovering areas of bondage that we
don't think about, so it is always a good idea to welcome the Holy Spirit to
speak to you about their bondage and reveal anything that you might be missing
or overlooking.
Click below to access these questionnaires:
Chapter 4
Addressing strongholds
First of all, what exactly is a stronghold? A stronghold is not demonic
(although demons are often found actively trying to build them), but rather an
incorrect thinking pattern in our mind. The subject of where strongholds comes
from is beyond the scope of this teaching, but let's try to group the various
sources into two categories:
1. Natural development based on circumstances and lack of knowledge. An
example of this type of stronghold is when a person grows up having a cruel
father, then as a result, they view all other fathers the same way. This
thinking pattern is often transferred to the way which they perceive their
heavenly Father, which is a very destructive stronghold.
2. Demonically inspired and developed strongholds. These
are usually found along side demonic bondages. What happens is that the person
has an unclean spirit which is actively whispering in their thought life
(injecting thoughts into their mind), and eventually the person begins to
believe what the enemy is telling them. Once a person begins to believe what
the enemy is telling them, they begin to imagine it in their mind (vain
imagination) and a stronghold is formed.
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."
We are never told to cast out strongholds, but we are told to tear them
down, be transformed by the renewing of our mind and cast down vain
imaginations. This is how we deal with strongholds. If the enemy builds them
through continually reminding us of his lies, then we need to go in the opposite
direction to un-do his web of bondage. We need to start meditating on God's
Word on a daily bases, so that the truth will sink into our minds and begin to
change he way we think.
Romans 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."
Another factor to keep in mind is that if there is a spirit which is
actively working to build strongholds in a person's mind, not only is it important
for them to tear down that stronghold(s), but it is equally important to cast
out the spirit that is at work here... otherwise, they will spend the rest of
their lives waging war against that stronghold as the demon continues to work
on them to rebuild it. The minute they give up, the stronghold is quickly
rebuild. That is why you really cannot separate the work of casting out demons
and tearing down strongholds... they often go hand in hand.
The bottom line is that strongholds are based on incorrect information that
has been programmed into our minds, so naturally the cure is to re-program our
minds with the truth in God's Word. Meditating on specific scriptures that come
up against the stronghold we are facing is an important step to tearing down
that stronghold. We must also make a choice to cast down the vain imaginations
that the enemy has planted in our minds, and then accept what God's Word has to
say instead.
Additional reading:
- How to tear down strongholds
- Identifying strongholds
- Dealing with guilt
- The power of your thoughts
- Strongholds
- Spiritual warfare and strongholds
- Most popular strongholds (Part 1 of 2)
- Most popular strongholds (Part 2 of 2)
- Defeating guilt and shame
- How to tear down strongholds
- Identifying strongholds
- Dealing with guilt
- The power of your thoughts
- Strongholds
- Spiritual warfare and strongholds
- Most popular strongholds (Part 1 of 2)
- Most popular strongholds (Part 2 of 2)
- Defeating guilt and shame
Chapter 5
Healing unresolved wounds
In this type of ministry, you will encounter individuals who have been
wounded or hurt in the past, yet their wounds have never been healed. When we
have a physical wound, one of the best things we can do to speed up the healing
process is to clean out the wound, then let the air get to it. This same
principal is true with emotional wounds; one of the biggest mistakes we can
make is to keep a wound from being healed by keeping it to ourselves and hold
on to our pain. That is a sure-fire way to prevent healing from taking place.
It's as if we treasure our wound when we hold it close to us and refuse to let
it go! Don't be fooled, it is simply the devil's trick to keep our wounds from
healing. Why? Because a wounded spirit is vulnerable to infection if it does
not receive proper healing!
We are never to suppress or even try to forget about our wounds, we are to
seek healing for them. Unresolved hurts must be brought out in the open and
healing must be received. Jesus is waiting to heal the wounds, but the
person must be ready to receive (or allow) that healing to take place. A
person who has been hurt through abuse for example, must recognize their
unresolved hurt feelings, and be willing to place them in Jesus' hands so that He
can heal them. Holding on to hurt feelings can hinder the Holy Spirit
from being able to effectively minister to that area of their life. They
must also realize the provision that God has for their emotional healing, such
as how part of Jesus' ministry (which is still alive and well today through the
work of the Holy Spirit) was to heal the brokenhearted (see Luke 4:18). The
individual must release the hurt in their heart, and allow the Lord to comfort
and heal their wounds. God's Word tells us to cast our cares upon Him, for He
cares for us:
1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for
you."
God's Word is also clear that one of the things that Jesus did for us was
carry our sorrows, which literally translates to afflictions, meaning grief,
pain and sorrow. To be afflicted basically means that you have been injured and
have pain, and since the literal translation here also includes grief and
sorrow, this is clearly speaking of emotional damage. Just think about it, if
Jesus shed His blood just for our physical healing (Isaiah 53:5), would He not
also make provision for our emotional healing as well? Of course He did!
Isaiah 53:4, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows (affliction - grief, pain & sorrow): yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."
Throughout the healing process, it is very beneficial for the person
receiving emotional healing to seek intimacy with God. If they have a hard time
drawing close to God, for example, if they are afraid of Him, then there may be
strongholds present that need to be torn down. Many are afraid of God to the
point where they are unable to draw near to Him, and this serves as a wall of
division to keep them from knowing their Father's love intimately.
Additional reading:
- How to forgive even the worse offenses
- Keys to a thankful heart (3 part series)
- A love relationship with Jesus
- How to forgive even the worse offenses
- Keys to a thankful heart (3 part series)
- A love relationship with Jesus
Chapter 6
Addressing legal grounds
Properly breaking up legal ground also plays a vital role in this type of
ministry. Sometimes, even if a demon is present, they can leave once their
legal grounds have been broken up. However, I would never count on it... while
it happens every now and then, if it happened all the time, there would be no
point in casting out demons!
A legal ground is something in our lives that has given an unclean spirit
the permission or right to involve itself in our life, body or mind (soul). A
good example of how a legal grounds works is found in Matthew 18:23-35, where
Jesus talks about unforgiveness. Jesus wraps up the story by saying that if we
are unforgiving, tormenters are allowed access to us:
Matthew 18:34-35, "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, which gives birth to bitterness, is known in the Bible to
spiritually defile a person:
Hebrews 12:15, "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of
God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be
defiled."
Things such as unforgiveness, unrepented sin, ungodly soul ties, foolish
spoken vows, curses, and so fourth can give unclean spirits the right to hang
around and influence us. These things must be cleaned up in order for the
person to experience lasting genuine freedom. Legal grounds can be cleaned up
through repentance, renunciation, breaking soul ties, etc. Even physical
possessions can give demons rights into our homes (Deuteronomy 7:26), so it is
also important to destroy and remove any cursed or ungodly items from our homes
as well. Here is a brief look at some of the most common means for spiritual
defilement and how to break the legal grounds:
1. Unrepented sins must be repented of and turned from. No if's
and's or but's about it. Trying to minister freedom to somebody who is not
ready to give up that sin in their life is not ready to be delivered.
2. Ungodly soul ties are formed when a person has an ungodly
relationship with another person or makes a foolish covenant with them. Becoming
a blood brother with somebody will create a strong soul tie that must be
renounced and broken. Ungodly sexual relationships will surely create soul ties
that must be broken. The key to breaking an ungodly soul tie is to first repent
of any sins committed in the development of that soul tie, and then the soul
tie must be renounced by the person receiving ministry, and then broken in
Jesus' name. If gifts or physical items were involved in that relationship,
then it may be necessary to destroy, give away or throw them out as well. Gifts
between a man and woman involved in an adultery should be sold, given away or
thrown out as they can symbolize that relationship.
3. Foolish vows are known to bind the soul, and must be repented of, verbally taken
back (renounced) and broken in Jesus' name.
4. Cursed possessions, such as occult books, Satanic symbols, etc. must
be thrown out. For God's Word is clear that bringing a cursed item into your
home can bring a curse upon yourself: 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."
5. Spoken curses, such as, "I'll never get out of debt!" must be renounced (taken
back verbally) and broken in Jesus' name.
These are a few examples of how you would go about breaking up legal
grounds. It is often helpful to stop and ask the demon if it has a right to be
there, as they may reveal something to you that the person either forgot about,
or has not told you.
Additional reading:
- Demonic legal rights
- The root of bitterness
- Breaking our hedge (Defilement explained)
- Soul ties
- Generational curses
- How to break ungodly soul ties
- Demonic legal rights
- The root of bitterness
- Breaking our hedge (Defilement explained)
- Soul ties
- Generational curses
- How to break ungodly soul ties
Chapter 7
Casting out demons
Casting out demons is a very simple process. It is a matter of knowing and exercising
your authority through Christ in faith, and commanding the demons to come out
of the person. You may command them by name, or more generally such as, "I
command the demonic spirit behind this bondage to come out in Jesus'
name!" If you know the demon's name, then I would recommend using it as
they seem to respond and take instructions better than if you address them by
name. Jesus cast out demons both by name, and by simply calling out the unclean
spirit:
Mark 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."
Mark 5:8, "For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean
spirit."
And then there was a time when a demon was manifesting and Jesus commanded
it to come out, without even referring to it as an unclean spirit... Jesus
simply talked to it just as one person would talk to another:
Luke 4:33-35, "And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit
of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 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 devil had
thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not."
The actual principal of casting out demons is very simple and strait
forward. The basic requirement is that you are a Christian, you know the authority
you have in Christ over those spirits, and that you are prepared to exercise
your authority through faith. It's that simple!
Demon groupings are also something to keep an eye out for, as in most cases of
deliverance there are more than one spirit that must be addressed. For example,
a person may have a spirit of anger, but also spirits of hate and rage that are
also in that person. Be on guard for the doorkeeper, or the spirit that may
have let the other ones in. For example, a person may have been angered one
time, which opened them up to a spirit of anger, then that spirit worked the
person up to hate somebody (which welcomed a spirit of hate), then the person
began to think of how they can get revenge on that person (thus welcoming a
spirit of rage). It is important to be on guard for related spirits when doing
deliverance. For example, if I found a spirit of murder, I would also keep an
eye out for spirits of anger, hate and rage.
Additional reading:
- Casting out demons
- Why cast out demons?
- Who can cast out demons?
- Using Jesus' name
- Keys to Biblical faith
- Symbolic Representations (Powerful Biblical tools!)
- Your spiritual authority
- Binding and loosing
- Preaching the FULL gospel
- Casting out demons
- Why cast out demons?
- Who can cast out demons?
- Using Jesus' name
- Keys to Biblical faith
- Symbolic Representations (Powerful Biblical tools!)
- Your spiritual authority
- Binding and loosing
- Preaching the FULL gospel
Chapter 8
Maintaining their deliverance
After a person has received deliverance and freedom from various bondages
in their life, it is important for them to take precautionary steps to ensure
that they maintain or hold their freedom. I am not fearful of demons coming
back every time we turn around, but it is always a good idea to be on guard in
case they try to make an attempt to re-enter.
One of the ways a demon may attempt to re-enter is to re-gain it's legal
grounds in that person's life. In such as case, the spirit may work at tempting
the person to re-open the door to them again, which will allow them to freely
take up residence again. This is where the person needs to be firmly rooted and
grounded in God's Word and have a daily relationship with Him so that they will
recognize this tactic and be on guard for it. It is important for a person not
to receive deliverance only to turn around and go back to the way they were
living before (fall right back into their old sins). When this happens, they
can basically re-open that door all over again, and you can bet that the demons
would love to take advantage of this opportunity to re-enter that person.
Another way which they may try to re-enter is through fear. Let's say a
woman is delivered from a spirit of infirmity, which caused some sort of
physical discomfort... then after her deliverance (where she is completely
healed), suddenly that pain seems to have come back. While it is possible that
she wasn't truly delivered in the first place, usually the case is that the
demon is attempting to make her believe that either it's simply returned, or
that she was never delivered in the first place. Once the person accepts this
lie, the demon makes himself to home... all based on the fact that he deceived
the person into believing that it just came back on them. So how do we prevent
this? First, we educate the person on their authority as a believer, and
instruct them to rebuke the demon and command it to depart from them the minute
it tries to re-appear. If the legal grounds have been broken, then there's no
need to go back through that process all over again, so now the goal is simply
to exercise our authority against it and command it to leave. It's a shame for
a believer to just let the demon back in without standing against it, after all
that Jesus went through so that we could be set free and have authority over
them!
One important key is to look back at how the demon entered the person in
the first place. Was it through emotional wounds or pain? Was it through anger?
Then it is important to be on guard for that demon to attempt to tempt them in
these same areas again after their deliverance. The demon may setup a
circumstance for that person to become angry again, so that their door is
re-opened all over again. The demon may try to get the person to think about
how so and so abused them, and remind them of the old wound (which was supposed
to be given over to Jesus). It is important that we be on guard especially in
the areas which originally opened the doors in the first place.
Perhaps one of the most vital things a person can do once they are
delivered, is to cultivate a daily relationship with the Holy Spirit, for this
will fill up the gap or emptiness that those demons left in them. I also
recommend getting the person baptized in the Holy Spirit once they are delivered,
which will set them ablaze for Jesus!
Additional reading:
- Keys to a thankful heart (3 part series)
- A love relationship with Jesus
- Spiritual Roadblocks
- How deliverances can fail
- Keys to a thankful heart (3 part series)
- A love relationship with Jesus
- Spiritual Roadblocks
- How deliverances can fail