Today we see so many churches that are dry and lifeless, and only once in a while do we see the hand of God do a miracle in such churches. Why is that? Could it be the same reason as we find in the Bible where Jesus could not do many miracles in Nazareth, because of their unbelief? If Jesus couldn’t do many miracles back then because of unbelief, what makes us think that things are any different today?

Matthew 13:58, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Let me assure you that Jesus did want to do many mighty works in Nazareth!

The Holy Spirit gave me a tap on the shoulder this morning about how our unbelief can hinder the miracle working power of God. We can keep Jesus (or the Holy Spirit) from being able to do many miracles in our midst, because of our doubt and unbelief in the miracle working power of God!

And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 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 I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 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.
Matthew 17:14-21

I have heard people twist this verse to say that we should be praying and fasting to get demons out, but not casting them out. Or maybe some demons shouldn’t be cast out, but prayed out. I want to point out a few things about this passage that will put new light on this situation…

First, Jesus was living a man’s life here on earth, and had no special abilities that we don’t possess today when it comes to casting out demons and healing the sick. Jesus said that by Himself, He could do nothing (see John 5:19), but the reason He was able to go about healing all who were oppressed of the devil is because God was with Him - He was anointed with the Holy Spirit (see Acts 10:38). Therefore, what He did, He also expects us to do as well. He said that those who believe upon Him will do the works that He did and greater (see John 14:12).

Second, how did Jesus deal with this deliverance case? Did Jesus call a fast and “pray the demon out”? No! Jesus CAST it out! Jesus was already prayed and fasted up and had the faith in His father to do the deliverance. The disciples were not prayed and fasted up, and therefore had unbelief in their heart. Notice that Jesus said that the reason that they were unable to drive out the demon was because of their unbelief (see Matthew 17:19-20).

Jesus’ disciples asked, “Why couldn’t we cast this thing out?”

Jesus replied, “Because of your unbelief…”

Jesus didn’t rebuke the disciples for not praying the demon out, but rather because they lacked faith, which they should have been obtaining through prayer and fasting on a regular bases. Jesus on the other hand, was prepared to cast the demon out, without having to call a fast and pray it out. Jesus was already fasted and prayed up!

Let’s say that you are up against a demon, but you have no clue what it’s name is. Let’s say the spirit is causing the person to experience deep feelings of irrational grief or sadness. One tactic that I have found helpful is to describe the demon if I don’t have it’s name. I might confront the demon(s) by saying something like, “I command the spirit or spirits that are responsible for this grief, sadness and torment to come to attention in the name of Jesus!” From my experience at least, this seems to get results quicker than simply referring to the spirit as “unclean spirit”. Once I describe the demon’s function or activity, then I will often refer to it as unclean spirit or devil as I continue to be persistent in driving it out.

Of course, if you have the actual name of the spirit, that is the best way to get it’s attention and force it up to the surface where it can be easily dealt with.

A person seeking deliverance from a generational bondage may think all that is needed is to break the curse that was passed down to them form their ancestors. This may be true with some cases, but don’t rely on simply breaking the curse as a means to end the bondage! A curse is simply a permission slip for an unclean spirit to enter or take advantage of a person. The spirits operating through the curse are what causes the actual problem in that person’s life. The curse simply allowed them to enter or gain access.

Many times, it is not enough to simply break a generational curse, it is also vital to cast out the spirits operating behind that curse. If you take somebody with a generational spirit of anger, and simply break the curse (which may have already been broken - see my teaching on GreatBibleStudy.com web site for the teaching on Generational Curses), chances are the bondage will remain. This is because the spirit causing the problem has not automatically left. I have a teaching on the GreatBibleStudy.com website entitled, “Why cast out demons?” which explains that demons do NOT leave once their legal grounds are broken up. It is therefore vital to cast out the spirits operating behind a curse!

Many times we see a family where the parents are overweight, and the children are overweight. Most Christians in America would attribute this to the children being raised in that environment (which can certainly play a role), while some may say that the children were simply suffering from a generational curse of gluttony (which is not impossible), but many times it goes deeper… since addictions usually are a result of escapism, there is likely something that has been working under the surface in that person’s life… many times that bondage is handed down from generation to generation, thus causing the same addiction in the child’s life as well. This is generational, but there’s more to it than what some may think.

That is why it is so important to look for the true root of the bondage when walking the person through deliverance!

This is the single most common reasoning that is given to somebody who asks if a Christian can have a demon. While it sounds reasonable, they are avoiding the fact that sin and bondage can exist in the life of a believer… which is darkness in itself!

How can a person who is born of incorruptible seed (see 1 Peter 1:23), washed with the Blood of Christ (see Revelations 1:5), justified (see Romans 3:24) and given the righteousness of God (see Romans 3:22)… still be in bondage to sin or continue to commit it? Even Paul realized that there was indeed evil present in Him (see Romans 7:21)! How can this be? When you are born again, your soul (mind, will and emotions) and physical body are NOT born again. God’s Word tells us that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (see Romans 12:2) and that through the washing of the Word (see Ephesians 5:26), He will prepare the bride (that’s us) to be without spot nor wrinkle nor any other blemish for Jesus’ return… apparently Christ’s bride can have blemishes before His return!

In answer to the question, “Can a Christian have areas of their life in bondage and darkness?” the answer is clearly YES. This is due to the fact that we consist of a spirit (the real us), a soul (our mind, will and emotions) and a body (physical ’shell’). While demons cannot own us or be united with our spirits, they can indeed dwell within our souls and bodies. I have more on this topic in my free e-book, “A biblical approach to the ministry of deliverance.”

Many times during a deliverance, you will encounter more than one demon. Often there are other similar or related spirits that must also be driven out. Let’s take for example, if you find a spirit of hate, you may very well find a spirit of murder, anger, revenge, rage, and so fourth. If you find a spirit of murder, you may also stumble across a spirit of death, suicide, etc. There may also be a doorkeeper, which is the spirit that is responsible for opening the door to the other demons and for keeping them in place. For example, a spirit of fear may be a doorkeeper, and has opened the door to a spirit of dread, anxiety, worry, panic, and so fourth.

Keep this in mind when casting out demons. Always be on the lookout for additional spirits that may need to be cast out. These things will work together to bring much torment and bondage in that person’s life! One technique used among deliverance ministers, is binding the spirits together to their leader (often there will be a leader in the group) so that he can cast the entire group out in one sweep.

Somebody once asked me, “You put your life on the line when you cast out demons, don’t you?” My response basically quotes a verse in the book of Luke:

Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

I know of stories where spirits of murder have manifested and tried to kill somebody, but were unable to because the person was covered with the Blood of Christ! Pastor James Brandt was involved in one such case personally and watched as the demon tried to kill him, but could not touch his neck!

This is something that simply does not concern me as I go fourth to minister deliverance. I believe it is important to use common sense and keep your eyes open through a deliverance, but on the other hand, I take it literally when Jesus spoke of our protection in Luke (see above verse) and also in the end of Mark:

Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

If you look up the phrase, “They shall take up…” in the Greek, we find the word airo, which means to take away or remove. This is saying that we will remove serpents and we shall not be harmed!

Psalms also tells us that we will tread on demon spirits and even the dragon himself will be under our feet!

Psalms 91:13, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”

Sometimes demons leave at the first command, while other times I’ve found myself rebuking and commanding them to leave several times before they finally come fourth. It is perfectly acceptable to command a demon more than once to come out before it leaves.

One reason a spirit may not leave is because it has legal grounds that is giving it permission to stay. Always keep that in mind as well (and be sure to cover that possibility the best you can), but also realize that there are times when a demon is just being stubborn, and needs to be driven out with persistence.

Perhaps one of the most common mistakes I’ve seen in this type of ministry, is failing to find out and clean up the root of the problem before attempting to cast out the demons. For example, a young girl makes a vow (bound her soul) never to let anybody get close to her again, and then years later a deliverance pastor attempts to cast out a spirit out of her which continually puts up a wall between her and others to prevent meaningful relationships from forming. There’s a good chance that the pastor won’t even get the spirit out because the legal grounds were never broken up, and even if he did get it out, there’s a very real chance that it will return because it has a right to be there.

Another example is when a person has a bondage to addiction of some kind. The root of many addictions in either an unmet need or an indulgence in escapism in effort to escape reality (or projected reality). Let’s say a woman has been divorced and was hurt in the process, and she turns to excessive eating in effort to ease the pain, thus turning to escapism to suppress the pain and wound. In a moral sense, she is harming her body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and a spirit of addiction will gladly take her up on this opportunity to destroy the body which God has given her. Years later, she seeks deliverance from this spirit, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to budge (even after persistently commanding the spirit to come out in Jesus’ name), or the minister is able to get the spirit(s) out, but they keep returning. My first question is, were those wounds from the divorce ever truly healed? Or were they suppressed? Could it be that those wounds simply remained her the darkness of her soul, and are still infected? It would be a good idea in such a case, to make sure that the wound has been opened up (bringing it out into the open and before the Lord) and healed (stop trying to hold on to or justify the wound and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to them). Once that root (that which has brought on this bondage in the first place) is cleaned up, then it is time to move forward and begin casting out the demons.

When you clean up the root of the problem in a deliverance, you are giving the enemy no excuse to return. You are enabling that person to come into complete freedom in that area of their life, and maintain that freedom for the rest of their life.