Casting Out Demons - Divine Healing That Works

In the previous installment of this series (here) we discussed limiting beliefs, and our need to experience God’s love in ways that speak to us individually. In order to receive healing and step into abundant life, we must deal with all the underlying factors that get us sick. As we covered in previous installments of this post, the first step is to diagnose the problems, and then we can begin to address them with solutions.

We are given many ways to heal: Deliverance, Inner Healing, Belief Transformation, Fragment Integration, Power, and Authority are the main methods. The most commonly used are power and authority, but they often lead to people “losing” their healing or not getting fully healed. This is because the underlying causes–demons, beliefs, fragments, and inner wounds, usually have not been dealt with. When they are appropriately addressed, healing is usually pretty simple because there are no longer any barriers to overcome.

There are entire books written on deliverance, so for the sake of keeping this article much shorter than it otherwise would be I recommend you find a few and read them. No one has it all figured out, so read a few of them, with the exception of any who don’t think Christians can have demons. If they have that key factor wrong, it’s questionable how helpful the rest of the book will be. The key with deliverance is to use discernment, wisdom, preferably have at least another person present with you for the session, and don’t let yourself get afraid. The goal of demons is to get you afraid, and they can’t simply demonize you by being in the same room with you. They don’t actually want to leave their host, and they will do anything in their power to keep from manifesting, and if you get them to manifest, anything in their power to prevent from leaving.

Demons have a hierarchy, and typically there will be a spirit that is in charge of a bunch of other spirits. When you try to cast it out, the ruling spirit may send out one of its lackeys as a sacrificial lamb of sorts, a Trojan horse to make you think you got the job done–it fully plans to invite that spirit back in later. Once when I was praying with my eldest and youngest granddaughters at separate times in the same day. The eldest, 7 years old, was able to describe to me what the demons were doing as I cast them out. She told me at one point that the “king” was still in there. I had never told her that demons operate in clusters or about the head spirit of the cluster sacrificing other spirits under its command so it can stay in. My youngest granddaughter, roughly three and a half at the time, was really antsy and unfocused as I began to pray over her, but as spirits left she settled down and had a better attention span. Additionally, when I called a spirit up and commanded it to tell me how many spirits were in there, the spirit, using her voice, said “a lot” I asked again, this time asking for a specific number, and it told me “sixteen.” I have news for you, my youngest granddaughter can count, but not very well. If asked for a number she is going to give me a small number like three or four, not any number over ten. I took it as clear confirmation I was doing the right thing.

The actual “casting out” part is pretty simple–you simply command the demon to leave. Something like “Spirit of pain, I command you to leave in the name of Jesus” will do just fine. Mind you, what we have covered thus far includes that demons don’t want to leave and will resist. You may need to be a broken record, and you may need to uncover the access points that assist the demon(s) to remain there–usually involving beliefs, emotions, and even abusive experiences people have had. If unable to cast the demon out, start looking for those root causes and address them, then cast the demon out again–it should go much more easily. A former mentor of mine in this area had years of experience in the Assemblies of God doing inner healing and deliverance, and he told me they used to spend hours–sometimes even four hours trying to cast out a single spirit. He no longer is willing to do that, and has found more effective means of dealing with them in far less time. When he searches for root issues, the deliverance goes much faster and is more effective.

To include some tips from my own experience with deliverance, it can be difficult at times to know if a demon has actually left. I rely heavily in these situations on the gift of discernment of spirits, often expecting to have a vision of an actual number of how many spirits are left in the cluster I am dealing with. You can also command the spirits to tell you, but at times the person will resist letting the demon speak and the demon is resisting speaking, so it can be a bit tricky. It can be possible to observe demons leaving at times without special spiritual knowledge. The Bible says in Psalm 104:4, “He makes his servants winds, his spirits flames of fire.” Demons are spirits, and they may respond to being cast out as though they are a form of wind (In Hebrew the word “spirit” itself literally means “breath”). On many occasions when exorcising demons I have seen people burp, yawn, cough, sneeze, or even pass gas or vomit. While the last is not a form of wind, as a whole these are potential indicators that a spirit has left the body even without a gift of discernment–and not by any means the main or only thing we should pay attention for. I also keep my eyes open so I can see what is happening to their body. When dealing with demons, it is infrequent but quite possible they could try to physically attack you using the host’s body. That is just one of the good reasons why you want to have a partner present, and keep your eyes open. Having another witness present can reduce risk for allegations of sexual abuse or assault or such things which someone could accuse you of when under demonic influence regardless of how innocent you are. When I observe physical changes, I know we have spiritual movement, and it is easier to direct a moving rock than a still one. I try to build on that momentum to get the person free.

It is also important to recognize whether the passage of air actually completed itself or not. For example, when doing deliverance on myself I often start to yawn but the yawn doesn’t finish, stopping halfway. I have felt the same with gas–it rumbles around but might not actually come out. Both of these are examples of spirits fighting to stay. Keep in mind the air-passage method is by no means foolproof or guaranteed proof-positive of a demon exiting, and learning how to use and engage the gift of discernment is a must. I often use a mental count-down, and God gives me actual numbers of how many spirits are left I need to deal with, and the number changes as they leave. In the end, the best way to go about deliverance is to read up on it, then dive in; there is no substitute for experience.

In the next installment of this series we will focus on how to go through emotional healing, with a prayer at the end to use as a simple tool to help deal with emotional issues.

Divine Healing that Works- The Complete Series

Part 1 – The Root Cause

Part 2 – Demons and Deliverance

Part 3 – Fragments

Part 4 – Limiting Beliefs

Part 5 – Casting Out Demons

Part 6 – Emotional Healing

Part 7 – Triggers and Healing Fragments

Part 8 – Faith For Healing

Part 9 – Power and Authority For Healing