You Are Called By God
Previously we looked at the Great Commission in Mark 16:15-18. We see that, as Christians, we should expect signs, wonders, and miracles to manifest through us. We should expect people to be saved, healed, and delivered through our preaching. Signs authenticate the message of the Gospel that we preach. They are God’s signature, God’s stamp of approval upon our obedience. Think you’re not a preacher? Think again!
If you are a born-again believer in Christ, you can preach. Preaching doesn’t have to be from behind a pulpit. It can be as simple as sharing your testimony with someone. We all have a testimony, a story of how we came into the Kingdom. Don’t ever underestimate the power of your testimony. Your own story added to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit have the power to create miracles. People can become saved, healed, and delivered just from you being obedient and transparent enough to share from your own life story. I encourage you to read Acts chapter 26. It’s the account of the Apostle Paul sharing his testimony with King Agrippa. Verse 28 says, “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.'” Although “almost persuaded” isn’t enough to get anyone into heaven, we can see the persuasive power of a testimony here. Paul did his part to plant the seed of salvation.
Additionally, as you read Acts 2:14-41 we see the effects Peter’s message had on the unsaved world.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
Acts 2:41
The very first sermon Peter ever preached yielded 3,000 souls for the Kingdom of God! If that’s not spectacular enough for you, meditate on this…
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13
The religious leaders of the day labeled Peter and John as “uneducated and untrained men.” Here’s the truth: Time spent with Jesus can yield more purpose and power than 10,000 hours of formal Bible school! (I’m not against formal schooling, by any means, but I’m trying to get you to understand your calling in God, even if you’ve never been to seminary.) You have access to as much Holy Ghost power as someone with a doctorate in theology!
Acts 4:13 was spoken right after Peter and John healed the lame man at the Gate Beautiful (Acts 3:1-10). This was the first recorded miracle of the Apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven. Simply spectacular and undeniable, and yet the “religious folk” called them illiterate, ignorant, idiots! (That’s the Greek meaning of “uneducated and untrained” in Acts 4:13.) Your commitment to sit in the presence of God, and be tutored by the greatest teacher of all, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, qualifies you to fulfill the Great Commission – preach, heal, and deliver! Don’t sell yourself short. That’s how the original 12 disciples did ministry. That’s how the seventy who were sent out by Jesus did ministry. That’s how I got started in ministry.
Just Do It!
The very first time I was asked to preach at my church I almost said no. In my early days as a Christian I had only briefly shared my healing testimony in front of congregations, as I was called upon to do so. But speaking for 10-15 minutes was far different than preparing a full-length sermon. I tried pulling a “Moses” on my Pastor. I gave him every reason why I was not qualified to fill in for him. But then he looked me square in the eyes, and with a stern voice said, “So then you’re telling me I haven’t heard from God!” And he walked away.
I was immediately convicted, knowing he was my appointed spiritual authority, so I ran after him, and said I would do it. Ten days later, the most amazing thing happened. My message was titled: The Power of a Testimony. I took the Word of God, connected the dots to include my own miraculous testimony, and the power of God hit that place! Before I even finished my message, people ran to the altar. I didn’t even know what they were there for! But God did. Then I opened the altar for anyone who needed salvation or prayer for healing. My goodness, the need was almost more than the prayer team and I could handle. In fact, the first service ran right into the second. As congregants arrived for the second service, there were bodies all over the floor that were slain in the Spirit. The Kingdom of God was advanced that day! And that was way before I ever attended one Bible school class, and many years prior to me becoming a licensed minister.
Dear Ones, can you begin to see that God has called YOU too? You’ve heard me say it before… God is not looking for perfect people, He’s looking for obedience through faith. Freely share your testimony. That’s a great way to get started in ministry. Oftentimes it is the precursor to signs, wonders, and miracles. Rarely does a person begin their ministry in deliverance. There’s usually a progression from preaching (sharing your testimony) to laying hands on the sick, and then to deliverance. Ask the Lord to provide open doors for you. Believe that He is going to sovereignly direct your path. There are divine appointments out there, in your own neighborhood just waiting for you to act upon. And as you do…
And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Mark 16:20
And that’s how the Gospel of Mark ends. Jesus gave a mandate to every believer, and those who obeyed became miracle-workers. The miracles that accompanied the preaching confirmed to the people that the messengers were telling the truth. God was backing up their message with supernatural phenomena. The best way for you to graduate into a ministry of deliverance it to begin extending the love of God (sharing what He has already done for you) to others. Deliverance cannot be done without a genuine love for the lost, the sick, and those in bondage. Everything Jesus did flowed from a heart of compassion. Faith worketh by love! Deliverance works because of love!
They Shall Cast Out Demons
Casting out demons doesn’t require a degree in theology. Good biblical training, yes. But not a college degree. It’s been mandated by God and it’s His desire for every Christian, but it’s not promised to every Christian. Casting out demons is only for those who believe they can. This ministry is activated by faith, just like every promise in God’s Word. In fact, everything God does is activated by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. This is the reason many great churches do not see signs and wonders in their midst — because they’re not believing for them.
But what exactly does “cast out” demons mean? In the Greek it means: to evict, throw out, drive out, expel. Cast out means to violently displace something. During deliverance we are representing Jesus, and the devil is displaced. In Jesus’ name we can forcibly drive the demonic spirits out. The fact that we have to evict them means they may not want to go, but we have authority as believers to forcibly throw them out. I’m not talking about the use of physical force (this is where some untrained Christians get all flakey, initiating all kinds of weirdness, and then deliverance gets a bad rap), but rather through a verbal command.
When you encounter a situation where there is a demonic presence, you cannot be passive. It requires being aggressive. Be strong. Be forceful. That doesn’t necessarily mean loud — but you must speak strongly and with conviction in your voice. You must truly believe something is going to happen. Faith gives a confidence in your heart that something will happen when you speak.
At times, demons will actually test you, to see if you are really serious about deliverance. They will deliberately resist just to see if you are persistent or if you will give up (we’ll look at a biblical example of this later). They will challenge you to see if you really have the authority and belief to deal with them “by the Spirit of God.” In order to cast out demons we need the Spirit of God working with us. In fact, working and flowing with the Holy Spirit is the most important part of this ministry. It’s very helpful to pray in tongues to activate the flow of God inside us in order to minister and release the power of God to another person by voice and command.
If you’re not baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, I strongly encourage you to seek this incredible gift of God. You and the Holy Spirit must work together in a deliverance ministry. You, all by yourself, are no match for demonic forces. You need the dunamis miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit. You need to know how to tap into the divine omniscience (all-knowing nature) of the Holy Spirit. He knows everything. We, by comparison, know very little. That’s why we need to foster our relationship with the One who knows it all!
Oftentimes, the Holy Spirit will reveal information through a word of knowledge or word of wisdom as we are ministering deliverance. For example: During a really difficult deliverance He sometimes gives us the actual name of the demon we’re dealing with (Jesus Himself experienced this), or He shows us a traumatic experience the person had as a child that caused the demonic presence to enter. It’s imperative we rely on the Holy Spirit’s truth, wisdom, and power during deliverance. (If you need more understanding or teaching on the baptism in the Holy Spirit, please contact me.)
Demons Cannot Be Prayed Out
It’s important to realize, once a demonic spirit takes up residency in someone, a person must cast the demon out. It will not leave on its own. With word-commands we violently displace spirits! Demons cannot be prayed out. This is a misnomer. It is inaccurate and simply wrong to think we can pray demons out of someone. Jesus never once did this. He always cast them out through the authority of the spoken word. He never once prayed to His Father during the act of expulsion. We need to be prayed-up first. The praying should occur prior to a deliverance session. We can pray that a person would see their need for deliverance, but prayer won’t do much to evict a demon. During exorcism we are communicating and speaking directly to the evil demonic spirit inside a person. At that particular moment, we are not speaking to God.
Additionally, psychiatry cannot deliver and set a person free because that deals with the mind. We’re talking about an evil spirit that’s indwelling a person that needs to be cast out. Philosophy (the love of wisdom) cannot deliver a person. All the head knowledge and reason in the world cannot set a person free. Philosophy may have truthful teachings, but it has no strength or power of exorcism to set someone free. Pastoral counseling cannot set a person free. Christian counseling has its place in the body of Christ, but counseling is very different from deliverance. Why? Because you cannot talk the devil out of a person. You have to cast him out! Just like Jesus did. The more you are willing to step out into deliverance, the more you will see these biblical principles at work, and the more confidence you will develop.
What Is A Demon?
Before going any further, I think it’s important to understand the characteristics of demons. But before we do that, it’s just as important to realize what a demon is.
A demon is a fallen angel. God created angels to operate within a certain ranking order. Satan (whose created name was Lucifer), was likely the highest angel in God’s ranking system. It is widely believed that Lucifer was heaven’s “worship leader” or in some way greatly involved in music. Scripture says he was an anointed cherub, adorned with every precious jewel imaginable, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty (Ezekiel 28:12-19). But eventually pride entered his heart, and in his arrogance and self-centeredness he desired to be equal with the God who created him. So he rebelled against God, and persuaded a large number of lesser-ranking angels to join him in rebellion (one-third of them). Consequently, a war broke out in heaven. Michael (an archangel) and his angels fought Lucifer and his angels, but Lucifer did not prevail.
Then God cast Lucifer and his angels out of heaven, to the earth, where they currently reside. Those fallen angels are now demons. The accounts are found in Isaiah 14:12-15, Revelation 12:1-12, and Luke 10:18 (*Notice the various names used for the same entity: Lucifer, Satan, the devil, the dragon, and the accuser of the brethren) Those earthly demons now operate under the control of higher ranking demonic spirits, called principalities and powers of the air, who in turn operate under the control of Satan himself.
Demons reach the depths of hatred, bitterness, and perversion. They torment people (through gateways or open doors, which we’ll cover later), lead people away from God and His truth, and can potentially even possess a person in the most extreme cases. But Christian believers, through the Holy Spirit within, have authority over ALL demon power! God gave it to Jesus, who transferred it to the 12 disciples, then to the 70, then to every believer through the mandate of the Great Commission. (See: Deliverance: A Divine Mandate for All Believers for that teaching.) Hallelujah, demons are subject to us, if we know how to appropriate that delegated authority!
We can learn much about how demons behave based on the teachings of the New testament. In accordance with scripture, I’ve compiled a list of 18 traits demons can possess. For now, I’ll just list them. In the near future I’ll create a printable PDF file for those who wish to have a hard-copy.
Characteristics Of Demons
- Demons Scream (Luke 8:28; Acts 8:7) They are terrorized when the power of Jesus Christ confronts them
- Demons Cry Out (Mark 1:23, 1:26, 3:11, 5:7, 9:26; Luke 4:33, 8:28) This manifestation is not a normal cry, but rather a blood-curdling scream that will make the hair on your arms stand up
- Demons Can Talk (Mark 1:34, 5:9; Luke 4:41; Acts 19:15) Jesus was constantly telling demons to be quiet
- Demons Can Be Spooked or Panicked (Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24, 5:7; Luke 8:28) In James 2:19 the word “tremble” means: to be panicked or spooked
- Demons Are Unclean (Matthew 12:43; Mark 1:23, 1:26, 5:2, 5:8, 9:25; Luke 4:33, 8:29, 9:42, 11:24) Demons are filthy, dirty, lewd, foul beings
- Demons Can Have Intelligence (Mark 5:7; Acts 16:17, 19:15) They are not intelligent, but rather, intelligence means they know things. They have intelligence
- Demons Can Be Violent (Matthew 17:14-18; Mark 5:13, 9:17-18; Luke 9:37-42; Acts 19:16) Demons are capable of doing violent things if unrestricted and no one takes authority over them
- Demons Can Be Strong (Mark 5:4; Luke 8:29; Acts 19:16) Demonic spirits can demonstrate incredible supernatural physical strength, hence the reason deliverance should never be done alone
- Demons Can Cause Terror (Matthew 8:28; Acts 19:16) Demons can be exceedingly fierce and create dread, fright, and horror
- Demons Can Cause Suicidal Tendencies (Matthew 17:15; Mark 5:5) Demons may cause a person to cut himself, fall into the fire or water, or otherwise harm himself
- Demons Can Cause Physical Impairments (Matthew 9:33, 12:22-28, 17:15-18; Luke 11:14, 13:11) Demons can cause physical disabilities like a mute spirit, a blind spirit, a deaf spirit, epilepsy, or crippling
- Demons Can Inhabit Animals (Matthew 8:31-32; Mark 5:11-13; Luke 8:32-33) In this account the demons entered the swine
- Demons Can Act Religious (Mark 1:24, 5:7; Luke 8:28) Demons can use religious terminology like “Jesus, Son of the Most High God” or “Jesus of Nazareth” or “The Holy One of God”
- Demons Can Be Associated With The Occult (Acts 16:16-18) All forms of witchcraft, divination, and sorcery are open doors for demons
- Demons Believe In God and Jesus (James 2:19) Demons know who Jesus is. However, intellectual assent to a creed is not saving faith
- Demons Beg (Matthew 8:31; Mark 5:7, 5:10-12; Luke 8:31-32) When put under pressure demons will begin to beg for the deliverer to let up
- Demons Recognize Authority (Mark 1:27; Luke 4:36; Acts 19:15) Demons recognize the believers authority
- Demons Submit (Mark 1:27; Luke 4:36; Acts 19:15) Demons submit to the name of Jesus and the authority of Jesus Christ
Perhaps you’ve recognized something while reading over the list of demon characteristics. Demons behave and have many of the same attributes as a person. Therefore, most deliverance ministers refer to them as “persons without bodies.” I believe that’s an accurate term. They have personalities. And they have distinct personalities; one demon is not exactly the same as another, just like no two people are exactly the same. Demons even have names, and sometimes refuse to come out unless you call them by the correct name. In deliverance, it’s important to remember we’re dealing with a real entity, persons without a body. During deliverance we speak directly to the demon(s), not the person being delivered.
To Recap – What Is Exorcism?
Exorcism (casting out demons) is commanding, in the name of Jesus, a demon to come out of a person. It is accomplished by the spoken word, in the name of Jesus Christ, through the authority of the believer, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The person doing the exorcism should be filled the Holy Spirit. They should not have any unsurrendered sin in their life because the demon will take advantage of any weakness. Therefore, the person should be pure of ulterior motives, pride, greed, sexual impurities, or anything else that would leave him open to some charge by the devil.
- Deliverance Series Part 1 – Prelude to Deliverance
- Deliverance Series Part 2 – Repentance: Vital for Deliverance Ministry
- Deliverance Series Part 3 – Deliverance: A Divine Mandate for All Believers
- Deliverance Series Part 4 – Deliverance: They Shall Cast Out Demons
Upcoming teachings in our series on deliverance include: How Jesus Dealt With Demons and Gateways for Demonic Spirits.
© Glenda Motsavage and Sozo Ministries International, 2023
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