This is the #1 question I get from people I’m working with who are being oppressed/harassed/demonized.
It’s a good question…and a legitimate one. The first step towards liberation isn’t found in the answer though or where it ultimately should lead us – to an intimate relationship with God – our deliverer, the real first step is to ask why you’re asking that question. What’s the motive.
If the motive is to truly humble ourselves to face whatever it is we have done (knowingly or unconsciously) or others have done to us that has “invited” demonic infestation then wonderful….great start.
Unfortunately that isn’t usually the case. In the dozens perhaps hundreds of “tough cases” I’ve dealt with in people suffering from real, complicated, demonic infestations; the hardest cases are not those in whom the manifestations are most severe or who’ve dabbled the deepest in the occult or who are unsaved Christians.
The toughest cases, those who never truly get free, or those who are perpetually haunted and oppressed and never press on to win their personal war are those who could never truly tame their pride and vanity enough to honestly face “how did I let it in”.
They are more than happy and willing to sit through endless lectures and sermons on the various names and characteristics of what is “haunting” them. They can deal with admitting that they played the Ouija board in the 80’s or that they allowed their buddy to do a tarot reading on them. They love to tell me that their pastor told them it’s because they are a power in the church – specially chosen by God and that the devil is targeting them for their potential as spiritual warriors or that it’s because they skipped out on their Bible study this week or made out with their boyfriend before marriage…..
And to a certain extent these are all plausible and genuine pieces of the puzzle.
But more than any Ouija board fascination or listening to death metal in your 20’s……the real reason that MOST people who are afflicted and oppressed don’t pursue and find true deliverance is their own personal vanity and pride that can’t allow them to ask and receive the true answer to how you let in evil.
They will use every survival instinct and tactic to discredit those helping them, to focus on causes that at the end of the day have nothing to do with the real reason Evil continues to harass, deceive and oppress them.
They think that true demonic possession comes about by strange incantations and seance like evocations and are surprised when the “casting out” words they’re using and the dozens of religious people around them are using don’t work. Not understanding that evil spirits respond to the secret incantations of your heart. What you love is what will answer you.
Why do you think who you are to love is a commandment? What you love can always be traced back to its creator. Do you secretly in your heart of hearts really love truth? And justice? Or do you secretly love you …attention and glory for you? Trace back self love and self worship and vain glory…who is the father of those things? Have you hidden that so well even you can’t see it? But evil spirits can and do and are invited accordingly.
The simple truth is that if they could just focus on one simple fact and prayer to be willing to ask God to create within them a clean heart in order to become brutally honest about themselves – they’d be surprised at the speed of advancements they’d make in their pursuit of deliverance and recovery from the snares of the Devil.
You would be surprised to see that Christ has already given you the power and authority to overcome every single trap the Devil has lined your path with……it isn’t that which trips you up, it’s the blindfold you keep insisting you’re not wearing.
Take it off. Get honest. Like really really honest. You’ll be surprised at what you find.
Surprised and Free.
The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules and tradition they have been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”?
In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field
and the fertile field seem like a forest?
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord;
the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
The ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court
and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob:
“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will their faces grow pale.
When they see among them their children,
the work of my hands,
they will keep my name holy;
they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;
those who complain will accept instruction.”
Isaiah 29:13-24
Recovered In Christ 