🎉 Welcome back!
This is session 31 of our class on Spiritual Warfare! 🛡️⚔️
Welcome back to all of you who've hung in this far—you're amazing! 🙌💥 We're coming near to the end, but there are many things to consider yet—in fact, more than I can probably fit into these last six sessions! 

🕊️ Last time, we looked at what to do if you feel like you're experiencing demonic influence in your life—whether you're facing opposition or feeling the impact of the enemy's attacks. 
Today, we're turning it around. We're going to look at what to do when you feel called to minister on behalf of others, when you want to go into battle not just for yourself, but for others. 
If you're part of Christian Leaders Institute, you're likely engaged in ministry somewhere—and you'll definitely encounter people who know something’s wrong in their life and are wondering why. 

🎯 In this session, I want to prepare you for that. 💪 Prepare you to deal with that person and to go to battle on behalf of Jesus, in the power of His name and by His authority, to set people free. 

🚨 Let’s get to it!

📊 Remember that demonic influence scale? Here’s a quick refresher:
🔹 Opposition: If you're a believer, you must know—the enemy, Satan, is our adversary. He’s always opposing you.
🔹 He wants your life to be miserable. 
🔹 He wants your life to be complicated. 
🔹 He wants you to doubt your faith. 
🔹 He wants to kill, steal, and destroy. 

Opposition is normal. It's a regular part of life as a follower of Jesus. 🕊️
💡 But—be aware—it will get stronger at certain times in your life and weaker at others. 🎢

Influence

The enemy will come and try to influence you and your choices. If you open your life to him—if you give him a foothold 🦶—as we’ve seen, it will become more difficult, and it may end up in oppression 😟. You’ll begin to realize something is going on, that the enemy has a hold on your life.

We discussed last time how to address this. If things continue to worsen, it may lead to obsession 😵, and eventually to control or even possession 👹. Scripture makes it clear this happened in the New Testament, and it may happen today in more subtle ways.

But today, we’ll focus on those first three categories:

  • Opposition ⚔️

  • Influence 👀

  • Oppression 😔

In your life and ministry, you might be talking with a friend, associate, or fellow ministry worker, and realize—they realize—things aren’t going right. That’s the moment to ask:

  • What’s the root of this? 🌱

  • Where does it come from? ❓

  • Is there a way to engage in setting this person free? 🔓

I’ll share stories about that later.

So what do you do? How do you go about it? Here’s the plan.

🌟 Preparation 🌟

Your preparation is key 🔑.

I was reading Doris Wagner’s How to Cast Out Demons 📚, and she describes how, before any interview where she’s dealing with someone—going to battle on their behalf—she spends a day fasting prior to it 🍽️.

She wants to be prepared:

  • Emotionally 💓

  • Physically 💪

  • And most of all, Spiritually 🙏✨

She spends time fasting. (Remember, I gave you a brief overview of fasting earlier. There’s also a short course on this in Christian Leaders Institute.)

Every time a hunger pang hits 🍽️➡️😌, it’s a reminder to pray—to seek God’s presence, ask for the power of the Spirit, and prepare for the upcoming spiritual battle.

She prepares herself 🛡️.

She also prepares by reviewing the person’s situation—the individual she’s about to care for and minister to 📝.

Then they meet 👥.

They hold an interview.

Doris Wagner had a rule for this: she would always leave the door open 🚪 during the interview. There would also be other people in the office, just to ensure everything was above board ✅.

But, if something unexpected happens—if the enemy shows up in a way more powerful than anticipated—the interview becomes crucial.

💬 The interview usually starts with:

  • “What’s been happening in your life?”

  • “Where do you see the problems?”

  • “Why do you think this is happening?”

  • “Do you sense the enemy might be involved?” 👀

Together, they’ll talk about the Sword of the Spirit ⚔️ –

  • Which Scriptures apply 📖?

  • How do these fit the situation?

Then, they’re ready for the prayer of command 🙏.

I’ll say it again—
Here in the studio 🎥, we’ve had plenty of glitches ⚡:

  • The power goes out 💡,

  • The camera stopped working once 📸,

  • Random things go wrong 😣.

So, I’ll repeat it now, as I’ve done before:

“In the name of Jesus, I command any of the forces of the enemy that have been deployed here—break the chains you have been creating. Leave right now. I command you to go to Jesus so that He can do with you as He sees fit.”

🛡️ That’s the prayer that sets the stage.

Once that command has been made, the next step is to sit with the person and deal with the demons that have been identified 🧹.

This can happen in a variety of ways:

  • It might be someone who’s been experiencing persistent struggles,

  • Or subtle influences they can’t quite explain,

  • Or situations where they feel oppressed or influenced.

🕊️ Next Step: Invite them to pray 👐.

Jesus said that if a demon is cast out, it might wander around and eventually come back to a “cleaned-up” person. If that happens, it may bring seven more demons with it! (Luke 11:24-26) 😨.

That’s why it’s vital to help the person invite the Holy Spirit into their life—

  • To fill their heart 🕊️,

  • To fill their mind,

  • To be the presence of Jesus Christ in them 💖.

Coming up, I’ll share some simple stories 📚—examples of these first three stages of demonization (opposition, influence, and oppression) where I’ve seen this play out in real life.

I was discipling a young couple—new Christians—👨‍👩‍👧‍👦. They had two beautiful children and had recently come to faith. It was an exciting time for our church 🙌. The person in charge of discipleship asked me to work with them since our kids had become friends. So, we were getting to know them on various levels—not just as their pastor.

One evening, as we were working through discipleship materials 📖, I realized they had a different agenda.

They asked, "Does this always happen to people who come to faith?" 🤔
I responded, "What do you mean?"

They shared a litany of disasters:

  • The husband developed an eye infection that made it impossible to work. He was an accountant, needing to deal with numbers all day 👁️.

  • Problems with the house—leaks, breakdowns, constant issues 🏚️.

  • One thing after another going wrong 😩.

I explained, “Yeah, I hear this story more often than you’d think. When the enemy has been living in that situation and thriving in their lives, and now he’s being commanded out—being replaced by the Holy Spirit—there’s often a counterattack.” 💥

After talking for a while, I said, “We should deal with this.”

So I prayed:

“In the name of Jesus, I command the spiritual forces deployed against this family: I command you to leave. I command the spirit of sickness and infection in the man’s eyes, leave right now. Go to Jesus that He might deal with you as He sees fit. I command any demon causing problems in this house—breakdowns, leaks, disasters—go to Jesus. Never come back. He will handle you as He sees fit.” 🙏

Then, we all prayed together. They prayed for the presence of God in their lives and their home 🕊️🏠.

That’s when you know you’re in a spiritual battle.

📞 I called the next day and asked, “How are things?”
He said, “Much better. I’m going to work today, and no disasters today.”

It was a moment to say: “Yes, this is what we’re dealing with here. In the Name of Jesus, we have the power and authority. And He who is within us is greater than he who is in the world.” ✝️💪

Here’s another example:
I was working with a couple facing financial crises 💰.

  • They were overwhelmed, and it looked like there was no immediate solution 😟.

  • They decided they’d need to sell the house 🏠, but it wouldn’t sell.

It was puzzling because the market in Southern California was hot 🔥.

So we began to ask, “Why do you think this is happening? Is there something beyond just financial struggle?”

It turned out the man had done some things that were... well, probably illegal and maybe even immoral 💔.

So, we had to deal with confession and repentance—🔑 steps toward deliverance.

And then, in the name of Jesus ✝️, I said, “I address the demon who is keeping this house from selling. I command you to break that chain you’re trying to put on these people’s lives and to set them free. I command you to leave and go to Jesus, that He may deal with you as He sees fit.”

Now, just a word about that commanding the demon to go to Jesus.

  • Remember, when Jesus commanded the demons to come out, they said, “Don’t send us into the abyss. Send us into the pigs nearby.” 🐖

  • Jesus permitted them, and about a thousand pigs drowned themselves as they rushed into the lake.

Personally, I don’t want to send the demon into anything else, and I’m not exactly sure about the abyss. So, my practice has been to send them to Jesus—💬 “Jesus can decide where they should go from there.”

Here’s another example:

A person came to me struggling with depression—😞—to the point of experiencing suicidal thoughts.

  • This person was already receiving counseling 🧠 and wasn’t trying to bypass it. Counseling and medication can be powerful tools God has provided, and I’ve personally benefited from them 🙌.

  • Depression can have many causes, but sometimes the enemy might be at work.

We talked it through:

  • “Are you doing the other things to manage your depression?”

  • “Are you in counseling? When did it start? How did it start? Are you on medication? Have you ever been on medication?” 💬

It became clear that even with the normal steps, the depression was still deepening.

That was the time to deal with the enemy.

So I prayed:

“In the name of Jesus, I command the demon—or demons—causing this depression to leave now. I command you to break any chains you’ve been building in this person’s life. I command you to go to Jesus that He might deal with you as He sees fit.” 🙏

📞 Later, I received a report from the person a couple of days afterward: the depression was lifting, and she was experiencing a new level of freedom 🕊️.

Now this—you know, it's easier if you have the spiritual gift of discernment 🔍 and can say, “Yes, this is the enemy” or “No, this isn’t”. It's just easier.
And it’s easier if you do this in teams—with people, with a couple of people praying, because where two or three are gathered together in Jesus’ name, He’s there in the midst of them 🙏.

But these are just a couple of examples 📝.

Now that we’ve been talking about the first three of the six levels of demonic influence—opposition 😠, influence 🤔, oppression 😟—those are what we’ve been focusing on.
But it’s a whole different thing when you get to obsession, control, and possession 🧠.

With possession, you have to do exorcism, and that’s a whole different world 🌍.

So, let’s look a little bit more at how you would approach it if you’re ministering to someone who you believe is up there on that scale.

First of all, recognize the enemy:

  • Go back to the names we’ve looked at: the adversary, the tempter 👿, etc.

  • Consider his power and some of the things he might cause:

1️⃣ Severe sickness 🤒
They brought Jesus a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus rebuked him, healed him by casting out the deaf, mute, blind demon.
Sometimes, there are normal causes for sickness in a broken world 🌎, but sometimes, there’s sickness that won’t be cured.

2️⃣ Another example I love—Luke 13 📖
There was a woman who was bent over and limited, and Jesus healed her on the Sabbath.
He said, “Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
Jesus identifies that this crippling was Satan at work.
So, he healed her.
Sometimes, severe sickness can be the evidence of Satan. You’ll need discernment 🔎 for that.

3️⃣ If someone says blasphemy against God ✝️
Remember: Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).
If you hear blasphemy against God from someone, it could be a sign that the enemy is there, especially in those top three tiers of the oppression scale 😨.

4️⃣ Unusual physical strength 💪
Remember the man Jesus encountered with a legion of demons, breaking chains.
Imagine the strength of that.
If you see someone exhibiting this, you might think, “Wow, maybe the enemy’s involved here.”

5️⃣ Physical fits of rage 😡
This can sometimes indicate the presence of a demon.

6️⃣ Split personality 🧠
One person I read about shared a story. He and his wife attended a session where people were taught to pray for a spirit guide 🧙‍♀️.
He said, “I didn’t get one, but my wife did.”
Later, she began to act more and more bizarrely.
One time, when she was angry about something, she turned to him, looked at him, and said in a voice he hardly recognized, “Don’t you know who we are?”

7️⃣ Resistance to help 🙅‍♂️
People may resist spiritual help.

8️⃣ Hearing other voices 👂👹
This is another sign of deeper levels of demonic influence.

9️⃣ Involvement in the occult 🔮
We’ve touched on this before.

I’m going to share with you a process now, though I’m a bit beyond my experience realm here.
I’ve done this a couple of times, but this is beyond my personal experience.
So, I’ll share what I’ve learned from people who are engaged in this ministry regularly 📚.


First of all, build a team 🤝.

  • Gather people who have discernment gifts 🔍, people who have some experience dealing with demons 👿, and a team of intercessors to be praying 🙏 for those who will be involved in this interview.

  • The person seeking exorcism should be asked: When did this behavior start? What have you seen? What do you know?

Fasting and prayer 🍽️ are key to preparing for this time.

When meeting with the person:

  • Claim, “Jesus is here now” ✝️.

  • Have a time of prayer, asking for blessing on the time together.

  • Touch the person (lay hands) and pray for the spirits to leave:

    • “Break the chains you have made in [name]’s life. In the Name of Jesus and by His authority, I command you to leave now and go to Jesus, who can deal with you as He sees fit.” 🔥

This might take multiple times of praying 🙌.

Should we name the demon? 🤔

  • That’s a question that comes up in a lot of the things I’ve read.

  • Personally, I don’t think it’s all that important.

  • However, if the demon manifests itself and gives a name (“Do you know who we are?”), then you can address it personally and directly.

After prayer:

  • Counsel the person 💬.

  • You’ve got to tell them about what’s coming next.

Here’s the passage I quoted earlier:

  • The person better fill their life with something, so the demon doesn’t come back with seven more.

  • They need to:

    • Be engaged with God’s people 🤝

    • Be engaged in worship 🎶

    • Be engaged in discipleship 📖

Or it may be worse for them 🛑.

Again, expect counterattack 🔁.

  • Teach them about the armor of God 🛡️, filling with the Spirit 💨, and the help of the community 🏠.

So that’s a brief overview 📝.

  • Look for people with gifts of discernment.

  • Look for people who will pray 🙏.

  • Look in your life and see if there’s anyone with experience in this area, especially if you feel called to help someone in those upper levels of demon engagement ⚔️.

Next time, we’ll look at this again as we continue our journey in spiritual warfare 💥.

இறுதியாக மாற்றியது: வியாழன், 29 மே 2025, 12:54 PM