Casting Out Demons In His Name

IN MY NAME YE SHALL CAST OUT DEMONS

MOST of the readers of this book know what they are worth financially.
If you are a farmer, you know practically every rod of land that your deed covers.

If you own city property, or if you rent, you know every room in the house.
In this grasping world of ours, we attempt to utilize all our possessions; but in the spiritual world, how few of us really know, possess, or enjoy what our deed covers.
The spiritual life is so little understood by even the wisest of us.

You remember that Jesus said as He left the disciples, “In My Name, ye shall cast out demons,” and you also remember that a large part of His ministry was filled with combats with the unseen hosts of darkness.

One would naturally think in reading our modern religious literature and listening to the average preacher’s sermon, that demons had gone out of existence, or else they had been herded together in the slums of the city and were spending their entire time among the lower strata of humanity.

Years ago I was led to study this subject. I found that the Scriptures taught a great deal about demons, their habits, influence, and power over men. When Paul was writing to the Ephesian Church, he told them that their combat was, “Not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness.”

Writing to the Colossians, he said: “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, saluteth you, always striving for you in his prayers, that ye may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.” You notice that the word “striving” literally means to wrestle, struggle, and combat.

With whom was he struggling? With whom was this agonizing? Surely not with the Father: the eternal purpose of the Father is to bless men. We know that prayer cannot change God’s purpose, in any ordinary sense of the word, Prayer may accelerate God, or stir Him up to come to our rescue, or enlist His cooperation and sympathy and help in a time of need, but all through the Revelation there is breathed out here and there the fact of a hidden force that is intelligently warring against the purpose of God.

In my own ministry for years, I found a great deal of trouble, that perhaps every preacher or evangelist finds, with certain types of people who were always trying and never seemed to get settled in God.

They were always standing up for prayers but never seemed to get any farther.
Another class really seemed to get the light, but were held by some unseen powers.
These people naturally caused me a great deal of trouble¬I wondered how I could help them, and one day I was strangely led beyond myself to command that unseen power broken over a person whom it was holding.
I prayed in the name of Jesus. I cried: “In the Name of Jesus, I command your power, broken, over this life.” Instantly, the person was delivered, and I stood amazed at the effect.
A strange fear came over me that I had been able to exercise, by this simple command in Jesus’ Name, this marvelous power, and since that time, I have seen many startling results in revival services through using the Name of Jesus.

I found that the reason many men did not accept Jesus as their Saviour was because they were held by the power of demons. The people are hungry; they want deliverance from sin they crave eternal life, but they are unable, many of them, to break loose from the bonds that are holding them.

Hundreds of people have said to me, “I cannot become a Christian. I want to, but something holds me.” I have simply laid my hand on their shoulder and said, “In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, I command the power that holds you, broken. Now, in His mighty Name, get on your feet.”

With tears of joy, they have obeyed. I have prayed with men who were held by habits- tobacco, liquor, lusts, and, in the same mighty Name, I have seen them delivered, usually instantaneously.

I have found Christians who were unable to testify or lead in prayer, in public meetings, who felt their mouths closed while their hearts cried for liberty.

I have scarcely met a case, for whom I have prayed in the Name, and over whom I have commanded the power broken. but what they have had immediate deliverance.
In cases of Divine Healing, I have seen some cases that would move the country, had they known of them.

A woman who was almost blind was healed by the power of the Name of Jesus so that today she can read without glasses. Some have been cured of heart disease and various other infirmities. Many of those cases found it very difficult to take their healing.

I prayed for them several times and found that the difficulty lay in the fact that they were held, that they were bound by the power of demons. They were delivered when I said, “In the Name of Jesus, demons leave this body.”

I cannot conceive how successful work can be done today, or how believers can be in a place of continual victory unless they know that the source of their danger lies in demoniacal power and that the power to conquer it is in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.

The more quickly we recognize that the very air about us is filled with hostile forces, who are attempting to destroy our fellowship with the Father and to deprive us of our usefulness in the service of our Master, the better it will be for us. Three things are necessary in order to pray and take deliverance and victory over demons.
First, we must be children of God.
Second, we must not have any unconfessed or unforgiven sin in the heart, for if we do, the demons will laugh at our prayers. Third, we must know the power of the Name of Jesus, and know how to use it.

Read the Book of Acts carefully, and notice how the discloses used the Name.
Readers, if your own life has been defeated and hemmed in by the power of the Adversary, rise up in that Almighty Name of Jesus; hurl back the Enemy; take your deliverance; go, and set others free.