Overcoming Evil Spirits
(week 41/05)
Olubi Johnson
Mark 16:17 NKJV: And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
1 John 4:3-4 NKJV: And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Here, we are told to cast out demons and overcome evil spirits.
Evil spirits are satanic spirits who attack, oppress and if they can, try and possess our minds, bodies and circumstances of men.
Ephesians 6:12 NIV: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Their purpose is to hinder the will of God from coming to pass in our lives which is that we might have life more abundantly, prosper and be in health as our souls prosper (Jn. 10.10; 3 Jn. 2).
We overcome them by being strong in the Lord and the power of His might using the whole armour of God: love and effectual fervent prayer in the spirit with all kinds of prayer on a regular basis to cast them or the spiritual forces they are releasing, out of our souls, bodies and circumstances, destroy their works and resist and bind them. In binding them we render them temporarily inoperative.
Ephesians 6:13-18 NKJV: Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
Now in casting out evil spirits that possess the mind: causing insanity or body: causing sicknesses we need to learn how to operate in faith like the Lord Jesus did.
Let us look at two examples:
Mark 5:1-13 NIV: They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” 8 For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!” 9 Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. 11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
Here Jesus asked the evil spirit for its name because the gift of the discernings of spirits was in operation. Do not talk to evil spirits except this gift is in operation: just command them to get out addressing them based on the oppression they are causing like Jesus did in:
Mark 9:16-29 NKJV: And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” 17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever he seizes him, he throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast him out, but they could not.” 19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast him out?” 29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
Notice here that Jesus did not ask the spirit its name rather he called it by the manifestation it was causing: a deaf and dumb spirit.
He simply commanded it come out and it did even though with a lot of violence making it look as if the child was dead. Jesus ignored the antics of the devil and lifted up the boy healed and delivered.
Furthermore, Jesus said this kind does not come out but by fasting and prayer. Now Jesus did not have to go and fast and pray before He cast out the devil: he was already fasting and praying regularly as a habit so the power to cast out the devil was already available to Him.
If we will walk in love, pray regularly fervently and effectually in the spirit, fast regularly and live a fasted life we will easily overcome any evil spirits that either attack us or the people we minister unto.
Remember greater is He that is us than any evil spirit we may come against but we must allow the greater one to work through us by love, prayer, fasting and the Word!
