o_19mvj7ch5iumnlelt11hpp13o6a.pdf
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Authority Over Demon Spirits, Not Human Wills 59<br />
over the devil in somebody else. You've got authority over your<br />
own life and with your own family. But you can't cast the devil<br />
out of everyone you meet on the street, even if they do have the<br />
devil in them, because they have authority over their own lives.<br />
When people want help, that's another matter.<br />
It's strange that sometimes even Spirit-filled people don't<br />
want help. In 1954 I preached for the first time in the state of<br />
Oregon. I started off on Sunday night preaching an evangelistic<br />
type of sermon. On Monday night I preached on faith. I<br />
announced that there would be a healing service Tuesday night.<br />
In those days, I'd put people in the same line, whether they<br />
came for salvation, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, or healing. I<br />
ministered to them one at a time.<br />
I came to a woman. There was a man with her, and he did all<br />
the talking. She never said anything. I could tell by looking at<br />
her that she wasn't right mentally. The man said his wife was<br />
very nervous and had spent some time in a mental institution.<br />
Let me point something out to you here. You don't just<br />
exercise spiritual authority on behalf of other people per se;<br />
you've got to have the manifestation of the Spirit of God. That's<br />
why many are failing. They are trying to deal with spirits<br />
without the word of knowledge, discerning of spirits, or any<br />
unction of the Holy Ghost.<br />
When Jesus once talked to me about the devil, demons, and<br />
demon possession, * He used as an example the girl possessed<br />
with a spirit of divination. She followed Paul and Silas around<br />
Philippi "for many days," according to Acts 16:18, saying,<br />
"...These men are the servants of the most high God...." (v. 17).<br />
Jesus asked me this question: "Do you know why Paul didn't<br />
deal with that spirit the first day?"<br />
I said, "No, I really don't. I've wondered about it. Why didn't<br />
Paul, an apostle, a man of God, a man of authority, just take<br />
* For an account of Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin's major visions of Jesus,<br />
see his book, I Believe in Visions.