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