The spiritual battle never ends until the Lord returns

Most people are completely unaware of the spiritual world before they are born again from above. Did you know anything about this before you met Jesus?

Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spirits of this world? [Galatians 4: 8-9 NLT]

This phrase is similar to the one found in Colossians 2: “the elemental spirits of the universe” in the RSV. It is easy for us to dismiss these things as ancient superstitions, but that is really not the case. What has happened is that these spirits have gone underground in America today and we do not talk about them anymore—but they have not gone away.

Paul calls them weak and useless, or worthless, and this is certainly true. However, many of these so-called gods, like Buddhas, kokopellis, kachinas, totems, and the like have demon spirits attached to them. They are only a harassment to believers, but cleaning them up or getting rid of them is a normal part of Christian living. Their harassment can distract you to the point where you are spiritually non-functional.

Many of the things we can purchase today are made in other countries. Many of these items, while they are being made, are prayed over during their construction. All we have to do is clean them up with a simple prayer (see below). They are nothing to be afraid of—as Jesus’ power and position makes them into a bad (but still evil) joke. But you should be aware that these things are real.

Is there a demon under every bush?

One of the problems you will have as you begin to have victory in spiritual warfare is the tendency to blame everything on demons. Most of the time the trouble will be the fallen state of the world or your own sinful nature. However, there is reality here and many times you will see quick and powerful deliverance with a simple quiet prayer.

No! You do not need to shout. The power comes from Jesus, not the strength of your voice.

Don’t give the evil one more glory and attention than you give God.

Where do we run across these spirits?

We have found that we drag them home with purchases we make—especially purchases of products made in countries where these spirits are worshipped like India, Bali, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and so on. You should check out the country of origin when you buy. If you start having strange dreams, irrational anger, and things like that—you dragged something home. It’s no big deal, but we find that we have to spiritually clean everything we buy and bring into the house any more.

Of course, nonbelievers in our spaces can drag things in also. I used to pray for my classroom every morning before I started teaching. I found I had authority over my lab, but nowhere else at that school. But the lab I used full-time, where I taught all my classes, was given to me by the Lord as my spiritual responsibility. Praying made a great difference to my students—though they had no idea that this was even going on. There were some students who were into wicca and the like who were obviously frustrated by the cleansed and protected spiritual environment of that lab.

It just takes a simple prayer

You can pray something like this:

“Any demons attached to these things we just bought (or any demons brought in here by non-believers), we bind you and cast you out. Father, in Jesus’ name, clean up these things (or this place) and bless it for our use. Protect our loved ones and pets. Keep us safe and make our home a sanctuary for your Holy Spirit.”

Spiritual house cleaning?

Maintaining a spiritual sanctuary is part of your responsibility. As head of the household, master of your personal space, you are responsible to keep that space spiritually clean. This is an ongoing duty and responsibility of yours. For example, over the past week I started noticing that Pat and I were being disturbed with bad dreams. I started noticing that even when I was dozing in my chair my mind would immediately wander off into strange thoughts. This has not been happening for many months. My mind has been wandering off into thoughts of the Lord, praise, and worship.

The stupid thing was that I put up with this for more than a week. Finally, yesterday I came to my senses and cleaned house. Last night we both slept well for the first time in a long time and neither of us had bad or disturbing dreams. It was a joy this morning to see my wife wake up relaxed and refreshed.

You should regularly command all bad spirits to leave your property (that which the Lord has given you responsibility for) and ask the Holy Spirit to fill your space with His presence, wisdom, and love. He’s pleased to do that in response to a simple request. Again, prayer volume has no special beneficial affect.

This is just the normal spiritual house cleaning that you should be doing on a regular basis as the head of your household. Many times you will need to be specific and cleanse every room in your house, apartment, office, or workspace—room by room, area by area. House blessings are real. If you haven’t blessed your house, do so today. Of course it gets more complicated if you are living with others who may not be believers. Then you can only cover what you have authority over.

Ask the Lord what your responsibilities are

Husbands, fathers, and single mothers, you are responsible for where your family lives. Fathers, this is still true even if you are separated—and it is true for your children regardless, until they come under someone else’s authority. Children, you are responsible for the areas where your parents give you the authority. If you build a fort in the woods, you are responsible there (unless it is on property under your parents authority). For example, if you are living with your parents and they do not believe, your authority will be limited to your areas of the property (if your parents allow that). You will be able to protect yourself regardless, but cleaning the whole house or even your room may be beyond your authority.

The Lord is not going to override the will of the owners of the property. He’s a gentleman and only goes where He is invited. It is interesting to see what works and what does not work.

For example, we lost much of our authority to pray for our daughter when she grew up—especially when she got married. We got a lot of it back after her divorce, when she asked us to pray for her and the children. Now that she has remarried, our authority is limited again. But this is why some prayers never seem to be answered. You do not have the authority.

For example, when praying for the United States, your authority is on a completely different level than the person who has the responsibility, the president. Pray that President Obama learns this. Governors, mayors, CEOs, sole proprietors, and people with responsibility need to be praying. If you are the head of your department, teacher in a specific classroom, leader of a Bible study, and so on, you need to be praying to keep your ministry clean and holy. Husbands, single mothers or fathers, pastors, and so on all have areas of responsibility and the authority to back it up. You need to be constantly aware of your responsibilities. God will give you the authority to protect those areas of responsibility.

If you do not have the authority, pray for those who do have the authority in these situations which effect your life.

If you have any questions, just write and ask.