The Stubborn Ones

During a conversation I had with my little brother some time ago, he pointed something out that I hadn't thought of, at least not in the way he framed it. We were discussing the lack of discernment when it comes to spiritual gifting in the Western church, as well as the lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the manifest power of God.

"You have to understand, we grew up with these things," my little brother said, "we see them as something ordinary, something that naturally occurs during one's spiritual journey, and we take them for granted, but many people in America have never experienced what we have.”

It is precisely this sentiment that keeps gnawing at me vis-à-vis something that occurred toward the tail end of the Hear the Watchmen conference, and since enough people asked me about it the next morning, I thought it a perfect opportunity to talk about deliverance for a bit.

To clarify, I have not been called to deliverance ministry, but I have prayed for people to be delivered. My grandfather before me likewise had not been called to deliverance ministry, but the devil knew his name, and every time a minion of darkness crossed paths with him, he had enough authority in Christ Jesus to cast them out. 

That said, after the service on Saturday evening, there was a call to the altars, and an offer to pray for anyone who needed prayer. Unfortunately, since I’d gotten maybe two hours of sleep total the night before, I had already left by this point. From what I’ve been able to piece together from the various people who approached me, a gentleman came up for prayer, and though the brother praying over him had both knowledge of the supernatural and of deliverance in particular, as well as authority to cast out the demon, it would not go. There was no deliverance, there was no breakthrough, and most of the folks who approached me the next morning wondered how this could be.

Thankfully, there is precedent in the Bible, as well as the means by which to excise one of the stubborn ones.

There was a man who had brought his son to Christ’s disciples, to cast out a demon, and though they had done it before, and they had used their authority in Christ, this one particular one refused to go. After the man brought the boy to Jesus and he cast out the evil spirit, His disciples asked why it was that they could not cast it out, and Jesus answered them saying, “this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

The reasons why some evil spirits are more difficult to cast out than others can vary. The most common cause is that the individual in question opened themselves up to the evil spirit, and actively courted it, inviting it in.

A squatter will defend the home he is squatting in far less vigorously than a homeowner will. The same principle applies when it comes to evil spirits. If the evil spirit thinks of the person as their habitation, their domicile, their home, they are reluctant to leave, and will often put up a fight.

Another reason why an evil spirit will not leave even though it is commanded is because there is still unconfessed sin in the life of the individual. As long as the sin is unconfessed, the spirit has a license to be there.

To be perfectly honest, there is so much to unpack it could probably be turned into a book, but the point I wanted to get to is what prayer and fasting do to an evil spirit, and why this kind, the stubborn kind, can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.

Think of prayer and fasting as chemo, and the evil spirit as cancer. With each prayer lifted up for the individual in question, with each day of fasting fasted on their behalf, it's like the spirit gets hit with another round of radiation. Each round weakens it incrementally, until, in its weakened state, when commanded to leave it has no choice but to do so.

I hope some of you who came up to me during the conference and asked about this will find your way to this writing and understand why what happened, happened, and why it is not out of the ordinary. 

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.