We are made up of a flesh (material) and spirit (non-material) and we sometimes forget that the gap between the two is not very far apart. Most know that non-material things (like stress) can affect our material bodies but few realize that material things (like addiction) can just as easily open an unwanted door and affect our spirit. Truly, it is a narrow gap and sometimes afflicting spirits can affect our physical bodies.
This is NOT a case of demonic possession – but it is where deliverance ministry comes in.
I was helping out on the prayer team at a healing prayer service when a man sat down in front of me.
“What are we asking Jesus for today?” I asked the man.
He replied, “I get these really bad anxiety attacks.”
“That sounds difficult,” I said “tell me about them”.
He continued, “It bothers me all the time but sometimes it gets out of hand. I’ve even been driving and gotten a panic attack so bad I had to pull into the nearest hospital and check myself in for several days.”
“That’s terrible” I said, “When did this start”.
He replied, “October 19th.”
I said, “That seems pretty precise, what happened on October 19th that triggered this?”
He said “I had bronchitis and my doctor put me on an inhaler. I read the label and it said that one of the side effects was anxiety”.
“Are you still on the inhaler?” I asked.
“Oh no, I stopped taking it long ago”. He said.
“So…there is no medical reason for this?” I asked
“No. None” he replied.
I knew what the problem was. You see, we are complex creatures and it’s not uncommon to have something troublesome or worrisome happen to us that throws us off in life. We usually call it “bad karma” or something similar, but in this case it was something more – it was a spirit of anxiety.
How do I know? Because of what happened next.
I said, “Repeat after me; ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, I forgive my doctor for prescribing the inhaler’”
He did.
I said, “Now say ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I renounce the spirit of anxiety’”
He did.
I then prayed “In the name of Jesus Christ I take authority over the spirit of anxiety and all related spirits and I command it to leave you right now.”He shook very noticeably in his chair – as if a deep chill had come over his whole body and, said “Wow”. I asked him “How do you feel?” Startled and a bit shocked, he said, “I don’t know what you did, but it’s gone; I feel better.”
I know this probably sounds simplistic or (to the skeptical) even far fetched, but this is what spiritual warfare is all about. Allow me to expand on this by stating a couple of points:
- I would classify this as a case of vexation1
- I have no idea the range of things that this person was involved with prior to this meeting
- Although not a typical manifestation2, it is not an uncommon one
- I do not believe that this singular event was the cause of his inordinate reaction to anxiety
I highly doubt that this person was going about his normal, day to day business and then was suddenly attacked with paralyzing anxiety – there had to be more to it than that. It’s sort of like the person who goes to a psychic, has their palm read, has a Ouija board in their house then watches Harry Potter and starts having problems.
The diagnosis? It was Harry Potter’s fault!
Wrong. Rarely do such problems occur after singular events like this. More than likely, this was a case of being in the right place at the right time for both of us. Now you could say that the deliverance was the result of luck because he ran into me, or that it was the result of my training that alerted me what to look for.
Yes, you could say this…but you’d be wrong.
I would instead suggest that:
- God brought the two of us together
- He fed me enough information to recognize his problem
- Through this man’s own free will, he was delivered of the spirit of anxiety
The person with the smallest part in this healing was me and most the the heavy lifting was between him and God. How do I know it was a spirit? Actually I don’t, because I do not possess the gift of seeing angels and demons (although I know people who do). So, I base my conclusion on what I did see (i.e. his physical reaction at the exact time I prayed) and his testimony that “it’s gone“.
Not all healings are physical healings and in case you were wondering what deliverance ministry is all about…now you know.
- Spiritual attacks come in several intensities.
– Infestation – Spirits exercise their influence on animals, places or things (i.e. “haunted house”)
– Oppression – The normal temptation that we all face
– Obsession – Intrusive thoughts that come from nowhere and are upsetting
– Vexation – Physical attacks on the body (i.e. scratches, bites, or anxiety attacks)
– Possession – extremely rare – (<3%) this is the realm of the Exorcist ↩︎ - A manifestation is a physical reaction to a spiritual event or action. One example is a physical healing. ↩︎