I remember years ago, living in a parsonage, knowing nothing about spiritual warfare and hearing music from our supply ducts and floor registers. I always thought it was weird and wondered where the music was coming from, but I didn’t realize it was demonic until we started having other paranormal experiences. My daughter, who was 5 at the time, would get regular visits from demons at night. She was tormented for a long time until we finally realized it was demonic.
In one night, everything changed as we anointed her bed, cast the demons out and bound and restricted future attacks, and called on angels to infiltrate her room. After we took authority over her room, she never had another attack after having them for over two years. Our son told us years later, Satan appeared to him twice while living there and said, “I’m going to kill you.” One time I had to rush him to the hospital to save his life. Every year for over ten years, he would go to the hospital for something abnormal until we broke the curse.
How do you encounter and take authority over paranormal experiences without fear rising or giving the enemy too much credit for the attacks you are suffering? How do you approach situations when demons take over a person’s voice in front of you, a person is physically taken over by a demon or you have paranormal activity manifesting in your home?
- We need to remember our authority is in Christ. We can’t defeat the devil in our strength, but we can fight the battle in the strength and power Jesus Christ has purchased for us.
- Don’t be paranoid, fearful or scared. There is not a demon waiting and lurking around every corner. It is important to have a proper balance between knowledge of the demonic and at the same time not ignoring the fact there is a spiritual realm assigned to wreak havoc on us.
- Don’t talk to a demon except to cast it out. Tell it to get out, but don’t converse with it. Don’t dialog back and forth with it. Take authority over it, rebuke it and expel it.
I was ministering in another state for years, and I would stay at a person’s home. On several occasions, I encountered demons in this house. Consistently, I would walk downstairs to my room, and at the bottom of the stairs I would encounter a demon and hear it say, “I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you.” I took no credence in the threat and simply spoke out; “I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord” (see Ps. 118:17). I never talked about the consistent attacks.
I have witnessed several paranormal activities over my career as a deliverance minister but do not regularly speak of them. While ministering in this house, I experienced my iPod and dock, which was playing Scripture to clean up the spiritual atmosphere being thrown across the room.
An important element to consider when experiencing demonic activity is to not make a big deal about it. The more we talk about it, the more the demonic is going to ramp up the activities of what we are experiencing. Satan was the angel in charge of worship. He knows what it is like to see our heavenly Father worshipped. He desires to be worshipped, and when we exalt his attacks, he considers it worship of him.
When the demon would repeatedly say, “I’m going to kill you,” I didn’t tell anyone, especially my family, because I didn’t want them to worry. Towards the end of this experience, I had a prophet who prophesied over me. He said, “Now you faced some things that would have destroyed some women. The devil said, ‘I am going to kill you; I am going to kill you.’ But God says, ‘I am the shield about you. I am the glory and the lifter of your head. The enemy that has come against you one way will now flee seven. And just to show you who’s boss, I am going to let you live to a ripe old age and do the will of God until your very last breath.'” God came in and confirmed what I already knew, but it did bring inner peace and comfort, hearing these exact words come out and be spoken over my life.
In deliverance ministry, you will often encounter demons speaking through another person’s mouth. As Jesus did, we simply need to rebuke the demon, take authority over it and tell it to be quiet and come out. We should not be talking to and conversing with demons. Jesus didn’t, except one time, but that is not a model for us to follow. The model we should follow is to give strong authoritative short commands as Jesus did to the demons. I too had to do that to my furnace, supply ducts and floor registers. I had to command the demonic activity in my furnace to leave, to get out of the house, furnace, ducts and registers in Jesus’ name. When I took authority as Jesus did, it left, but again, I didn’t run to the congregation my husband was pastoring and tell them the parsonage was possessed and music was coming from my registers when I didn’t have any music playing.
Taking authority and not allowing fear to arise are the key elements in not allowing the paranormal activity to get the best of us. If we allow fear to arise, it gets difficult to take our authority because then we are paralyzed in fear. We have to remember Jesus conquered and defeated the devil. Now, we will get attacked, but we simply have to take the victory He already won and extend that personally in and throughout lives. When we do, we will have the victory too! Learn more about the demonic and spiritual warfare in my books, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan and Identity Invasion. {eoa}
Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic spiritual warfare strategist releasing the love and power of God to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and Be Love Outreach. She is the author of several books, including Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Identity Invasion, Who is Speaking? and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook, facebook.com/kathydegraw or visit degrawministries.org.
