How Do I Know If I’m Possessed Or Oppressed By Demons? | Herbert Cooper - Audio

People's Church

1. Casting out demons was a vital part of Jesus’ ministry
Matthew 4:24- News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. (NIV)
Matthew 8:16- When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. (NIV)
Matthew 9:32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. (NIV)
Matthew 12:22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. (NIV)
Matthew 15:22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” (NIV)
2 Timothy 2:25–26 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (NIV)
2. Can Christians be demon possessed?
2A. Jesus taught that demons look for unoccupied people
Matthew 12:43–45 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (NIV)
2B. Christians are occupied with the Holy Spirit
Romans 8:9–10 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. (NLT)
1 Corinthians 3:16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? (NLT)
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; (NIV)
2C. Christians are instructed to resist the devil
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (NIV)
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (NIV)
3. Can Christians be demon oppressed?
2 Corinthians 12:7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (NIV)
7 Ways You Are Giving Demons Access Into Your Life
1. Sinful anger
Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. (NIV)
2. Unforgiveness
2 Corinthians 2:10–11 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. (NIV)
3. Exposing yourself to deceiving spirits
1 Timothy 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (NIV)
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed. (NLT)
4. Movies, music, social media
Matthew 6:22-23 The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (NIV)
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (NIV)
5. Being idle and a busybody
1 Timothy 5:13–15 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to. 14 So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15 Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan. (NIV)
6. Lying and deception
Acts 5:3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? (NIV)
7. Living in sin
James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (NIV)
1 Corinthians 5:1–5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (NIV) 1 John 3:8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (NIV)