The Exorcist's Bestiary

Within the complex realm of spiritual warfare, it’s important for the deliverance minister to discern when the Holy Spirit is providing them with public or private information. Neither your participant nor their demons are omniscient. They are not privy to what the Holy Spirit is telling you, and that is sometimes a part of God’s strategy. If you speak something aloud that was only for you to know, then you have basically revealed the Spirit’s battle plans to the demons, and they will be quick to change their plans to counter you.

It is important to remember that sometimes keeping the enemy in the dark is a crucial part of God’s plan. For example, Paul reminds us that, “we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” To this point, those old prophetic words about the cross had to be cryptic. If they were direct, Satan would have never hung him up there. Like Jesus, we sometimes have to carry out the plans we know God has given us without disclosing all the fine details.

In learning deliverance ministry, I have screwed this up a handful of times. For example, there was a very clear plan that the Holy Spirit tangibly gave me once to help a participant. I didn’t realize it was for me to quietly enact, so I told the participant the whole thing, which ruined the whole plan. It became immediately clear that neither the participant nor the demons harassing them were supposed to have that information. The plan failed because I made it public, though the Holy Spirit was kind enough to help me create a new plan that worked.

There were other times in people’s healing journeys where I sensed the Holy Spirit was giving me impressions of what they had been through. At first, I felt that this information was to prepare me to help them heal when they were ready to deal with it. However, there was one instance when I shared my impression before the participant was ready, and though it was correct, it was deeply damaging to them. Their demons mocked me for hurting them, and the Holy Spirit kindly warned me that I had overstepped.

Although the Holy Spirit sometimes gives us such impressions because he wants them to be shared. For example, there was another time I had an impression of what a participant had been through, but I was terrified to share it and mess things up again. Seeing my fear, the Holy Spirit told the participant to ask me what was on my mind. After I showed how nervous I was to respond, the Holy Spirit told the participant what was on my mind, in an effort to help me see that sharing the impression was okay in this case. We were both shocked by the moment.

While deliverance tips are super helpful, you won’t learn all this from religion or a rulebook. This is why we Christians often talk about having a relationship with Jesus. As you read Scripture and practice the Christian faith within a Christian community, you also need to get to know the voice of the Holy Spirit so that you can discern the fuller weight of the things he says and does. Receiving a prophetic word is great, but receiving it in the midst of spiritual warfare is complicated. Let the Holy Spirit help you understand what is for you, what is for others, or if there’s a timing to disclosing such information.