I had been called to a house by a woman who was troubled by demons spirits. The previous evening she had been prayed for, to be freed from the demon spirits troubling her. This particular day she rang the office asking for one of the pastors to come and help her. Amazingly as I approached the house, the front door was open and I could see the woman standing in the lounge looking furtively outside at me coming to the front door. I called her name and poked my head in the door. She ran to the far end of the lounge and called in a strange voice that was not her own, “You stay away from me, you man of God. Stay away from me.” Then she ran to the kitchen. As I had been called to help, I decided to enter the house and follow her. I found her in the kitchen cowering under the breakfast bar and screaming the same words as before. I took my Bible and started to read Colossians 1 which tells exactly who Jesus is and what he has done and how everything is under Him. She started whimpering in the unnatural voice, “No, not the sword, no, not the sword.” The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Believe it, it is true. We need to be reminded of it just as the demonic world need to be reminded of it. When the spirit activity had abated and she seemed to be clothed in her right mind again, I asked her if she could say, “Jesus is Lord.” [This is the test talked about in 1 John] She evidenced great difficulty saying it. It was like she couldn’t get the words out. At first I thought it was demonic activity again but after dealing with that, it was clear that she had not surrendered herself to the Lordship of Christ. She was wanting to be cleansed of evil spirits but not wanting to fill the house with the Holy Spirit. Dangerous!
I explained very carefully to her that I was not willing to continue with commanding the demons to leave her, if she was not willing to submit to the Lordship of Christ. I used the verses from Luke 11:24-26 to explain to her why I wasn’t willing to proceed. If she was willing to invite Jesus to dwell within her in all His fullness and submit to His Lordship, then I would be willing to proceed but if she was not willing to do that, then I wasn’t willing to proceed. The choice was hers. Unfortunately for her, she chose not to submit to His Lordship at that time.