What does it require of you to cast out evil spirits?
We’re going to jump right into today’s topic, How did Jesus cast out evil spirits, or as it’s mentioned other places in the Bible, how did he cast out demons?
Let’s go back in Bible times. Imagine you are in the crowd when a man comes to Jesus asking him to heal his son who is having convulsions.
Some modern Bible commentators describe the boy’s condition as epilepsy. But the father describes his son being possessed by an evil spirit. He tells Jesus,
“Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” Mark 9:17, 18 NIV
Jesus talks to the father for a bit, but then sees the crowd coming to see what’s going on and realizes there’s no time to waste.
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.”
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. Mark 9:25-27 NIV
Again, imagine you had been right there, seen and heard everything that happened. What would you be thinking? How would you process what you had just witnessed?
Would you think it was a miracle only Jesus could do? Would you be curious if you could somehow have the gift of casting out evil spirits? Or would it be just too much to take in?
Is Jesus the only one who can cast out evil spirits?
Jesus had sent out his disciples previous to this to heal and cast out evil spirits. That’s probably why this dad had first come to them to heal his son. This goes all the way back to
Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. Mark 6:7, 12, 13 NIV
Matthew reports same mission Jesus gave his disciples this way.
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. Matthew 10:1, 5-8 NIV
Think about how the disciples heard those commands.
Who has authority to cast out evil spirits?
Jesus had given authority to his disciple to heal and cast out evil spirits, or demons. The question is: Does this authority extend to you and me today? Can you and I cast out evil spirits? Or was it just for a long time ago?
Jesus is pretty emphatic that he wanted and expected his disciples in all ages to follow his example in everything he did. He declared boldly,
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 NIV
This is pretty clear. Since Jesus cast out evil spirits, it is possible that whoever believes in him will cast out evil spirits as well.
What is an evil spirit?
Now before we go any further, I’ve got a question. Have you ever asked yourself: What exactly is an evil spirit, or demon?
There are lots of different opinions about what these evil spirits are. Some people believe they are actual conscious evil beings, messengers of Satan, with power to influence and tempt us away from following Christ. Others see them as just negative, evil influences in our lives, but not living entities, negative and limiting beliefs we’ve accepted.
The Greek word translated demon is daimonion. It means “evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil.”
Some places in the Gospels, they are referred to as demons, other places as evil or impure spirits. The Greek word translated spirit is pneuma.
This word has a wide variety of meanings from air, breath, wind, to the human or divine spirit. But it can also mean: “the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one.”
What if, instead of an evil spirit or demon being a living conscious entity with the ability to harm you, it was really just an evil influence, that you could refuse to be influenced by, and which you could reject and cast out of your thinking.
Christ gives you authority to cast out evil spirits
I’ve heard people from both of these different views state emphatically that they are right. I’m not here to tell you that you’re right or wrong about how you define evil spirits or demons. I’m here to remind you that, however you define them or think the Bible defines them, is not nearly as important as the fact that Christ gives you power and dominion over them.
As I mentioned, Jesus sent his disciples to heal and cast out demons. He said those who believed in him would do the same works he did. The key point here is that the authority to cast out evil spirits or evil influences, false limiting beliefs, whatever you want to call them, comes from Christ. The power to do it comes from God.
You cannot do it through any personal power of your own.
How Jesus cast out evil spirits
So how did Jesus cast out evil spirits? Fortunately, he gives us some really helpful insights on this and how we can do it too.
Let’s go back to that example I mentioned earlier. Jesus rebuked the evil spirit. He identified it as a deaf and mute spirit. Then he cast it out. He didn’t just speak with authority. He knew he had the authority to cast out this evil influence, because he knew it was not part of this boy’s real identity as a child of God.
Here’s another example of when Jesus cast out an evil spirit and healed a man.
Then they brought him [Jesus] a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
[Jesus said] “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Matthew 12:22, 24, 28 NIV
I love the way Luke describes this same conversation
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Luke 11:20 NIV
Jesus says he is casting out the demons by the Spirit of God, and the finger of God. What powerful imagery.
The Spirit of God implies the power of God’s presence. And what does the finger of God do? It points, with authority, to something very specific. Jesus is revealing how he cast out evil spirits.
He knew God’s Spirit was everywhere and that he could point to and denounce, through God’s power, the specific evil troubling someone. That’s why he would identify the type of evil spirit, or evil influence and speak directly to that to cast it out.
What Jesus sees God doing
Another point I find very helpful is that Jesus never claimed to do this through any power of his own. He explains,
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. John 5:19 NIV
When you’re praying to cast out evil influences in your life, or in someone else’s life, the only way you can do it is to follow Jesus’s example. First you have to see that God is able and willing to do it, and then see God actually as supreme over any evil influence, spirit, or demon, however you want to describe it.
And you have to admit, as Jesus did, that you can’t cast out evil on your own. It’s only by seeing God, not just capable of casting out evil, but always in the process of doing it.
Jesus’s words cast out evil spirits
Matthew gives us another hint of how Jesus healed those possessed with demons, or evil spirits.
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him [Jesus], and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. Matthew 8:16 NIV
What was the word Jesus said that cast out the evil spirits? If you knew what he said, could you just repeat the same words and have the same results?
I don’t think so.
When Jesus spoke, it was with spiritual authority. Just as he said he couldn’t do anything unless he saw God doing it, he made clear that he only said what God told him to.
For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. John 12:49, 50 NIV
What if you and I only spoke the words we heard God tell us to say? And we knew it was God telling us.
You’d speak with the same authority Jesus did. You may have experienced this at times in your life, when you feel God providing the exact words you need to say in a tough situation.
Jesus did this every single day, in every single conversation he had.
The point is that when Jesus cast out the evil spirits with a word, it was the word that God gave him. He spoke with the divine authority that came directly from God.
Jesus expects us to cast out evil demons, or evil spirits
And Jesus expects his followers to do the same. He says,
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; Mark 16:17 NIV
This is where we need to have the spirit of humility embedded deep in our hearts.
When we hide behind a mask of appearing faithful to Jesus, but it’s really pride or self-will that motivates us, things will not go well.
This happened in the book of Acts. Some Jews were trying to cast out evil spirits with not very good results.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”
Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. Acts 19:13-19 NIV
A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day’s wages. Fifty thousand day’s wages, that’s a lot of money.
You can’t just copy someone else’s words to cast out evil spirits
Look at how it’s put in verse 13, they tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over the demon-possessed.
They were just repeating words. There was no indication they even believed in Jesus. They were perhaps copying what they had heard Paul do. But they apparently didn’t understand the power of God or what it meant to do or say something in the name or spirit of Jesus.
The interesting things is, God used this negative event to bring more people to follow Christ. They even burnt their books on witchcraft.
You cannot just go around saying the words, “In the name of Jesus I cast out such and such evil spirit.” You have to have the spirit of Christ in you and feel the authority that comes only from God, and not your self will or pride.
Casting out demons is not an intellectual exercise. It’s a yielding to God’s supremacy. It’s acknowledging God alone casts out evil.
You have to see what God is doing and not try to prove to others how spiritually minded you are by saying fancy words. We do this for God’s glory, not our own.
Recently on a plane…
A couple of weeks ago, I was on a flight coming home from Washington, D.C. A few minutes before we took off, a little girl about three years old, two rows in front of me, began to cry and wail at the top of her lungs. This went on for about 15 minutes or so.
At first, I said a simple little prayer knowing God was in control and then tried to read my book. But I realized I was really just ignoring an opportunity God had given me to bring healing to this situation. So I started praying in earnest.
I prayed to see that God’s love for this little girl was right there comforting her in a way she could feel it. And God gently said to me: She knows I love her.
That was very comforting to me and she stopped crying for just a bit, but then the wails were even louder than before.
I have to confess, I got a little judgmental. At one point I felt like this was a child who had learned how to get what she wanted from crying. But the more I actually listened to the tone of her cries, I heard a desperation as if she felt she were being attacked and was fighting for her life.
Knowing what to pray for
I had been praying in every way I could think of up to that point, but I instantly declared with a spiritual authority that almost surprised me but also felt very normal: This child cannot be attacked by evil.
Of course, this was a silent prayer, but I had a solid conviction. The moment I declared that evil could not attack her, she stopped crying instantly and there was not another peep out of her the rest of the flight.
For the next few minutes, I kept declaring over and over that evil could not attack her. I could see her innocence and rejoiced in it.
This was a very humbling experience. It’s completely clear that I did not do anything in this situation except see what was already true spiritually.
It taught me how important it is to pray with spiritual discernment of the real need, instead of from the perspective of my personal opinions.
You can cast out evil spirits
When you believe in Jesus, I mean actually believe in Jesus, and have the spirit of Christ in your heart, and not just his words in your head, you have the spiritual authority to cast out evil influences just as he did.
You will feel the presence of the Spirit of God and you will see the finger of God pointing to exactly what needs to be addressed in prayer.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth,
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV
This is the work God has given us. And the natural result of casting out demons, evil spirits, or evil influences, is healing.
Be specific and listen for the voice of Christ
The reason Jesus was able to cast out evil spirits and heal was because he knew that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He could see what was true in the kingdom of heaven, that no evil was present there. He knew that the evil spirit was not part of and did not belong to the person he was praying for. He saw that so clearly, the evil spirit was cast out and the person was healed.
So often when we pray for healing, we’re praying just for a healing. But when Jesus healed someone, he cast out the specific evil influences that were causing the problem in the first place. Healing was the natural result.
When you imbibe the spirit of Christ and follow in his footsteps, you will cast out demons, evil spirits, evil influences. just as Jesus did. It’s all too easy to think you’re not capable of or ready to do this. But you’re just as ready as the disciples were when Jesus sent them out to preach, cast out demons, and heal.
Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the voice of Christ encouraging, empowering, and guiding you. The world needs your faithfulness to Christ right now in every way possible.
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
Mark 9:17, 18 NIV
17 “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
Mark 9:25-27 NIV
25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
Mark 6:7, 12, 13 NIV
7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
12 They went out and preached that people should repent.
13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Matthew 10:1, 5-8 NIV
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.
6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
John 14:12 NIV
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Matthew 12:22, 24, 28 NIV
22 Then they brought him [Jesus] a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
28 [Jesus said] But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 11:20 NIV
20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
John 5:19 NIV
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Matthew 8:16 NIV
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him [Jesus], and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
John 12:49, 50 NIV
49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.
50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.
Mark 16:17 NIV
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons;
Acts 19:13-19 NIV
13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”
14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?”
16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.
18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done.
19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
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.
