Deliverance from Controlling Habit

True Story
I knew a gentleman (will call him Jim) who previously was a drug addict that became born again. He was a faithful follower of Jesus for several years. Because of an incident in his life, he developed a very obsessive and irritating habit. (He thought his nose was broken and every morning he would try to straighten it out even though his wife would keep reminding him it was broken. It created much conflict between them.) The habit was taking control of him. No matter how much he prayed and got prayer it would not go away. It was if he was in bondage to this habit, he felt he had no control over it. Jim got so frustrated he asked some of us to have a ‘deliverance’ session for him. Deliverance????

I oversaw a small group fellowship at my house. One day we all gathered around him and prayed for him. We prayed asking God to show us what was the root of this habit that was controlling Jim. Someone said “I think a demon is controlling him”. “A demon controlling born again Jim?” I said to my himself.

We asked God to reveal if there was any demonic activity involved and to reveal why any demon would have control over a born again follower of Jesus Christ. With authority, we said “Satan if you are behind this habit, expose yourself in Jesus name.” Immediately an angry, gnarly, demonic sounding voice came out of Jim’s mouth. It said, “leave me alone” and other things that I do not remember. At the same time Jim started rotating his head in contorted movements. (Later a friend who was a massage therapist said she had never seen a person’s head to be able to move in such a way.) I could not believe this was happening before my eyes. I absolutely knew Jim was born again.

We commanded the demon to state why was it able to have control over Jim’s body in regard to the bad habit-what was its name. It stated with authority “pride”. We spoke against the spirit of pride and commanded the demon to leave Jim and never come back in Jesus name. Immediately Jim returned to being normal and explained to him what had happened. He acknowledged the spirit of pride had been controlling him.

From that day of deliverance until I lost contact with Jim a few years later, the habit never came back.

Summary
A. Jim was truly born again, no doubt whatsoever regarding his salvation.
B. Jim was being controlled by a bad habit that he could not stop doing.
C. Jim has called out to God many times to be set free from the habit.
D. Jim had received prayer many times to be set free, but the habit continued.
E. Jim asked for deliverance prayer since nothing else had worked.
F. Jim received prayer, demoniac manifestations occurred.
G. A spirit of pride was cast out of Jim.
H. The bad habit never occurred again in Jim’s life.

Question
Why was it that ‘regular prayers’ were never effective, but a deliverance prayer, casting out a demon, brought deliverance to Jim?

My Answer
Jim as a Christian opened up a door in his life (the bad habit controlled by pride) that gave Satan permission to take control of an area of his life. Jim’s spirit absolutely was not possessed. He was a child of God. But Jim’s actions, caused by a mindset of pride, gave Satan permission to oppress Jim. Jim was being demonized. The demon did not make Jim do the bad habit, but Jim continued to comply with the demon which led to being demonized. The demon of pride also took control of Jim’s mouth and his neck and head. The authority in the Name of Jesus, along with Jim’s cooperation, put an end to the demonization of Jim. Without the prayer of deliverance Jim would most likely have continued to be in bondage to this bad controlling habit. He may have never gotten free without the prayer of deliverance. Also, without deliverance, there would have been more and more conflict between Jim and his wife, which would have led to other problems.

Bottom Line
Jim and his wife have no doubt about their salvation, they have no doubt that through deliverance prayer with demonic manifestation, that Jim is set free. Immaterial what others may think about what took place.

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