The Triumphant Churchwith in the natural by a person who is in charge,
because not everything that happens is caused by an
evil spirit. For example, parents need to train and
discipline their children in the natural, as well as pray
and watch over them spiritually.
But right on the other hand, there is another side to
that coin. Many times, good people—even born-again,
Spirit-filled people can unconsciously yield to the devil
and cause problems in the church. In those instances,
you will have to deal with the evil spirit that is causing
the problems by exercising your authority in Christ.
In most cases, you should deal with an evil spirit
privately. However, occasionally a minister may have to
deal publicly in his meeting with the devil operating
through a person.
But normally in the privacy of your own prayer
closet you can just say, "You foul spirit that's operating
in the life of So-and-so, hindering and embarrassing
this church (or person), I command you to cease and
desist in your maneuvers in Jesus' Name."
I was preaching along these lines in a Full Gospel
church, and a neighboring pastor in a larger city was
having some problems with certain members of his
congregation. The pastor where I was preaching gave
him my tapes on this subject to listen to.
A couple of years later, the pastor of that
neighboring church told me, "There were three families
in my church who were causing all kinds of problems.
In fact, one of them was my deacon, one was my school
superintendent, and one of them was a board member.
The deacon was trying to get up a petition to kick me
out of the church.
"I had been trying to deal with those three families