Can a Christian have a demon? So many times this question is being asked and it's controversial
question in so many circles. I believe that there's a difference between demon oppression
and demon possession when a person has a demon it's it's when the demon controls this person
but when a demon has a person it's when the demon owns that person so a Christian can have a demon
but a demon cannot have a Christian meaning a Christian can have an area
of their life influenced afflicted and even tormented or controlled by a demon
but their spirit their their spirit is owned by Jesus therefore a demon cannot own a Christian.
In referring to this Derek Prince said there is no basis for this that a Christian can be
owned by a demon in greek word for demonized which conveys no suggestion of ownership but
means merely to subject to demonic influence in his book They Shall Expel Demons in saying that
the word New Testament used is demonized which doesn't talk about ownership of
demon demons don't own the person but demons control one or particular part of their life
a person from George Fox University, Roger wrote and he said this the conquest of the land of
Canaan under Joshua illustrates some of these principles though given by God to Israel the
land initially remained in Canaanite possession only gradually were the Canaanites conquered and
expelled thus for a time they still dwelt in the land and possessed it though they no longer owned
it so the way that israel conquered the Canaanite land you know they used to possess the land
Canaanites and then Israel came expelled them and Canaanites still lived there for some time
even though they no longer owned that land and that's kind of the picture of when a Christian
has a demon you know when a Christian can still have areas of the life of hurts and pains
areas of their life of bondage unrenewed thinking areas of strongholds that need to be broken and
also areas where they have a demonic influence or even demonic presence that needs to be expelled
and removed now the argument that I hear from people a lot of times is this you should never
cast out a demon from a believer in other words deliverance is only for unbelievers I don't
see that in the Bible nowhere in the Bible does Jesus tell his disciples go and cast out demons
make sure you only cast out demons of unbelievers Jesus doesn't say go and heal the sick but only
of unbelievers Jesus just tells us to go cast out demons and if you ever did a deliverance
yourself more than one you will come to very sharp realization that many demons
will scream out that this person is mine and of course you can throw scriptures at them and
argue and say no this person belongs to God but if they don't belong to god you're lying
you know you're not going to be able to expel that demon because the demons operate by legal rights
the same way you do for example let's say you live in a house and I come to your house and you own
that house there are papers that indicate you're the owner I come and i try to tell you get out
of the house why it's not your house now you're going to look at me like what is wrong with you
and then let's say that I'm stronger than you so I'm going to force you out of your house
now that's not going to last very long because you will get lawyers you will get police and
then I will go to jail why because you have a legal right to live in that house
and so if demons have a legal right to live in people who are not surrendered to God
then we can't cast them out then who can we cast demons out now we can by force and
power of God cast them out but they'll go back there and so most of deliverance does happen
for believers it still happens for unbelievers and after they get delivered they accept Jesus Christ
but most of the deliverance will be happening for the believers why because satan is illegal
in their soul and we can expel him because we can break that legal right
that he had there through the blood of Jesus and confession and remove that enemy from them
second argument that I hear for people that Christians cannot have demons is this one
the Holy Spirit and demons cannot live together now I know it sounds very clever
sounds very convincing I have had tenants in my life including as I'm speaking right now I have
another person that lives in my house who has the keys to my house who has a place in my house
and who has access to my house now this person who lives in my house is not the owner of the house
so it's not my wife it's another person that lives there I'm not talking about my wife
and so to say that a Holy Spirit and another thing can never live in a believer it's like
to say that you can live in your house and have nobody else ever live there that's not possible
in fact Holy Spirit can live and the believer can struggle with depression Holy Spirit can live and
the heart and believer can struggle with cancer they can struggle with fear they can struggle
with so many things and if it's truly that the Holy Spirit completely removes everything why
didn't why doesn't he remove depression and why doesn't he remove fear and doubt and hurts and
and the residue of things in the past and so it's completely possible for the Holy Spirit to live
and the person still have a demon why because the holy spirit lives in our heart in our spirit
but demons hurts unrenewed mind is in the realm of the soul so these two things you know are separate
your spirit and your soul and the word of God brings separation between your spirit and your
soul so that tells me that the Holy Spirit lives in one part of you and demons can still live in
the other part of you but it doesn't make demons the owners of you the holy spirit is the owner
but demons can be tenants whom you gave keys whom you gave access whom you gave a place
whom you gave also an invitation and they can roam in and roam out until you remove that axis
and throw them out by the blood of Jesus and the fire of the holy spirit so demons can live
even with the Holy Spirit being in your heart because the Holy Spirit and demons they don't
live in the same place demons can live in the soul but the holy spirit he lives in our spirit
because our spirit is made new when the holy spirit comes in and he becomes one with the holy
spirit not in our soul but in our spirit the third argument that i hear that people say is
well light and darkness just cannot coexist the Bible says that it's one of those scriptures that
I misquoted I'm going to read to you the verse in the Bible that what the Bible actually says
2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14 do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers
it does not start with saying you can't be unequally yoked it says do not meaning it's possible
to still be unequally yoked with unbelievers you know people who are dating unbelievers maybe
you're one of them who is in the relationship with someone who doesn't share your faith
so this is not saying that it's not possible it's just saying that is not good we shouldn't have it
not we couldn't have it and watch what it says later and Paul argues he says what fellowship
has righteousness with lawlessness so to say that light and darkness cannot exist together is to
say that a Christian and a non-Christian cannot date a Christian can have righteousness in their
spirit but they can never ever have any sin in their soul in their thought or in their body
that's not true and then paul says later on he says what communion has light with darkness so
he starts comparing with believers having a relationship with unbelievers then saying
righteousness and lawlessness shouldn't be together and light and darkness shouldn't be
Paul is not saying what cannot be he's saying what shouldn't be so don't use this verse out
of context saying that this is saying light and darkness cannot be together if that is true
then this is also saying that Christians and non-Christians cannot be together that's just
not true Christians and non-Christians can still be together if they choose to so is with light and
darkness so is with righteousness and lawlessness it's important that we don't take scripture
out of the context but we read the scripture and let the scripture explain itself to us may i
remind you that Jesus's first deliverance did not happen on the street it happened in the synagogue
after the wilderness he came and as he was preaching his message a demon was manifesting in
the synagogue a man who was faithful believer in god attending sabbath came normally to the service
probably didn't even know he had a demon maybe he noticed something abnormal about his life certain
behaviors and certain habits and certain signs but he couldn't pinpoint on what that was
and the anointing of the holy spirit caused the demon to be exposed and then the power
of Jesus expelled it so Jesus started his deliverance ministry not in the streets but
in the church so for those people who say we shouldn't cast our demons out of the christians
what should we do then should we leave them within the christians
we shouldn't we should cast them out we should bring liberty to the captives
Jesus said that a woman who was struggling with the back pain he called her a daughter
of Abraham and that was in that culture symbolic of somebody who had a right standing with God
who had the right faith in god he says daughter of Abraham was bound by satan for 18 years
that means it's possible to be someone who's in covenant with god and be bound it's not a secret
it is possible but what's more important is Jesus Christ is interested willing and wants to deliver
us Jesus also said to the woman a gentile woman he says that deliverance is children's bread
she came asking for her daughter's deliverance and Jesus says I can't give bread that belongs to the
children referring to deliverance because she's asking for deliverance to the dogs
so that tells me deliverance Jesus says deliverance belongs to God's children
it doesn't belong to people who are not in a covenant with God
and so we have to understand is that God sees deliverance the same way you see food freedom
is food it's spiritual food to be free and it's a good thing and so christians shouldn't be afraid
of freedom or deliverance because it's like our spiritual food that's why in the Lord's prayer
jesus says to pray like this deliver us from the evil one if deliverance is not as for christians
why do they call God their father and then they're asking him to deliver them from the evil one
paul says do not give place to the devil nor return again and be entangled with the yoke
of bondage if Christians are not capable at all of giving place to the devil and not capable of
going back to their ways and being entangled again in bondages then we would not need to be warned
Jesus looks to his disciples who have believed in him he says abide in my word and you will be
my disciples indeed and then he says this these shocking words he says you shall know the truth
and the truth shall set you free do you know who these words were addressed to those who believed
in Him and those whom he gave an advice a command to abide in His word and of course those disciples
responded back and they said we've never been in bondage to anyone we don't need to be afraid we're
we're fine like i know how a lot of Christians are you know when this topic is presented they're
like no no that's not for me that's just crazy and stuff I mean yeah I I watch porn yeah I'm
addicted to alcohol yeah I I constantly have this and this problem but it's just lack of discipline
it's just I just need to stay more motivated and everything and they shift blame on everything
that's natural but a lot of times those problems are spiritual and so and we have to understand
that Jesus speaks to his disciples he says hey I want you to be free stay in my word go to church
receive prayer why because I want to set you free I want to deliver you 2nd Samuel 22 it says the
lord is my rock my fortress and my deliverer david speaks of god is as many are the afflictions of
the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all God is our deliverer it's one of His names
and so don't shift deliverance to only you know people that are not with God you know we use this
famous story how God delivered Israel out of Egypt Israel was His kids they were His children you
know who God did not deliver in Egypt Egyptians He delivered Israel and so for those of you who
think deliverance is only for the bad people who are lost it's not they don't even know they need
deliverance and they don't need it you know why because if they get one demon out they're
gonna get seven back and so the christians are the ones that are qualified for deliverance
and Jesus Christ is eager to deliver his children from afflictions He's eager to deliver them from
torment He's eager to deliver them from chains and bondages because deliverance is children's
bread let's pray Father I ask you right now in the name of Jesus that you will give us a
revelation that deliverance is not just for the lost but deliverance is for the found
deliverance is not for the Egyptians it's for the Israelites that it's for the children
this is bread for the children lord I pray that we will receive this revelation god
that you desire to bring deliverance back to our churches you desire to bring deliverance
back to our ministries and you desire to bring freedom back to our lives in Jesus name we pray
Amen