Revoke Dormant Demons: How to Stop Demonic Access by Renewing Your Mind

In the majority of cases, spirits can lie dormant and stick around.

In other cases, because of the pursuit of righteousness and the person’s relationship with the Holy Spirit, the demon may leave during a Bible reading or worship service or in a church setting. We do not always need to make a “deliverance appointment” for a devil to be cast out, although I do encourage this, as many spirits hide. I personally do quarterly spiritual “check-ups.”

One of my mentors and deliverance ministers, Stuart Greer, always says, “The most sincere and repentant people will get set free!” Repentance is key.

Unfortunately, there is a significant lack of repentance, healing, and deliverance in the church today. Many churches consider healing or deliverance an outside ministry. But that’s not what Acts 2 says. These are walked out daily as a believer in Christ. People come to believe, but stay in bondage too often. If the Church were regularly moving in the giftings of the Holy Spirit, I believe a massive number of people would stop pursuing psychics for direction and would start pursuing the Almighty God (1 Corinthians 12).

Discipleship, mentorship, accountability, fasting, and prayer are primary spiritual resources necessary for the believer.

When it comes to the demonic, there are many ways they can access a person. One area of major attack is what I personally call emotional sins. This is not a condemnation of having feelings. We are human; we will have feelings, and we do not need to be ashamed of them. I have lots of feelings. However, emotions that are beyond our control that we feel consumed or enslaved by, choose to constantly entertain, or cannot escape from, actually indicate something else, likely spiritual, is occurring.

We are called to be led by the Holy Spirit, not by the flesh (our bodies and our emotions). If something unfortunate happens to a person, it would make sense that they would be very sad about it. But if the person stays in this emotional state too long, it can open the door to depression, addiction, self-harm, suicide, and an infinite number of unhealthiness. That emotional “sin” can give direct access to demonic spirits. We must be taking our thoughts captive, not letting our fleshly thoughts rule our emotions and our lives—that’s honestly for our own protection. It takes practice!

Jesus wants every person on earth to be free of what keeps them bound and distant from Him; and sometimes, we don’t even know we are bound. I definitely did not at first! Or at least not to the level I actually was. Coming directly to Jesus and getting free doesn’t have to take years or decades; seeking and finding Him now is possible. However, I understand that people (like me) are confused, stubborn, and entangled with the world, so sometimes it takes longer.

If you’re stuck in a place of habitually doing the same thing over and over that you know is not good, but you don’t know how to change or don’t feel too bad about it yet know it isn’t right, ask God for the gift of repentance. Repentance sets you free, and demons will leave as a result. Ask the Holy Spirit to meet you in your room, or your car, or wherever you are right now, and deliver you. Whom the Son (Jesus) sets free, is free indeed (John 8:36)! God always shows up and is always on time—so hang in there!

As a new believer, I would see many people come to Jesus and remain entangled with their afflictions, me being one of them, obviously. I didn’t always understand this. The Bible says we should consider ourselves blessed when we suffer for Christ; suffer for Christ, not suffer because we are under loads of demonic oppression and bondage like sin, flashbacks, anxiety, triggers, despair, insomnia, rejection, depression, guilt, addictions, and so on. So we say the sinner’s prayer, and then what? Do we stay in our sicknesses and brokenness? Hide behind a Christian label yet live in secret sin? Put little effort into our relationship with God because we are “already saved”? Be ruled by all of our “issues”?

No, we shouldn’t! Jesus offers freedom! We are not to be ruled by sin or circumstance! If the word sin confuses you, upsets you, or offends you, chances are you do not fully understand it, or there is something in your life that is violating your morals and God’s standards.

There is so much more than all of what has happened to you or things you have done, or not done, for that matter. You don’t have to be a slave. Imagine a long, winding staircase. When sin has ruled your life, you have taken step after step downward. When you look up, the staircase seems intimidating and impossible to climb, so you might either remain in the same spot, try really hard to climb the stairs on your own, or continue the descent.

When you truly give your life, not just your heart, to Jesus, He meets you on the staircase, throws you on His back, and carries you upward. If there is resistance on your part, He will stand there with you, continuously reaching out His hand to help you back up each step. You do not have to muster up your strength to climb these stairs, and you also do not have to worry about how far down you’ve gone and how far back up you need to go (Philippians 4:6). You just need to focus on the step you are on, the face of Jesus, and eventually you will get to the top of the stairs.

When our sin has consumed us, the untangling is a process. It usually doesn’t happen overnight. Just my deliverance alone took more than a year and a half. Almost two whole years of regular sessions of having demons cast out of me. Can you imagine how I felt as I stood on that staircase? It was intense and very lonely at times. But Jesus loved me through it, reminding me that this was part of the untangling and that the freedom I so desperately craved was coming.

I am thankful for all the people the Lord placed in my life during this time. I had so much encouragement as I trudged up each step. Going downhill is easy! Climbing up the stairs felt hard and required a lot of one-on-one time with God. One of my favorite quotes of all time by the famous author J.R.R. Tolkien is, “Little by little, one travels far.” I would tell myself this over and over again as I continued to move upward. Praise God for the little things that keep us moving!

In my Christian walk, I have seen so many stuck on that staircase, continue to be slaves to sin, or light up and then burn out. Why? Because they need deliverance and to actually understand their identity! They need a strong community! Their quiet time with the Lord needs to become the most precious focus in their life. Oftentimes, we come to Jesus, get baptized, and then continue trudging through life wearing shackles because it’s what we are used to. We can hear the jingling of our chains but pretend it’s jewelry—this is a form of pride. We are called higher. Deliverance, your secret place, and community will get you there.