Dealing with evil spirits in the home

Are you having issues with being thrust out of sleep by banging doors, items moving around (poltergeist activity), the sound of footsteps, or lights eerily going on or off? Do you see shadows on the wall, or creatures at the foot of your bed? Do you feel an evil presence, or a cold spot in a certain part of a building? Such phenomenon is likely attributed to an evil spirit. Behind every genuine “haunting” is satan’s kingdom. For some homes it is blatantly haunted. For other homes, the enemy could be more discreet.

I have firsthand experience with several of the aforementioned phenomena. I can’t say with certainty what in the world is going on in the spirit realm, for we see through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13:12), but I am fairly confident there were at least two evil spirits “camping” out in my parents’ house for who knows how long: one in the living room, and the other in the guest bedroom.

Allow me to share my story dealing with these evil “squatters.” I remember years ago I slept in the living room of my parents’ house, and almost every time I would get attacked by an evil spirit with sleep paralysis. It seemed like an evil spirit would repeatedly emerge from a certain spot of the room while sleeping and then attack me, putting me in a paralysis state. What happened was not my imagination! I strongly discerned it was a real spirit, and it seemed it had been stationed there for a long time.

A similar situation happened in my parents’ guest bedroom. When I slept there, I keenly discerned an evil spirit emerging from the closet, and it would attack me with sleep paralysis. It was a strange experience, but very real. It seemed to me like it was a different spirit from the one that was in the living room. I dealt with it, and then it left.

How Do Evil Spirits Make Your Home Their Home?

As emphasized here many times, the practice of sin will open the doors for the enemy, even in a broad geographical area (you may want to read my experience on Hollywood Blvd.). There is an operating principle: a spirit cannot be anywhere unless it has a legal right. This is applies to personal deliverance, and it also applies to homes harassed by demons.

I didn’t grow up in a Christian family, so there was a lot of sin practiced in the home. There were no gross sins such as witchcraft or New Age practices in the home, but a lot of sin was going there nevertheless. Sadly, my parent’s house wasn’t dedicated to the living God of the Bible (The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit). Because of sin practiced there, it allowed those evil spirits to trespass and act like it owned the home.

Any place such as properties, buildings, apartments, and even some churches can be inhabited by evil spirits and should be spiritually cleansed. The late deliverance minister and author, Frank Hammond, shared his experiences with hotels, hospitals, and churches that were demonically infested. He said he would have terrible dreams when staying in some hotels. He recalled a scene that passed through his mind, during a dream, in which someone with a rifle was killing people randomly. When he awoke, he felt very unclean. He wondered why he would have a dream like that. He said the Spirit of the Lord spoke to him and impressed upon the word “television.” People who had stayed in that room previously had watched violent movies, and this attracted violent spirits to those rooms. He cleansed the room and there were no more nightmares (Poltergeists – Demons in the Home, pg. 4).

The previous occupant of a residence could have opened the doors to the enemy. Hammond wrote about an incident where he ministered to a woman who was having demonic issues in her home. There was a cold spot in an area of her home, no matter the temperature was in the room. She would even see a demon manifest, a dwarf spirit. They wondered what gave the spirit the right to enter the home, then they found out that the woman’s grandfather had lived with them for a while and was involved in occult practices. He actually died in that bedroom. They cleansed the property and commanded those spirits to get out of that house, then all the problems ended. The spirit had been expelled (pg. 8).

Hammond also wrote about having a friend who moved into their new home, but knew something was not right spiritually there. The friend’s wife said one day she was standing at the sink, washing dishes, and an urge came over her to commit suicide. She said she grabbed the sink and held on till her knuckles turned white to keep herself from going to get her husband’s gun. The husband also said that one night he was awakened, and it felt like someone was lifting the covers off his feet. It happened again where both of them saw the covers rise up about a foot off his feet and then drop again.

They found the source of these problems was the prior resident. Sadly, there was a pastor who had lived in this just prior to them moving in. This former resident had left church in the middle of the service and driven to a secluded place and committed suicide. That spirit of suicide was in the house.

They prayed against that spirit and the poltergeist spirit creating havoc in the home, cleansed the house and the problems went away (pg. 26).

What to do to cleanse your home or any other place?

How did I deal with the evil spirits in my parents’ home in the living room and the guest room? I firmly rebuked it in the name of the Jesus and told it to leave. For the spirit in the living room, I felt like it did leave, but it would come back later on. Then I would repeat what I did before: rebuke it and tell it to leave (being involved in deliverance ministry, I know demons can be very stubborn and will try to resist expulsion). I didn’t give up. It seemed to be more effective when I said it with an incredibly loud voice with authority, boldness, fury, and faith. I would say something like, “I command you to leave in the name of Jesus Christ and not return. I overcome you by the blood of the Lamb of God. You don’t belong here. You are a trespasser!” Sure enough, it eventually left for good (as far as I can tell). I dealt with the spirit in the guest room similarly to expel it.

One can pray over oil in the name of Jesus for God to anoint it. The oil in of itself has no anointing, but when one prays over it and asks God to anoint with faith, I believe He will honor the prayer. One can anoint the door-frames, bedposts, walls, cabinet, closet, etc.

Make sure there is no sin practiced in the home. Stop indulging in ungodly media, such as horror movies and ungodly music, which grieves the Holy Spirit. A common sin that may open the door to the enemy is indulging in pornography. That certainly should be cut off.

It may be you are not practicing any sin, but someone else in the home is (such as a sibling or roommate), and you are the only one getting attacked. I would pray to God in Jesus’ name to send an angel for protection. If you are in a home where someone is practicing witchcraft or the occult/New Age (a huge demonic opener!), I would definitely remove myself from the home as soon as possible (or have such a person leave).

In addition to practicing sin, having occult or pagan items can open doors to the enemy. If you have anything such as idols (i.e. Buddha statues), dreamcatchers, occult books, ouija board, tarot cards, Freemasonic paraphernalia, certain paintings, “art” objects, sculptures, images, charms, fetishes, and even some forms of rock music associated with the spirit world, etc., cleanse your abode of it as soon as possible, otherwise the enemy can maintain the legal right to be there. Evil spirits can have attachments to such objects. In Ch. 7 of the Book of Joshua, an example is given of an accursed object.

Hammond shared his experience of the result of cleaning out his home:

“When I was younger, I had been an avid collector of American Indian artifacts. That was my hobby, I spent a large part of my life exploring for such artifacts in the ranch lands of Northern Texas. God began to deal with me about this. He told me that all the items I had collected were associated with Indian worship and idolatry, and I had to get rid of it.

Through the period of my younger years I suffered from severe allergies, primarily asthma and hay fever, from about the age of 11 when I began to collect these artifacts. When I decided to obey the Lord and removed those idolatrous things out of my house, and commanded the spirits related to them to leave, I was healed of my allergies. That was the key to rid myself of the demonic harassment caused by a legal right for the spirits to afflict me. I was living under a type of curse and did not even know it” (pg. 22).

When dealing with these spirits, stand your ground and exercise the authority Jesus gives believers over the enemy (Luke 10:19)! But make sure the demons have no legal right to be in the home or what ever property. If there is anything present that pertains to satan’s kingdom, the demons may have a legal right to indwell that home. Dedicate the home to the Lord and invite the presence of the Holy Spirit into there. Sing hymns and songs to the Lord daily, as well as give praise and thanks. Also, constantly playing worship music and an audio Bible in the home may help. Your home should be a sanctuary (“sacred place”) unto the Lord.

New Agers and occultists believe their own methods can banish what they would call a bad spirit or “negative energy.” One popular method is the use of sage. But only the Lord Jesus Christ has authority over the enemy, and He gives that authority to believers (Luke 10:19), for He is the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Jesus said that satan can’t cast out satan (Matthew 12:26), and that is the spirit behind the occult and the New Age.

You may want to read this page to know more about what opens doors to the enemy: Demonic Doorways.

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Model Prayer to Cast Demons Out The Home

Since I am getting a lot of contacts recently asking about how to get rid of evil spirits in their home, the following prayer can help. Again, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have authority over the enemy (Luke 10:19).

Deliverance and House Cleaning Prayer (pg. 32):

Lord Jesus,

I belong to you. You went to the cross and shed Your blood and died for my sins. You took the penalty of sin that was due to me and bore it yourself. Lord, I accept your sacrifice. By faith I receive your salvation.

You told us in Galatians 3 that you have redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse of the law, having become a curse in our place.

Father, I confess all my sins; the ones I know about, and the ones I have not recognized. I am sorry for them all. I ask You to forgive me and cleanse me with Your Son’s precious blood.

Father, the law says that You will punish the sins of our forefathers down to the third and fourth generations. So I now repent of all the sins from my family line, and I ask You to forgive and cleanse me from all the effects of those sins. You promise in Your Word that whoever calls upon Your name will be delivered. I call on You now in the Name of Jesus, to set me free.

Now Satan, I say to you, you have no right to me. You have no right to my house or property. You have no right to my family, nor anything else that belong to me. I take authority over you. In the mighty Name of Jesus and by the power that is in His blood, I command you to get out of my life. Every inherited curse is leaving now, in Jesus name.

In the Name of Jesus, inherited curses passed down through our families, where there was sexual transgression, where there was incest, where was abuse; I command it to go. Any generational curses that have arisen due to idolatry, involvement in the occult, false religions or cults, or superstition; I command every one of you to go. Where there were fortune tellings; divination; worship of the sun, moon, or stars; or various types of astrology, I command every one of you spirits to go now, in the power of the Name of Jesus. Where there was praying to the dead, Mariology, or necromancy, we command you to go in Jesus Name. Where there was bowing down to images, we command that legal right over us to be broken in Jesus’ Name.

That is not our inheritance. We are walking in the truth and in the light. We are walking in the presence of God. All you evil forces must go now.

You spirits that bring hindrance to our walk with the Lord, that hinder us from reading our Bibles or getting anything out of our bible readings; you spirits that hinder us in our prayer life and fill our lives with all sorts of distractions, in the Name of Jesus we command every spirit of hindrance and distraction to go now! You spirits that hinder the move of the Holy Spirit, and that hinder the flow of the gifts of the Spirit, or that hinder us from hearing clearly the voice of God, I command you to go now in the mighty name of Jesus.

We are set free now to be the people God created us to be. Our homes, our properties and our families are set free from demonic harassment by poltergeist spirits. And we rely now on the precious Holy Spirit to reveal to us in His still, small voice, anything that is spiritually wrong in our house or property, that we might fully cleanse ourselves from the works of darkness, in Jesus Name.

Amen!

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If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can receive Him into your heart, and He can deliver you from darkness and sin and have your name written in His Book of Life.

If you are sincere, you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):

“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. Please forgive me of all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross, I believe in my heart Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”