SPEAK THE WORD ONLY: DON’T BE MOVED BY MANIFESTATIONS

Many years ago when I was pastoring a little church in Texas, a woman brought her violently insane sister to the parsonage to be prayed for. Because this woman had tried to kill herself and others, she had been in a padded cell for two years.

However, her health had deteriorated, and doctors had recommended a furlough at home for her, because she was no longer considered dangerous. When her sister introduced me as a "preacher," Scriptures started to roll out of this woman's mouth. She thought she had committed the unpardonable sin. The Lord told me to stand in front of her and say, "Come out, thou unclean devil, in the Name of Jesus!" I did that, but nothing happened. She just sat there looking like a statue. I knew I had spoken the word of faith. You don't have to stand there all day long and command devils to come out.

They're going to do it when you tell them to if you know your authority. They have to go once the command is given in faith. Two days later I was told the woman was having a violent attack similar to the kind she had had when she first lost her mind. This news didn't disturb me. In the Bible we read that when Jesus rebuked the devil in such cases, people would fall and the devil would tear them. I knew the devil was just tearing this woman before he left her for good. I knew she wouldn't have any more spells, and she didn't. The doctors pronounced her normal and sent her home for good. Twenty years later she was happy and healthy, teaching a Sunday School class and working in a business.

Faith is involved in exercising spiritual authority. Yes, there are times when evil spirits come out immediately, but if they don't when you speak the word of faith, don't get disturbed about it. I base my faith on what the Word says. Some people's faith is not based on the Bible, however, it's based on a manifestation. They operate outside faith in the sense realm. If they get certain manifestations, they think the devil's gone. But he isn't gone just because you get a manifestation. He's still there, and you need to know that and exercise your authority.

When circumstances don't change immediately, some people become discouraged and slip back into the natural. They start talking unbelief and they defeat themselves. They give the devil dominion over them. As Smith Wigglesworth often said, "I'm not moved by what I see. I'm not moved by what I feel. I'm moved only by what I believe." So stand your ground. (Kenneth E. Hagin)