 Like a child's sandcastle dissolves under the mighty power of an ocean wave, so demonic possession is broken the moment it comes into contact with the manifested presence of the Holy Spirit. If you want to walk in an authority to where you speak and the demon goes, this is what you have to do. It's important that you understand this is all available for you in the scripture. This is not secrets that I've learned. I'm not giving you private interpretation. This is available for all of us, okay? So let's look at these now. Step one, honor the basics. Think about the fact that Olympic athletes don't win the gold the moment they compete for the gold. They win the gold in all the preparation that's done before they have to go and win the gold. A soldier doesn't train for war on the battlefield. A soldier goes through rigorous training before they're ever deployed, and so you as a believer win the battle before the battle. The battle is won in the basics of Christian living, not the moment you encounter it. So let's take a look at that first basic Ephesians 6, 10-11, a final word. Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. So we'd rather be told, pray a specific prayer, do this specific thing, name the specific demon, and again it may work because it lifts the person's faith and they experience freedom for a time, but then they may go back without getting saved and become possessed again and it's seven times worse. So you got to make sure that you as a believer are going into this prepared spiritually and we don't prepare with techniques or protocols or a list of types of demons or a list of types of things that they do or if we needed that the scripture would mention that. So you and I come at this with what? The armor of God. What is the armor of God? The armor of God is everything God equips us with to fight against the deception and the power of the enemy. And so we as believers have already been given that authority. We just have to learn to align ourselves with that authority so that when we speak these commands, the demonic powers obey. You cannot make up with superstitious ritual what you lack in spiritual routine. Let me say that again. You can't make up with superstitious ritual what you lack in spiritual routine. When you do the basics as a believer, you begin to carry the presence of the Holy Spirit in a manifested way around you. The atmosphere shifts around you. You carry that glory. You become a friend of the Holy Spirit. Wherever you walk, peace goes with you and joy goes with you and love goes with you and clarity goes with you and you're bold and you're kind and you're loving and you're gracious to people. There's this real sweetness to the Spirit's presence that begins to follow you when you walk with the Lord. And so imagine the weight of that cloud. Just imagine you as a believer being surrounded by a cloud of glory, just like the children of Israel and the wilderness, but except we now have the Holy Spirit. We are the new Tabernacle, the new temple. So now you have this cloud of glory around. You may not be able to see it, but in the Spirit, I promise you it's there. You have this cloud and you're walking around with that cloud floating around you. And imagine now you come up to a person who's demonically possessed. You stand in front of them. When you speak, I command that demon to go. That cloud around you pushes demonic forces out. And the Holy Spirit doesn't deal with demons. He dominates them. He doesn't argue with demons. He forces them to move. Demonic power, compared to the Holy Spirit's powers rather weak, I think we insult the Holy Spirit's power when we elevate demonic power above the Holy Spirit's power. Like a child's sandcastle dissolves under the mighty power of an ocean wave, so demonic possession is broken the moment it comes into contact with the manifested presence of the Holy Spirit. And you carry that manifested presence, which leads me to step number 2, time in God's presence. Acts chapter 4 verse 13 says this, the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. 2 Corinthians 3-17, for the Lord is spirit, and wherever the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. I used to compare that to Psalm 139 7 and say, well, Lord, if you're everywhere and where your spirit is, there is freedom, then why isn't there freedom everywhere? Well, this is talking about the influence of the spirit. And so you as a believer have the influence of the Holy Spirit, and you carry that influence with you. So when you go into contact with someone who's demonically possessed, if it's true demonic possession, hear me now, if it's true demonic possession, it has to respond to the power of the Holy Ghost within you. And the time with the Lord that you spend in His presence begins to have effects. You begin to align now with that authority. Step number three, you got to know the word. Mark chapter 1, I'll read 21-27. Jesus and His companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, He went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at His teaching, for He taught with real authority quite unlike the teachers of religious law. Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, why are you interfering with us? Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Now on a side note, some would say, well, demons can't possess anything. I don't even know where that came from, because again, that's what the word demonization means. Now, we understand God as a whole owns everything, but this is again speaking of that habitation and the indwelling of a demonic being and that control that it has over the individual who's possessed. Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus reprimanded Him. Be quiet, come out of the man, He ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion and then came out of Him. Amazement gripped the audience and they began to discuss what had happened. What sort of new teaching is this, they asked excitedly. It has such authority, even evil spirits obey His orders. Now you have to imagine here, very jealous religious teachers, just jealous of who Jesus is. They were jealous because He was able to do what they couldn't do. They were jealous because He taught in a way they could not teach. They were jealous because where they brought confusion, Jesus brought clarity. Where they brought burden, Jesus brought freedom. Where they brought protocol, Jesus brought power. And so they're jealous of who He is. He's able to drive out demons with great force. And if you study it historically, the way that the religious leaders would try to drive out demons was through rituals and incantations and certain special prayers. And now here, Jesus comes along and doesn't have to use any of that. And He just speaks and it's gone. And they're very upset at this. I'm pretty sure that there was a Pharisee or two that probably folded His arms and said, well, you know, I don't think Jesus really got all the demons or it's probably not that effective. Or He must be leaving people in bondage because He did it too quickly. But that's not what's happening here. Jesus is exercising a certain authority and they're angry with Him. Religious minds will always be upset when you don't go through their protocols. Religious minds will always be upset when you don't complicate it. Religious minds will always be upset with the simplicity of spirituality. And so in Matthew chapter 8 verse 16, we see when the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils. And He cast out the spirits, what with His word, and healed all who were sick. There again, we see a delineation between evil spirits and sickness. He casts out evil spirits, but He heals the sickness. So sickness is not an equivalent of a demonic being. A sickness is a sickness, a disorder in the body of iris and so forth, not a sentient being from another realm that belongs to the kingdom of hell. So it was the word that He spoke. The word has power. Well, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, what did He speak? He spoke the word. Jesus wasn't possessed because He was tempted. He was just being attacked from the outside with that assault of temptation. Now, the scripture says resist the devil and He will flee. How do you resist the word? The word. The word. And so this is important that we implement these, the basics of Christianity. You cannot make up with superstitious ritual which you lack in spiritual routine. Number four, you want to live clean. Acts chapter 19 says this, Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you? Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house naked and battered. So here the seven sons of Sceva were attempting to drive out demons with ritual, not relationship. Ritual sometimes does work, but not for the reasons that we think it works. Sometimes it, you know, because somebody sees a ritual being implemented or a special prayer being prayed, their faith is boosted because, hey, it's going to work. And that faith is what creates the freedom, but they don't know it was the faith. They think it was the ritual itself. And so we see that with the seven sons of Sceva, you can get by with ritual. You can get by with religion. You can get by with a certain type of protocol, but it only goes so far. It only goes so deep. It only carries so much weight and power and authority. And so you can do it that way. And of course get somewhere maybe. I mean, I can get from Florida to California by driving, but I would much rather fly. And so when you go with the Holy Spirit, you wage war from a higher realm. You wage war from the depths of glory, not exhausting yourself, not, not exerting human effort and emotion. That's religion. Religion says it's in your strength. Religion says it's in your power. Religion says it's up to you. The Holy Spirit says I'll take it from here. And so when you exert yourself, when you are the one having to work that demon out, well, now you're operating to some degree of power, but it's, it's, it's only a small measure of that power. Once you step into clean living, right living relationship, you're aligned with that authority. It's very simple. Demons cannot resist the authority of Christ. In order to access fully the authority of Christ, you simply need to honor the basics, know the Lord, spend time in his presence, live clean and know the word. You do these things. Now you're aligned with that authority. And now that the basics are in place, what do you do? You speak a simple command in the name of Jesus come out. That's it. Anything more than that is human effort, not the spirit. Anything more than that is religion, is ritual. But let's pray for now. And let's ask the Holy Spirit to help us to align with his authority, to stop trying to do it in our own strength and to do it in his, where there's real power. When you finally leave the chains and the bounds of religion, when you finally abandon the rituals and the protocols and the traditions of man, sure religious minds will be upset with you. But then you'll have true power. Surrender to the Holy Spirit. It's so simple people of God. So Father, I pray that you would help your people to come back to the simplicity of simple faith in your power. I thank you, Lord, that it's not in our own strength. It's not by power nor by might, by your spirit. And we thank you precious Holy Spirit for inhabiting us and giving us the authority of Christ. I want you to say this out loud. Say, Christ is in power. Say it. Christ is in power and I am in Christ. If you believe that, I want you to type amen. And I want to challenge you to get involved with what our ministry is doing. We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and this ministry is expanding rapidly. It's time that the world saw the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated. I want to see masses saved. I want to see masses healed. I want to see masses delivered and set free from demon possession. I want to see believers empowered. You may be looking at the world today. Maybe you're discouraged at what you see. You may wonder where the future of the generation is going. But let me tell you this. Sin is still the problem. Jesus is still the answer and the gospel still has power. The gospel is the answer. So I want you to help us spread it. DavidHernandezMinisteries.com slash donate to give a single gift slash partner to become a monthly supporter. Everything counts. Just ask the Holy Spirit, what should I do and then get involved? And I really, really, really recommend that you watch my teaching Can a Christian be demon possessed? But when you go to watch it, make sure you have the time to truly sit down and watch it all the way through. We're going to go through Scripture thoroughly with a fine-toothed comb. We're going to go through every possible angle on that subject. God bless.