“Demons Trapped Me in a Prison Cell…’’

One of the chief lessons of working with God in deliverance is that there are no formulas.

Applicable principles about overcoming the kingdom of darkness are certainly within Scripture, but the moment we adopt blanket methodologies for casting out demons, we remove much of the partnership God wants to play in the process.

Now, God did not promise that He would always do what I’m about to share in this last story. But He didn’t promise He wouldn’t. Out of the hundreds upon hundreds of deliverances we’ve seen thus far in our ministry, the instance that stands out above all others in my mind is when Jesus Himself showed up to finish the job. This time, I don’t mean the Holy Spirit. I mean the Son of God Himself!

It was yet another Sunday evening, this time toward the end of the service. Many people had been prayed for, and the Holy Spirit had moved upon them powerfully. A time of spontaneous worship had erupted among those still lingering. On the far end of the front altar area, I noticed a young girl leaning against the wall. She didn’t seem to have the same peace as the others. In fact, she was acting aloof, with an almost blank expression upon her face.

I grabbed a female leader, and we made our way over to her to calmly investigate. When we placed our hands upon the girl, she suddenly fell to the floor and began thrashing about, manifesting demons. Now, normally a demon either leaves quickly, or deeper heart issues need to be addressed to get to the root of the stronghold.

This time, however, as we ministered, another demon surfaced. Then another, and another. After just a few minutes, it was evident this girl was overcome by countless spirits, and with the unveiling of each one came an even greater violence. We took authority over any physical harm the demons might try to inflict, and it did prevent them from injuring her externally, but the girl was still tormented internally.

The Holy Spirit gave several of us words of knowledge revealing a few key evil spirits. We prayed and they would leave, but there were so many others manifesting, we knew this was going to take a while apart from some special divine intervention.

The problem was, we’d already been in service for five hours and those few of us remaining were tired. We weren’t sure we had physical stamina to go all night. We didn’t want to put the exhausted girl through that type of marathon either. The demons continued to manifest with great ferocity. The girl’s eyes were rolling around in her head as she thrashed about undergoing torment by her invisible captors.

Meanwhile, I had a personal problem. I really had to pee. My bladder was so full I was in pain! I whispered to the woman next to me to keep an eye on the girl. Then I practically ran to the restroom. After washing my hands, I looked into the mirror and had an honest conversation with God.

“Lord, You’ve allowed us to cast out many demons. You know we’ve always tried to work with You, and You’ve always been faithful. But right now, I’m at a loss. I don’t know what else to do with this girl. Besides that, I’m exhausted. Jesus, help.”

When I came out of the restroom, the girl was still thrashing and screaming, except now, one of our stronger prophetic people, Jeremy Mitchell, was sitting nearby on the edge of our stage, staring intently at her. You could see the wheels turning in his head.

I stepped over and humbly asked, “What do you think? Are you seeing something?”

He gently responded, “She’s in a large room, trying to reach for the door, but a mob of demons keep pulling her back in. She needs someone to pull her out of that room.”

Large room? In the natural the only large room this girl was in was our sanctuary. Jeremy was talking about an invisible room that apparently only he could see. If I were going to concede this prophetic word as accurate, I’d have to really go out on the limb of faith. An invisible demon room? Where is that in the Bible? Then again, we were desperate. Nothing we’d done had worked. Besides that, Jeremy wasn’t known for flighty prophecies about blue unicorns flying in cotton candy clouds. Not to say that wouldn’t be interesting.

We had nothing left to lose. So, I prayed aloud, “Jesus, would You personally come and pull her out of that room?”

Seconds later, the girl gasped, her eyes opened wide, and she became fully coherent. Screaming with joy, she exclaimed, “Did you see Him!? Did you see Him!? He was right here!”

“Did we see who?” I calmly asked.

With her facial expression suggesting I was the one talking crazy, she emphatically replied, “Jesus was just here! Jesus! How could you not see Him? He was right here!”

Tears fell from her eyes onto the floor she had thrashed about only moments ago. “You missed Him! You missed Him,” she repeated hysterically between breaths.

After a few moments, we were able to calm the young girl down enough to hear the rest of her story. She described how she was in a dark jail cell, surrounded by creatures cursing her. She felt excruciating pain as they tore at her limbs. One, she said, even tried jumping down her throat. This made sense as, at times in the natural, she would suddenly make gagging sounds while on the floor.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the jail cell. An authoritative, masculine voice yelled, “Let her go!” It was Jesus Christ! He grabbed her hand and yanked her from the demons’ grasp. They all shrieked in terror at the sight of His glory. Jesus then said to the girl, “Daughter, you are free. Your brothers and sisters are waiting for you. They didn’t give up. Tell them I’m so proud of them and know that I love you and forgive you of sin.”

We were in awe. In an instant, this young girl had gone from hellish torment to total peace. We found out later that she had been wickedly abused as a young girl by a babysitter. The older woman would take her in the basement and perform unspeakable, satanic acts over her. Now, though, she was in her right mind. Not only that, but something else had changed. Before her deliverance, this girl was very timid around people in our church. Now, she was practically glowing, enthusiastically hugging everyone, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. I have rarely met anyone filled with such peace and joy. That’s what happens when we behold our King. We are transformed into the image of His glory.