They Shall Cast Out Spirits

Did you know that the first article in the great commission of Mark 16:17 is “In my name, they shall cast out devils”? This reveals to us the first of five mandates of ministry. Out of those five, three are related explicitly to subduing spirits.

In a contextual sense of scripture, the ministry of Jesus begins with contending with demonic power. In the three synoptic gospels, the ministry of Jesus starts with conquering satanic power during His time of resistance during the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. He has (being fully God and man) legally established his authority as the champion over satanic rule to establish the Kingdom of God.

In Mark’s Gospel, the context conveys that the destiny of the 12 disciples was to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out devils (Mark 3:15):

“And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils …”

If we continue in Mark’s Gospel, we can see that in Mark 6:7 Jesus commissions the 12 to go forth two by two specifically with the mission to cast out devils.

“And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits”

In Mark 6:7 it is singularized. Luke’s gospel, in a broader perspective, the mandates for the ministry are expanded to 70 disciples. We see in Luke 10:1:

“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come”

And again in Luke 10:17-18:

“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven”

Finally, in the great commission, He commands, “In my name they shall cast out devils”.

Does Jesus teach us how to cast out spirits in a specific way? The answer to this question lies in the multiple instances that the four evangelists teach us in their powerful demonstrations of messianic power, in each case of Jesus casting out spirits.

They do this by demonstrating messianic power in each case when Jesus casts out spirits. For example, in Mark 9:29 when the 12 ask the question, “Why could we not cast him out?” and thus Jesus responded, “This kind cometh forth by nothing but prayer and fasting”. This statement teaches us depths into the world of deliverance by using the words “this kind”.

Because the New Testament was written in the Greek language, to extrapolate the deeper dimension of deliverance, the keywords used by Jesus when understood in the original language teach us volumes. In Greek, the word “this kind” is the genos. Genos means a specific type or species. The word genos was used frequently in the Hellenistic culture of the Greek-speaking world to mean species. This means discerning spirits is going to be necessary to know how to properly extricate the individual from demonic oppression and tyranny. The gospels help us identify that critical component of deliverance.

The text teaches us that there are certain spirits associated with diseases and descriptions. We see this in Luke 8:2:

“And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils”

And also in Acts 19:11-12:

“And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them”

The text teaches the associations of evil spirits and infirmities. In understanding this concept, this kind – meaning species– the Gospel also shows us self-destructive spirits which are violent and ruthless. This particular classification of demonic subjugation is demonstrated in the demoniac of the Gadarenes as seen in Mark 5:5:

“And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones”

We see the scripture identifies this self-destructive destroying spirit as one that compels self-destruction.

Another method of deliverance that Jesus teaches us is to be able to identify the point of entry skillfully. In Mark 9:21, before Jesus cast out the deaf and dumb spirit, Jesus asked the father of the young man “How long ago since this came to him?”.

“And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child”

Mark 9:21

In surveying the text, Jesus was training his disciples because they could not cast this spirit out. And therefore this question is asked to the boy’s father for our benefit. That is when we fulfill the mission of casting out spirits. We must look for the origin of the entrance.

In both cases in the demoniac of the Gadarenes in Mark 5 and the case of the young man in Mark 9, both appear to have the same point of entrance – through deep-rooted trauma in the past.

Notice in 9:21 the father of the young man responds, “of a child” In the case of the demoniac of the Gadarenes, scripture refers to him as a man dwelling among the tombs. This also refers to the pain of the past as a form of entry.

The word tombs in the Greek language, mnéma, one of the multiple meanings of this Greek word is memory vault. a monument or memorial to perpetuate the memory of any person or thing.

No matter how deep your prison of pain may be, the Jesus that we serve today is the same Jesus of Nazareth who went about doing good healing all oppressed of the devil – the specialized specified messianic mission contains within itself depths of deliverance. The Bible says only the messiah will be a primary identifying tool of who the real messiah is.

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound”

The prison doors that He is opening today are also spiritual prisons to free us from all demonic domination. Through the power of divine liberation from demonic domination.

About Dr. Michelle Corral: Driven by a mission to bring the prophetic Word of God to Southern California and the entire globe, Dr. Michelle Corral, CEO and founder of Breath of the Spirit Ministries International, Inc., provides destiny-focused principles for your life. For more than 45 years, this anointed minister has continued to serve those in need through humanitarian efforts, powerful books, and more. If learning about how to go from distress to success interests you. Click here to listen now to my podcast, Day of Destiny.