I struggled with fear for years. Not a debilitating fear, but it would come in and traumatize me at a moment’s notice.
I remember how it would grip me and I would feel paralyzed in my emotions, not being able to pull myself into a positive direction and way of thinking. Fear would grip me into thinking about what I feared. I did not want to put up with this paralysis spirit, so I pressed through for my breakthrough.
As I sought the Lord, He revealed that behind fear was a familiar spirit. As I identified and cast the familiar spirit out along with other demonic strongholds, I received my freedom.
Familiar spirits target our generational line and those things we fear. A familiar spirit targets our emotions and our thinking. It is a mind-binding, paralyzing spirit that tries to grip us and prevent us from moving forward. Could familiar spirits also be a luring force behind being stuck in a place of anxiety, depression and mental illness? I believe it can.
I am not saying that there are no chemical imbalances, emotional traumas and generational curses that can contribute to anxiety, mental illness and depression. However, just like fear had a driving force behind it, what if people aren’t being released from other mind-related afflictions because we don’t realize there is a luring spirit that is drawing us into that place of confusion, negativity and darkness?
If we haven’t received our breakthrough with modern chemistry and counseling, then what does it hurt to explore the possibility that something else could be triggering our emotions?
Familiar spirits operate to keep us bound and restricted. That is their job. They know our weaknesses and where we feel lost, defeated and paralyzed.
Familiar spirits know how we think, act and react. They know where we feel like a victim and defeated. They see our behavior patterns, habits, and lack of motivation and energy to change our situation.
I believe Jesus came to give us life (John 10:10). I don’t believe abundant living is living with mind ailments, fear and demonic spirits attacking us. He came to purchase our full deliverance and healing at the cross.
We can live in complete victory. We need the keys and I believe Jesus has given us those keys through the authority He transferred to us. I believe we can and should be set free from fear, depression, mental illness and anxiety. Those emotions and demonic strongholds create chaos and confusion and that is of the devil, not of God. God is not an author of confusion.
I have a saying in deliverance ministry. “If in doubt, cast it out.” What does that mean? If you have struggled with mental illness, depression, anxiety or fear and haven’t had victory over it, try casting out a correlating demonic spirit.
Speak out and decree audibly, “Familiar spirits of depression, get out of me, in Jesus’ name. Every mind-binding spirit of fear hindering and obstructing my God-given destiny, I command you to cease your attacks, in Jesus’ name. Spirit of mind ailments, anxiety and every evil spirit penetrating my mind and luring me into a downward spiral, I command you to release your assignment from my mind and mental thinking. I speak and decree I have a sound mind, and I am self-disciplined and self-controlled (2 Tim. 1:7), in Jesus’ name.”
I have seen God restore the mind of a person who was diagnosed with bipolar and intellectual disability after receiving deliverance. Her father called me the following day to say she remembered her phone number for the first time. She went on to get a job, live in her own apartment unassisted and then get off all medications.
In Mark 5, after receiving deliverance, we see the man of Gadarene sitting and clothed in his right mind. God cares about mental illness, depression, anxiety and fear, so much so that He came to set the captives free. He came to set at liberty those who were oppressed (Isa. 61). He said that we haven’t been given a spirit of fear, but of love and power (2 Tim. 1:7). His Word instructs us to take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:3-5) and tells us that we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
We need to pull on those Scriptures and have them manifest in our lives. We can receive freedom; part of the issue is believing we can. When we have been bound from the enemy for so long it is difficult to believe things can be different, but they can. After all, Christ came to set the captives free. Believe for and manifest your freedom by speaking out and declaring against that which is attacking you. Take authority over mind ailments and familiar spirits and command them to cease their assignment and leave you. {eoa}
Discover more about familiar spirits and how to break their strongholds through Kathy’s podcast. She will be teaching several episodes on familiar spirits in December 2019 on the “Prophetic Spiritual Warfare” podcast. Listen and subscribe by clicking here.
Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic deliverance minister releasing the love and power of God to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and Be Love Outreach. She is the host of the “Prophetic Spiritual Warfare” podcast. She is the author of several books, including Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Unshackled and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook at facebook.com/kathydegraw/ or visit kathydegrawministries.org.
Abby Trivett 
James Lasher 
