So in those three verses there it says there are some people, and the devil takes them captive. Any time he wants to he can manipulate their life so that they end up doing what he wants, rather than doing what God wants. They are taken captive. That word captive means a prisoner, taken in a battle, so it says the devil takes people captive. He captures people, holds them in prison, and then manipulates them so they do things they don't necessarily want to do, or they do things which are destructive. It says that he captures them by getting them in a snare, and that word snare is like a trap, like a baited trap, like a bird trap. You have the bait, and the person goes in, takes the bait, and then they're in the trap, and then they're manipulated because they're now imprisoned. So it says that if we are to get people free, we as the servants of God, need to not quarrel with people or argue, but just have a gentle, humble attitude. It says we need to instruct people on some of the foundation reasons why they've got their life into bondage, and it says perhaps God will give them repentance to acknowledge the truth, then they come to their senses, and get out of this area of the devil.
So there's a part we play. We must instruct people, work with people, and help people see why they're in trouble. Secondly, they have to make a response. They need to actually acknowledge where they have opened their life to the demonic powers, and come to a place of repentance and acknowledging the truth. Then they come to their senses, or they stop being drunk and under the influence of a spirit, and we can set them free from the demonic bondages. So there's a process of instructing the person, helping them understand how their life got into bondage, working with the Holy Ghost to identify some of the areas of bondage and the roots of it. Then they must come to a place of co-operation, so sometimes you'll have people come and they want help and want ministry, but they want it their way. They want you to pray and fix them up. You can't fix anyone up. What you can do is work with the Holy Spirit to get them realigned with Jesus, and then you can minister on His behalf, and freedom comes.
So the process of deliverance is not all about casting out demons. That's actually the easy part. The bigger part is actually discovering how they got established in the person's life, and bringing the person to place of co-operation with the Holy Spirit, so that you can then minister and get them free. So it really helps to understand it, because many people will come, and they just want to be free, or to feel better, or to get over the problem, whereas our role is to help them realign with God, and take responsibility for their life. So if someone's blaming the demons for their problem, help them understand the demon is not the problem, the demon is the consequence of something. The demon's not the problem, the demon is the consequence of something else that happened; deal with the root issue, and the demons are quite easy to deal with. That make sense? It's quite important you get that, because otherwise you'll be looking to blame demons for all the problems that people have, and of course demons do create huge problems. We'll identify what some of them are shortly.
A demon can be at the root of the problem, and creating all kinds of issues in a person's life, but underneath that, there's some legal ground, some foothold it has. Remove the foothold, and the demon's got nothing to hold onto to let go, so you can imagine a person coming to you, and what you can't see, but there's all these handles on them, and demons have got a hold of the handles. Unless you get the handles broken and off their life, then the demons will just keep coming back and latch onto the person again. That's perhaps a way of looking at it. Okay, so what are some of the doorways or gateways that evil spirits enter? Remember, we are called to be a gateway for the spirit of God to flow through. Demons want to come in, and they come in because they've got a ground. Now here's the first one. I'm going to give you a list of a number of them, they're not necessarily in order of importance, but they're common ones that I have come across in working with people.
Number one, generational inequity, the sins of family members of previous generations. In the Bible, as in practically - let's look at it first of all from a practical level. When you go to the doctor they will ask your family medical history. They know there's connection in your medical history and your family background. You go to the insurance company, they'll also ask your medical history, because they know there's a connection between medical history, and the current problems, or the problems you may have in the future. So from a spiritual perspective, the generations are connected by genetics. We're also connected spiritually. God sees generations as being a continual line, interconnected with one another, so God's plan is that if you walk with God, that all the generations after you will be blessed, they're all connected. But if you walk against God, then you open a gateway for evil spirits to come in, and everyone connected after you, is subject to what you have done. They come under. They're not responsible for what you did, but they are subject to the consequences of what you've done, so if a person is involved for example - well let's just have a look at it, in Exodus, Chapter 20. You'll see it very clearly laid out.