The problem is not the demons. They're just energising what's already there, and making it worse. The problems are the bitter judgements, and the person needs to repent, release forgiveness, let go, and start to have grace, and extend grace to people. I'd really ask the Lord to help me to be a gracious person, to extend grace, and to walk in grace. It's not always the easiest thing to do.
Here's another bondage in the heart, that's the area of word curses, word curses. Word curses are words which are spoken with strength or feeling behind it, and if the person agrees with the words, then they agree with the demon that's behind it. In Proverbs 18:21 it says death and life are in the power of the tongue, so when you speak words, you have power to release things. Get this: the first use of words in the Bible was to bring something from the spirit world into the earth, into reality, so words, their first use, is to bring something from heaven into the earth, or from hell into the earth. So cursing, cursing words will always have an impact on people. One of the things that is a common form of cursing are words, names, calling people by names, abusive words, you know, you're a dummy, you're stupid. You'd be amazed how many people have got this thing going on in their mind, I'm stupid, I'm stupid - and here they are, capable, intelligent people - but I'm stupid, I can't do that. For example, one of the most common places we find it is this, when we run the Bible School. When we run the Bible School, do you know what probably half if not more of the people have a struggle with? I'm stupid, I'm dumb, I can't do study.
Where did they learn that? Who told you you can't do that? You're a Holy Ghost person now, you can do all kinds of things you couldn't do before - but no, there's a lock of words spoken over them, or words they've spoken in, or agreed with in their heart, I can't do this, I'm a dummy or I'm stupid or whatever and they've come into agreement with it. So word curses, particularly words spoken by a father, by a mother, by a teacher, by a Pastor, can have great power in behind them, and can carry on devastation in a person's life. I remember laying hands on one lady, and I put my hands on her head. The moment I put my hands on her head, I heard the words that were spoken over her, and I spoke them out. She broke down and wept and wept and wept, and we broke the power of those words, and she got delivered straight away of the curse that come on her life, so word curses, or judgements, or accusations that are made by people - especially in a family, sometimes one person gets scapegoated; it's your fault, your fault, and you know what? They get this thing in their mind, it's my fault, and so they've come into agreement with it, it's my fault, it's my fault. You know what happens every time a problem comes up? It must be my fault, it's always my fault. Then a despair, and a hopelessness, they're unable to resolve problems, demons are working around their life.
Okay then, then the last one I want to just bring out, is the area of burdens or expectations placed by others upon people. A burden is like a cargo, it's like a weight you carry, and it brings stress and pressure around your life. They can be a real thing that's on you, or it can be just something you perceive. For example Jesus accused the religious leaders, you put all these expectations or burdens on people, and it just weighs them down. Now some people have burdens placed on them by their family, and they can be around a simple thing like, you have to be here on a Sunday for lunch. Now having family times together are wonderful, but when it actually becomes something that's on you so hard, you dare not even break that, you've got a problem there. Of course the burdens can be quite intense and unrealistic, for example a person can have such - like the eldest child, there can be huge expectation on the eldest child, to carry the other kids. They can shudder under that, and become burdened under that, and it creates problems for them, then they feel responsible for everyone in life, and have no proper boundaries in their life.
Another kind of burden that's put on is, it's your fault. I mentioned that before, where someone's scapegoated or blamed all the time: it's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault. Sometimes a mother who's got trouble with her husband, and she sees in one of the children the boy that looks like the husband, or carries on like the husband, often he'll be the butt of her resentment and bitterness, and the grief and frustration will be poured out there. The child grows up with an unreasonable burden, I'm responsible, when anything goes wrong, it's my fault. I struggled with that for many years, and had to wrestle, try and break that one off. Particularly if you're from a Catholic background, you can carry this immense sense of guilt and expectation, you're not good enough somehow, and it can be a very, very strong thing.