“Recently I was at a neighborhood party. There was a family there that we have become close friends with. I’ve discipled the mother in a Discovery Group and both her and her daughter have decided to follow Jesus, but her husband has been resistant to going on the journey with them. She came to me during the party and asked if I ever pray over homes to cleanse them of evil spirits. Then she shared with me about a scary struggle that they were facing as a family. She and her husband and their children had all been hearing strange voices around the home, and she even saw a spirit in the form of a woman following her husband around the house. They had become convinced that these were evil spirits that were haunting their home. They didn’t know what to do and they were all very frightened.

While we were talking, the woman’s husband joined the conversation. Instead of being angry with her for sharing with me, he confessed to me that he desperately wanted his family to be free from this torment. He didn’t know how to make the voices stop and how to feel at peace again in his own home. He too then asked if I would come over to pray a blessing over their home and cleanse it from evil spirits.

For several years, my Disciple Making Community and extended local and global prayer networks had been praying for my friend’s husband to open up to God, so I was tempted to say yes, but I didn’t want to give him easy answers. Instead, I told him, “My husband and I could come to your house and pray over your house like you want us to. However, I have an even better solution for you. I recommend that you and your wife and your children all go on a spiritual journey together to gain spiritual authority over your home. If your whole family begins following God together, it will be much more powerful than if I just come over one time and pray over your house.”

My friend’s husband had not been open to the discovery process previously, but this was a desperate moment for him. He was so scared that he asked me, “Can we start tomorrow?” The following day, my husband and I went over and helped him to lead his wife and children in the Discovery Bible Study process. We gave him the DBS questions and started in Genesis 1, then we sat back and watched as this husband led his family in a Discovery Group discussion.

When we checked back in with him two weeks later, we found that they had kept on reading the stories, studying God’s Word together as a family, and putting it into practice. The husband told us, “Since we began doing this together as a family, we haven’t experienced any more spirits in our home. We haven’t heard any more voices. We have so much peace and we aren’t afraid anymore.” -J.B.