Born Free: 16 Principles to Help You Be FreeSample

Principle 10: Demons Die in the Light

Power principle number ten is: Demons die in the light. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16, NIV). “O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open” (2 Corinthians 6:11). “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we are burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8). “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, / And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom” (Psalm 51:6).

Frederick Buechner, in his book Telling Secrets, wrote that when we tell our secrets, even if only to ourselves, they lose their power. I once spoke to a conference of some three thousand people who were some of the straightest, most fundamentalist evangelical Christians in America. I decided to tell them some of my secrets. It was a big-time risk for me to do so, and I told them that. I talked about my father’s alcoholism and my fear of abandonment; about my grandfather’s suicide. I spoke very quietly, certain that after I was finished, they would stone me.

Do you know what happened? As I looked over that auditorium, I noticed that, everywhere, people were weeping. I didn’t know what was happening, but after the meeting, I was inundated by honest, loving, and caring people.

As soon as I had finished, a man came running down the aisle, and picked me up and hugged me. Sobbing, he said, “Oh, brother, my father committed suicide, and I have never told anyone until now.” A woman told me that she had been diagnosed with cancer and had not even told her husband. “Steve,” she said, “I’m afraid to die.” Another woman said, “I have never told anyone this, but I was sexually abused by my father. And for the first time this morning, I felt there was hope.”

When the demons get into the light, they die. What are your demons? Tell your secrets to a trusted friend, and if you can’t do that, tell them to yourself. Ask God to reveal your demons. And ask him to take away the armor.