No one knows a person’s thoughts as well as the spirit that is within that person. In the same way, the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts. The Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God. And the reason God has poured His Spirit into us is so that we may understand the things He has given to us by grace. Simply put, a believer in Jesus carries the Spirit within. Whose Spirit is it? It is the Spirit that comes from God.

People in the world often say, “He made contact with a spirit.” But a believer in Jesus does not merely make contact with the Spirit—we carry the Spirit within us. The Spirit is inside us. In the world as well, there are people who make contact with spirits. But why do we say that we carry the Spirit, while the world says they make contact with spirits? It is because making contact with spirits in the world is never permanent. At some point, they separate. Those spirits may eventually leave, and even if they stay until a person dies, they still part ways when that person dies.

But believers do not receive the Spirit into their flesh; we receive Him into our soul. And our soul does not disappear. Therefore, the Spirit dwells in our soul forever. This is not a temporary contact that comes and goes—the Spirit is received to remain with us eternally. This is why we say, “The Spirit is in me, and I am in the Spirit.”

This is why it is extremely important which spirit we make contact with. Whichever spirit we encounter, we cannot avoid being influenced by that spirit. Even someone who makes brief contact with a spirit is affected by that spirit. People often speak of a shamanic initiation sickness—a painful spiritual affliction experienced by someone believed to have been chosen by a spirit, before they accept that calling. Some never wanted to become a shaman, but their bodies become sick to the point where they cannot bear it. Then, after performing a ritual, the sickness disappears completely, and they end up becoming shamans against their will. It is because a spirit chooses a person and uses that person for its own purposes.

And when the spirit enters a person, the spirit’s nature appears in that person just as it is. When that spirit begins working through a person, it will often reveal information it has no natural way of knowing—details of others, their circumstances, or things hidden. It is the spirit operating through that person. At first, it may look appealing for a moment. But these spirits can never lead to anything good. These spirits are already under a curse. So when someone keeps drawing close to these spirits, he has been already cursed as well. This is why shamans never want their own children to become shamans. If it were truly good, wouldn’t they encourage even their children to continue in it? Why would they try to stop them?

As a missionary in China, I worked there for several years, and in village after village I found so many people who were sick—especially those with mental illness, people who were considered demon-possessed, and many who were blind. As I continued counseling them, I noticed a common pattern. Countless people would say, “My grandmother was a shaman.” When a grandmother had been a shaman, so many of the grandchildren ended up blind, or with mental illness. So later, whenever I heard that someone was blind or that a child was demon-possessed, I began asking directly, “Was there a shaman among your ancestors?” And in almost every case, the answer was yes. That curse comes upon that person and even upon their descendants. What they are suffering is the very curse that the spirit itself carries.

This is why it is so important which spirit you come into contact with. You must not make contact with just any spirit. Yet most spirits never reveal themselves. When a person tries to deceive someone, he does not fully expose himself, does he? He keeps things hidden. In the same way, such spirits do not disclose who they are. They hide. And when they enter, they do not knock. They do not ask, “May I come in?” They do not wait for permission. They enter when a person is startled, or they enter when someone is committing a crime—when he does something that troubles his conscience. That is usually how they come in.

There was a region in China that I visited for the first time. While we were holding a meeting there, a woman in her mid-thirties came forward. She asked me to heal her. So I asked what kind of illness she had, and she said she suffered from epilepsy. With epilepsy, a person collapses during a seizure, lies there for quite a while before getting up again, and during a seizure, the people around her are often greatly alarmed. And if she falls the wrong way, she can be seriously injured.

But the Bible records this very kind of case. It says that a demon would seize a certain boy and suddenly make him foam at the mouth and collapse. And when he fell, he would fall into the fire or into the water, and he nearly died—many times he almost died. When they brought that child to Jesus, He asked, “Since when has this been happening to him?” After that, Jesus rebuked the demon and drove it out. And right there on the spot, the boy was completely restored.

Because I had learned the Bible well at Sungrak Church, I already understood that all of this was the work of demons. At that time, I was not a pastor, nor even an evangelist—I was just a layperson. So I explained it clearly to her: “This epilepsy is not yours; it belongs to the demon!” As I kept explaining, she suddenly began to tremble and started crying. And the one crying at that moment was not really her—it was a spirit inside her. So I asked, “Who are you?” And it answered, “I am a demon!” It was exactly like what is written in the Bible. And Jesus said, “These signs will follow those who believe in My name they will cast out demons.” I was not someone special or extraordinary, but because I believed in Jesus, I cast out the demon. This is what I learned from Pastor Ki-Dong Kim. It is written exactly like this in Scripture.

So I said, “You demon!” and rebuked it. Then the woman began shaking violently and cried out, “I was trying to kill this woman! This is unjust!”  I asked the demon, “What is your name?” Jesus also asked for the name of a demon in the Bible, so I asked, “What is your name?” And what she said—this was my very first time casting out a demon in China, so I still remember it clearly. When I asked, “What is your name?” she said, “I am Xiong Xianying!” Shall I say it in Chinese? “Wǒ jiào Xióng Xiànyíng.” Since I did not have much experience at the time, it felt fascinating to me. So I asked, “Xiong Xianying, how did you die?” And it said it had died by hanging itself. Then she acted it out—shaking her neck, saying she was suffering, saying her neck hurt.

Then I asked, “How did you enter her?” And it said it entered when she was startled. So I asked, “Why was she startled?” It said that when she was around fifteen years old, she was walking down the road, and some reckless boys in the neighborhood suddenly jumped out from behind her and shouted, “Wah!” and scared her. So you must never do things like that. Startling someone from behind, pretending to be ghosts, doing such things—that is when a demon can come in. Whether someone is startled, or nearly gets into an accident, or is struck hard and receives a shock—at those moments a demon can enter through that opening. When she was startled, she collapsed immediately—this was when she was about fifteen. She fell to the ground and began foaming at the mouth. That was when her epilepsy began. So I asked the people around her how often the seizures happened, and they said about once a month. And they told me the intervals were becoming more and more frequent.

So I asked, “You demon, are you going to leave or not?” And it said it did not want to go. Demons never want to leave. But Jesus commanded us to cast out demons in His name. So I said, “In the name of Jesus I command you—unclean demon, in the name of Jesus, go out!” The moment I said this, she fell straight down—as if an old tree had collapsed at a ninety-degree angle—and then she fell asleep. About one or two hours later, after the meeting was over, only she and her family were left. She got up from the floor. But the face she had then was not the face I had seen before. Earlier, I had not thought of her as particularly beautiful. But now her face was bright—radiant—and she looked so beautiful. Through this, I realized the living reality of God and the reality of the spiritual world.

And about six months later, while I was traveling to different places, I returned there again. I met her and asked, “Have you had any seizures during this time or not?” She said she had not had a single one. She was completely healed. Once the demon left, none of the demon’s characteristics appeared in her anymore.

So demons are not gentlemanly at all. They come in as they please, torment a person’s body recklessly, and even try to kill them. In fact, it said that it had been trying to make her commit suicide, because that demon itself had died by suicide. “I was trying to make her kill herself!” it said. But once the demon was driven out, she no longer had any seizures, and the desire to die disappeared as well. That is how it works.

In the world, people say, “Like father, like son.” But spiritually speaking, it is “Like that spirit, like that person.” So if you suddenly feel a desire to die, a spirit has come in. A spirit that died by suicide has entered. If you suddenly become depressed, a depressed spirit has come in. For example, if someone is riding the subway and suddenly feels terrified, it is because the demon of someone who died in a subway accident has entered. If someone becomes afraid when standing at a high place, it could be the spirit of someone who died from falling. And today, homosexuality is widespread—people of the same sex are entering into romantic relationships. That is because a different kind of spirit has entered. Originally, men are meant to be drawn to women, and women to men. But when a woman is drawn to another woman, or a man to another man, it is because a spirit of the opposite sex has entered—when a male spirit enters a woman, it keeps making her like other women. Once such spirits are cast out, all of this can be resolved. But in the world, these things are justified and defended in the name of human rights. Because people do not understand the spiritual realm, they have no defense against these things and end up suffering.

So this is why it is so important which spirit you come into contact with. Let me share another case with you. One of the brothers who attended our church’s Chinese service came to my office on a Tuesday when it was pouring rain. So I asked him, “Why did you come here in such heavy rain?” He said he had come because “he told me to come—my friend told me to come.” At first, I didn’t understand what he was saying. But then he said his friend had come with him. Then I said, “Oh, your friend? Then you should have brought him in. Where is your friend?” And he said his friend was already inside. So I said, “Then tell him to come here! Let’s have some tea together!” But he said, “He’s already here.” So I asked, “Where?” And he said, “Right next to me.” At that moment, chills ran all through me. He said his friend was standing right beside him.

Then I realized it. “Ah—so that friend is sitting next to you right now?” “Yes,” he said. “And that friend told you to come here today?” “Yes,” he answered. That was a demon.

So I asked him, “Are you close to that friend?” And he said they were very close. Why? Because that friend treated him very well. “Since when have you been together?” I asked. He said they had been together for a very long time—from when he was very young, even from when he was a baby. He said they grew up together. He told me he didn’t have many friends, but this friend never left him and treated him extremely well. And this friend would tell him, “Do this, do that,” and he said he had received a lot of help from him over the years. Even today, that friend told him to come. I do not know why the demon told him to come here today. But in any case, it told him to come—and so he came.

So I said to him, “I know who is sitting next to you. You have been keeping relationship with a certain spirit. Do you know the name of the spirit?” He said he did not know its name. But he described its appearance in detail. So he was actually seeing it. Then I told him, “If you associate with the spirit, you may receive certain kinds of help for a while. But in the end, you will follow this spirit’s destiny. And this spirit is not the spirit that gives life to others. In the end, it will go down to the Abyss, and later it will inevitably go to hell. It has no power. It has no life. What it gives you is not life. Maybe this spirit can help you earn some money or give you some temporary good fortune, but because this spirit is cursed, you will end up following it as well.” And at that moment, the spirit manifested—it revealed itself as he began to seize.

We struggled with it for quite a while, but it would not come out easily. After about an hour, he collapsed and fell asleep. So we thought the demon had left. But when he suddenly woke up, he was different from other demon-possessed people I had seen. As soon as he woke, he said, “Huh? Why am I here? Where am I?” This person had been completely controlled by the spirit. In cases like this, the person and the spirit are not separated at all. That is why he could not remember coming there. He kept asking, “Why am I here?” Earlier, from the moment he left his house until he arrived here, he had been fully taken over by the spirit, so he had no memory of it at all.

So I explained it to him again. “The spirit you have been associating with is the cursed spirit, and this is why you came here in this condition. But let me introduce you to another spirit—the Spirit! He is the Spirit that I have fellowship with, the Spirit who dwells within me. And the Spirit is the Creator Himself, and the name of the Spirit is Jesus!” As soon as I explained this, the spirit manifested again. Simply preaching the gospel made it reveal itself. He began to suffer and said he didn’t want it—he begged me not to cast him out. But when I said, “Come out!” he collapsed again. And after a while, he got up once more, saying, “Why am I here?”

This person had been completely bound from a very young age. His will was tied together with the demon, so they could not be separated, and he could not remember anything. In cases like this, even casting out the demon can become a problem. Because when the demon is driven out, the person can lose his sense of self. In situations like this, a person can even fall into mental illness once the demon leaves. So first, he must come to know Jesus well—but this does not happen overnight. One by one, his thoughts must be broken down, his fixed ideas removed, and he must come to know God so that he gains the strength to receive the gospel. Only then can he have the will to hate the demon. But he loved the demon too much. He said it was his best friend, so of course he did not want to cast it out. Cases like this really happen. And it is heartbreaking. He could not continue his life of faith; he came and went for a while, and eventually he stopped coming without any contact. I do not know what happened afterward. People like this have an extremely difficult time living the life of faith.

There is another kind of case as well. There was a businessman whose father had died in a train accident. After his father died, no one knew which descendant he would enter. It turned out to be the younger son. This younger son had been working at a company and later started his own business. But one day, his father appeared to him in a dream. And in the dream, his father said, “You must serve me faithfully for the rest of your life. If you do, I will help your business.” And so he began his business.

And after starting the business that way, the business really did go well. So before beginning anything, he always performed the rites and prepared for offering sacrifices. While his father was alive, no one had ever heard that he was particularly dutiful. But after his father died, when a spirit appeared saying it would help his business, he served it faithfully. His business flourished. Meanwhile, all of his brothers came to believe in Jesus after hearing the gospel—but he alone did not believe. He would always say that he had made a promise with his father, and if he broke it, his company or his factory might collapse. So he continued to grow his business. It prospered, and he served that spirit with absolute devotion. He even cut off contact with his brothers who believed in Jesus, hated them, and cursed them. He became extremely hardened. He had not been like that before, but he grew that way little by little. And just when it seemed things were going so well, everything collapsed overnight. He even ended up going to prison.

So those spirits may be able to give a person some temporary help, but they can never give eternal help. Because these spirits themselves are under a curse, anyone who associates with them will ultimately follow their destiny. Everything I have mentioned so far has to do with the spirits of the world.

But the Spirit we have received is not the spirits of the world. Where does this Spirit come from? He is the Spirit who comes from God. You could also say that God is a god, but the Spirit who comes from Him—the Spirit of God—what kind of spirit is the Spirit of God? He is the Spirit who reveals God’s own nature.

What kind of being is God? He is the Spirit of life—the Spirit of life. He is the God or Spirit who governs all things, the One who oversees all creation: in spring He makes the sprouts come forth, in summer the leaves grow full, and in autumn the branches hang heavy with fruit. Even branches that look dried up and dead in winter will send out new shoots when spring comes. This is the work of the God, the Spirit, who rules over all these things. Yet many people simply regard such things as natural phenomena and think nothing of them.

But there was once a man who died—He bled to death under punishment; His blood completely drained from His body—and yet He was raised from the dead. This happened two thousand years ago. A man named Jesus was active in the region of Palestine in the Middle East. He claimed, “The God is with Me! This God is My Father!” And with that authority, He raised the dead, healed the sick, cursed and cast out the demon-possessed, trained disciples, and taught about the kingdom of heaven. As He performed all kinds of miracles, great crowds followed Him. But in the end, people accused Him, and He was sentenced to death by the Roman court and died on a cross. He poured out all His water and all His blood and died. Yet three days later, people discovered that His body had disappeared from the tomb. What had happened? He had risen. He had risen—but He did not simply get up on His own. Someone raised Him. Someone raised Him from the dead. And during His ministry, He had already said beforehand that Someone would raise Him.

Who, then, was the One? It was God—the very God we now call and worship, the God who did this. He is the One who raised Him. If Jesus had not risen, we would have no way to prove the existence of the God. We would have no evidence. But Jesus did rise. This means that the God we now serve—God Himself—raised Jesus from the dead. And this God is the One we are now receiving and welcoming. We are receiving the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead. And the Spirit is the Spirit of life. Not a spirit that gives temporary life only to die again, but the Spirit who gives life that is eternal—life that is God’s own life, forever. We have received that Spirit of life.

So the nature of God begins to appear in us—because we have received the Spirit of God. If a person comes into contact with demons, the nature of the demon appears. But when a person welcomes God, the nature of God begins to appear. And what is the nature of God? It is to give life, to bring peace, to grant eternal happiness, and to share what is good with others. That is God’s nature. And such Spirit has come into us. That is why we go and preach the gospel to those who do not yet know Him, share God’s love, help people come to know God, and let them experience the glory of God. This is what happens when that Spirit works among us.

What is the message I am bringing to you today? It is this: the very God whom we have come to know and fellowship with—receive Him, welcome Him, and fellowship with Him as well. Unlike other spirits, the God we are speaking of is the One who created all things in this world. He is the one and only God. There are many gods in the world, but the God we are introducing to you is not just one among many gods. He is the God of Creator, the One who made all those many gods, and who created both what is seen and what is unseen. It is now possible for you to receive that God. God Himself has allowed this, and that is why we are now receiving the Spirit.

So think about it—people who have merely come into contact with demons act so proud, don’t they? They behave as if they know everything. But we have received the Spirit of God. We are remarkable people. To human eyes, believers in Jesus may look insignificant or lacking in many ways. But within them dwells the Spirit of God—God’s own Spirit. They are remarkable people. This is why God’s power appears among them; God’s honor is bound up with them. And for this reason, God does not want these people to perish. His own honor is attached to them.

And when we pray, God answers. Astonishing answers to prayer take place. Not only do we pray, but God has even placed His authority in our mouths. So there are times when we do not pray—we command. We give commands such as, “Go forth! Rise up!” So when someone is sick, or when there is a cripple, we can pray, “God, please raise this cripple!” and receive help from the God. But in some cases, because the power of that God is within us, we simply command, “Rise up!” And they rise. This is written in the Bible, our senior overseer has experienced it, many of our believers have experienced it, and I myself have also experienced it. We say, “Rise up!”—and they rise. This is not human power. It is the power of the God whom we serve.

So who is that God? That God has a name. And who is He? Jesus. The Jesus we believe in is exactly such a One. The name of this God is Jesus—Jesus! Therefore, you must welcome Jesus into your heart. Do not receive the gods of the world. If you receive them, you will come under their influence. Do not receive them—you must drive them out. And you must receive the Spirit of God into your spirit.

The Spirit of God is holy. He is pure. A person who does not believe in Jesus cannot receive Him. No matter what you say, they cannot receive Him. Why? Because they are unclean. Their hearts are defiled; their inner being is filled with sin. How could the holy Spirit enter into such a place? This is why Jesus has already paid the full price for sin—by dying on the cross—so that we may receive the Spirit. When a person accepts this and welcomes it, his spirit becomes clean. By believing in Jesus and being baptized, your spirits have been made clean.

If you have been baptized, then your spirit has already been made clean. And now, what can you receive? You can receive the Spirit of God. So for those of you who have been baptized, there is a next step. You must now receive the Spirit. What use is it if you have been baptized but do not receive the Spirit? What is the point of cleaning a plate if you never put anything on it? What is the point of making a beautiful garment if you never wear it? In the same way, after believing in Jesus and having your spirit cleansed, what use is it if you do not receive the Spirit of God into that clean place? God cleansed us so that His Spirit may dwell there. He cleansed us so that He could pour His Spirit into us.

So for those of you who have been baptized, you must now receive the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God. “Holy Spirit” means the Holy Spirit, the holy and pure Spirit of God. Therefore, you need to receive the Spirit of God. And when you receive Him, the nature of God must begin to appear in you. This is what we mean when we say, “You meet God.” It does not mean only that you know God—God also knows you. It is a relationship of mutual knowing. You must receive the Holy Spirit. You must now welcome the Spirit—not into your body, but into your spirit.

Desire Him. At least today—desire Him. Until now, your bodies have continually come into contact with the spirits of this world. When you were unlucky, when dead people appeared in your dreams—those were encounters with worldly spirits. But from now on, do not associate with such things any longer. Instead, say, “I will now welcome the Holy Spirit who comes from God into me, so that the nature of God may appear in me! God, pour Your Spirit into me! Pour Your holy Spirit into me! Pour into me the Spirit of the Creator God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life!” And once He enters you, He never leaves—for He is poured into your spirit. And when that happens, your life changes. Your whole way of living changes.

So just as a demon-possessed person behaves like that demon, once I received the Holy Spirit, I began to act like God—I began to do the things of God. Suddenly, the thoughts of God filled my mind completely. In the past, my mind had been filled with the thoughts of demons. But after I believed in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit, the thoughts of God filled me instead. So at first, my family thought I had gone crazy. “He’s gone mad!” they said—because I talked about Jesus every day.

I myself found it strange. How can a person change like this? In the past, my mind was filled only with thoughts of sin. But after receiving the Holy Spirit, every day—every moment—my heart became filled with thoughts of God, with gratitude for the grace God has given me. This is not something a person can do by human strength. You must receive the Holy Spirit.

So let us say together,

“God, pour Your Spirit into me!”

Once more—

“God, pour Your Spirit into me!”

And again, let’s begin—

“God, pour Your Spirit into me!”

God does not look at you and say, “Ah, you’re filthy! I cannot enter you!” He does not say that. Why? Because you have already believed in Jesus and have been baptized. Yes, you may go out and commit sins. You may get angry, fight with someone, or even do something wrong and feel the guilty of conscience. But God does not look at those things. He looks at only one thing: “Are you united with Jesus?” If you are united with Jesus, then in God’s eyes you are clean. And because you are clean, He comes into you.

So pray: “God, pour Your Spirit into me. Come into me and live with me!” Pray out loud. I will give you a moment. Let us close our eyes—close your eyes. First, we will call upon God together, and then each of you will pray.

“God, pour Your Spirit into me!”

God, teach us to know that You have truly called us to Your side so that we can believe in Jesus. Help us to know that our sins are already atoned for and its price already paid. For those who already believe in Jesus, are united with Him and forgiven of their sins, grant Your spirit upon them. God, please lead them so that they may know what grace You have bestowed on them. Help us not to receive the demons— the spirits of this world – but receive the Holy Spirit from You so that we can join in Your destiny. In Jesus name, we pray Amen!