Closing the Doors
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." — 1 John 1:9
The Practical Lesson
Everything in this section has been diagnosis. This lesson is the procedure.
If you have opened doorways, these must be closed. They do not close through the passage of time, through good behavior since, or through simply not thinking about it any more.
The good news is that the procedure is short, and it rests entirely on something already accomplished.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
Step One: Ask the Father
Pray something like this, naming the specific thing:
"Father, I confess to You my involvement in [name the sin]. I recognize that such a thing is an abomination to You and detestable in Your sight. I humbly ask Your forgiveness for my sin in this area. I ask You to lift out any demonic entrance as the result of my actions, and to cleanse me from my sins and close the doorway forever with the precious blood of Jesus. I ask for this and thank You for it, in Jesus' name."
Note the elements: name it specifically, acknowledge it as God sees it, ask forgiveness, ask for the entrance to be lifted, ask for the doorway to be closed with the blood.
Step Two: Address the Enemy Directly
Then speak out loud, in a manner similar to this:
"Satan and you demons — I have asked my heavenly Father for forgiveness for participating in [name the sin] and have received it. I now, by faith, close the doorway of that area of my life to you forever through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for me. In the name of Jesus I command you to leave me and never return."
Out loud. Throughout Scripture authority is exercised by speech. Your thoughts are known to God; they are not a command to anything else.
By faith, not by feeling. You may sense nothing at all. The transaction rests on the authority of the name you are using, which does not fluctuate.
When You Need Help
Be realistic about this. Cases of infestation with the stronger ones will often require help from another person or persons.
That is not failure. It is how God designed the body of Christ to work, and the earlier lessons on bearing one another's burdens apply directly.
And the promise attached is worth holding onto: if you pray earnestly and genuinely desire deliverance regardless of the cost, the Lord will instruct you as to what you need to do, and He will set the captive free.
Regardless of the cost. That phrase is doing real work. Sometimes what stands in the way is not the difficulty of the procedure but an unwillingness to give up what came with the doorway.
Point to Ponder
Doors do not close through the passage of time, or good behavior since, or not thinking about it any more.
Verse to Remember
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." — 1 John 1:9
Question to Consider
Which doorways have I identified in these lessons and not yet actually closed?
Today's Practice
Finish the work. Set aside real time — an hour at least — and go through the entire list you have been building.
Take the page you started when this section began, plus everything added since: occult involvement, altered-mind practices, visualization, inheritance, childhood contact, games, sexual doorways, borrowed power.
Go through every single item, one at a time, out loud, using both prayers above. Name each thing specifically. Do not summarize a group of items into one general confession — the general prayer is the one that has been failing for years.
Where you do not know a name, describe it as best you can. God knows exactly what you mean.
When you are finished, thank Him — and then stop. Do not repeat it compulsively. It is done, and it is done because of what Christ did, not because of your thoroughness.
Then fill the house. Ask the Lord to fill every place that has been emptied with His Holy Spirit. A swept and empty house is the one condition to avoid.
And if you get partway through and find you cannot proceed — mind going blank, words not coming — that is information rather than defeat. Bind the interference in the name of Jesus, get a mature believer to sit with you, and finish.
Prayer
Father, I have identified the doors and now I am closing them.
I confess every one of them to You by name. I recognize each as an abomination in Your sight, and I ask Your forgiveness for all of it — what I did knowingly, what I did in curiosity, what was done over me, and what I have long forgotten.
Lift out every entrance that resulted. Cleanse me. Close every doorway forever with the precious blood of Jesus.
And in the name of Jesus Christ, I now close every one of these areas of my life forever through His blood shed on the cross for me. In His name I command everything that came through them to leave me and never return.
Now fill what has been emptied. Fill every room of this house with Your Holy Spirit. Leave nothing swept and vacant.
Thank You that this is finished — not because I did it thoroughly, but because Your Son finished it at Calvary.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The general prayer is the one that has been failing for years. Name them one at a time.