You Must Know Your Authority

Let Jesus Teach You

A man once told me, "I was in the bookstore one day, just walking around looking at different things, and I saw your book, How To Cast Out Devils. I thought, I don't want any part of that! I love the Lord, but I do not want any part of that. So I went over here and over there, but I could not get that book off my mind. I didn't know how to cast out devils, and I didn't want to learn."

He said, "I went to the cash register and paid for the things I had picked out. Then the Spirit of God said to me, 'Go get that book.' 'Which one, Lord?' 'You know which one. The one you think is strange.'"

You may think a book about casting out devils is strange if you are unlearned. But if you will allow Jesus to teach you, you would become just like Him. It will not seem strange. Everything else will. But you have to let Jesus teach you and not man. The Lord teaches you according to His Word.

The man continued, "So reluctantly I went back and bought the book I didn't really want to. When I got home, the Lord said, 'Sit down and read the book—all of it.'"

Seven Different Kinds of Devils

There are seven chapters in this little book, How To Cast Out Devils. There are seven different kinds of devils that do seven different strange things to seven different people. But it could be a hundred rather than seven because most devils are different anyway. And they all do so many abnormal, goofed-up things to people, trying to destroy them in so many different ways.

A 'Nice' Little Boy

One of the chapters tells about a nice, polite little boy from a sweet, Pentecostal family in Atlanta, Georgia. When this boy was about ten years old, all of a sudden he started getting up out of his seat and leaving the classroom. He didn't ask anybody anything; he just left right in the middle of the lesson.

The teacher would ask, "Where are you going?" He wouldn't even listen; he would just walk out.

He would go down to the basement, and way over in a corner he would try to build a fire to set the schoolhouse on fire and kill all the kids. The school staff couldn't stop him.

But when that murdering fire devil would leave the boy, he was just as normal as your kid, just as nice as he could be.

So this boy was brought to me. I worked with him; I bound that devil up in Jesus' name. I resisted that devil, making it leave him and breaking its power. I taught the boy what to do to keep that devil from coming back.

The boy couldn't go to school anymore anywhere. As long as he lived, for the rest of his life, he could never go to school again. No principal would accept him because of his record. But that little boy had been set free, and when he was about fourteen years old, he became an evangelist.

Take Authority

The man that the Lord told to read my book did so. The man told me, "Brother Norvel, I could see how you did it. You took authority over a devil. And one day, just a few days afterwards, I got a phone call.

"The caller said, 'You had better come over here; your brother has gone berserk. He killed two children and a woman, and he tried to kill his wife. He still has a gun and is shooting everything that moves. Please come over here."

'I Will Kill You!'

So the man took off to go to his brother. When he arrived, his brother still had the gun.

He told the man, "I will kill you!" When a man tells you he will kill you, and he has a gun, and his wife is lying there almost dead, and a couple of children and a woman are dead, and blood is running all over the floor, and everybody is afraid to go in and get him — even if the man is your brother, you have reason to be afraid.

Even a cop said he would not go in to get the murderer.

In Jesus' Name

The man continued, "They wanted to see if I could get my brother out without their having to kill him. All of a sudden, Norvel, your book came before my mind. And the Lord said, 'Obey what you read. Do what he did.' So I said, 'I bind you in Jesus' name! I resist you in Jesus' name. You are not going to kill me. You are not going to kill anybody else. I bind you in Jesus' name. And I command you in Jesus' name to throw down that gun!'"

The man said that his brother began to tremble; he became a creature with no power. He dropped the gun, and the authorities were able to take him into custody.

That is what Jesus' name does for you. No devil is a match for Jesus' name. But you have to use it, and the only way you will use the authority behind His name correctly is by gaining the knowledge to use it. You must have the knowledge.

Learn From Jesus

How do you learn? You learn from Jesus, not your friends. You learn from the Bible. Study Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans. Study the four Gospels, and you will find out. You can have victory if you will follow Him.

I watch myself really close. God told me years ago, "You don't have a Norvel Hayes ministry, son. You have a Jesus ministry. If you want to see victory, then follow the ministry of Jesus. All denominations, all people, are supposed to be following the

ministry of Jesus, not of somebody else."

A Minister's Responsibility

It is not fair to build a building on the corner and put a steeple or a cross on it, invite people to come in with their precious families, and then you teach what you want to teach. You may be a good person, and you may teach the Bible all the time. But if you leave a lot of the Bible out of your teaching, you are not being fair to the people in your church.

What happens if someone in your church faces death? If you have not taught that person how to deal with a deathly spirit or with the spirit of disease, they will be defeated.

To Kill, To Steal, and To Destroy

Jesus said to beware of the devil because he is here for three reasons: to kill, to steal and to destroy. He has no respect for you. Jesus has respect for you, your children, your church, and your pastor, but the devil respects nothing. He has been stripped of everything good, and he doesn't respect anything or anyone. So you have to keep the devil in line; you have to order him around.

You cannot pay attention to him. If you listen to him, he will have you in the graveyard before long. The Lord says you have at least three score, ten and two years to live. You have a right to live 72 years and maybe longer if you want to. God says you have that right. The devil has no right to take your life before you live it out unless you just do not care. But you have to have the knowledge of how to deal with him.

Knowledge Can Save Your Life

Well, how do you increase your knowledge? The same way you did when you went to school. You read books. The number-one book to read is the Bible. Some other books are fine for giving instructions, but the Bible is the best book to read. However, if God tells you to buy a book, you had better buy it, because He has something in there that He wants you to see.

God Loves Sinners

God did not say sinners are destroyed for lack of knowledge; He just said "people." Of course, God made all people. The people following Him are His people. But He made the whole human race, and He loves them all. God loves sinners. God does not want people taking drugs and getting involved in all kinds of crazy sin. He wants them to follow Him.

Increase Your Knowledge

God says this:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...

Hosea 4:6

People are not destroyed for any other reason than for lack of knowledge. You may be wondering, Why doesn't God heal me? I have been sick for ten years."

There is only one reason why you are not healed. It is because you do not know how to receive it. And you are not ever going to know unless you increase your knowledge. You cannot make a devil leave if you do not know how. You cannot even baptize somebody in water unless you know how.

If you do not know how, the Lord is a good teacher. The Bible says that the Holy Ghost is the best teacher in the world. Some qualified human beings can also teach you how to do certain things.

Get To Know God

Do not let the devil destroy you, people. Don't let him destroy your mind or your body or your spirit. Study about God; learn about Him. I beg you, do not reject knowledge. If you reject the Bible, God says, "I will also reject thee," because God and the Bible are the same.

That thou shalt be no priest to me seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God...

What does that mean? Well, the Bible is God's law book.

...seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

Hosea 4:6,7

God Hates Sin

God hates sin. Sin separates you from Him. He hates it.

They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.

And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.

Hosea 4:8,9

Every good thing you do to help somebody, God said, "I will reward them for their doings. I will punish them for doing the wrong thing, their evil ways, but I will reward them for their doings." Everything you do for God, the Lord God Almighty will reward you for it.

The Power in Jesus' Name

Jesus' name is more powerful than all devils. But you have to know who Jesus is. You have to know Him not only as a Savior, but you have to know that His name is more powerful than all the devils.

If you are born again by the Spirit of God, and you are a church member, I know that you know who Jesus is and the free pardon of sin. But even though you are born again and a good person and on your way to heaven, you may not know that His name is more powerful than all devils, diseases, sins, and habits.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias, and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

Matthew 16:13-15 How to Talk to the Devil

How do you tell a person who Jesus is when that person is facing death? You may as well tell them the truth.

Look them straight in the face and say, "Well, you may as well know this. Jesus is a Healer, and His healing power is for you. So I will be glad to see you, visit you in the hospital, pray for you, anoint you with oil, and I am sure other ministers will pray for you. But if I were you and the doctor told me I had cancer, I would set my face toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and I would not be denied."

"Well, I don't know how, Brother Norvel, I don't know how to talk to the devil."

Go get my book How To Live and Not Die, and you will know how to talk to the devil. You will know how to talk to cancer too.

You need to know how to talk to cancer or lupus or a bad liver or something that is killing you. Talk to it! The devil is trying to do away with you. Talk to that devil. Tell him, "In Jesus' name, Get out!

"Listen to me, you cancer devil; you are not going to kill me, in Jesus' name. Cancer, I am talking to you; I bind you and I break your power in Jesus' name. I command you, Leave my body! Go from me! I resist you, cancer. Hey, cancer, I am talking to you. Leave me alone. Leave my body, Go from me!"

Do not let that cancer rest until it has disappeared. Make that cancer a nervous wreck. Jesus' name makes cancers a nervous wreck. They get so nervous after a while, they just leave. Use Jesus' name and put gospel pressure on cancer or on any kind of a devil or devilish disease.

Take Nothing Off the Devil

I do not care if it is a headache devil or any other kind of devil. Do not take anything off any devil. God did not make you or allow His Son's blood to be shed for you or put the devil under His feet so you could take a bunch of junk off the devil!

Jesus' Surprise Gift

Jesus said to His twelve disciples, "But whom say ye that I am?"

And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it

Matthew 16:15-18

Did you know that when any human being gets born again by the Spirit of God, Jesus gives that person a gift? I am not talking about the Holy Spirit, although He does come to dwell in a believer; I am talking about another gift.

Jesus gives you a set of keys when you are born again. And that set of keys is all you are ever going to get, even if you live to be a hundred years old.

Every Key Has a Name

Jesus is the way to heaven. What are the keys for? Name something. Heaven has it all. "I need a healing." Let's look on God's key ring. Every key has a name on it and it unlocks that lock. But it doesn't unlock it by itself though. You have to stick the key in the lock by your faith.

Turn your face toward heaven and start calling Jesus your Healer by faith. Stick that key of faith up into heaven in Jesus' name and unlock the lock of healing. Your faith unlocks the lock. Jesus' name and your faith unlock the lock. You have to show heaven what you think about Him.

Tell heaven, "I believe that Jesus took those stripes on His back for my healing, and I'm calling Jesus my Healer."

As you keep doing that, you will be hearing from Him. But you can't let your faith waver because God in the throne room makes the decision. Jesus Himself while on earth in His fleshly body did all the suffering for you; He took the thirty-nine stripes on His back. His back looked like a plowed field when they were done whipping Him, and He went through that just for your healing.

The Price Is Paid

You do not have to pay the price for your healing. He already paid the price for your healing. Then He turns to the Father at His left as an intercessor, a lawyer. He intercedes for you. "Father, a person who loves You and Me and the Holy Spirit has been reading some healing scriptures, and he has been calling Me his Healer."

Then God says to Jesus, "How long has he been calling You his Healer?"

"He has been calling Me his Healer for about a week."

"Just wait. Wait a while."

Believe You Receive

Understand this. God is the tester of the Word. He will sometimes give your faith a test to see if your faith passes. That is why it says in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please Him. If your faith passes the test and you refuse to waver about Jesus being your Healer, your healing will be manifested.

"I am not going to waver."

How do you feel today?

"I feel worse. What does that have to do with it? Jesus is my Healer. I am not talking from the natural standpoint about how I feel. I couldn't care less how I feel."

Let Your Spirit Do the Talking

It is not your body talking; it is your spirit talking. Your spirit has to talk faith talk. Your body may be all goofed up.

"I do not live by my body." Is your body weaker? "Yes." Is it hurting? "Yes." Are you healed? "Yes, I am healed. Jesus is my Healer. Jesus is my Healer. I am healed. I call myself healed."

You have already found the right key, so just keep turning your face toward heaven and let "Jesus is my Healer" come out your mouth.

Jesus Becomes That to You

The Bible clearly explains to you in no uncertain terms that whatever you - not somebody for you—call Jesus, He becomes that to you. You want to be healed? Then call Him your own personal Healer.

"Well, Brother Norvel, I believe the Lord can heal me if He wants to."

No, He will never heal you that way. The Lord Jesus Christ will not accept general faith from anybody. Jesus is a personal Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is a personal Healer. He is a personal Miracle-worker. He is a personal Joy-giver.

You have to say that He is yours. You cannot even get God's attention with general faith. You might as well say that you do not believe anything.

Three Thousand Keys

A set of keys—how many keys? What kind of keys? Well, the Bible has about three thousand promises. So it must be a set with three thousand keys on it — a key for every promise. Can you imagine a key ring with three thousand keys on it? However, you have to hunt for the one you want.

You have Matthew through Revelation, so hunt for that key.

"Brother Norvel, what would Jesus do for me?" Hunt it up and find out.

"I thought maybe you might know." I probably do, but you need to see it yourself.

I Will Build My Church

Look at Matthew 16:18: That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Shall not. No demons from hell, all hell itself has no power over even one church. If it does, the preacher is not preaching well.

A lot of people go to church with no knowledge, but Jesus knows everything. I know a lot more than I used to. I wish I had known all this when I was twenty. That is what Bible school is for—to save people from falling into all kinds of pitfalls.

Learn all you can about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Throw devils out of your church in Jesus' name. I mean bind them up and cast them out in Jesus' name.

Jesus says in verse 19:

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 16:19

Think about that. Anything you bind on earth, God will bind in heaven. "But the Lord will bind it for me if I get saved, won't He, Brother Norvel?"

No, He will not. He binds what you bind. He resists what you resist. If you say, "In Jesus' name, Come out you devil, leave this person alone. Come out of him!" The Lord God will be right there with you, every step of the way. You walk up in Jesus' name and lay your hands on a sick person and say, "Be healed in Jesus' precious name," He will be right there with you. But you have to keep your doctrines straight.

Listen Only to Jesus

Do not listen to every wind of doctrine that comes your way. Listen to the ministry of Jesus only and follow Him, and you will be safe. You will have victory.

Look at Mark 16. This passage of Scripture is talking about a believer—not a minister or a disciple, but a believer.

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have power and authority over all devils. When you confess publicly that you are a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ and you give your life to Him and you go to church, you have authority and power over all devils.

You have a right to use Jesus' name and tell the devil to come out and go. Tell the devil to come out and leave in Jesus' name.

Jesus Is the Way, the Truth, and the Life

At this ministry's Bible school, we are spending our lives to train precious young people from different parts of the world to think that way, to know that all answers are in Jesus' name. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and there is no other way.

If we can train Bible school students, they can go out for the rest of their lives telling other people, teaching them the things of the Lord.

Use Your God-given Authority

Ask the Lord, "Help me, Lord, to obey You and to use the authority You have given me." As a believer you have the right to use Jesus' name and tell a devil where to go. You have the right to say, "Get out of here — go! Come out of his body!"

Devils have no right to your body unless you give them the right. Make them leave. Your body belongs to God; it is a temple of the Holy Ghost. God made it, and He wants His Holy Spirit to live inside so He can commune with you. He wants to make you a blessing to the world.

Special Ministries

Regarding special ministries, God calls whom He will. Some don't understand that. I do not know why some twenty years ago God put His healing power in my hands. I do not know why many years ago God gave me a miracle ministry for new hearts. He did though. People have been getting new hearts for years and years.

New Hearts

That is the number-one thing that the devil uses to kill human beings: bad hearts. The devil has no right to your heart. One night in Illinois, God moved on me and let my heart hurt for an hour. He let me go through the infirmity of people with bad hearts. Then He said to me, "Tonight, I am going to pump a new heart into this chest. Call them down here. I want to pump a new heart into their chests tonight."

I called people with bad hearts down to the front, and the Lord did what He said. And He has been doing it ever since. He calls whom He will. That had never happened before that night. I am not talking about just praying for them. I am saying that of the people who come forth, probably ninety-five to ninety-eight percent of them get a new heart.

Your Ministry

The ministry He has given to you is against devils, diseases, and things that destroy. He has given this ministry to disciples, to you, to all believers who will only believe it.

And he [Jesus] goeth up into a mountain and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.

Mark 3:13

Obey God

Increase your knowledge about God so that you will have enough sense to obey God when He tells you to do something. You may be in a city and God may tell you, "I want you to go pray for that demon-possessed person over there, son, and take authority over that devil."

"Lord, you have five hundred churches in this city. You may have two thousand churches here, Lord. I do not even live here. Get one of the pastors to go do it."

Wait until God tells you, "I do not have anybody who knows how. I do not have anyone with ten-hour faith. Most of my servants do not know how to do it, and the ones who do have thirty-minute or one-hour faith. This is a tough devil, and the person is almost dead."

"But, Lord, I am so busy."

"If you do not go, they will die. I do not have anybody who will pray all night. I do not have anyone who can stay strong all night."

Faith in Jesus' Name

Go to that person and take authority over that devil. "Devil, turn him loose, in Jesus' name. Come out of him I said." And at sunrise the next morning, you "should still be doing it because there is a key to that. When the sun rises the next morning, you had better be stronger than you were when the sun went down, because if you ever show the devil one sign of weakness, he will whip you and beat you into the ground.

You cannot show the devil one sign that you do not know how to use your authority against him. Maybe you are a bouncy Christian and do not have the knowledge and the faith you think that you need to come against the devil. But all you need is faith in Jesus' name. You do not need a lot of other things—just Jesus' name with authority.

"In Jesus' name, you devil, I said you would obey me. You cannot have this person. In Jesus' name come out of them I said."

"How many times have you said that, Brother Norvel?" Well, probably several thousand. "Do you get tired?" Oh, yeah, I get tired. "How long have you been doing it?" About fifteen or twenty minutes. Then I sit down and rest. I just sit down and rest with peace and contentment and joy.

If you don't have those qualities, you may as well go home, because you are not going to get anything accomplished anyway.

'The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength'

Faith only works by patience and peace and joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Are you tired? Sit down and rest. Those devils aren't going anywhere. If they wouldn't come out before, they aren't going to come out while you rest, I guarantee you. Rest; then get up and start again.

Know the Power in Jesus' Name

Meanwhile, you do not change. All the power is in Jesus' name. "Come out I said!" You have to show the devil that you are stronger than it is. Once you show a cancer devil that you are stronger than it is, the cancer will leave. You have to show the devil, any devil (they are all the same) that you are stronger.

Know Your Authority

Do not be afraid of cancer or lupus; it will never kill you if you are stronger than it is. But if you do not know your rights in Christ Jesus, nor the power in Jesus' name, your life could be short-lived.

And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses [sicknesses plural], and to cast out devils.

Mark 3:14

Do you know why most pastors do not cast out devils? Because they have not learned their authority. Do you know why they do not lay on hands to heal? They are smart in a lot of things, but they have not learned the truth of James 5:14,15 and that Jesus is the Healer.

You ask, "What can I do, Brother Norvel?" Find the key to the promise you need in your life and by faith, use "in Jesus' name" with the authority Jesus has given you! Don't wait, do it today!

About the Author

Norvel Hayes shares God's Word boldly and simply, with an enthusiasm that captures that heart of the hearer. He has learned through personal experience that God's word can be effective in every area of life and that it will work for anyone who will believe it and apply it.

Norvel owns several businesses which function successfully despite the fact that he spends more than half his time away from the office, ministering the Gospel throughout the country. His obedience to God and his willingness to share his faith have taken him to a variety of places. He ministers in churches, seminars, conventions, colleges, prisons — anywhere the Spirit of God leads.

You Must Know Your Authority

Any believer has the right to use the authority and power in Jesus’ name to cast out devils and to lay hands on the sick for healing.

Norvel Hayes teaches that the key is for a believer to gain knowledge regarding how to use that power effectively. Norvel explains the kind of knowledge we need; the consequences if we don’t have that knowledge; where and how to use our knowledge to cast out demons, receive our own healing, and heal the sick with the authority Jesus gave us.

Norvel Hayes, a successful businessman, has learned through personal experience that God’s Word works for anyone who will believe and apply it. He shares witha bold simplicity that captures theheart of the reader and shines new light on hidden treasures.

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