Her sister brought her over to the parsonage, and as we were praying, the Spirit of God told
me to go and stand in front of her and say, "Come out, thou unclean spirit in the Name of
Jesus."
I hadn't done anything like that before in my life. For several years I had been acquainted with
this area of the supernatural in praying for folks for healing. But operating in the gifts of the
Spirit in this area was new to me, and I was reluctant. I wanted to be sure the Lord was talking
to me, and yet I sensed He was.
After some persuasion I stood in front of the woman and said, "Come out, thou unclean spirit in
the Name of Jesus." You see, it was revealed to me that her trouble was caused by an unclean
spirit.
This revelation came by a word of knowledge, not the discerning of spirits, because I didn't see
any spirit (we'll discuss the gift of discerning of spirits in Chapter 14).
But the Holy Spirit did give me knowledge of the presence of an evil spirit causing the insanity.
No matter how the presence of an evil spirit is revealed in another person, it still takes faith to
deal with it, and many times the gift of faith will be in operation.
For instance, when I said, "Come out, thou unclean spirit in the Name of Jesus," there was no
visible manifestation. As far as I could see, there was no change in the way the woman looked
or behaved. Her eyes didn't look any different; she was just as she had been. Yet I knew that
the command of faith was spoken and that the woman was delivered.
Forty-eight hours later this woman's sister called, saying, "Brother Hagin, pray! My sister is
having a terrible attack like she did when she first lost her mind."
That news didn't bother me a bit because on the inside of me there was a supernatural faith or
knowing that sustained me which was beyond me from a natural standpoint. It was more than
ordinary faith — it was the gift of faith in operation. We'll discuss the gift of faith in chapter 15.
Casually, I said to her, "Don't worry. I spoke the word of faith and it has to be. The devil knows
he has to go. Have you ever read in the Bible where Jesus told an evil spirit to leave a person,
and sometimes before the evil spirit would leave, he would
throw the person down and tear him [ Mark 1:261? The devil knows he has to go. When that
attack is over, that evil spirit will be gone and your sister will never have another attack. She
will be all right."
Sure enough, when that attack was over, that woman's mind was clear. They had to take her
back to the institution because she was still a ward of the asylum, but the psychiatrist
examined her and dismissed her. He pronounced her well. That was many years ago, and we
had contact with her after that and she was still well.
This was a manifestation of the word of knowledge and the gift of faith operating together to
set this woman free.