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 During the last supper, on the night that Jesus was arrested, He told those who were with Him this:

(John 14:15–18 NKJV)  "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Jesus knew that He was going away, but when He completed His task here and returned to heaven, He would send "another Helper." He promised that He would not leave His followers as orphans, that they wouldn't be left here alone. He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, which was soon to come.

Jesus began His promise to them with, "If you Love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper." So the promise is not for the naughty, but for those who are keeping His commandments. But what are those? A man once asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, and He told them this:

(Matthew 22:35–40 NKJV)  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

So love God, and love others, but how does the Bible define love? The Apostle Paul described it like this:

(1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NASB)  Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Jesus said the world couldn't see or know the Holy Spirit, but we would if we kept His commandments, He would dwell with us and in us. Now how would He dwell in us? By filling us like containers, because the Holy Spirit is like the wind.

The Greek word used for Spirit here is "pneuma (Strongs 4460 πνεῦμα)" which literally means "that which is breathed or blown" or "air in motion." The English word Pneumatic that we use for air tools today came from this Greek word because they are driven by moving air.

After His resurrection, Jesus breathed on His disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit:

(John 20:21–22 NASB)  So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

The Holy Spirit is literally the living breath of God, as invisible as the wind. Yet, all of us living along the coast in hurricane season know that you don't have to see the wind for it to blow your roof off. The disciples breathed in the Holy Spirit. We should also note that the Holy Spirit isn't the only spirit you can give a home to. Jesus said this:

(Luke 11:24–26 NKJV)  "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

The evil spirit here called the man "his house," for that is where he lived. The spirit lived inside the man, and there were at least eight of them living there in the end. There is so much danger in returning to something the Lord has set you free from, for it will get an even deeper grip on you. Jesus once met a man who was home to a legion of evil spirits. Keep in mind that a legion was a unit of 3,000 to 6,000 men in the ancient Roman army:

(Mark 5:8–13 NKJV)  For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

The demons would rather live in a pig than be homeless. This is why the Lord instructed Saul to wipe out the Amalekites and their livestock (1 Samuel 15:3). The evil spirits would transfer between the people and the livestock, and vice versa.

Spirits are like the wind, and we are containers. Our body contains our spirit, and it can be a home for the Holy Spirit, or unclean spirits. Many of the miracles that Jesus performed involved setting people free from demons. Some of His closest followers were delivered from many:

(Mark 16:9 NKJV)  Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

When Jesus cast out demons way back then, the people said, "What new teaching is this?" (Mark 1:27). People still say the same thing today.

What determines which spirits live in you? Remember, Jesus said: "If you Love Me, keep My commandments." That's our protection. for unclean spirits can't stand the things of God. Anointed praise and worship music is torment to them. When you submit your life to God, the unclean spirits will mostly leave automatically. The stubborn ones may hang on a while longer, but even they will eventually give up and move onto easier prey.

What does deliverance look like? Spirits are usually breathed in and out. Consider when the prophet Elisha raised the Shunammite's son from the dead, the child began sneezing as the spirit of death left his body. 

(2 Kings 4:35 NKJV)  He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

If you want to be free from something, stop doing it long enough, and the spirit will move on:

(James 4:7 NKJV)  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Submit your life to God, resist the temptation, say no, and the devil will flee from you. Have you ever been reading your Bible and suddenly start yawning, sneezing, coughing, or even throwing up? I have. That is deliverance in a nutshell.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please set me free from the things that bind me to the past. Cut my chains, and let me serve You today with all of my heart. I submit my life to You. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!