2Ti. 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.
2Ti. 2:21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

In the temple of God, there are different articles; some of the articles are for noble purposes, while others are for ignoble purposes. In order for the glory of God to manifest in the temple, the temple of God must be rid of the ignoble.

1Co. 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

Back in 2001, I had a dream in which I apparently travelled to a very far place to meet a special man of God. I climbed to the top of a hilly terrain; there I stood face-to-face with the man I was looking for. But the man displayed an expression that showed that I was filthy and so he would not want to have anything to do with me. He told me that there were too many idols in my place. I woke up from the dream.

I began to analyze the dream that I had. I concluded that the man that I met in the dream represented Jesus. There were some evil spirits (idols) causing lots of trouble in my life. These idols came into my life through my mother. Then I thought to myself, “I go to Jesus whom I expect to help me drive out the idols in my life and all he does is to show me that he will have nothing to do with me until I drive away the idols in my life”. I felt like I was in a hopeless situation.

Over the years I got to learn that God will not drive out evil spirit from us. Rather, it is up to us to drive out evil spirit by the power that God has given us.

Ph. 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Purification of the soul is all about driving out the evil spirits that have been ruling our lives. As we do so, we notice that evil desires and sins begin to reduce in our lives.

Mt. 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

When the purification of the soul is complete, God manifests His glory in our souls—the manifestation of the sons of God.

In the beginning

Ge. 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Ge. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

As soon as Adam and Eve ate the fruit of Satan, they opened their souls for evil spirits (idols) to flood in. They immediately became unsuitable to host the glory of God and the glory of God departed from them. The glory of God had been their clothing and shield. Suddenly, they noticed that the glory had left them, just as Jesus did on the cross.

Mt. 13:31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.
Mt. 13:32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.
Mt. 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Adam was like a mustard seed that God planted on earth. Today Adam has billions of branches (descendants), but birds of the air (evil spirits) lodge in those branches. Eve opened the gate for evil spirits to flood all of humanity.

Redemption of Mankind

Ro. 3:12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no-one who does good, not even one.”
Ro. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Ro. 3:24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Ro. 3:25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

He. 10:5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;

When it was time for the glory of God to come back into mankind, no human being was qualified to host the glory of God. God had to prepare a new man (an Adam) to host the glory (Christ). The new man is Jesus Christ. He became a substitute for the original Adam and died the death that was sentenced on the original Adam, so that Adam and his descendants could be recovered from the fall.

Re. 5:9 And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and
language and people and nation.
Re. 5:10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

The people to whom the redemptive work of Jesus Christ applies to are only those who have faith in the blood of Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement (Ro. 3:25). Those who have this faith submit themselves to a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ for baptism into the name of Jesus Christ, in water and in the Spirit. Ro. 6:3 says that this baptism, by faith, unites a person with the death and hence the blood of Jesus Christ.

Casting out the Birds of the Air

How does a person who has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, by faith, purify her/his soul by driving out the evil spirits that came into mankind from the original Adam? God does not do it for any person; fasting and prayer will not move God to do it. All that God does is that if any person is redeemed by the blood of Jesus, by faith, He puts His Spirit (and hence His power) in that person. The person therefore has all it takes to drive out evil spirits.

In order for any person to cleanse herself/himself of all evil spirits, there must be solid faith both in the redemption by the blood of Jesus and in the reality of God’s Spirit and power being present in the person. The Holy Spirit of God that is present in that person is just a small deposit guaranteeing the fullness of the deity that is to come (2Co. 1:22; 2Co. 5:5). The fullness will come at the completion of the purification of the soul.

Re. 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

You can cleanse your soul of every evil spirit if you are able to overcome Satan. Jesus has overcome Satan for us (Jn. 16:33), but you must make it your own through faith in what in what Jesus has done. Faith is all about believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. Hence, in Re. 12:11, the people of God overcome Satan both by their belief in what Jesus did for us and by expressing this belief through word of mouth. Therefore, whenever you do the spiritual warfare to drive out evil spirits of Satan from your soul, you must begin by declaring that you have been redeemed the blood of that was shed for us on the cross of Calvary. You need to declare that, with his blood, Jesus purchased you for God (Re. 5:9). Your body is a temple that Jesus purchased for God with his own blood; it is no longer a den of Satan’s evil spirits.

Ep. 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
Ep. 4:23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
Ep. 4:24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

The old self is ruled by evil spirits; the new self is ruled by the Holy Spirit of God.

In the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I drive out of my body every evil spirit lodging in it by the finger of God (or by the Holy Spirit of God)! Let the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God come into me and take total control of my life, in the name of Jesus!

How long does it take?

How long does it take to cleanse the soul of evil spirits by spiritual warfare?

It took forty days to test Jesus to see if he would accept the fruit of Satan like the original Adam did. After all the testing, angels attended to Jesus and clothed him with great power (Mt. 4:11; Lk. 4:14). I think that forty days is the minimum time required for complete purification of the soul. However, as the purification proceeds, the soul gets purer and purer. When the purification is complete, angels will attend to the person. The person will suddenly begin to manifest as a son of God, just like Jesus.

Kei144:

Over the years I got to learn that God will not drive out evil spirit from us. Rather, it is up to us to drive out evil spirit by the power that God has given us.

Ph. 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Why wouldn't God drive out evil spirit from us?

Lk. 15:11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.
Lk. 15:12 The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

Lk. 15:22 “But the father said to his servants, `Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Lk. 15:23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
Lk. 15:24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Lk. 15:25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
Lk. 15:26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
Lk. 15:27 `Your brother has come,’ he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
Lk. 15:28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
Lk. 15:29 But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
Lk. 15:30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
Lk. 15:31 “`My son,’ the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
Lk. 15:32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’“

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the older son represents the angels; the younger son represents mankind. In the beginning, when God decided to adopt man as His son and began the process that would lead to the adoption by putting His Spirit in man, one third of the angels rebelled against God. Since God began the process of bringing man back to Himself through Jesus Christ, angels are keenly watching to see if God is favoring mankind over them.

Evil spirits are fallen angels; the angels that rebelled against God. Even though the fallen angels rebelled against God, they are still sons of God (Job 1:6). If God were to attack the fallen angels for the sake of mankind, God's angels will definitely frown at God attacking one of their own for the sake of man, and they could rebel against God.

Due to the fall of man, man became powerless compared to the evil spirits. The evil spirits have therefore been bullying man. As elements of the younger son (mankind) go back to God through Jesus Christ, God raises their spiritual power profile, so that they could fight off evil spirits who bully them. Angels of God have no problem with this one since all that God has done is to raise the power profile of the younger son so that the younger son can fight off elements of the older son who bully the younger son.