06/20/2026
HOW WE OPEN A DOOR FOR THE DEVIL.
I'll give an example that shows how a Christian can unknowingly open a door to the devil. Many years ago I read about Dr. Lilian Yeomans who was a medical doctor in a large New York City hospital. She became hopelessly addicted to drugs and was given up to die by medical science. Then someone told her about divine healing, and she was saved and healed by the power of God and spent the rest of her life teaching about divine healing.
Near the end of World War II, Dr. Yeomans became desperately ill to the point of death, even though she had taught and ministered on divine healing for more than forty years. At that time, she was probably about eighty years old.
Later I read that Dr. Yeomans had been healed. In an article she wrote, she explained how she had gotten sick by unknowingly opening the door to the devil. It was during World War II, and she had begun to worry because some of her kinfolk were in those countries where Hi**er dominated.
Dr. Yeomans said that the worry over her kinfolk began to bear on her mind, and worry and fear opened the door to the enemy. Finally, she became desperately ill. She ran a high fever, lost all her hair, and was at death's door. She said she repented and asked God to forgive her for worrying. She said, "God not only restored my health, but He also restored my hair. Only my hair didn't grow back white as it was before. I have a full head of solid black hair!"
Dr. Yeomans became sick by opening a door to the enemy through worry and fear. It doesn't make any difference how long a Christian has been saved or if he's been preaching or teaching the Word for years. Mature Christians have to make sure they keep the door shut on the devil just as much as baby Christians do.
In Dr. Yeomans' case, she'd walked in what she called "divine health" for more than forty years and had never been sick. Dr. Yeomans was a strong Christian and knew about God's covenant of health. But, you see, no matter how strong you are in the Lord or how many years you've preached the Word, the devil will never leave you alone. And if you yield to him, you can open the door to him.
Believers can yield to the devil and his wiles and let the devil dominate them any time they want. Believers can also yield to the flesh with its lusts and appetites and let the flesh dominate them. And believers can yield to the influence of the world and let the world dominate them.
Many people would try to cast the devil out of a believer when he's yielding to the world, the flesh, or the devil. But the Bible teaches that believers have to deal with the world, the flesh, and the devil because we will never be free from these influences until we go to be with Jesus in Heaven (1 John 4:3,4; 1 John 2:15-17). But just because believers yield to the world, the flesh, or the devil, doesn't mean they are demon possessed or have a demon in them.
Thank God, the Bible teaches that the believer does not have to yield to the world, the flesh, or the devil. The Bible says, if we are born again, through Jesus we have overcome the world (1 John 5:4,5; John 16:33; 1 John 4:4) Because we are in Christ and Jesus has overcome the world for us, we don't have to yield to the influence of the world, nor to the lusts and cravings of our own physical nature. And we don't have to be defeated by the devil, because Jesus' triumph over Satan is our triumph.
-Kenneth E Hagin 📕 The Triumphant Church
- Spiritual Notes
