Can I Command the Devil to Take His Hands off Someone Else?
This question is much trickier than it might first appear. The answer depends upon what the questioner specifically means.
It was clearly Satan who inspired Peter to deny Jesus three times. Jesus knew about this in advance and even prophesied to Peter that he would fail all three tests. If there were a way to just stop Satan from influencing someone else, He could have just prayed to “bind the devil” so that the devil would not be able to approach Peter with those temptations in the first place. Instead, here is what He prayed:
Luke 22:31-32:
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
So if the question is whether we can stop Satan from tempting someone, the answer is clearly NO. In fact, you can’t even pray that Satan will stop tempting you. (See Can I Just Command the Devil to Leave Me Alone?.)
All temptations are common to man (1 Corinthians 10:13). If we could pray to stop someone from being tempted, we could invalidate that verse for that person.
However, when it comes to the works of the devil other than temptation, we DO have authority to get rid of them, as Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and clearly did so throughout His ministry. Satan’s works include physical and mental illness. Jesus went about healing EVERY kind of disease.
Running off the works of the devil isn’t the same thing as running off the devil’s temptations. There is no record that Jesus ever “bound Satan” in a way that stopped him from tempting people. However, He regularly undid things Satan did to people, namely, demonizing them and making them sick.
In the case of demons tormenting people, it is clear that we have power over them. Jesus ran them off, even when the demon was not in front of Him (Mark 7:25-30), so we can too. However, running off spirits is not a “quick fix” for every situation, and even if we run one off, the person will have to change or end up seven times worse.
Luke 11:24-26:
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
It does not help at all if the person was doing things that invited a demon in, gets delivered, then continues doing the same things that let the demon in. Too often, at least in some circles, we give demons too much credit and ignore the personal responsibility of the demonized person. We act as if the poor person just can’t help it. But even the madman of Gadara was able to do something about his legion of demons – he ran to Jesus and worshipped him (Mark 5:6). When he made that choice, a legion of demons couldn’t stop him from doing it and then getting delivered! He was not helpless against them as some Christians and horror movie producers want you to think!
Demons cannot just come in at random and overwhelm someone. They can take advantage of a person who habitually dwells on thoughts contrary to Scripture. For example, someone who is depressed and suicidal may be so because they are always dwelling on negative things, contrary to Philippians 4:8. I don’t doubt that Satan will seek out someone like that and start whispering, “Just kill yourself; life isn’t worth living.” However, that does not mean that every suicide was prompted by a “suicide spirit” that tormented the person. People can commit suicide just because they’re depressed without being expressly demonized. (For more discussion of that issue, see Are Suicidal Thoughts Evidence That Someone Is Demonized?.)
One thing to notice is that Jesus never commanded the devil to take his hands off everyone in a city at once; His rebuke of demons was always on an individual basis. Thus, we can run a demon off someone, but we cannot run demons out of an entire city or command every demon in town afflicting anyone to stop doing it. Jesus did not do this, so neither can we.
So in short, you can run evil spirits off people who are demonized, but you cannot stop demons or even Satan himself from trying to pollute people’s minds with his thoughts of temptation.
The solution for tempted people is to be born again and then put on God’s armor, which is a metaphor for knowing what the Word says about you so that you don’t believe the devil’s lies. There is no fix in prayer that will make the devil stay away from someone else, but you can teach the person the Word, which includes instruction on how to resist the devil for himself.