I'll tell you another story, but don't tell anybody that I told you. It's really a true story, but it's kind of embarrassing.

When I first got ahold of the faith message, I thought, Well, bless God, I can do this! Now, of course, any believer can talk faith, but there has to be some meat behind it too. Let me tell you what I mean.

After listening to tapes on faith, I said to myself, If I ever see any devil, I'll just cast him out! And that's the way it's going to be.

Back then I didn't stay in hotels when I was preaching meetings. In those days I just stayed in people's homes. And this one particular couple had just offered to let me stay in their beautiful home which had a nice guest room set up for people to stay in. It was a nice-sized room, and it was all fixed up for guests. This couple told me, "Reverend Duplantis, you stay here with us. We have a swimming pool, and if you'd like to use it during the day, we won't bother you. You just enjoy yourself." I thanked them and agreed to stay there.

Well, that night I went into the guest room and started getting ready for bed. Now, what I usually like to do before going to bed is read the Word of God. That way, I put some Scripture in my mind before I go to sleep and the devil can't put anything else in it. I fill my mind up first with the Word of God. Most folks do that with their stomachs, but it works with their minds too.

So after reading the Word for a while, I fell off to sleep. But I woke back up at about 3 o'clock in the morning. As soon as I woke up, I saw this big gray thing just sort of waving from side to side at me. The first thing I thought was, It's a devil. I especially thought that since I was in somebody else's house. I just knew it was a devil!

I looked at that gray devil moving around in the corner and said, "Get out of here, devil, in Jesus' name!" But instead of leaving, the devil just looked at me. This ain't working, I thought. So being the great man of faith and power that I am, I decided to say it again. I said, "Get out of here, in Jesus' name." At about that time I heard the Lord say, Well, why don't you just get out of that bed and go get him?

Yoo, hooo hooo, I thought, I ain't going out there! Now, don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing. How many times have you had your leg hanging off the bed and the devil says, There's a monster under your bed! What do you do? You jerk that leg back up onto the bed where it's safe. And then you ask your husband to put the light on so you can go to the bathroom.

So I began to rebuke that devil from the bed. And every once in a while, it would move. Whooooh, that made me mad. I spit and screamed-and when I say screamed, I don't mean a low scream. I hollered. I used the blood of Jesus; that didn't work. I used the name of Jesus; that didn't work. I tried faith; that didn't work. I even tried grace. I did anything and everything to get that devil out of my room. "Get out of here!" I shouted at one point. I even stood up on the bed and walked toward the end and kind of provoked it.

"Get out of here!" I yelled. At that time I was a baby Christian. I still had my diapers on.

What a devil that was! He was stubborn. I spit and screamed at that stinking thing until 5 o'clock in the morning, and it wouldn't move. After a long time, daylight began to come through the window, and the room became lighter. I could see things better, and what I saw really made me mad.

That "devil" was nothing more than an old raincoat hanging on a rack!

A raincoat had kept me up for two-and-a-half hours - rebuking, rebuking, rebuking. Isn't it fun being saved? The reason it moved every now and again was that the air conditioner would kick on and blow on it.

Boy, I got mad at God. I said, "God!" in a really demanding tone.

What's wrong? He asked.

"I've been rebuking this raincoat for two-and-a-half hours. You could have let me in on it."

And the Lord said, Jesse, that's the funniest thing I ever saw, you rebuking that raincoat, boy. You rebuked a raincoat!

Now, did God really say that? Yes! Do you think I'd lie to you? The Lord's got a sense of humor. But remember, God told me to go over and take hold of that raincoat in the first place. I could have listened to God and gotten some sleep that night. But instead, I stood on that bed rebuking a raincoat for over two hours!

Growing up spiritually is a lot like growing up naturally. You don't start out being an adult Christian. You start out by being a baby Christian, and baby Christians make mistakes. It's okay to be a baby, as long as you don't stay a baby. God will bring you along like the loving Father He is, as you grow into the full stature of Christ.

God will grow you up spiritually. But sometimes He'll do it with a sense of humor!

Source: Jambalaya for the Soul by Jesse Duplantis
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers