One side-effect to growing up in charismatic circles was the notion of casting out or "binding" Satan and demons. I can't attribute this to my parents, but as a kid I listened fairly well in church and was a favorite among my Sunday School teachers because of it. I gradually formed a theological understanding of prayer, spiritual authority and demonic powers that was accurate to what was being presented, taught and believed within the realm I found myself. The result was that I would often begin or end prayers, or address my fears (I was quite afraid of the dark as a kid), or even address my struggles by "binding" whatever devils or demons I felt were either present or responsible. I invoked the name of Jesus and casted them out of my bedroom the basement, or wherever else I thought they might be hiding.
This is not a good thing. If anything, this "understanding" of the spiritual world around me did nothing to create within me a confidence of who I am in Christ, but only left me, as a child, with an increased sense of foreboding and insecurity. This placed a lot of the responsibility for my circumstance upon MY shoulders, not God's. God was not protecting me...I was protecting myself. God was like a distant figure whom demons were afraid of, but they had free reign to do as they please until someone invoked His name, and therefore I invoked it all the time. God was a gun, not a Father, and I had to wield His name in order to protect myself and those around me from the demons which were, apparently (given the frequency with which they were continually addressed in church settings), absolutely everywhere, unseen but present, the dark reality that was watching you from the shadows.
How much better it would have been if I had never once been introduced to this idea of casting out and binding the powers of darkness, but had instead heard more of how God is present, watching and guarding us personally, taking care of His children before they even ask, caring for and loving us more deeply than any earthly parent. This is the truly Biblical view of God and His care; if I could run to the arms of my mother when I was afraid, how much more into the arms of God? Instead, I was standing in fear supposedly binding demons left and right, but never feeling secure or particularly protected. This is a travesty.
Don't teach your kids to cast out demons, to bind them or to talk to them in any respect at all. Teach them to talk to God, because He is actively watching over them. There is absolutely no need for them to get directly involved with any dark being...in fact, I'd say that goes for us adults, too. God takes care of His own, and it is enough that we go to Him.
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