REALITY OF OUR DELIVERANCE IN CHRIST
(week 19/01)
Olubi Johnson
What is Deliverance?
Deliverance is the removal or the breaking of satanic oppression or possession from the mind or the body.
Colossians 1:13 (KJV): Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
This scripture reveals to us that when you got born again you were delivered from the kingdom or dominion of darkness: the devil’s dominion and translated to the kingdom or dominion of light: God’s dominion through Jesus Christ.
This is legally true for every saint, however to experience it vitally you must take it by force.
Matthew 11:12 (KJV): And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
This is because we are not dealing with a gentleman; the devil is murderer, a thief and a robber.
John 8:44 KJV: Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 10:10 KJV: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Christ has paid the price for our deliverance in the same way that he has paid the price for sins and our healing.
Isaiah 53:4-5 KJV: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
I John 3:8 KJV: He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Therefore it is always the will of God that we be free from all oppression. Satan will try to steal the peace that Jesus purchased for you by attacking your mind and body. He starts by oppressing your mind and body with all kinds of negative thoughts, feelings and desires; and if you don’t deal with and overcome the oppression it can become an obsession, and if this is not dealt with and overcome it will become a possession.
Why the Devil oppresses Christians
Now, a Christian cannot be totally possessed by the devil: spirit, soul and body. However evil spirits can occupy the soul and the body of a Christian if they give place to the devil (Eph. 4:27).
We give place to the devil by unforgiveness, strife or deliberately continuing in sin without genuine repentance and forsaking of the sin (Prov.28: 13).
Why are we attacked or oppressed by the devil?
Lack of knowledge. Hos. 4:6
Because of sin. John 5:14, Eph 4:27
The devil is the god of this world and He attacks us to oppress us and so keep us from doing the Word of God 2 Cor. 4:4; Mk. 4:17
So we see that the devil can oppress us when we don’t know that we have a right to be delivered because Jesus bore chastisement for our peace. The devil also attacks us when we sin and also just to attack us even when we know our rights and have not even sinned.
Temporary and Permanent Deliverance
There is no deliverance that somebody can do for you that will keep the devil away forever. The truth is that the anointing breaks the yoke of oppression temporarily, but it is the truth of the Word of God that you know and apply that sets you free permanently.
Isaiah 10:27 KJV: And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
John 8:31-32 KJV: Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
This is because after the evil spirits have been cast out they still try and come back later and if you have not learnt to put the Word of God into you, to resist the devil, the evil spirits will come back again to resume their oppression:
Matthew 12:43-45 KJV: When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself 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. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Observe that the evil spirit found the “house” representing the soul and the body of the man “empty, swept and garnished” this means the man had been cleaned and delivered but had not filled himself with the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. That vacuum gave place to the evil spirit to be able to return with seven more wicked spirits making the last state of the man worse than the first.
This shows that after we have prayed for and delivered, we must learn the Word of God and how to pray for ourselves personally, so when the devil returns, we will be full of the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, so he will not be able to enter again to oppress us.
In our next article, we will see how to be delivered temporarily by someone else praying for you and permanently by your own personal faith, prayer and knowledge of the Word of God.
