REALITY OF OUR DELIVERANCE IN CHRIST 2
(week 20/01)
Olubi Johnson
In our last article we saw that deliverance from satanic oppression or possession is always the will of God for all men and Christians in particular since “God has delivered us from the power or authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom or dominion of His dear Son.”–Col 1:13.
We also saw that if you are prayed for and delivered; it is temporary, as the devil will still try to come back in. To be permanently delivered you need to know the truth of the Word of God and how to pray for yourself so that any time the devil returns you can successfully resist him and stay permanently delivered.
Temptation, Oppression or Possession?
Every one is tempted by evil thoughts: for example the thought of sexual lust
come once in a while to all of us, but once you cast it down (2 Cor. 10: 3-5) with your words and thoughts: you say and think ” I love righteousness and hate iniquity; I keep myself pure” it will not bother you again for a long time.
However, if it is oppression rather than just a temptation then those thoughts will plague you at least 70 percent of the time and you just won’t be able to get them out of your mind. A person oppressed has an evil spirit who oppresses him by a spiritual force released by the evil spirit who is outside the person but is following the person all the time. This spiritual force now oppresses the persons mind and body in the form of incessant wrong thoughts and feelings.
In the case of possession, the person is totally taken over by those thoughts and cannot function normally, or hold a normal conversation (Mk. 5:1-7, Acts 16:16).
The evil spirits have actually taken control of the person and are resident inside the soul or the body of the victim. Such a person needs outside help to obtain his deliverance, he cannot do it himself.
How to overcome oppression or possession
There are 3 methods by which you can get your deliverance: If you are just being oppressed but not possessed you can pray for yourself and get your own deliverance by using what I call the 7 pillars of deliverance:
In this case what you are actually casting out and overcoming is the spiritual force the evil spirits are using to oppress you.
1 By using your own faith via the 7 pillars of deliverance:
1 Check for soundness of heart. Ask yourself, where could this oppression have come from? Anything that you find that is not right, i.e. wrong attitudes etc. confess it, repent of it and get rid of it.
2 Pray in the Spirit about it, with all kinds of prayer for 1 hour.
3 Bind the devil and cast it out (i.e. the force of oppression from your body and circumstances), then loose the angels.
4 Confess the word and declare your freedom.
5 Meditate upon the word concerning your freedom.
6 Do the word. Physical corresponding action: Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom for what actions you can take that will help the manifestation of your deliverance without being presumptuous.
7 Sometimes it may be necessary to fast, on the day in which you are praying about the matter.
After this deliverance has been obtained it needs to be maintained by using this 7-pillar principle on a weekly basis for healing and deliverance.
With this in the background, any demonic attack can easily be resisted and overcome by a simple confession of faith like “ evil spirits that may be attacking or oppressing my soul, body or circumstances I cast you out, resist and bind you in Jesus name.”
The problem many times, after deliverance has been done, is that the person who has been delivered does not fill himself with the word of God, or walk in the light of the greater truth he has received. When the devil tries to come back, therefore, he finds that the person still does not have anything to resist him with. This is why the Word of God encourages us to continue in the Word that we may know the truth and that truth will then set us and keep us free.
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.
2 Ministering deliverance by discernment and faith
It is possible for a person to be in a situation where they cannot even help themselves, and so they need outside help. If you need help don’t let your pride prevent you from asking. In Mk.16: 15 Jesus says ” these signs shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out devils..”
So as a Christian you can and should minister deliverance to the oppressed and those that are too weak to deliver themselves.
This deliverance is done by discernment and faith like Jesus did for the boy with the a dumb spirit in
Mark 9:17-29 (KJV):
And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
Observe here that Jesus discerned the type of spirit in operation by talking to the father of the oppressed boy and seeing the effect of the spirit on him; so the spirit is called a “dumb spirit” because it hindered the boy from talking.
Once Jesus identified the spirit he cast it out by simple word of command ignoring any manifestations the spirit might make through the boy.
We should use these same principles to minister deliverance to men by discernment and faith.
What Jesus did here is instructional for us in ministering deliverance by discernment and faith:
We discern the spirit by the effect it is having on the person either directly or through counselling with those who know the person.
Lay hands, address the spirit and cast it out, then you can speak in tongues a little to allow the Holy Spirit to deal with one or two hidden details, then round it up in Jesus name.
We ignore any manifestations the spirit may make through the person trusting that God will honour our command of the faith and the spirit will leave and no longer oppress the person: Do not talk to the evil spirits unless the gifts of Discernings of spirits is in manifestation.
Satan likes attention and will try to waste your time and distract you by spectacular manifestations that may not necessarily show the person has been delivered. We believe the person has been delivered by faith not by manifestations or the lack of them.
4. Comfort the person, and let them know that God has set them free.
3. By the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
When deliverance is done by faith it is human initiated. However, when it is by the gifts of the Spirit, it is initiated by the Holy Spirit.
For instance, in the case of the boy with the dumb spirit of Mark 9:17-29 above, the deliverance was initiated by the request of the father to the Lord Jesus.
However, in the case of the madman of Gadarenes it was the Holy Spirit who gave the Lord Jesus a word of knowledge through Discernings of spirits about the condition of the man and then instructed Jesus to deliver the man:
Mark 5:6-15 (KJV): But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
The moment Christ saw him afar off He was given a word of knowledge and Discernings of spirits and He commanded the spirits to come out: and they did and the man was delivered: clothed and in his right mind. Remember again: Do not converse with evil spirits if the gift of Discernings of spirits is not in operation. God will reveal by His Spirit the exact situation, and on the basis of that information you will then act, like Jesus did here.
It is instructive to observe here that discernment is not the same as thing as the gifts of Discernings of spirits: discernment is ability to accurately perceive spiritual reality and it is develops with spiritual growth. The gifts of the Discernings of spirits are a temporary anointing the Holy Spirit gives to see or and hear directly into the spirit realm like what happens when you have a literal vision: John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos (Rev. 1:10). In this experience you are not discerning, you are seeing or hearing directly. In ordinary discernment, which every Christian has and should develop, you don’t see or hear anything directly you perceive or discern spiritual reality by spiritual sensitivity.
In conclusion, when one is either possessed or strongly oppressed so they cannot pray for themselves then they need to be delivered by faith and discernment by someone else who has done background fasting and praying: recall that Jesus did not go and fast and pray when He delivered the boy with the dumb spirit, He already had a life style of fasting and prayer in the background; or by the gifts of the Holy Spirit manifested in God’s sovereignty as He wills.
