I’m planning to write a 5-part series on this topic. Here’s the first installment.
Step 1: Seek deliverance from every stronghold in your life.
Even Christians need deliverance. We live in a fallen world, and our enemy hates us and has no mercy, even for young, innocent children. He attacks us even when we’re young and have no idea what’s going on. He causes bad things to happen and then influences us to blame God for them. He uses people around us to hurt us, and we blame them. He’s so invisible that he gets by with all these things, and lots of people think that he’s a fairy tale or that he just doesn’t bother us. But they’re wrong. He sees it as his job to bother us. What else do you think he does, besides cause worldwide problems and devastation? He has underlings working for him, and he gives them assignments to torment individuals and mess up their lives as much as they can.
So no matter how good we have been throughout our lives (there is none righteous, no not one) we still have been exposed to the schemes and traps of the enemy, and he has put chains on us. He has claimed a right to certain parts of our lives, and it’s up to us to break those chains and his authority over us. (2 Cor. 10:4)
We can do this through the name and the blood of Jesus. He has given us His authority over the enemy. We can command him to loose the chains he has put on us. First, we need to identify what those chains are. Pray and ask the Lord to reveal them to you. He will guide you into your own deliverance if you are able to hear God’s voice well. If you aren’t able to hear God’s voice that well, you may need to find someone who can help you go through your past sins and patterns to find out areas that gave satan the right to claim authority over your life. You can tell there’s a spiritual force at work in your life when you constantly do a sinful or negative behavior, and you can’t seem to control it. These are the kinds of things you need deliverance from. (Matt. 12:28-30, Matt. 8:8-10, Matt. 16:19)
When we give over our bodies and minds to negative desires and actions, we actually hand over authority to evil spirits, and they take every opportunity to exploit their control. The more we practice the negative desire or action, the stronger we make their authority over us. We make their strongholds even stronger.
When we go through difficult times in life, and we react in a way of distrust toward God, we build up a stronghold of distrust, unbelief and lack of faith in God.
The enemy hates us, and he delights in building up these strongholds in our lives to separate us from the One who loves us.
But Jesus is stronger than satan. His name breaks every yoke and every stronghold. It’s up to us to use our authority and our voices and words to declare that Jesus is Lord over every area of our lives. We have to declare in the name of Jesus that we are free from satan’s dominion. When we speak it out loud, it is out there in the air and puts the enemy on notice that we are aware of his works and gives the Lord and His angels something to work with to help us. (Matt. 16:17, Luke 9:1, Luke 10:19, Matt. 28:18)
We have to ask Jesus to forgive us for the sin or unbelief that allowed satan to build that stronghold in our life. And then we come out of agreement with that sin, whether it be a sin of the flesh or a mindset like fear, doubt, unbelief, anger, hatred, selfishness, rebellion, unforgiveness, etc.
We must clear our own hearts and spirits from unforgiveness. Ask the Lord to show you any area of unforgiveness, and then go through and forgive everyone who has ever hurt you. Even if you think you have already forgiven them, say it out loud. The enemy is legalistic, and if he thinks he has any right to you, he will mess with you. But if you put your declarations out there in the air for the whole spiritual world to hear, the enemy’s legal right is taken away. He will still try to attack, and he may do things against you illegally, but you have taken the teeth out of his ability to touch you. You can chase him out the door he came in. (Mark 11:25)
Some people hold unforgiveness against God because they think that He let them down. They have to forgive God!
If you want to find the biblical basis for the things I have said here, look in the Bible. Specifically, read:
2 Cor. 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
Matt. 12:28-30 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
Matt. 8:8-10 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
Matt. 16:19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Mark 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons;
Luke 9: 1 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Matt. 28:18 All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Mark 11:25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
What do you think these verses are about if not about the things I mentioned about getting deliverance for ourselves?
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
