In response to our article entitled “Entering the Promised Land” and the statement that: “Next we deliver ourselves of all the ungodly agreements we or our forefathers have made with Satan and replace our ungodly roots with Godly roots,” we received the following comment from Andrew, one of our regular readers:

“How do we get the deliverance you refer to in your message?
Can it come through prayer (and or fasting) for example?
Is it gradual or immediate or even require some form if exorcism?
Or is it something which will always effectively be a battle as Paul talks if in Romans when he when he decries himself as wretched?”

In the Christian context, I use Deliver and Deliverance to mean to release, to rescue, to liberate, to escape or to free a Christian from the bondage of God’s enemy. By way of comparison, the Catholic Encyclopaedia (CE) says of exorcism, “the act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things, which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice …” The CE description includes all persons, places and things, whereas the Deliverance to which the article refers, is restricted to the demonisation of Christians.

I do not believe that a Christian can be “possessed” by a demon, but that Christians can be “demonised”; that is, influenced and tempted or oppressed, by demons.

Similarly, I do not believe it is Biblical to deliver a non-Christian, for asJesus explains Luke 11:24-26:

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, [is ‘cast out’ in the name of Jesus] he walks through dry places seeking rest. And finding none, he says, I will return to my house from which I came out. And when he comes, he finds it swept and decorated.
And he goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in, they dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

When doing deliverance of a Christian, the ‘house’ is made clean and is sealed by the Holy Spirit and the Blood of Jesus so the demon cannot return. This is not possible with a non-Christian, and so casting out a demon from a non-Christian may result in their situation becoming seven time worse.

Andrew is correct in mentioning fasting in regard to deliverance, for as Jesus said “this kind [of demon] does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

From personal experience, it is also beneficial to do deliverance in a team, and preferably a trained team. Ephesians 6:12 explains that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world’s rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Therefore, before we war against the enemy, we need training, just as any other soldier preparing for battle.

Why a team when we self-deliverance is possible? Jesus promised in Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.” This is a very important verse in the deliverance ministry for a couple of reasons. One Christian praying and working in the name of Jesus has the power of one; but when two or more gather and pray of one accord, then Jesus is there with them. As a result, the power of one increases not 2x or 3x but infinitely, as God is there with all His power too.

Secondly, we can, with thought and effort, pray and repent over all the things we have knowing done wrong in our lives. But what about the things we should have done, but we have not, – our sins of omission? These are harder to recall. What about the things we have forgotten we have done or not done? How can we possible bring these to mind in the natural? How can we bring to mind sins of our parents and forefathers of which we are totally ignorant? We cannot. This is why praying in a group of three, and especially having trained prophetic people present, can lead to revelations from God into our lives. God can give us supernatural words of knowledge which for us in the natural, it is impossible for us otherwise know.

I can personally attest to times when I prayed with Jill my wife, (and especially so when we are both fasting), during which The LORD provided supernatural knowledge as we prayed. Practically all the revelations received related to unnoticed holes located deep in the foundations of our beliefs or faith, which the enemy could have used to bring us down.

Jesus gave us the keys for our deliverance from bondage in Matthew 16:19 saying:

“I will give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven to you. And whatever you may bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven.”

Without getting into the practicalities of deliverance prayers here, let us picture deliverance as the freeing of a Christian from bondage, and see how Jesus’s keys operate. If we are in bondage, we are ‘tied’ to something, by something. Jesus gives us the power to ‘loose’ these bonds, both in heaven and on earth. When bonds are loosed, we are no longer tied and immobile – we are set free. Similarly, the enemy can be ‘bound’, as can their manifestations (physical signs) so that they can no longer operate against us. When we bind the demons or their manifestations, we are effectively wrapping them in rope so they cannot move (or operate).

Deliverance is being set free from the bondage of the enemy and the bible gives many verses which talk to this. Acts 3:19 tells us why we should repent, saying “therefore repent and convert so that your sins may be blotted out.” When we come before The LORD and confess our sins and repent of them, The LORD will blot them out and it will be as if they have never taken place. First John 1:9 says much the same: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The effects of Deliverance can be seen also in James 5:16 where we are implored to “Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.”

When we acknowledge, confess and repent of our sin to God and ask for His forgiveness, we will be forgiven. Does that mean that we can continue to sin and come again and again to God asking for forgiveness? No, for as Jesus answered his disciples in John 8:34 “Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever practices sin is the slave of sin.”

Paul also answered this question in Romans 5:20-6:2 saying:

“But the Law entered so that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, so that as sin has reigned to death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?
Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

The LORD has made it explicitly clear in the Bible that He looks at, and reads the hearts of mankind. When we come before God and earnestly seek him in repentance, we will be forgiven with immediate effect. Unfortunately, and I speak from experience, it may take more than one round to cleanse us and give us control over our flesh for carnal addictions. Sometimes The LORD will supernaturally heal all at one time; sometimes we just need to keep coming back to Him as we try and fail, try and fail, until one day, we succeed and it is done. We all need the transforming of our minds, and this only comes through endurance under trial, which leads to inner healing, as well as forgiveness.

On the contrary, if we do not believe in our hearts that The LORD will heal or forgive, He will not. If we come to Him repenting for sins which we enjoy and do not want to give us, we will not be healed or forgiven. Instead, He will give us over to our desires as we rebel against Him.

Many see Christian Deliverance as a passive activity. This is not true. As Ephesians 6:12 above says, we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against spiritual demons. As soon as we start to deliver ourselves from the bonds of the enemy, we effectively declare spiritual war. The enemy will then come against us to keep us in captivity and away from Jesus and our salvation. The enemy seems to be able to guess or sense or know who is destined to be a future or immediate threat against them, and assess each risk individually. Some Christian who, even unknowingly, are destined to be powerful people for God, have real battles to endure as all hell appears to be loosed against them, in a bid to keep them in bondage. However, we just need to recall the words of First John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and you have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Yes, ultimately, Christians are overcomers; they just need the knowledge of the Word, and Faith.

But to be overcomers, to be victors, necessarily means that we have fought the enemy and won. We ‘overcome’ by overcoming a situation or an opponent; we are ‘victors’ because we vanquish a foe. Yes, as Paul says in Romans 8:37 “in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us.” By implication, this means that we have taken on the enemy, and won. It does not mean we have gone around the fight, or avoided the fight, but through it; and the result of that experience is a transformation of our mind.

Deliverance is an action word and can only be achieved through our intentional action as we come before The LORD our God in humility and lay our guilt and our repentance on His grace at the foot of the Cross.

Finally, what are some of the things which we need to repent of and seek deliverance from which bind us to the enemy? The following is a very short list to give some simple examples from the ungodly sins and depravities of mankind. You probably need deliverance for any involvement in:

Alternative Medical Practices,
Behaviour Extremes,
Bowing before any idol,
Curses,
Denominationalism,
Depression,
Involvement in Freemasonry – or ancestral involvement in Freemasonry,
Generational or hereditary illnesses,
Generational or hereditary poverty,
New Age Movement,
Occult or Occultic activities,
Phobias,
Rage and Anger to others,
Sexual sin – adultery, premarital sex, masturbation, pornography,
Substance abuse and substance addiction,
Suicidal Tendencies,
Unforgiveness.

On our website, under Healing and Deliverance we have list of God’s Ministries which specialise in Dealing and Deliverance. Some like New Zealand Pastor Bill Subritzky of Dove Ministries provide wonderful resources for self use and instruction. We have direct links to the Dove Ministries following free instructional resources E-Books, Pamphlets and Booklets and Videos. Dove Ministries is a real treasure trove of information and instruction in Deliverance.

Of the scores of book I have read on the topic of Deliverance, there are four books which I have found to be exceptionally good. They are:

“I Give You Authority: Practicing the Authority Jesus Gave Us,” by Charles H. Kraft.

“Deliverance and Inner Healing,” by John & Mark Sandford.

“Healing through Deliverance: The Foundation and Practice of Deliverance Ministry,” by Peter Horrobin.

“The Bait of Satan: Living Free From the Deadly Trap of Offense,” by John Bevere.

My wife Jill and I have both attended a deliverance course entitles “The Cleansing Stream” which is run by the Cleansing Stream Ministries. It is available in the USA, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Germany, Netherlands and Australia and we highly recommend it to you.

We pray that this article will be a blessing to you, your family, your friends and generations to come. We pray that this article will open your eye and mind to the grace of The LORD Jesus Chris and the keys He has made available for your Salvation and abundant life and full here in Him.

Amen.